Journal

When I switched from economics to sociology at university in 1968, Peter Townsend was one of my professors – and had quite an impact on my sensibilities.  Sad to see his obituary today in The Times when I got back from Aberdeen.

Shocked to see the graphic illustration of the precipitous collapse of spawning cod stocks in the North Sea in the Financial Times Magazine for June 6-7, which had been hanging around in a stack of unread magazines due to my recent travel.  One of the triggers for the piece was the new film, The End of the Line: Imagine a Worth Without Fish.  Linked to Charles Clover’s book of the same name.

Flew up to Aberdeen this morning, to join some colleagues from IMSA – including one who was part of the Greenpeace boarding party on the Brent Spar – to talk to people in the oil and gas platform decommissioning business.  The project, the ‘Living North Sea Initiative’, is still under wraps, but has great potential at a time when the North Sea seems to be in continuing decline, despite a spate of government-sponsored efforts to turn the tide.

Hotel Bellechasse 1 Hotel Bellechasse, in the lift

A fairly energetic day in Paris, where I arrived last night, staying again at the Hotel Bellechasse. Then around the corner to an advisory board meeting with EcoVadis, before heading across after lunch to UNESCO for a meeting with Liz Longworth and colleagues. Delighted to see such things as a Calder mobile outside and a large photograph of a whaleshark in the lobby. Jonah Goldstein also took me to see the Picasso mural, which he noted hadn’t been signed by the artist – I said I wasn’t surprised, the painting didn’t strike me as that wonderful. But then I spotted the central figure as we rounded a pillar – and exclaimed that, given my interest in flight and Homo volans, this was perfect, a falling angel. Icarus, Jonah explained.

Remarkable clouds on the way back to London by Eurostar, which I’m spending more time studying now that Elaine has joined us both up for the Cloud Appreciation Society.

Amputee, as I walk garden before EcoVadis meeting Facade Curtain in meeting room Whale shark at UNESCO Calder mobile Kalashnikov as praying mantis

Back from Brazil this morning, finding it hard to forget the fate of AF447 – particularly when the flight out on Monday night hit quite an air pocket part-way out.  Was speaking at the Ethanol Summit 2009, in São Paulo.  Missed Bill Clinton’s speech, sadly, but enjoyed my panel with Lord (John) Browne (previously BP) and José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevado, President of Petrobras.  Recently wrote a letter to the Harvard Business Review in the wake of an HBR article by Gabrielli on the ‘greening’ of the giant Brazilian oil company.  There’s no doubt that progress has been made, but the company’s recent behaviour in its spat with Instituto Ethos, where I sit on the International Board, has been disturbing.

I took the photo above during a dinner hosted by UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, at a wonderful restaurant called Figueira Rubaiyat, where the area in which we sat was built around this utterly astonishing fig tree, well over 100 years old, and the size of a pod of whales. I had bacalhau, salt cod, which was served in a sizzling cauldron and was utterly delicious.

Among the companies I spoke to during the event was Braskem, which is working on a range of ‘green’ polymers, including polyethylene.  Shown in the photos are a green version of Monopoly which they have been selling through Wal-Mart, where all the pieces are made of green polymers made from ethanol.

Finished off Philip Kerr’s stunning novel A Quiet Flame on the flight back, and ended up concluding that Argentina should have been given a free pass to miss the 20th century altogether. What an utter monster Perón was.

Leonora Novaes of Braskem with their green Monopoly game The board Pieces

Shadow shot

A slight double-take when an EDF promotional flyer came through the letterbox this morning, shown above right. Given that 17 books – including 1984’s Sun Traps: The Renewable Energy Revolution (Pelican Books) – and SustainAbility were all conceived and incubated in our smallish Barnes home, I have sometimes thought of putting a green plaque on the back wall of the house, to commemorate all the people who have been part of the extraordinary journey. Will certainly give EDF a call, but unsure whether we’ll get to the point of installing solar panels just yet. Builders have been a constant here over the decades – and Elaine is always nervous about giving them another foothold in our lives.