Tuesday, May 31, 2005
TOTEMIC WELCOME
Among other things, did a phone-in programme for CBC today. Then, this evening, out by bus to the UBC Museum of Anthropology (http://www.moa.ubc.ca/) for welcome reception, surrounded by totem poles, masks and canoes. Second time I have been to the Museum - and I genuinely can't wait to have a serious opportunity to see more of the 35,000 objects stored there.
Surrounded by all that glass, though, I couldn't help wondering what will happen when the next mega-quake hits this coastline. But was soon distracted by the First Nations troupe who had the entire audience of WWF-ers pretending to be eagles, frogs, killer whales and wolves (my end of things). First opportunity I had to howl all day - and welcome opportunity to see the late Bill Reid's astounding Clam again (http://www.billreidfoundation.org/).
The eagles include the Lieutenant Governor, in white jacket
A sense of angst
Not sure what's going on here ...
But he seems agitated ...
As are the people squeezed in Bill Reid's clam
Monday, May 30, 2005
EU IMPASSE
I'm getting used to viewing major events in the UK and EU from a considerable distance, as with the recent Uk elections (when I was in Australia and New Zealand) and yesterday's French vote on the EU Constitution (where I got the results in Vancouver).
On one level, it's obviously a big blow to the process of European integration, as currently defined. But, on another level, it seems to me that it really is time to revisit our definitions of the EU. Quite apart from the schadenfreude associated with seeing President Chirac so mightily embarassed - having said late last year that any country that voted against the Constitution should immediately leave the EU - it is increasingly clear that we need a less technocratic, more engaging vision of what Europe's role in the world could be. For me, being a counterbalnce to the US doesn't quite qualify. And we also need a new generation of leadership, fit for the 21st century.
Jacques Chirac, at 72, isn't quite as bad as the glaced politicians who graced the rostrum of the Kremlin before the collapse of Communism, but his self-serving style of politics is pretty much the polar opposite of what we now need. His regal response to the vote, at least as quoted here on the West Coast, underscored the problem: "France has expressed itself democratically ... it is your sovereign decision, and I take note."
The bigger issue, though, is the collision between two opposing views of Europe. The first, embraced by Britain, Ireland and Eastern Europe, views the EU primarily as an opportunity space, with the main emphasis being on creating a more efficient market. The second view, most energetically embraced by the nations that were the epicentre of two world wars, or European civil wars as some have styled them, sees the EU primarily in terms of an emerging set of pan-European social institutions.
It's clear that the French are alarmed about the prospects of the first approach undermining the 'European social model' enshrined in the second approach. And they aren't alone in that, as the Dutch vote will probably show. But my recent visits to Asia, particularly China, persuade me that it won't really matter how much Europeans fret about their social models if Asia continues along its current economic trajectory. Ensuring a radically more efficient European market is the only way to ensure a viable future for Europeans - and I would argue that we should let the EU's institutional forms emerge from those needs and processes, not the other way around.
SATISH KUMAR AS CASTAWAY
Was thrilled to hear Sue Lawley interview Satish Kumar of Schumacher College (www.schumachercollege.gn.apc.org) and Resurgence magazine (www.resurgence.gn.apc.org) on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs before I flew to Vancouver today. Some years back, my erstwhile colleague Max Nicholson did one too, but I missed it because I was travelling. Today, though, you can hear these things via the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4).
Satish picked a number of my favourite musicians, among them Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and John Lennon. But, as I told him by email this evening, he picked 'Imagine' where I would probably have picked the Beatles and the more muscular 'Revolution'. The Beatles and their (ultimately ill-fated) Apple venture were an early inspiration for my own later move into the world of business.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
FAY GODWIN, JOYCE LAMBERT & DEREK RATCLIFFE
Three obituaries in recent days mark the passing of more of the pioneers of environmental conservation.
First was Joyce Lambert, who died on 4 May. She had astounded Britain when she discovered that the Norfolk Broads were man-made, rather than natural. They were the result of extensive peat-digging, particularly between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. One of my first articles for New Scientist, in the mid-1970s, featured the Broads, which was where I first came across her work. I still remember trailing my fingers in the water as I was taken around the Broads by Dr Martin George, the NCC's Regional Officer, and saying how wondrously green the water was -- and being told that what I was admiring was pollution, eutrophication!
