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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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You are here: Home / Speaking / Exhibitions

Exhibitions

This is now historic, given that our role in organising exhibitions is largely a thing of the past. But, for the record, here are some we have been involved in:

JE Crystal 2

London’s Docklands now feature sustainability exhibition venues like the Siemens Crystal (above), a huge jump forward from the People’s Habitat event I was involved in organizing in Surrey Docks way back in 1976.

Probably the most effective I have been involved in was 1986’s ‘Green Designer‘ exhibition at the Design Centre. Writing the catalogue led me to raise the question whether the products featured (from NASA space-suits to Rolls-Royce key engines) would appeal to business and, critically, to what I dubbed the ‘Green Consumer’. And that led, a couple of years later, to The Green Consumer Guide.

Rather typically, though, I missed the high-profile launch of the Green Designer exhibition: I was travelling yet again, even then. Such events have been another way of getting our thinking and messages into the minds of ordinary citizens. If a chance to do another of these came along, I would jump at it, despite the extraordinary complexities involved in developing a good exhibition.

Here are some of the exhibitions and similar events we have been involved in:

1992

The Holiday Extravaganza
To launch the book Holiday’s That Don’t Cost the Earth.

1990

Britain’s Greenest School Competition
To build on the success of The Young Green Consumer Guide.

1989

Green Shopping Day
To reinforce the impact of The Green Consumer’s Supermarket Guide.

1989

The Kitchen that Cooks without Roasting the Planet
SustainAbility and Friends of the Earth, at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition.

1988

Green Consumer Week
To launch The Green Consumer Guide and associated campaigns.

Green Designer 2

Two globes, NASA spacesuit and an EcoSphere at the Green Designer exhibition

1986

The Green Designer 
Exhibition at the Design Council, London – the first time the ‘green consumer’ term, which I coined for the purpose, surfaced.

1976

People’s Habitat
Spread across London’s Surrey docks, this was a counter-blast to the UN Habitat Conference of the same year.

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From the Journal

Carey Coaker

19 March 2021

As part of an exchange with an American relation today, my brother Gray sent a photograph from when I was perhaps 6, or so. It shows my favourite grandmother, Isabel’s, second husband, Carey Coaker. He was a doctor. The place: Bilbao House, Dulverton, Somerset. Apparently, we were watching Gray being mounted on a horse, which […]

Frontiers

17 March 2021

For some years I have been contributing to the Frontier Report by our friends at Tokyo-based E-Square. If you speak Japanese, the latest column (sample above) is on the role of science fiction in expanding our horizons and rendering the sustainability agenda more intelligible. Must work out how to attach a PDF to a blog!

Green Swans Go Imperial

2 March 2021

Have been seriously remiss with posting here – not least because our world has gone slightly berserk. Part of that has been the sheer proliferation of virtual keynotes and podcasts I have been doing on the Green Swans story. For example, today I am doing keynotes in France, at the Audencia business school, and this […]

About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

Contact

john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

John Elkington

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