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Journal entries prior to May 2008 can be found in the old archived site here
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Journal: November, 2009
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Not Quite a Lauda
But still quite a charge
30 November 2009
As I began my presentation at the Telekom Austria event, I spotted racing driver Niki Lauda in the front row - and addressed him in my opening remarks. I recalled that quite some years ago I had been asked by J. Walter Thompson what I thought of Formula 1 racing in the context of sustainability? My slightly unexpected (they told me) reply was that I supported their proposed ad campaign linking Shell to F1 sport and sustainability - because racing engineers were often at the cutting edge of fuel efficiency technology. But, I noted to my Vienna audience, if we all end up wanting to drive Maseratis we are going to have a bit of a problem.... more >
I Drive a Tesla
A spin around the fountain
30 November 2009
Just in from doing a keynote at the third Climate Dialogue organised by Telekom Austria at Schloss Schonbrunn, alongside CEO Dr Hannes Ametsreiter and Austrian Forests and Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich. Our session was followed by a truly spectacular ballet/gymnastics display, featuring images of the formation of the Earth, through the ravages of industrialisation to the emergence of clean, green technologies. And then I got to both sit in a Tesla sports car and drive it across the gravel and around a fountain, which for someone who doesn't like sports cars had me rather excitable. Have been stunned at how hospitable the Austrians are.... more >
The Third Man
And a Kiss from Klimt
29 November 2009
Spanish School horse-head
Drivers await fares, with horses
Art in our new hotel, Le Meridien
Horizon, evening mood as some painters would say, from our verandah
Wonderful visit to the Belvedere to see their Klimt collection, including 'The Kiss', in which the male looks vampiric and the female unconscious, but lovely nonetheless. Also interesting to see the likes of Jacques Louis David's portrait of Napoleon on a rearing horse, while his poor troops trudged up towards a distant pass, some of them almost buried already, only their bayonets showing as they climb through a defile. History in the making. One expected delight today was stumbling on the Spanish School and seeing some of the horses.... more >
Hundertwasser, Finally
A day off in Vienna
28 November 2009
Hundertwasser's flag for New Zealand
Franz-Joseph's horse kicks Moon
St Stephen's Cathedral and Moon
One of the best days I have had for ages, walking around Vienna with Elaine, visiting the Hundertwasser Haus and Museum, and the Impressionism exhibition at the Albertina. I first came across his eco-posters when a group of Swedish scientists and officials came to London in the late 1980s, to lobby the UK government on acidic emissions from sources like the old CEGB, and gave me one of his posters, 'Save the Rain'. Also came across Walton Ford, in Pancha Tantra, whose images blew me away. Wonderful traveling on the trams. Later, we had Turkish coffee and apfelstrudel at The Café Mozart and a delightful light supper at the vegetarian Wrenkh Restaurant.... more >
Sustainable
An S-word reaches some sort of tipping point
28 November 2009
Suddenly, the word 'sustainable' is everywhere. Take a look, for example, at The Economist's 'The World in 2010', where even Russian President Dmitry Medvedev uses it (page 59). Then in today's Financial Times, which I read here in Vienna over breakfast, there is a front page mention of Spain's new 'sustainable economy' bill. The references are pretty much all to the need for a more sustainable economy, but there's an opportunity to open the debate out - and to recover the full meaning of the world 'sustainable', among other things embracing the triple bottom line agenda that The Economist also covered recently.... more >
Room to Read in FT
My favourite paper spotlights one of my favourite social enterprises
28 November 2009
A favourite social enterprise, Room to Read, is spotlighted in today's in Financial Times, 'Life & Arts' section. See http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/22810582-dae2-11de-933d-00144feabdc0.html... more >
Just When We Thought We Were Free ...
... D.K. Matai ponders risk of 'Unexpected Second Shock'
22 November 2009
In our 2009 report The Phoenix Economy, we argued that the 'recession' could well go much deeper - and last much longer - than most people believed. Not a popular line of thinking, but I was interested to see the following from D.K. Matai of ATCA a few days back.... more >
Economist Returns to Triple Bottom Line
... but flips the 3Ps
19 November 2009
The Economist has done another piece on the triple bottom line, which is nice, but they invert the 3Ps. Having come up with the TBL concept in 1994, I launched the 3Ps in 1995 as 'People, Planet, Profit'. The Economist, by contrast, goes for "profit, people and planet" - which makes sense if you are them.... more >
Clean & Cool Mission
We launch at the London Stock Exchange
18 November 2009
Yesterday afternoon, Charmian (Love), Jieying (Zheng) and I went across to the London Stock Exchange to help launch the Clean & Cool Mission to San Francisco next February that is being developed by Polecat, Enterprise UK, the Technology Strategy Board and Volans. More anon.... more >
Back in Business
After two weeks in e-exile
18 November 2009
A couple of weeks ago, our home internet connection was cut off - through a misunderstanding. We then had to wait all this time for the new service to be connected. Glitches in the server also meant we had to hold off posting for a while. That said, looking on the positive side, I'm sure that if we were in Outer Mongolia we would have had to wait longer. In any event, the period of exile is now over - and so this blog is back online.... more >
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