Have been working through the day on the proposal for the new book - and on the latest round of six columns, with three CDs mainly in the background. Rufus Wainwright's Poses was one, which I bought this week after reading of the death of his mother, Kate McGarrigle. Sam has often played his music when we are working late and I like it tremendously. Even more invigorating, though, have been two other CDs I bought at the same time - The Birth of Surf, a collection of early US surf music, and Board Boogie, accurately billed as "Surf 'N' Twang from Down Under".... more >

Of Murderers and Rapists
A busy Saturday

Two French friends from decades back came to lunch today - he is a psychologist and has been working in two prisons in Provence for around seven years, focusing on murderers and sexual offenders. Says he enjoys it - and has been fighting for the rights to health of such prisoners. ... more >

Lady Scott
The passing of the grandparental generation

I always loved grandparents - and engaging with their generation of friends. So when it came to environmentalism, which I fell backwards into in the early 1960s, raising funds for the embryonic WWF in 1961, it was perhaps only natural that the likes of Gerald Durrell, Max Nicholson and Peter Scott felt like adoptive (but distant) grandparents. I recall reading Durrell's books when very young and impressionable (coincidentally, BBC4 re-ran a film version of My Family & Other Animals last night, after a stunning film by Professor Armand Leroi exploring the lagoon off Lesvos where Aristotle practically invented biology) and visiting the Scotts' Slimbridge wildlife reserve when at prep school at Glencot in Somerset.... more >

This Is Not An Airplane
Bertrand Piccard provides a memorable breakfast

My last blog entry, on Avatar, triggered a number of responses via various channels, with Claudia Gonella responding via Facebook - and suggesting that I take a look at Bertrand Piccard's TED speech from last year. I did, over breakfast this morning, and was completely blown away. Fascinating that his father, Jacques, and grandfather, Auguste, were both explorers - whose adventures inspired me as a boy, though my fear of heights and enclosed spaces made it extremely unlikely that I would follow in either of their footsteps.... more >

Avatar
The eyes have it

Although I adored Up, for me Avatar has been the ultimate in 3-D experiences. Elaine, Gaia and I went to see it on Thursday evening - and I haven't been able to get it out of mind since. And Sigourney Weaver, one of my all-time favourite actresses, is only part of the story. For more, see here and here.... more >

Of Triremes and Helicopters
From the Mediterranean to the Poles - and back

Having been stranded in Zurich last night by snow blanketing Heathrow, I stayed overnight at a hotel near the airport, spending a couple of hours working on ideas for the new book. Then, as I was leaving for the airport again this morning, I was offered a lift by an attractive woman, her daughter and granddaughter. Although I tried to politely decline, ordering my own taxi, theirs turned out to be big enough for all - so I travelled to the airport with them.... more >

Tsutomu Yamaguchi
Only certified survivor of Hiroshima and Nagaskai dies

Although I was shocked at the lack of honesty in the Japanese A-bomb museum in Hiroshima when I visited it in the early 1980s, with the sense being given that poor Japan was bombed with no provocation, there is no denying the utter horror of the devastation wreaked on Hiroshima by Little Boy on August 6,1945, and by Fat Man on Nagasaki on August 9. But what were the chances of someone being in both places at the time of the two bombs detonating?... more >

Japanese Whaler Cuts Eco-Superboat in Two
Ady Gil rammed by Shonan Maru II

Many years ago, I spent a fascinating afternoon aboard the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's Sea Shepherd II in Alexandria, Virginia, before it headed off to tackle Russian whalers in the Bering Srait. have to say I approved of what they were trying to do - and still do. Yesterday, a Japanese surveillance ship, the Shonan Maru II, ran down Sea Shepherd's $2 million trimaran, the Ady Gil.... more >

Freya von Moltke
And her son Konrad

Elaine had been cutting obituaries for me while I was away in Switzerland - and one, from Wednesday's Times, spotlighted the extraordinary life of Freya von Moltke - a wartime critic of the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. The obituary got at least one fact wrong, asserting that she "is survived by her three sons". Not true. Her second son, Konrad - born in 1941 - died in 2005. I knew him when he worked with the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), where he was literally a towering figure. I recall a flight where Konrad strode down the plane aisle in his black cloak and was described by a chemical industry colleague as "Dr Dracula". If I recall correctly, Konrad wasn't greatly amused.... more >

Trapped in Zurich
Holed up in Room 333

After a very productive couple of days with HP in Zurich, Charmian (Love) and I headed off to the airport this evening, albeit in some trepidation because we had heard a fair number of flights to London were being cancelled. After a fair old wait, my flight to Heathrow was cancelled, but hers seems to have gone through. So I'm holed up in Room 333 (half the Number of the Beast), hoping for Heathrow to drag itself into the 21st century. But have made a good deal of progress with idea for the next book, which is encouraging.... more >

Small step for greener Vatican ...
... but when will a Pope take the necessary leap?

Many years ago, I wrote an article for Jain Spirit magazine that explained the religious roots of my early conversion to environmentalism. A philosophical collision in the mid-1950s with a Mother Superior in Limavady, Northern Ireland, when I was 6 or 7, derailed any belief I may have had in monotheism. Mother Superior said I was either a pagan or a pantheist, but even my ill-developed mind knew it sure as hell wasn't destined to take the Catholic path.... more >

Blue Moon, Last Night

A crystal clear Moon is moving upwards, left to right, across the night sky - seen through the glass roof of our kitchen. Last night, it was a Blue Moon, which I needed to have explained to me again. Elaine and I watched the Moon through the binoculars a few moments ago, marvelling at the sheer number of impact craters. An indication of what a hell the Earth must have been in its early days. I recall seeing a huge circular impact crater somewhere as I flew east across Europe many years ago - and another in the south-west of the USA.... more >

Day 1
Year of the Golden Pheasant

I have no idea what the Chinese are dubbing 2010, in terms of animal symbolism, but for me it begins as the Year of the Golden Pheasant. As Elaine and I walked around Kew Gardens today, in glorious afternoon sunshine, a golden pheasant walked straight across to us, bold as brass, and looked us in the eye. Unbelievably beautiful.... more >

A Head Start Into 2010
Behind Gore, Obama and Roddick - and tied with Yunus

Julia Hailes sent me a link this morning to the CSR International survey of leaders in the field of corporate social responsibility, in which I appear in fourth place tied with Muhammad Yunus, and behind Al Gore, Barack Obama and Anita Roddick. If I learned anything from statistics courses 40 years back, it was how easy it is to use them to provide a distorted lens on the world - but it's a wonderful start to the New Year to find that, at least in 2009, I was in such august company.... more >