Second, on 23 May, Derek Ratcliffe died. His obituary appears in today's Times. I knew him when I sat for several years on an Advisory Council for the old Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) and he was the NCC's Chief Scientist. He is probably best remembered for his research showing the links between the use of organochlorine pesticides, particularly DDT, and the decline of birds of prey, among them peregrine falcons and sparrowhawks. I well remember long talks with Max Nicholson -- a founder of the original Nature Conservancy - about that period of what he had dubbed 'The Environmental Revolution'. But when I came across Ratcliffe he was probably best known as the architect of 1977's A Nature Conservation Review, often described as a 'Domesday Book' of Britain's most important natural features.
And third, Fay Godwin's death is reported in today's Guardian. An extraordinary photographer, I first came across her work when she was producing the pictures for a book on The Ridgeway which was published by Oliver Caldecott at Wildwood House, where Elaine was working in the mid-1970s. Godwin was an ardent landscape conservationist and her images helped switch me on to the country's ancient stone circles.
HEIMAT
Last night, I watched BBC4's reshowing of the first programme in the first series of Edgar Reitz's Heimat TV series, which I last saw in the 1980s. Astounding. The second series, which I saw many more of, was hugely reminiscent of the time I spent in Hamburg in the early 1970s. The other German TV series which I was completely absorbed by when it was first shown was Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot, the extraordinary inside story of the U-boat war against Britain, released in 1981 (www.dasboot.com).
Friday, May 27, 2005
KINGSTON READERS' FESTIVAL
Politics and the media were the focus of a 'Question Time'-style panel session I was involved in last night at the Kingston Readers' Festival (www.kingston.ac.uk/krf or www.kingston.gov.uk/arts). Held at the Tiffin School, the event was chaired by Donald MacCormick, former presenter of BBC TV's Newsnight programme. Other panellists were: Brian Cathcart, Deputy Editor of The Independent on Sunday; Diane Coyle, Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester, with whom I sit on the RSA Council; and Kevin Maguire, political columnist and Associate Editor on the Daily Mirror.
Great audience, lively debate - and, having dreaded the thing, found that I rather enjoyed it. And it forced me to think about things - among them the EU Constitution, the future of the UK educational system, and who I would like to run each of the major UK political parties - that I don't normally devote much attention to. On the last point, my reply ran along the following lines: SustainAbility is able to succeed internationally in large part because we are diverse. Last time I looked, our team of less than 25 people was made up of 10-11 nationalities. But in the latest UK Election, the Conservatives ran a campaign targeting immigrants that made me wonder whether they had any sense of what it will take for the UK to compete in globalized markets. And, while I am sure our immigration policies could be better designed and managed, their strident campaign almost made me ashamed to be British.
But I sent a note today to the British Ambassador in South Korea, who hosted the dinner for me when I was in Seoul, and noted in passing that his hospitality and the quality of the discussion that evening had made me proud of the British diplomatic corps. So, it seems, my pride in my national identity is a matter of swings and roundabouts. And, having been brought up to some degree outside the UK, I have always felt slightly ill-at-ease with the notion of Britishness, feeling instead a layered sense of identity: English - and a Londoner for 35 years; European; and Terran, something that is reinforced every time I fly around the planet. But the best of the British identity, which involves accepting kinship with other nationalities (the Irish, Scots and Welsh, plus the myriad of contacts from the Empire, colonial and Commonwealth eras) is something I find I'm warming to.
Monday, May 23, 2005
ENVIRONMENT FOUNDATION GOES BICS
Great meeting of the Environment Foundation Board of Trustees today, during which we conclude that our joint venture with The 21st Century Trust will involve developing annual Consultations at St George's House, Windsor Castle, focusing on China, India, Brazil and South Africa. The first, on China, to be held in October.
Tim O'Donovan, Jane Nelson, me, Sir Geoffrey Chandler. Dr Malcolm Aickin, John Lotherington (21st Century Trust)
Friday, May 20, 2005
CHINA DEVELOPMENT BRIEF
One of the more interesting visits Kavita and I made in Beijing was to China Development Brief, run by Founding Editor Nick Young (www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com). We had a very pleasant lunch in the courtyard of the Brief's compound in the sort of jerry-built hutong (an ancient city alley or lane) that is fast disappearing from many areas of the city. Among other things, we discussed the Brief, which was launched in 1996, and such reports as their latest publication, 250 Chinese NGOs: Civil Society in the Making. More information from their website.
Writing on the wall
Nick Young
A major report, on Chinese NGOs, held by Robyn Wexler
Kavita and lychees
EYELESS IN FORBIDDEN CITY
Kavita and I start out early to see the Forbidden City, only for me - after our being caught in endless jams - leaving my glasses in the taxi. Went through the Forbidden City in a state of high agitation and grief, but was nonetheless vastly impressed by the scale and timelessness of the place.
