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Journal entries prior to May 2008 can be found in the old archived site here

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Unburnable Carbon 2013
Latest report from Carbon Tracker

Atrium at Bloomberg's HQ

Unparalleled stairway

Flowers

Crossbow among the wine bottles

A version of Diana Rigg as Emma Peel

Wire shoe on the way out

Made my way across to Bloomberg's HQ this evening with Amanda (Feldman) for the launch of Carbon Tracker's fascinating new report, Unburnable Carbon 2013. Lively kick-off from Lord Stern, followed by speakers, panel and vigorous discussion. One of the most exciting initiatives I know of.... more >

Dinner at the Palace
An evening with my favourite Archbishop

Roof of the old guards' hall

Sculpture

Sculpture from another angle

Archbishop in his chapel

Outside view 1

Outside view 2

Westminster Bridge northwards

Westminster Bridge, southwards

One of the nicest evenings I have had for ages, when towards 20 of us went to Lambeth Palace for a dinner in honour of Karina Litvack, hosted by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. He chairs the F&C Committee of Reference, where I have been a member for several years. ... more >

Gold and Wildlife
GWC and WWF

Busy day, what with chairing a World Gold Council stakeholder roundatble at The Guardian early in the day, which will be covered in the main paper. Focus on the WGC Conflict Free Gold Standard. Meeting coincided with news that global gold prices are taking a hammering. Then raced across to Hannover Square for a meeting of the WWF UK Council of Ambassadors.... more >

Will of the Wetlands
Decompressing after the Skoll World Forum

A tree and wigwam on our walk across Barnes Common

Statue of Sir Peter Scott

Will by one of the hides

Catkins and reeds

Cherry blossom outside the old Olympic Studios, now being converted into a cinema

Wonderful to spend some time with Will Rosenzweig of Physic Ventures today, though neither Elaine nor I was feeling up to much, with the legacy of the flu that has hit a number of us hard -- and seems to come with a strong depressive streak. We had connected a number of times in Oxford earlier in the week, but great to have uninterrupted time together. A walk around the Barnes Wetland Centre after lunch lifted the spirits. (Interesting to see the Centre voted the UK's favourite nature reserve, given that there is such a glorious range to pick from.) ... more >

RIP Paolo Soleri
A major influence on my early thinking

A skull and I at the Cosanti Foundation, Phoenix, 1973

Very sorry to see in today's papers (The Times and The Guardian) the news that Paolo Soleri died on 9 April. He had a big impact on my thinking - and Elaine and I visited both the Cosanti Foundation in Scotsdale, Arizona, and his embryonic arcology in the desert, Arcosanti, near Cordes Junction, shortly after our wedding in 1973.... more >

Skoll World Forum 2013
A focus on disruption

Dan Viederman and Sarah Severn at the end of the mapping systems session

I very much enjoyed much of the tenth Skoll World Forum in Oxford this week, where I arrived on Tuesday and -- at a dinner at Balliol College -- found myself sitting alongside Gro Harlem Brundtland. It's that sort of event. and I met dozens of great people who are doing wonderful things to make the world a better place. But I came away feeling that we still need an overarching vision that maps all this and illuminates the links (actual and potential) between all these different initiatives.... more >

Intel Labs and Other Adventures
A flying visit to Oregon

God Only Knows

Denis Hayes recalls tulip bubble

Chair in Hannah's studio

Flew to Oregon, via San Francisco, over the weekend, for a 2-day session at Intel Labs. First day was a fascinating series of briefings, among other things on how tomorrow's smart grids and cities will potentially be vulnerable to hacking, and the second day an internal conference -- where I was one of eight speakers. Among their number, Denis Hayes of the Bullitt Foundation, and Joel Makower of GreenBiz, boith of whom I have known for decades. And then some interesting new people, who I mean to follow up with. The first evening included a dinner in a restaurant hidden way under a Whole Foods Market-style supermarket, with the most amazing wine collection. Including one, shown, called God Only Knows.... more >

HEC Sustainable Business Conference
Breakthrough comes to in Paris

Painted on panel on wall

Part of the main conference space

Roofspace

In a nearby building

In by Eurostar last night to Paris for an HEC Sustainable Business conference today, the tenth in a series organised by HEC students. Spoke at an earlier one a few years back. En route, struck by the fact that there is still a fair amount of snow in the countryside hedges between Calais and Paris. Stayed at the Concorde Opera: had a nice session with Amy (Birchall) over a glass of Pinot Noir as we worked on an embryonic Bayer project.... more >

Tim of the Arctic
Veterans of Bomber Command and Arctic convoys honoured

Tim is the one without the standard issue moustache

The thought of going around Norway on WWII convoys to support the Soviets is the stuff of nightmares, at least of mine -- and the ordeals endured by Bomber Command aircrew is right up there alongside. While there were many reasons why, it has been a travesty that the veterans of these great, gruelling campaigns have only just been honoured.... more >

Henry Jackson Society
Breakthrough comes to the House of Commons

Did a session early this afternoon at the House of Commons for the Henry Jackson Society, accompanied by Amy and focusing on Breakthrough Capitalism - plus the need for new forms of 'Breakthrough Politics'. Made me think we should be doing on what governments and policy-makers can and must do in this space. More anon.... more >

