Visiting the rainforests might save them! (Mar25)
I’m not someone who buries their head in the sand—or in this case, the trees—but I can’t stand to hear about the world’s forests being obliterated. Especially the rainforests. They are beautiful, wild, untamed, brimming with life in a way that no human creation could ever be. And yet, we treat them like an infinite […]
The Pantanal changed my life (Nov24)
Have you ever been to the Pantanal in Brazil? I have. It was spectacular. But it was also life-changing. It was 1983. I stood gazing over a magnificent rainforest stretching into the distance overwhelmed by how wonderful it was. I’m not religious at all but for me, this was spiritual. But then I heard the […]
Where the Rainforest Meets the Sea (Apr22)
It felt magical. We walked through the thick tangled forest and yet only meters away were the waves crashing onshore and brightly coloured crabs scuttling into their holes. We were watching monkeys swinging through the trees – there are four species indigenous to the Osa Peninsula in the South West corner of Costa Rica. We […]
Pura Vida Costa Rica (Apr22)
Having successfully navigated a rapid as we rafted away from Pacuare Lodge in Central Costa Rica, we put our oars together and joined our guide in a celebratory shout of ‘Pura Vida’. Literally the pure or natural life. Leaving the lodge, we started the trip in a relatively narrow gorge, the rocks on either side […]
TV Clips tropical hardwoods and destruction of the rainforests – Julia Hailes 1989/90.
If there was ever a moment when I decided to dedicate my life to the environment, it was witnessing the forests being destroyed in the Mato Grosso in Brazil. I could see dense forest stretching for miles into the distance and then shockingly heard the sound of chain saws. Here are a few clips of […]
Eco-Sheets – Using Recycled Plastics (Jan11)
In January 2011 I took my son Connor (far right in picture) to see the Eco Sheet factory. Melinda Watson from the Raw Foundation came too (pictured far left) – and Amanda Barry-Hirst from Greenhouse PR. Omer Kutluoglu, one of the founders showed us around. They’re making brilliant use of recycled mixed plastics – turning them into […]
My goldfish died along with Labour – Here’s my coalition manifesto (May10)
Zac Goldsmith, formerly editor of the Ecologist, gets elected in Richmond Chris Huhne – New Minster for Energy and Environment Caroline Lucas – the first Green MP in the UK My goldfish died in the night. I’ve posthumously named him ‘Gordon’. It seems rather propitious that their floundering exit coincided. And […]
Battling for recycling (Oct07)
When I agreed to oppose the motion that ‘Recycling is a waste of time’ it didn’t occur to me that most of the audience would be actively hostile to my position. Set up by the Institute of Ideas, the Battle of Ideas was a whole weekend of debates covering topics as diverse as ‘What’s the […]
Save the rainforests (Jun07)
South American travels Cool Earth has really hit the news this week. So much so that when I went to look at their website it had crashed from too much interest. To me that’s really good news (the popularity of the site rather than the technical problems) because the main aim of Cool Earth is […]
Prince Charles talking to trees (Jul07)
I was sitting just behind Prince Charles and Al Gore at the Business in the Community Awards dinner and wondered whether my image would be appearing in newspapers as a hazy blur over their shoulders. But I had a clear view of how Prince Charles reacted to Rory Bremner’s impersonations. The one that particularly amused […]
A McDonald’s experience (Apr07)
I thought I’d do a bit of comparison on fuel efficiency between the UK and the US. Went to Heathrow in an 8-seater vehicle – it was on its way to collect a large group. But at 36mpg even that was less thirsty than the flashy black Lincoln that collected me from Chicago’s O’Hare airport […]
A few hours in Naples (Mar07)
Should I even admit to flying to Naples for a stint of no more than 3 hours? Perhaps even more heretical was that I went to make a presentation to the European Management team at McDonalds. This is a company I haven’t been very fond of in the past – they tried to get the […]