Eco-technologies at Home – Electric Green (Jun11)
This is a draft of article written for the FT – an edited edition was published in June 2011 – Eco Technologies at home – Electric Green. DRAFT ARTICLE Finding eco-technologies that have really good eco-credentials is harder than you might think. For example, I’m a bit cynical about bamboo mice for your computer and […]
Green Mobile Company Lives and Dies – C Mobile (Jun11)
C Mobile promised a greener approach to using your mobile phone. Their idea was to give a proportion of their profits to community renewable energy projects, to minimise waste, offer re-conditioned hand-sets and recycle phones wherever possible. Unfortunately they both launched and folded in 2010 and 2011 – they weren’t able to keep up with the big […]
P & G 4th Expert Baby Care Advisory Group (Jun11)
I’ve sat on P&G’s Expert Advisory Panel for Babycare since is started a few years ago. The fourth meeting was held in June in Geneva and had several new participants. Most interesting to me was the new focus of looking at nappies and baby care in developing countries. Also the innovations that are coming through. […]
EDF Energy – Somerset Green Schools (Jun11)
There were five finalists in ¶EDF’s Somerset Green Schools Challenge. And prize money of £15,000 to be shared depending on what the judges considered to be the best project. Crispin School from Street were well deserved winners of £10,000 – they’d really thought about the issues and had them costed out too. Fellow ‘dragons’ or judges […]
Project Dirt – Timberland Earthkeepers Competition (Jun11)
It’s the second year of the Timberland Earthkeepers competition for community projects – and I’ve been a judge both times. From bee-keeping to fruit growing, from river cleaning to local markets, the over-riding theme is that lots of people are involved on a voluntary basis. Project Dirt pull it all together but also work throughout the year […]
Futerra Sustainability Communications (Jun11)
I went to give a presentation to the team at Futerra. It made me reflect on the early years of SustainAbility – the organisations are remarkably similar. And the most surprising similarity of all was that we both came up with the same core objectives. When we set up SustainAbility, in the late 1980s, John Elkington and I described these as […]
Qualms about gold teeth…. (May11)
I’ve already got one gold crown and it looks like I’m due for some more. My worry is that I don’t think they’re the best environmental option – I’m actually rather anti-gold on eco grounds. Gold mining is one fo the dirtiest industry around, commonly using cyanide, arsenic and mercury. And the process is hugely […]
Incredible Edible was amazing (May11)
They’ve planted corn on the cob outside the police station. They’re lettuces in rose beds. And tomatoes on waste land. There’s even vegetables planted by school children in the graveyard. Incredible Edible, based in Todmorden is guerilla gardening at its best. The station master loved broccoli, so when he died, they planted broccoli all around the […]
Eco-scrutiny of my Eco-renovation
My London flat must be the most rigorously scrutinised property on the planet – in terms of its eco-performance. I’ve spent the last few months researching and specifying what eco-renovations are to be done – with help from green architect Jerry Tate. But this week, just before submitting an extensive tender document to builders, I […]
Oglivy Earth (Apr11)
OgilvyEarth, O&M’s global sustainability practice, has been named one of the world’s top agencies offering “genuine expertise in sustainability communications,” I’ve started working with them on an ad hoc basis. The first project was with Ogivly Earth US with advice on Siemens.