John Elkington Journal

Breakfast with Arsenal

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 23:18:00 GMT

The Emirates Stadium

Up at some unconscionable hour to trek across London to see Arsenal Football Club, starting with breakfast with Ivan Gazidis, their Chief Executive, and Svenja Geissmar, now their General Counsel. Then a session with their Board. Found myself much more interested than I had imagined I might be. Odd to be in a boardroom and Chief Executive's office that had been moved in their wood-panelled entirety from another site - reminded me a little of the recent party in San Francisco with the house into which the owners had inserted a reasonable facsimile of a British pub. Then back to Bloomsbury Place to work on various writing projects and a couple of slide presentations, with the occasional telecon with people like Jeroo Billimoria of Aflatoun.... more >

Ocado Graveyard

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 21:25:00 GMT

Mislaid Ocado van

Elephant graveyards - and now Ocado van graveyards, apparently. Seen on our way back from Barnes bookshop - and dropping off Amelia at the video store, the film of Amelia Earhart's life that attracted highly critical reviews, but which I have to say I rather enjoyed. Hilary Swank was the spitting image. ... more >

Back to Neal's Yard

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 23:03:00 GMT

UEA advance guard

UEA 2

Neal's Yard 1

Neal's Yard 2

Lively start to the day with a group of 15 or so MSc students in branding from University of East Anglia, brought in by Robert Jones of Wolff Olins. Later in the day, Sam kindly walked me across to SustainAbility for a Board meeting - and then came and picked me up for the walk across to Neal's Yard in Covent Garden, for a visit to the osteopath. Afterwards, Sam gave me a couple of bottles of mandarin and frankincense oils, which are meant to be delightfully relaxing and sedative. Can't wait. Then back for a telecon with SAP, which was fascinating - part of the GRI project.

This Damned Cough

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 23:49:00 GMT

Dog leash hook outside Barnes chemist

2BP snowdrops

One way through the orchid

And another

A fraughtish week, with back pains - bravely tackled by a couple of osteopaths by the name of Ron - and the bronchitis I have been nursing through six flights in the past couple of weeks. Still, this morning I collected a course of antibiotics from the chemist - and was somewhat shocked to find that I don't have to pay for medicines now I am over 60. ... more >

Looking for TIGERS ...

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 22:39:00 GMT

British Museum lion

We were actually looking for TIGERS: Nelmara, Maggie, Amy

Very productive day, with white-board and flipcharts, at 2 Bloomsbury Place, with Nelmara Arbex and Maggie Lee of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), working on the new report. For lunch, we ducked across to the British Museum. After a morning spent discussing TIGERS, of which more anon, all we found were endless lions, Imperial and otherwise.... more >

Nice photo of Patrin

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:45:00 GMT

Patrin at the Habor Court Hotel

Recharged

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:06:00 GMT

Ian (Keay) and I at the Birch-hosted party

According to a sample of Oli Barrett's photos, a good time was had by all

Patrin and I - and a book for the flight

Just back from US: my flight from SFO was significantly delayed by a crashing downpour as we were about to take off, then we took a while to get into JFK, probably because snow was slowing things down, so until the last moment I was convinced I would miss my connection - but didn't. Read two books on the way across: David Siegel's Pull and Chip and Dan Heath's Switch, plus the latest editions of Fast Company and Wired. All feeding the ferment in my mind.... more >

The Penultimate Day

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:31:00 GMT

Skateboarders, last night

Nick Parker in full flow

Propellor outside 100 Spear, 1

Propellor, 2

Illumination, British Consulate

UK Trade & Investment Minis

Jennifer (Biringer) Patrin (Watanatada) and I

Wattson - offered by DIY Kyoto, one of the Mission's 19 UK cleantech firms

James (Lawn), Jaclyn (Mason), Oli (Barrett) and Bronwyn (Kunhardt)

First full day of the Cleantech Forum, which provided a huge amount nof grist for the six columns I have to write on Sunday - on which more anon. In the evening, we made our way across to the British Consulate for a wonderful reception to mark the ending of the Clean & Cool Mission, with participants radiantly happy about the collective adventure we have been on this past week.... more >

From A to B - and on to C

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:19:00 GMT

Edie Lush with aircraft engine

Ferry Building through an Autodesk concoction

Form

Sculpture - designed on Autodesk, carved by hand

Surfboard design

Climbing axes

Tail light

Concept car

Part of a motorbike

3-D print-out views another print-out, quizzically

Rapid prototyping via 3-D printing of solid objects

Seeing is believing - almost

Puddle outside

Historic slot machine, showing something a bit like the Donner Party

Jolly Jack Tar, reminding me slightly of Ronald Reagan

WWII sub

The day started at Autodesk, where we were completely seduced by the Gallery of objects that have been made using their software and programs. Like HP Labs and Serious Materials on the first day, Arup last night or the City Hall and Better Place teams we met today, it seems that these people use sustainability in almost every paragraph they speak. The City Hall people, thanks to the overarching vision of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who Elaine and I met some years back while tramping around a snowy Davos. ... more >