Wounds, Injuries and WWI Medicine
A rather grisly evening at Blythe House

A head at Blythe House

Disembowelling tongs

Anti-blast WWI tank masks

Iron lung

German WWI surgical kit

Blood transfusion device

Prosthetic hands

Sample of a Heath Robinson cartoon

ENDS Report (of which I was founding Editor in 1978) spotted in Haymarket Publishing window on way home

Elaine and I went across this evening to Blythe House in Hammersmith, an overspill storage facility for the Science Museum. Didn't know what to expect - and it turned out that we were to be taken on a tour of artefacts linking back to the treatment of injuries and wounds experienced in World War I.... more >

Al Gore at Guildhall
Launch of renamed ShareAction

Duke of Wellington at the Guildhall

Winston Churchill at the Guildhall

After a busy day, including lunch with SustainAbility Executive Director Rob Cameron at Cigala, I headed across in the rain to the Guildhall, to hear Al Gore at the launch of ShareAction, which used to be FairPensions.... more >

Diary of a London Cyclist
The daily miracle of survival

At times, it seems that it is something of a war for cyclists in the nation's capital. Over 38 years of London cycling, I had been left unconscious three times, twice with three broken ribs. That was until last night.... more >

Biomimicry 3.8, take 1
Rain, sun and ideas at Catawba and Pond Studio

Bonsai and fruit: a Catawba still-life

Sailfish downstairs in Catawba pool room

By the main door to Pond Studio

A wall of metalwork, including spirals (have long been a spiral fetishist)

Biomimicry 3.8 board meeting under full sail (detail)

Shadows

Meeting in session, Cynthia in flight

Study in blue: Janine and David climb towards studio

Samples of carpet tiles

Studying swatches

Spiral

Spirals

Gnomic Atlas

Facade in blue, Doug emerging

Water feature

Pond shore (detail)

Studio across Pond

Walking back

Inspiration underfoot

Self-portrait in parking bay

Cynthia road-tests chair made from plowshares, etc

American Gothic, take 11,237: RetireMints

Someone putting the fun into dysfunctional

David and Janine in deep conversation

Backseat girls: Bryony and Cynthia, en route to Atlanta

Back around midday from Atlanta, where I flew on Sunday for my first board meeting with the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute. A wonderful opportunity to get to know Janine Benyus better. Don't feature on the website yet, but felt very much part of the family.... more >

Breakthrough Launched
And more on that anon

Our cases as we arrive in Generation's kitchen

Energy-efficient lights

I blur past

Covers of the new report, plus some of the name badges

Our new Volans banner

A system map by Marshall Clemens of Idiagram

Susie (Braun) gets the slideshow ready

Busy week, and about to fly to Atlanta, with key events including a dinner speech to some 50 CEOs and MDs in the construction and civil engineering sector at The Deck, National Theatre, for the UK Green Building Council, and chairing the first UCL sustainability careers event, both great fun. But for us the highlight was the launch of our new report, Breakthrough: Business Leaders, Market Revolutions, at the London HQ of Generation Investment Management on Thursday evening.... more >

Now We Are A B Corp

I sign the Declaration of Interdependence

Thanks to the efforts of our CEO, Charmian Love, currently on maternity leave, Volans is now formally certified as a B Corp, the second in the UK. We will be announcing this formally when we are five years old, in April, but it's a wonderful birthday present -- and a major step forward for us. For more on the B Corporation movement, take a look here. And the Declaration of Interdependence can be found here.... more >

Reviewing Novo Nordisk's Blueprint for Change
A day in Grundtvigland

Fox Hotel 1, bedroom door

Fox Hotel 2, inside lift

Fox Hotel 3

Fox Hotel 4

Name plates

Self-portrait with sailing-ship

And 'The Trumpets Shall Sound' -- title of Peter Worsley book I read in 1960s

Part of a 3D painting

Grundtvik poster

Nave in Church of Our Lady

Neon message in church

Hyena and cherry

Apparently, it means end-of-season sale: Susanne pointed it out

Griffins, or similar

The rebel seat

NFS Grundtvig book -- which Susanne gave me

Building towards a photo

Pink bike in the line

Seb, Scott (Dille, of Novo Nordisk) and iPad

Flew from Dusseldorf last night, without incident, despite the threatened strike, and found myself staying at the Hotel Fox in Copenhagen. Something of an acquired taste, I would say, but definitely interesting -- with the lack of hot water in the morning leading to an unusual shave.  ... more >

Bayer and Beyond
London-Dusseldorf-Leverkusen-Copenhagen-London

Fish in a Bayer (Building K12) engraved glass wall

And test-tubes

Bayerscape

Gib Bulloch of Accenture Development Partnerships

I flew to Dusseldorf on Wednesday, and was then driven to Leverkusen, for the first meeting of the SunRise Advisory Board at Bayer MaterialScience. Still somewhat under wraps, so more on that later. Good to catch up with people like Patrick Thomas, BMS CEO, Richard Northcote and Gib Bulloch of ADP.... more >

