Journal

A day working at home and, intermittently but determinedly, reading Ian McEwen‘s novel Solar, which I finished literally as the sun touched the western horizon, scratched by high-flying jets making good the huge global travel deficit of the past week. But the extraordinary silence in Barnes continues, with the air traffic taking off westwards, I assume.

Many, many years ago, perhaps in 1987, I did a multiple review of novels that addressed green issues, in Green Pages, most of which weren’t that great. But I found Solar really ‘sticky’, not least as the first novel that I know that has name-checked such iconic figures in our landscape as James Lovelock, Stewart Brand, Tim Flannery, Jared Diamond and Paul Ehrlich. The ending of Solar really got me – though the Stones are playing as I write this, rather than the Kinks.

Was interested to see the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, featuring fairly prominently in the story. I visited them in 1981, when they were the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) and Denis hayes was still a Director, for a few days more before Ronald Reagan began to dismantle Jimmy Carter’s solar efforts. (Interested to see on the NREL website today, the home page features – on a 3-image rotator – a photo of Denis speaking in 1970.)

My meeting was Denis was a key reason why nine years later Denis kindly invited me to join the International Board of Earth Day 1990, an initiative whose fortieth anniversary we celebrate today.

Yesterday evening, David Metz kicked off the second of our ‘Second Half’ sessions hosted by Accenture at 30 Fenchurch Street. He reviewed the literature on market segmentation in the over-50 category, concluding that it is “thin”. Very lively discussion – the one-and-a-half-hour format for these late afternoon, early evening sessions is working very well.

Fascinated to meet Marc Freedman of Civic Ventures, the first social enterprise recognised in the 2010 Skoll Foundation Awards cycle. We have come across their Encore Program through our ongoing work with HP.  A sense of parallel universes, which I’m determined to bridge.

Civic Ventures, in its own words, is “leading the call to engage millions of baby boomers as a vital workforce for change. Through an inventive program portfolio, original research, strategic alliances, and the power of people´s own life stories, Civic Ventures demonstrates the value of experience in solving serious social problems – from education to the environment and health care to homelessness. Founded in 1998 by social entrepreneur and author Marc Freedman, Civic Ventures works to define the second half of adult life as a time of individual and social renewal.”  

Really like the core idea of generativity, which Marc explains here. For more on Civic Ventures, see here.

Google’s Earth Day celebration

Earth Day 1970 was a critical launch platform for the global environmental movement – and features large in my PowerPoint slide showing the four great societal pressure waves since 1960, coinciding with the peak of the first wave. The focus at that time was on the USA, whereas when I joined the International Board for Earth Day 1990, the spotlight had gone global – thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Earth Day co-founder Denis Hayes. 

More on Earth Day 2010 here.

Now, 40 years on, it’s tempting to think what we can do to celebrate the 50th anniversary in 2020. Meanwhile, however, it’s good to see a constellation of NGOs coming together to protest Anglo American’s plans to develop the so-called Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed. The NGOs have secured a full-page ad in today’s Financial Times, the same day that Anglo American holds it annual shareholder meeting in London.

Somebody hadn’t looked at the calendar!

Blossom on Barnes High Street traffic island Bear at video studio Preparing (Samphoto) Striped

Meant to be in Seoul today for the Business for Environment (B4E) summit, but rendered impossible by Icelandic ash cloud. Had been meant to take part in various plenary, breakfast and lunch sessions, so we had offered either to do a live link (which would have had me in a studio in the early hours) or a video. Dow Chemical opted for a video for their lunch session, so that has been a key part of today’s story, with Sam woken at 05.00 this morning by a call from Seoul.

Gaia then helped us track down a video company in Soho, whence Sam and I made our way around 14.00. Nice walk in glorious sun – and they made it very easy. Then a walk back, via various artist’s materials, magazine and material shops, looking for a birthday card and a dress for an Indian wedding. In one shop, where they were playing Madonna’s Material Girl, I spotted some bolts of rather garish tiger striped material which, at least for me, chimed with the theme of the report I am working with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) team to finish off and send to the printers.

Jack Sim and Amy Animation Rafael next door Jack’s hat Some of today’s guests Jack holds forth Sublimely insulated from it all

A second day of hosting people stranded after the Skoll World Forum by the Icelandic eruption – this time with folk from Canada, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Very lively discussion, but even livelier after the arrival of Jack Sim of the WTO (World Toilet Organisation).

Later in the day, Charmian and I headed across to Knightsbridge for a session with JWT. Home relatively early, to watch a recording of the second programme in Joanna Lumley’s Nile series.  The best of British.

And now the planes are growling overhead once again as the airlines start to clear the backlog of people stranded around the world. As many have observed, this dark cloud has proved to have a brilliant silver lining – in that we got to see more of people we enormously admire, who would otherwise have winged their way home directly the Forum ended.