Afterwards, we came back to the hotel to meet Jerry Lixhe of LEAD and New Ventures, after which we sped off in another taxi to a huton, back street lunch with Robyn Wexler and Nick Young of China Development Brief (www.chinadevelopmentbrief.org). Then on to a WWF event, hosted by the ad agency Ogilvy, where I do my last presentation. Then on to a China-India colloquium, which proves better than Valium, so we head back to the hotel.
In the background, hundreds of energetic schoolchildren ...
Where was this originally quarried?
Time passes slower as repairs continue on ravages of Time
Roof friezes
Symbol of power
The stone for this carving came in on a road made of ice
Swift
Gurning urn
Historic fire brigade
His past - and future?
Brooding
Bridge
Soldiers and passers-by
Is this good luck?
Kavita thinks so ...
Mao
Three policemen in tricycle.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
THE DAY ENDS IN APRICOT BLOSSOM HAMLET
What a day! Kavita and I spent the morning with Jeanne-Marie Gescher and Natalie Cade of Beijing-based Claydon-Gescher Associates, or CGA (www.cga-ltd.com), who had pulled together 6-7 people from Chinese NGOs and universities. A fascinating set of insights, followed by lunch with Jeanne-Marie and Natalie.
Then a monstrous ride in a taxi to the wrong end of Beijing, in solid state dynamics traffic, in an attempt to find a group of AIESEC students who had set up a workshop. After an hour and a half of getting thoroughly lost, our hosts managed to talk the taxi driver in by cell phone - and we spent a frustratingly short - but nonetheless intriguing and stimulating - 30 minutes with some 30 or so students.
Then into another taxi, which got us back to the hotel a little late for the car that was meant to be taking us to dinner with Minister Pan Yue, Vice Minister with the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) - http://www.zhb.gov.cn/english/chanel-1/chanel-1-end-2.php3?chanel=1&column=1
Had liked him tremendously when we sat next to each other at a Shell dinner last night. He had asked Kavita and I to dinner this evening, and now had us driven to the outskirts of Beijing, past the Summer Palace, in a government limousine with six different horns, each of which we used, as we blazed at warp speed towards the Western Hills. We were met and accompanied by a SEPA Deputy Director, Wang Qian, who is as good an ambassador for China as you are likely to find.
The dinner was at the 'Apricot Blossom Hamlet', in the Beijing Botanical Garden, near the 'Fragrance Hill', where we are joined by Vice Minister Pan and Dr Shu Qing, Deputy Director-General. I enormously admire what Vice Minister Pan and his colleagues have been doing, with SEPA energetically pursuing polluters and shutting a considerable number of projects down to force greater attention to environmental issues. A very courageous politician.
All in all, a quite extraordinary meeting of minds - and the most sophisticated vegetarian repast I have yet eaten, including bird's nest soup, though I think our Chinese friends would have much preferred meat. In the process, we drank 'Daughter Red' wine, which apparently is buried in a ceramic urn when a girl is born and dug up and drunk - with plums dropped in - when she turns eighteen. I found myself wondering what sort of world - and what sort of China - a newborn girl would find if a bottle buried today were to be dug up in 2023?
Dr Shu Qing, Kavita, Vice Minister Pan Yue, me, Wang Qian
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
RED SHIFTED IN BEIJING
Fairly energetic day, happily with Kavita (Prakash-Mani) now alongside, starting with session with Shell, then on to Fortune 500 Global Forum to do my session on the roles and responsibilities of multinationals (with David Cunningham, President of FedEx's Asia Pacific Division, Jim Harkness of WWF, Xue Lan, professor at Tsinghua University, all moderated by Marc Gunther of Fortune). Louis Camilleri, Chairman and CEO of Altria, the fags-to-foods group, drops out at the last moment.
The red-shifted race continues - after several cars fail to arrive at Diao Yu Tai State Guesthouse, - with high-speed car drive to a lunchtime session across town where I am due to talk to 70-80 people invited by Shell and the China Business Council for Sustainable Development. Then also speak at dinner with Shell, state oil companies, people from embassies and Pan Yue, Vice Minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration. He has been taking a unusually aggressive line with high-impact developments, stalling at least 20 until they tackled a range of environmental issues.
Fascinating man - and gives me a degree of hope that some of China's environmental problems can be tackled. But we were also told today by Heng Hock Cheng, Chairman of the Shell companies in China, that China has to build power production capacity each year equivalent to the total UK grid capacity! The scale of the challenge is phenomenal. We were also told that before the Olympics draconian measures like shutting down many boilers and many factories will be taken to clean up the air, plus seeding the skies with silver nitrate, to settle out the gunk!
