Food waste for fuel in London and beyond… (May09)
I had an early start to get to London for the start of a workshop on AD – anaerobic digestion. It might be a bit weird but it’s a subject I’m rather passionate about. AD is essentially like composting in an enclosed system. It can be used to treat food waste, farm waste, sewage sludge […]
Plugs, insurance, credit crunch, beetles and lunch (Jan09)
Last week was busy. I flew from meeting to meeting. Not literally I hasten to add – they were mostly in London. I started with a meeting about insurance – I’m not a great fan of the industry. They’re so inefficient and bureaucratic. Talk about excessive paper production. I was talking to Adam Clutterbuck. […]
Great Briton’s of 2007 Award (Jan08)
I really appreciate ‘can do’ people and you can’t get much more ‘can do’ than Tim Smit (see photo), founder of the Eden Project – and the Lost Gardens of Heligan. So I was rather delighted to be on the judging panel that selected him for the short-list of three for the Environment section of […]
M&S Plan A – 1 year on (Jan08)
One year ago I went to the launch of Mark’s & Spencer’s Plan A initiative – and last week I went to hear how it was progressing. M&S say that it’s Plan A because there is no Plan B. And they do seem committed. Stuart Rose ruefully forecast a difficult year for the store but […]
Getting into the swim (Sep07)
Last year I didn’t have a proper holiday – a couple of days camping in the rain in Cornwall. In fact I can’t remember when I last had a holiday in the sun. So this year’s family trip to stay with friends in the South of France was really exciting – the first week in […]
Hay on Wye Festival – China & droughts (Jun07)
The China Question When I wrote the original Green Consumer Guide there was one question I was unfailingly asked by journalists. It was ‘if there’s one thing that you can do to save the world what would it be?’ Answer that in a sound bite without sounding trivial… Of course there isn’t just one thing […]
Shops and Shopping Centres (May07)
‘I don’t think I’m going to be very popular with this audience’, I admitted, at the start of my speech to the property retail sector (people who develop shops and shopping centres) at Claridges. ‘I don’t buy much stuff’ I continued, ‘and what I do buy I generally purchase through internet shopping’. What I realise […]
Easter holidays (Apr07)
Juggling Easter holidays with work commitments is a lot easier with an au pair! Alex is Australian and only with me until mid June but she’s wonderful. Had lunch last week with Arthur Llewellyn (www.hfhmanagement.co.uk), who worked with Green Spirit fuels until December last year, promoting bio-ethanol. He introduced me to a nearby pub, the […]
National Trust Question Time on Climate Change (Mar07)
Arriving at the Royal Geographic Society early turned out to be a good thing. I was able to participate in discussions about topics covered in the Question Time style debate ahead of time – and meet a number of people from the National Trust who were involved in organising the event. Talked to Fiona Reynolds, […]
Outside Brussels with P&G (Mar07)
An early start to Bristol airport – dawn arrived as we drove through the outer environs of Cheddar gorge. But weather – I assume fog – delayed my flight to Brussels. Whilst sitting on the floor playing with my upgraded mobile phone (it even has a pedometer), I was greeted by Archie Montgomerie, who I’ve […]