Search Results for: Tim elkington

I have never much liked the idea of fan clubs, but it’s a little different when you attract elements of your own. The launch of Green Swans on 7 April triggered an extraordinary groundswell of good will and enthusiasm, with abundant commentary on social media and a growing number of major media channels covering the book.

Here is a screenshot of the Financial Times review, pairing the book with Rebecca Henderson’s impending book, Reimagining Capitalism. The first time that I have been described as an “elder statesman” of the sustainability field …

Other mainstream media coverage has included pieces by Forbes and Reuters, with last week also seeing publication of a short piece by Board Intelligence. among the coverage on GreenBiz was this write-up by Shane Downing of an interview I did with GreenBiz Editor-in-Chief Joel Makower. Articles by me on related themes have appeared in places like the BMW Foundation’s TwentyThirty platform, Ethical Corporation, GreenBiz and Sustainable Brands.

Working with Louise Kjellerup Roper’s son Noah, I also created a map of the “Green Swan World Tour” to date, which has been posted on the Green Swans page of the Volans website. It plots activities from California to Japan, from Norway to South Africa, and from Australia to the United Arab Emirates.

In fact, recent weeks have been a blizzard of podcasts and webcasts and webinars and the like. Here are a few of the events:

We have also launched a Green Swans Bookclub via Goodreads, where I did the first one and Denise Hearn the second, that one focusing on her book The Myth of Capitalism.

The reactions on Green Swans have been pretty much uniformly positive to date – but why the sense of the fan club dynamic? Well, it’s because of the photos people have been posting of the book in the context of their own lives, as in the following:

By no means finally, we soft-launched our new Green Swan Observatory in my keynote for the Catapult Cloud event hosted from Oslo on 19 May. The idea is to scout for, analyse and support emergent Green Swan trajectories around the world. The next stepping stone will be my webinar in Tokyo (see below, though again done from our front study in Barnes) on 5 June, World Environment Day 2020.

Well, they have almost certainly been there for a while, but today is the first time I have noticed the extraordinary proliferation of Asian clams in the River Thames as we walked along the Barnes foreshore.

Elaine and I had walked around the Leg ‘O Mutton reservoir, only to find ourselves, as is our habit, going counter-clockwise – when everyone else had read the signs and were going clockwise, to ensure social distancing. So I guided Elaine down some seriously slimy steps onto the foreshore – which is where I spotted the clams, both alive and dead.

Initially, I took them for good news, thinking any proliferation of life must be good. Then I looked them up. Something of an ecological and industrial nightmare. Gaia suggested clam chowder later in the day, but eating filter feeders direct from the Thames hardly seems like an entirely sensible idea …

In an op-ed in Scotland’s The Herald today, here’s what Scottish Environmental Protection Agency CEO Terry A’Hearn had to say about our work together:

In 1994, business sustainability leader John Elkington coined the phrase the ‘triple bottom line’ of people, planet and profit. Despite it entering the business lexicon, twenty-five years later Elkington wrote an article in Harvard Business Review announcing a ‘product recall’ of his triple bottom line concept.
 
The concept had become popular. It had helped bring environmental and social issues into boardroom deliberations. It sparked a series of actions by many businesses to improve their environmental performance and contribute to enhanced social outcomes.

Elkington had hoped it would help fundamentally change our economies. It helped us step forward, but not jump ahead. It led to improvements, but not transformation. Elkington had that rare vision to call time on an idea that had been successful, but needed replacing by something new.

Last year, Elkington and his team at Volans launched its ‘Tomorrow’s Capitalism’ inquiry. Alongside global companies such as Unilever, Aviva Investors, Covestro and The Body Shop, SEPA is participating as the only regulatory agency invited to join the project. We are bringing some of Scotland’s innovation into the project and learning with others as we debate and, importantly, test practical ways of creating the future economy and society that will serve us all well.

Last week, the Scottish Government announced an Economic Recovery Action Group. In doing so, the First Minster said “its role will be to advise government on actions to support economic recovery. And crucially it will consider how these actions can contribute to our aim of building a fairer, and a greener, and a more equal society as well.” 

SEPA will contribute our ideas from our One Planet Prosperity work with our partners in Scotland and from our participation in Volans’ Tomorrow’s Capitalism inquiry.

As we take a moment to reflect on this 50th Earth Day, it’s clear that the next period can’t be an alibi for inaction. The future is not what it was going to be. As Scotland’s environmental regulator, we will maintain our twin focus: regulating in a way that helps Scotland get through this public health emergency and regulating in a way that helps builds an even better, more inclusive and sustainable Scotland.

Delighted to see the wonderful Rakesprogress magazine featuring this shot of a long-time family friend, Marina Ritschel (Instagram: @marinaritschel). The theme: ‘Spring Awakening’. The flowers were chosen and styled by our eldest daughter, Gaia Eros (Instagram: @stormandgraceflowers).

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Ultimately, despite the disruption – and ultimately truncation – of the trip, we had a fantastic time. Our guides – Jeremy Paterson, George Terezakis and Bianca de Klein – were outstanding, constantly adapting in real time to the developing coronavirus crisis. We benefitted hugely from their knowledge both of the history of Ancient Greece and their intimate connections with today’s Greece.

Doors were opened that otherwise have been closed. And the Travel Editions team back in the UK sorted out our flights back to a London increasingly teetering on the edge of lock-down. We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude.

We also enjoyed ongoing conversations with a number of the other members of the group, though I’m very far from being a group person. On the ground, I’m typically far ahead, far behind or flanking any group. Scouting, I suppose. That’s how I see things that others miss, like the spray of bee-eaters launching almost from beneath my feet in the ruins of Dura Europa, Syria, and gliding down over the Euphrates.

Can’t wait to go to Greece again, including places we didn’t get to like Mystras and Sparta. But, first, notes on a few final stops we made along the way.

First, Mycenae. I think I first came across the Mycenians in my teens, through their role in the Trojan War. No way were we getting inside the fabled walls on this trip, with COVID-19 stalking the land, but we did have a wonderful prowl around the battlecruiser-shaped hulk of the ruined citadel, with a powerful wind thumping all around – and a fitful sun alternately shadowing and spotlighting the battlecruiser.