Pre-panel session
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
TIANANMEN SQUARE
After the Temple of Heaven, consenting adults were bussed across to Tiananmen Square, where we were offered drinks on the rostrum overlooking where the massacre of students happened in 1989. I didn't drink, but silently toasted the aspirations and courage of those extraordinary people - exemplified by the young man with the shopping bags who stopped that platoon of tanks in their tracks. Some of the buildings around the Square are very reminiscent of the megalomaniac construction attempted by President Ceaucescu, who paid for his manifold sins in front of an impromptu firing squad that same year - events I covered in my published diary of 1989, A Year In the Greenhouse (Gollancz, 1990).
Ceiling lights
Balustrade
Flag
Great Hall of the People in the distance
Tiananmen Square ablaze
Can't wait to see this place in daylight
TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
Fly (originally typed 'fry', perhaps because everyone at Narita encouraged me to "have a good fright") in to Beijing from Tokyo. Due to speak at a session of the Fortune 500 Global Forum, titled 'China and the New Asian Century'. Met at the airport by Antonius Papaspiropoulos and driver - and bags come through at lightning speed.
After dropping off stuff at China World Hotel, I take a taxi to the Diao Yu Tai State Guesthouse, or at least that's what I ask for. Am taken to the Daioyutai Hotel instead, where they seem to know nothing about the Guesthouse, even though it's only a (fairly large) city block away. After all sorts of confusions, I get to the Guesthouse in the end, register, and then find it's already time to head back in busses through the afternoon traffic to the St Regis Hotel, to await embarkation for an evening at Temple of Heaven.
The Temple turns out to be literally out of this world, with a fairly dramatic light show and very impressive dinner - though I have to keep ducking and weaving to avoid the endless meaty treats put in front of me. And it's even harder than usual because each diner has a young, impressively costumed attendant standing just behind them - although they don't attempt to force-feed me.
I find myself sitting betwen the CEO of a speciality oil products company and the CEO of a Hawaiian property company, both of them pretty substantial concerns (the oil company's annual revenues are $7 billion) - and both Paul and Allen are informed and thoughtful on sustainability issues. But Allen and I spend much of the time talking about history, particularly that of the Vietnam War, where he served during those crucible years. His wife, also at the table, is Vietnamese and her father was one of the last senior officers out - finally deciding to leave when he heard that the Communists were executing officers in front of their men. The plane before his was shot down and his crash-landed in Thailand.
One real high point for me was the high-energy flights of swifts that shot back and forth across the assembled heads during the early stage of the evening. Reminded me of cycling home to Barnes on summer evenings, when the swifts come bombing down the street at you, mouths open, and shrieking like maniacs. The avian equivalent of Hell's Angels. By contrast, the musicians playing around the Temple were like something from the Elysian Fields, China-style.
Musicians behind screens line approach to Temple of Heaven
The backdrop
Lasers
Balloons
Young people lining exit route
Monday, May 16, 2005
FUJITSU: THE POSSIBILITIES ARE INFINITE
After the fish market, Tomoo and I did an hour-long interview and then were collected for the drive across to the Fujitsu Research Institute (FRI) conference I keynoted this afternoon. The session was chaired by Professor Haruo Shimida, Chairman of FRI. Panellists were: Kimie Iwata, General Manager at the CSR Department of Shiseido, the cosmetics company; Seiichi Ueyama, General Manager of the Corporate Citizenship Department at AEON, the retail group; Masanobu Katoh, Corporate Vice President at Fujitsu; and Kiyoshi Masuda, General Manager of Toyota's Environmental Affairs Division. An excellent event, with some good questions afterwards.
Then we were driven to a Fujitsu centre opposite Hibiya Park, to be presented with the Fujitsu vision of the future, 'netCommunity' (http://e-japan.fujitsu.com/nc/). The Fujitsu motto is 'The Possibilities are Infinite', and the exhibition is designed to show the myriad ways in which Fujitsu technology - from palm print readers to RFID tags - can promote a better society. I am afraid I asked a number of 'Big Brother' questions, which was somewhat in the spirit of some my comments this afternoon. For example, when commenting on the Toyota presentation, I warned that although they may talk of sustainable mobility solutions, for car companies the almost uniform answer to the question of what 'sustainable mobility' might be is some form of car. I also noted that the idea that car ownership might reach saturation in China fills me with horror.
And then I had to quietly turn down foie gras sushi this evening at dinner, apparently something of a culinary innovation here. I imagine I will be persona non grata from now on ...?
Palm print technology
Have you tried our RFID tags?
Marked from birth
Something about baby worries me ...
Ah, of course. He/it has wings!
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