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 […]
Dale Vince trounces Nigel Farage in debate about renewables (Mar22)
If you want to understand why investing in renewables makes sense listen to this. Nigel Farage interviews Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, who calming and effectively explains why Nigel’s perspective is ill-informed and wrong. Some of the highlights for me are below – this is more or less what was said: Landowners getting rich NF: […]
My Manifesto for COP26 and beyond(Oct21)
I’m delighted that Cop26 is getting a lot of attention. I think it’s great that young people – with Greta leading the charge – are voicing their anger at what’s happening to the climate. It’s incredibly positive that more and more businesses around the world are trying to make meaningful changes. Not so good is […]
Too many boardrooms are climate incompetent (Feb21)
Very interested to see this FT article lamenting the lack of directors with expertise in climate and ESG issues. I am proud of what I managed to achieve during my short tenure as a NED at Big Yellow. This was not done simply by suggesting a Net Zero target by a certain date, but by backing […]
Scorched earth in Sicily (Oct20)
What a beautiful time of year to come to this island perched on Italy’s toe. We were lucky to have clear blue skies and the trees were turning gold. One of the most striking things about the island is the number of wind turbines on nearly every horizon. I rather like them both visually and […]
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 […]
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 […]
Behind the Scenes in Paradise (Feb17)
I’m hoping that my eco-footprint, on our luxury holiday staying at the Six Senses Hotel, Zil Payson, in the Seychelles – is considerably less than other guests! How so? It comes mainly from my aversion to air conditioning. Our residence was one of 30 beautiful villas nestled in the hills and rocks of Felicite Island. We […]
My Blog Returns Again… (Oct16)
My blog life has been rather quiet for a long time. There may be some people who have been checking my Blogspot and getting fed up with looking at Lidl lobsters, which was my last post or a photo of me getting married saying that my blog is coming alive again?! Hopefully, it […]
Biomimicry – sustainable solutions (Sept12)
I’m a great fan of Michael Pawlyn – from Exploration Architecture. I love his ideas and thinking. And so was keen to attend his Lignacite lecture at the Royal College of Physicians. Michael’s key theme is ‘biomimicry’ and his most recent book is ‘Biomimicry in Architecture‘ . And his speech was full of examples of […]
How efficient are energy efficiency schemes? (Jun12)
I wrote this article in June 2012 but am only posting it on my blog on 1st October, in advance of the introduction of the Green Deal. It seems that this government initiative is not being welcomed with open arms – I’m not surprised. I think that there’s ample room for improvement with Energy […]
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 […]