A Glass Eye in San Francisco

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:47:00 GMT

Sculpture in front of building where we brunched on the 39th floor

Coit Tower and Bank of America building, head in cloud

Bay Bridge, in rain

Bay Bridge 2

Picture in my room - and Bay Bridge reflected

Self-portrait, in Harbor Court Hotel room

Bay Bridge from my window

Lemons at Will Rosenzweig's house

Morning sun

Reflection and artwork at Orrick

Serious Materials machinery on a roll

Serious Materials helmets

Waiting for the bus

Getting that last, perfect shot

Bird cage, Outer Broadway/Gold Coast

Artwork, Outer Broadway/Gold Coast

Vantage point, Outer Broadway/Gold Coast

Golden Gate from Outer Broadway/Gold Coast verandah

In Arup's SoundLab

Green Cities Event in San Francisco

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:15:00 GMT

The Clean & Cool Mission to San Francisco is going very well, though I'm finding my frequent flights of recent days have hammered whatever it was that I got a week-and-a-half ago down into my lungs. Still, I managed not to collapse into paroxysms of coughing during the Green Cities event last night. Great to see Tim Brown of IDEO, one of the other panellists - and a member of the Volans Advisory Board. ... more >

Flying - and Fluing - into Amsterdam

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:24:00 GMT

Ignasi and Ernst

Simon Longstaff's hat

Preparing for shoot

Joris

Nelmara's office 1

Nelmara's office 2

Am tapping away in the kitchen, with Monty Don on TV demonstrating a threshing machine which reminds me to some degree of thresher that was such a key feature of my younger days on a farm in Northern Ireland, and recalling the past two days in Amsterdam with the Board of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Have been struggling with flu for much of the time, despite the flu jab I had late last year. Luckily, several other people had the same problem, and, better still, the meeting ended early, so instead of flying back after 21.00, I got on a BMI flight around 15.35--though we had to stand in line to check in for over an hour, which with my damaged back had me swearing never to fly BMI again. Getting ready to fly to San Francisco tomorrow.... more >

The Lancaster

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:32:00 GMT

One of the more dramatic mornings of my childhood in Northern Ireland was going some time in the mid-1950s to see the Shackleton that my father had crash-landed at RAF Ballykelly. My main memory is of the scorch marks underneath the fuselage and the propellers bent way back. What I didn't know at the time, but know now after finishing Leo McKinstry's book Lancaster: The Second World War's Greatest Bomber today, is that the Shackleton, once described as "a thousand rivets flying in close formation", was a direct descendant of the Lancaster.... more >

Man on Fire Underwater

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:51:00 GMT

Man on Fire, by Jason de Caires Taylor

I love the thinking behind Man on Fire, one of the first three submarine sculptures installed off the coast of Cancun, Mexico. Made out of marine cement and fibreglass by artist Jason de Caires Taylor, the figure weighs more than a tonne and is implanted with live corals, so that it blooms in fiery red and yellow--and, adding to the effect, the figure's coating of corals will sting. Ouch, but makes me wish I was a diver.... more >

Spitfires of the Sea

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:11:00 GMT

Photo: PA

One of the more memorable afternoons of my young life was being rocketed out to sea from Plymouth in a sea rescue launch, powered by aircraft engines, when my father, Tim, was involved in air-sea rescue. I became more aware of the intense battle fought across the Channel by MTBs and E-boats thanks to the wartime involvement of Sir Peter Scott, who I first came across as a judge when I was going for a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship in 1981.... more >

Going Back

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:59:00 GMT

As I travelled in this morning on a packed-to-the-gills Tube train, for the first of a 2-day strategy away day session for Volans, my back gave out - so that rather than racing off for (what would have been) a surprise day with Innovation Arts, I ended up flat on the floor. Sam then taxied me off to Ale's osteopath in North London, during whose kind ministrations my spine gave off a sound like a pistol shot - at least in my head. Something tells me that having sat in front of computers for some 30 years hasn't served my poor back well. But am I likely to change? Well, I'm trying to sit up straight for the moment ...... more >

Caroline Prepares for Summer Exhibition

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 21:46:00 GMT

Park bench, Barnes

Summer Storm

Have long loved and collected my sister Caroline's paintings, but two of the latest - painted for an exhibition in Dulwich - simply took my breath away. The first is based on a photograph I took one evening as I worked home from work by Barnes Pond, just after a downpour, but has been elaborated with detailing that appeals to my deep love of the weirder sides of stained glass. The exhibition will be held on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th May, as part of the Dulwich Artists' Open House Festival. The address: 4 Beauval Road, Dulwich, SE22 8UQ. More paintings here. ... more >

Clean & Cool Mission on YouTube

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 18:41:00 GMT

Later this month, I'm involved in a Study Mission to California and Silicon Valley, with 20 entrepreneurs and/or CEOs of leading UK cleantech companies. A filmed interview of principals of the three supporting organisations - Polecat, the UK Technology Strategy Board and Volans - is now available on YouTube, here.... more >

CAM Ships Remembered

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 19:33:00 GMT

Tim on CAM ship, 1942 - with whistle

I intercepted the following email from Tim, my father, to a Polish WWII historian a couple of days ago - and was interested by the glimpse that it gave into one of the less-known aspects of the RAF's history at the time, the CAM ships, or Catapult Aircraft Merchant ships.

"It was 1942. We had only recently returned from Vaenga in Northern Russia, where we left our Hurricane IIBs for the Russians, and were enjoying the conversion to Spitfire VBs in Northern Ireland. Then, to spoil the euphoria, I was posted to MSFU, the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit at RAF Speke, which provided the pilots for the CAM Ships. And so back to old Hurricane Is, modified to Sea Hurricanes by the addition of lugs for catapult connection.... more >

Tellus Mater Award

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 18:28:00 GMT

Volans has won a major grant from the Tellus Mater Foundation to help fund our Pathways to Scale work, led by Alejandro Litovsky. The support goes to our work on ecosystem services through 2010.... more >