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 […]
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.
Sealed Air Conference in Paris (Sep18)
“Your speech was very well received by the audience and you definitely challenged us to think differently about the challenges ahead of us. Of the speakers, you came out top in terms of appreciation and relevance.” Stephanie Poole, Senior Marketing Manager, EMEA – Convenience Foods and VPP Food Care
I’ve bought an eco-duvet (aug18)
It comes from the Fine Bedding Company. It is made of 100% post-consumer waste.
Tessa Tennant started ethical investment… (Jun18)
Last night I went to a celebration for Tessa Tennant’s Lifetime Achievement Award. It was the first award of its kind, set up as part of the FT IFC suite of Transformational Business Awards – and hereafter it will be named after Tessa. She was being recognised for 30 years of trailblazing in green investment. What […]
Speech disaster to Bathroom Manufacturers… (Oct16)
My speech went down the plug hole! I spent ages preparing my speech. Had an inspirational idea on how to pull it together. And, I thought it was pretty good on the day! But apparently the audience – at least most of them – were not so impressed. And the Bathroom Manufacturer’s Association – the […]
Shipping needs to be greener…(Aug16)
When I was in Hong Kong, I was horrified by the smog shrouding the city. It could be a sunny day but the sky was barely visible. Some of this, at least, came from the diesel powered ships criss crossing the harbour. I read a very illuminating article from the Guardian which illustrates hows slow […]
Challenging Sainsbury’s on environmental standards (Feb13)
Justin King, CEO of Sainsburys I wrote the blog below for the Food Ethics Council before the horse meat scandal blew up. I think it’s even more relevant now. When I challenged Justin King, CEO of Sainsbury’s about not applying the same environmental standards across all the products sold through his stores, he replied that […]
Speaking in Istanbul (Oct12)
My second speaking engagement in Istanbul. I was invited to speak at Green Business Turkey 2012. The brilliant thing about this is that the event showed that many Turkish businesses are showing a real interest in sustainability issues. With over 500 delegates it was an ambitious event, aiming to help the audience understand what environmental […]
Second Nature Advisory Board (Oct12)
I sit on the Advisory board of Second Nature – their mission is making sustainability ‘second nature’ for the organisations they work with. Charles Perry and Mark Griffiths are the company’s founders – and they have a lot of experience between them, with particular emphasis on business strategy and expertise in energy, built-environment, clean tech […]