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 […]
Becoming a Superhome (Apr11)
I’m trying to make my flat a SuperHome – a network of exemplar, old dwellings which have undergone an energy-efficiency retrofit. This means I have to improve its energy efficiency by over 60%. I’ve had the initial assessment done to show the starting point. It looks like I’ll be close to the mark when it’s finished but […]
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.
Eco-building expansion (Mar11)
When Ecobuild started 5 years ago less than 200 people attended. This year they were expecting 50,000 but over 80,000 had registered before the event had even started. I’m not sure how many actually came over the 3 days, but getting there felt like being on one of those Japanese commuter trains, where they pack […]
Waste Watch Big Green Society Conference (Mar11)
I’m chairing a morning session looking at the role of government, business and education in promoting the Big Green Society.
The E-Waste Campaign (Mar11)
I’m working with Melinda Watson from the Raw Foundation to set up an E-Waste campaign. The WEEE man, whose head is in the photo on the left illustrates the amount of waste one person will throw away in a lifetime. WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. But the WEEE man was made about a decade ago, so if another one […]
Articles for the Financial Times (Mar11 & Jun11)
I’ve started writing for FT House & Home. My first article, co-written with Fiona Harvey in March 2011 was about Feed in Tariffs – Enlightened Energy. The second one was on Eco-technologies at home – Electric Green. It was published in June 2011. Future articles will include one on eco-renovating my London flat.
Chilling Facts about supermarket refrigeration and cooling systems (Mar11)
The Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA) Chilling Facts campaign began in 2008. Since then – it’s now in its third year – we have seen significant progress by UK supermarkets in reducing the global warming impact of their refrigeration and cooling systems. I helped to get the campaign up and running and have been a judge ever […]
Geo Mission – Environmental Sponsorship (Mar11)
I first met Pen Hadow when we were fellow judges for Morgan Stanley’s Great Britons 2004. Since then Pen has been on a few more polar expeditions and more recently he’s set up Geo Mission – a company promoting environmental sponsorship. I gave an interview for their magazine about why companies should be ‘doing more good, rather than less […]
