An interesting New York Times op-ed on the work of British economist Frederick Soddy on ecological economics can be found here. Peter Kinder sent the link to John Fullerton, who came in to see us at Bloomsbury Place this week, and myself. Would be wonderful if the twenty-first century could embrace this sort of uncommon sense.
Journal
Battle of Britain lives on in my eyes
The Times today tells the story of how eye injuries suffered by Battle of Britain pilots, when fragments of their Perspex canopies embedded themselves in their eyes proved surprisingly inert, gave Sir Harold Ridley the idea of implanting plastic lenses in replacement of cataract-clouded lenses. As a recent beneficiary of this technology, I can only say another thank you to all those involved.
Nexus view of my Facebook friends
Here is the Nexus mapping of my Facebook friends, which I find quite fascinating:
http://nexus.ludios.net/view/John_Elkington/NKchv0kJ8j5X/?dark=1
Close Encounter by the Serpentine
Elaine’s picture of a heron today
This evening, as I was cycling through Hyde Park, just by the Serpentine, a fellow cyclist asked to borrow my pump, because his back tyre was flat. We talked while he pumped, then I got back on and was just beginning to pedal uphill when an enormous heron flapped gently right over my head and then headed north by north-west across the water, against the most radiantly romantic sunset. A truly magic moment, partly because of my long-standing belief in the heron as a personal talisman and partly because the giant heron is one of the animals thought to have inspired the myth of the phoenix.
Reminded me of the time when I was standing still, on my own, in the garden beyond the barn at Little Rissington, watching flights of swifts and swallows overhead – and then a hawk, a hobby, powered by, clipping my ear-lobe with its wing-tip as it sped on the low part of a power climb towards its prey.
In any event, I took the heron as a sign that conversations we started today at Volans may be headed in the right direction. And fortuitously, though I didn’t have my camera to hand at the time, Elaine captured another of the birds today on Barnes Pond.
Conversations with Green Gurus
I find myself in the company of what are described as “some of the world’s most influential environmental movers and shakers” in a new book, Conversations with Green Gurus: The Collective Wisdom of Environmental Movers and Shakers, by Laura Mazur and Louella Miles, published by John Wiley & Sons. Those featured include “thinkers” – those who have set the agenda, and “doers” – business people “who made the green cause their mission long before it became so prominent.”
The full list of people covered is as follows:
Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface Inc, one of TIME Magazine’s ‘Heroes of the Environment’
James Cameron, founder of Executive Director and Vice-Chairman of Climate Change Capita (CCC)
Paul Dickinson, CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project
John Elkington, founding partner and director of Volans, co-founder of SustainAbility, world authority of sustainable development, author of The Green Consumer Guide
John Grant, author of The Green Marketing Manifesto, frequent conference speaker and prolific blogger
Denis Hayes, President and CEO of The Bullitt Foundation, Chair of the International Earth Day Network
Gary Hirshberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s largest producer of organic yogurt
Tony Juniper, former Executive Director of Friends of the Earth (FoE), environmental campaigner, author and commentator
Professor Sir David King, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford
Amory B. Lovins, environmentalist, Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute
Professor Wangari Maathai, environmental and political activist, Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Ricardo Navarro, founder and director of the Salvadoran Centre for Appropriate Technology (CESTA), winner of the prestigious Goldman prize
Dr Vandana Shiva, physicist, environmental activist and author
Jeffrey Swartz , CEO of Timberland Worldwide
Sir Crispin Tickell, diplomat, academic, environmentalist, author