Journal

My 21st book launches – marking the end of my first 75 years and of my first 50 years in the sustainability space

Delighted that, after a longish gestation period, my latest book is now swimming off under its own power. A short video trailer can be seen here. I am also beginning to pick up on related themes through my Substack channel.

The first of over 30 endorsements up front in the book comes from Dame Polly Courtice, founding director of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), She kindly says:

“John is a legend. Throughout my 30-year career in sustainability leadership, he has been a source of insight and inspiration. By extension he has influenced the thinking of thousands of senior executives on our programmes. This book offers a wonderful and personal reflection on the evolution of the sustainability movement and glimpses of what might be to come.”

And the book’s conclusion? We will see more change – for good and ill – in the next 15 years than we did in the last 50.

Across to Olympia from Somerset House to do a panel session for London Tech Week with Louise and Sammy Fry, Head of Climate at Tech Nation. Acoustics were rather challenging, but had some great discussions afterwards with people like Sammy and Oli Barrett. Intrigued to find out that Sammy’s grandfather was Clive Wicks, who I worked with at Earthlife back in the 1980s. Born in 1936 and despite a somewhat conservative background, Clive’s was always a usefully muscular voice on conservation issues.

Very sorry indeed to hear of the death of NASA astronaut Bill Anders, aged 90, in a flying accident. He took the Earthrise image in 1968 that helped set me off on the 50-year professional journey described in my latest, twenty-first, book – Tickling Sharks, out on 18th June. A heart-felt thank you, Bill.

After all my travelling in recent weeks, Elaine and I took a bit of time out today to walk around Kew Gardens – and enjoy the Marc Quinn sculptures scattered across the landscape. Very impressive. A gloriously sunny day, perfect weather to view many – but nowhere near all – of the artworks.

The second day of South Summit Madrid was at La Nave. Yesterday had ended with a dinner on the outskirts of the city with an astonishingly wealthy family, with an impressive art collection, but with smoke from the barbecue drifting across the landscape just after a I had seen the terrified eyes of cattle in a giant truck speeding to the abattoir. After a while, I turned tail and headed back to the hotel thanks to an Uber wage slave.

Enjoyed my session with Lara Birkes, who has sent me the photo below of Tickling Sharks at her home in Paradise Valley, Montana. Audience here was much smaller than we had in Brazil, so not sure whether that reflects competing attractions or different national priorities. Then a bunch of conversations and a small lunch hosted by María Benjumea – before zooming out to airport and, eventually, home.

Overall, a fantastic trip – and met some fascinating new people. One who I had met before, Booking.com founder Jeff Hoffman, and I had a fascinating conversation as we were ferried out to La Nave – which has further stimulated my thinking on what needs to happen next with the whole ESG, impact and sustainability space. Serendipity at work, again.