How Covid-19 is Changing the world (Apr20)
The Covid Crisis is sowing the seeds of division – young vs old, local vs incomers, poor vs rich etc. People are worried that we’ll never get ‘back to normal’ whilst others are wondering if that’s actually desirable. And, there’s also concern that the impacts of crashing the economy may even outweigh the terrible toll of the virus. However, there are positive initiatives too. I thought it would be interesting to look at some examples of what different organisations are thinking and doing…..
COVID 19 MAY BE THE BOILING FROG WE NEED (MAR20)
I remember referring to the boiling frogs analogy in speeches about 20 years ago. Some of you may remember that it was used by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth to help us understand why the world is not doing enough to avert calamitous climate change. If you put a frog into a pan of […]
Simply switching from plastics to other materials could actually increase carbon emissions. (Mar20)
This is the conclusion of a new report from the Green Alliance: Fixing the System – Why the circular economy for all materials is the only way to solve the plastic problem. One of the rather intriguing insights in this report is that plastics were invented to prevent the extinction of elephants! How so? At […]
Turning the Big Yellow green
I’ve just been appointed a board member of FTSE 250 company The Big Yellow Self Storage! I’ll be chairing the new Board Sustainability Committee and am looking forward to seeing how I can help turn The Big Yellow green… In 2007 I gave the key note speech at the Self Storage Association annual meeting. Had […]
Getting beds (Sep19)
I received an email last week giving me some shocking information about the number of mattresses that are discarded in the UK every year.
SMART METERS ARE SMART (Sep19)
My son, Monty, has worked out how we can save over £2,000 per annum on our energy bills – and smart meters are a key factor in the savings. Even more important than that smart meters will play a key role in a shift towards a renewable energy powered UK.. The critical factor in this […]
Going wild in Dorset (Sep19)
I’m tremendously excited about our new landscaping project… The central idea is wilding and I’m learning about what this means in practice. One concept I found rather appealing was to look at nettles and docks, which love fertile, agriculture land, as the bully boys. And we’re going to replace them with a myriad of other […]
McDonalds are wrong to switch to paper straws (Aug19)
I can’t count the number of times when I’ve said I don’t want a straw and the response has been – it’s OK because it’s paper…. It’s not. First, we have to challenge why straws are so commonly used. I suppose I have to acknowledge that there are some situations where it makes sense […]
Frightening floor paint may be greener than I thought…(Jul19)
I tried to order 10 litre pots, but was told that 5 litres would be more suitable. It wasn’t because I needed a small amount, but because the paint dries so quickly, that you don’t want to have too much ready at any one time. We got a small team together, with one chap opening […]
Butterflies love this meadow
A wonderful place near me. It’s full of wild flowers. Butterflies and bees love it. It also have far reaching views over Dorset countryside right the way to the sea on one side. Heaven… Trying to decide whether to create wildflower meadows at home. The benefits are clear. The downside is that it means killing […]