23andMe and Me
A genetic peek back down my family tree

A branch line on the family tree: Wetekia Elkington

I first heard of 23andMe in Davos, a fair few years back, but didn't take their test. Then I had lunch with Esther Dyson (she's on the 23andMe board) last year, at a Zouk Capital AGM, and decided to give it a go. Spotted her when in Menlo Park recently, but she was so absorbed in a conversation I thought I would wait to get my results and then update her.... more >

Leverkusen, 30 years on
And they seem to be striking where I want to take off

Just flew in to Dusseldorf airport for a session tomorrow with Bayer MaterialScience, which I'm very much look forward to, but had hoped to get away to Copenhagen tomorrow evening, for a session with Novo Nordisk on Friday. Seems as if the airport security people are striking tomorrow, so am keeping my fingers crossed as I knock out a number of badly time-expired blogs in the Kasino Hotel.... more >

A Breakthrough Cake
Baked by my co-author on new Breakthrough report, Susie Braun

Susie's Breakthrough cake--the icing on the cake was the Breakthorugh logo, of which more anon

Out and About in Menlo Park and Palo Alto
First meeting of HP's Global External Citizenship Council

Entrance to Stanford Park Hotel

Peggy drives Peter Graf's electric LEAF back to hotel

LEAF leaves

Tree at HP

Tesla 1

Tesla 2

Tesla 3

Menlo Park fire engine (retired)

Retired 2

Airport art

On the flight from Joburg to London, and thence on to San Francisco, and among other things, I read Brilliance, an extraordinary novel by Anthony McCarten based on the life of inventor Thomas Alva Eduison, the 'Wizard of Menlo Park'. What made the book even more extraordinary, though I didn't realize it until later, was that the author had in effect totally rewritten a novel he had first published in 2003.  A bit like Edison himself, I suppose: if at first you don't succeed, ...... more >

Network for Social Entrepreneurs
@ Gordon Institute for Business Science

Objects in the GIBS hotel where I stayed

Great day at the Gordon Institute for Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg, having flown in from London yesterday. Thumping rain and lightning in the night gave a sense of occasion. Started the day by keynoting a GIBS supply chain conference, meeting some fascinating people along the way.... more >

Helen Holdaway
An appreciation of a friend and colleague

I was very sorry indeed to hear of the death of Helen Holdaway - and was inspired to write the appreciation now posted on the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development (FDSD) website. The FDSD followed on from The Environment Foundation, in whose evolution Helen played such a key role.... more >

EcoVadis Client Event in Paris
And a glimpse of Notre Dame's new bells

EcoVadis panel of clients in full flow

Artwork 1

Artwork 2

Reflections

Bust

Did a breakfast session with sustainability people at London Business School, then back to Bloomsbury Place, before heading off to Eurostar and Paris. Train somewhat delayed and traffic intense, so missed the EcoVadis dinner. But great session this morning with Sylvain Guyoton, in which we explored aspects of the Zeronaut and Breakthrough Capitalism agendas in front of the biggest-yet audience of Ecovadis clients.... more >

Peter Carson
1938-2013

Spent yesterday in Tangley, Hampshire, at the funeral for Peter Carson, who we had known for some 40 years.  First met him through Eleo Gordon, later his wife, with whom we lived in Pimlico while I was doing my M. Phil. at UCL.  A number of obituaries have been published which tell parts of his extraordinary story: the first I read was in The Times, but that's impossible to link to thanks to Rupert Murdoch's firewall; but here's one from The Guardian.... more >

A Month Gone
Working on new report and book

Amazing that I haven't done a blog here for a month: have been working flat out of a new report, Breakthrough: Business Leaders, Market Revolutions, and on the new book with Jochen Zeitz, Tomorrow's Bottom Line.  The report has now gone off to the designer, Rupert Bassett, while the first full draft of the book has gone to the publishers in San Francisco.  Haven't read a book outside these subjects, or written a Guardian blog, for the entire time. But feel that the effort has been immensely worthwhile: more anon, hopefully.... more >

Green & Tonic
Sustainable cities session in the Officers' Mess

Green & Tonic 1: Waiting to speak, all photos taken by Sam

Green & Tonic 2: visual capture in energetic progress

Green & Tonic 3: Riffing with Scott Cain, Future Cities Project Leader at Technology Strategy Board

Difficult day at office, then across to the Officers' Mess, The Inns of Court Yeomanry, to do a Green & Tonic session on sustainable cities for Green & Tonic. Great fun.... more >

Helen Holdaway
An appreciation of a friend and colleague

On the day of her funeral, I began to write the following appreciation of Helen Holdaway, a longstanding friend and colleague.  It was later posted on the Foundation for Democracy & Sustainable Development (FDSD) website:... more >

LSE Speech on Zeronauts

LSE 1: Waiting to speak

LSE 2: Speaking, with Milton Friedman and Anonymous masks

LSE 3: Discussion

Across to LSE this evening to do a speech on The Zeronauts to a public audience. Lively discussion afterwards, then on to supper in Covent Garden. Audio here.... more >