Julia Hailes MBE - News-2007

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 2007

Between October 2007 and January 2008 Woman's Hour ran six slots of me talking about green issues around the home. You can listen to podcasts by clicking on the links belows:

"What do you call a woman who works as hard as a man?" asked Sandy Toksvig as presenter for the Woman of the Year Lunch and Awards. Her answer was 'lazy' - this well targeted joke was hugely appreciated by the all female audience of high achievers.

I sat next to a leading woman free mason, which made me realise how hopeless I'd be joining any sort of secret society - I was longing to hear about their rituals. Also on my table were a couple of authors including Ffion Hague (wife of Conservative Minister William Hague) who is writing a book about Lloyd George. Amongst the award winners was Jasvindar Sanghera who brought tears to my eyes when she told us about being rejected by her family because she refused to enter into an arranged marriage - she is now a leading campaigner against forced marriages and so called 'honour killings'.

If you want to get good returns on clean tech investments I believe that you have to weigh up the environmental credentials of the technologies you're investing in. Over the last couple of years the enthusiasm for biofuels has been like a gold rush. Thankfully the tide is beginning to turn and more realism, about the virtues of anything 'natural' or 'renewable', is coming into play. I've been appointed by Numis Securities to help them identify opportunities for capital raising projects in this sector - clearly I hope to direct them towards companies that are really having a positive environmental impact - or have the potential to do so.

Yes it was a battle. When I agreed to oppose the motion that ‘Recycling is a waste of time’ it didn’t occur to me that most of the audience would be actively hostile to my position and that of my fellow panelist, Julie Hill, author of A Zero Waste. Set up by the Institute of Ideas, the Battle of Ideas was a whole weekend of debates covering topics as diverse as ‘What’s the point of exams’ to ‘Why do people hate America’ and ‘Demonising parents’. Read more on my Blog.

As one of the overall judges for the inaugural Rushlight Awards, I was very interested to see some of the renewable energy and waste innovations that had entered. G24 Innovations got my vote and were the overall winners with their incredibly versatile solar film technology that can be used for a multitude of applications at a fraction of the cost of traditional solar. I arranged a table at the Gala Awards ceremony for Numis Investment Bank.

Walking down the hill towards the biomes I never cease to be impressed - the vast bubble structures now have greenery around them as well as inside, where once they were set in what looked like barren earth and rock. Unfortunately I missed the day-time talks for Eden's Waste Neutral campaign, arriving in time for a supper before giving my presentation. Tim Smit's introduction to my talk made me laugh so much that I found it difficult to get going - he read out my 'death tips' from The New Green Consumer Guide.

Unilever fabric conditioners hosted a pan-European conference on fabric conditioners. My speech on sustainability issues followed the life cycle of a cotton t-shirt from the huge amounts of water and pesticides used in cotton production, through buying, wearing, washing and ultimately discarding it. Did you know that you can cut the environmental footprint of a t-shirt in half if you wash it at 30C and don't use a dryer?

The 2007 Self Storage Association meeting had a distinct sailing theme. Tracy Edwards, of sailing fame, kicked off with a speech about her life surviving both the physical and financial perils of being a top class sailor. And I followed with a story about my time crewing on a luxury racing yacht in the Carribbean, where all the rubbish - including plastics - was being thrown straight into the sea. The next speaker, Michael Pawlyn from Exploration Architecture, brought us back on land explaining how many of his ideas for buildings and design come from nature. Out speeches were meant to both entertain and inform. Given the rather gruesome buildings that are predominantly used for self storage, the hope is that we also inspired them to greater things!

Although I don't encourage schools to ask me to do speeches, some of them have managed to persuade me - and I have to admit that it can be very inspiring. At Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire, for example there were some very challenging questions from one pupil in particular about how capitalism and environmentalism could possibly work together. And handing out prizes at Colyton School in Devon, who regularly lead the league tables, there were some very impressive results and an inspiring headmaster. I also got a great welcome from Downe House from a very enthusiastic team of girls who were intent on greening their school.

I think that Mark's and Spencer's Plan A initiative is leading the field in terms of supermarket's response to sustainability issues. In June I went to a progress update on how they're doing and in the Autumn I sat on their table at the Business in the Community Awards dinner at the Albert Hall, with Prince Charles, Al Gore and Stuart Rose on the adjacent table.

I carried out an eco-audit of three Gay Times readers - Peter Tatchell (pictured right), Paul O-Grady (pictured right) and Kristian Digby. Peter Tatchell used 70% less electricity than the government target for a single person household. But Paul O'Grady was amused to discover he had more light bulbs in half his kitchen than Peter had throughout the house. Paul's biggest eco-virtue was peeing in his garden!

The town of Frome in Somerset has a lot of green activity. The Frome Green Festival held in July was introduced by Kevin McCloud and was well attended. I had a stall selling copies of The New Green Consumer Guide and was kept very busy throughout the day. I also spoke at a Green Cafe event organised by the Yeovil Community Arts Association, at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil. Also see below for events organised by South Somerset Climate Action.

Triodos is the greenest bank in Britain! The theme of their AGM this year was 'Ethical Consumption - are we kidding ourselves we're changing the world?'. Although I opposed the debate, my views were not so far apart from Andrew Simms, policy director of the New Economics Foundation and author of 'Tescopoly' published this year. Also see My Blog...

An internal presentation to Procter & Gamble staff on issues around green detergents. I firmly believe that the biggest issue in relation to clothes washing is reducing the temperature of your wash. Procter & Gamble's Turn to 30C campaign promoted on Ariel washing powder is a step in the right direction. Also see My Blog.

I also chaired a session at Procter & Gambles Consumer Association day, attended by consumer organisations from around Europe.

"I am very sorry that the floods stood between me and the meeting..... I have already heard that the meeting was good and your presentation was described as brilliant, so I am doubly disappointed I was not there...."
Kit Strange, Resources Recovery Forum.

The Resources Recovery Forum, set up in 1997, is a network of organisations promoting more sustainable waste management. They invited me to speak at their June meeting on waste issues.

I spoke at the Green Alliance Summer Reception debate opposing the motion 'Is it up to politicians to save us?' alongside Mathew Taylor, ex No 10 and now Chief Executive of the RSA.

The City Book Shop in Hove (near Brighton), Mr B's Emporium in Bath and Waterstones in Plymouth organised evening events for me to come and talk. In Brighton they hired a hall but at Mr B's and Waterstones, the audience sat amongst the books. What struck me was the immense enthusiasm of the people who came - they were keen to know more and there was a feeling that we could have gone on talking well into the night.

Developers of shops and shopping centres aren't very keen on internet shopping, I discovered - it could mean less people on the streets. In my speech at Claridges to the property retail sector, I pointed out that it would be no bad thing if there was less development - certainly of the bog standard kind that predominates today. If a new supermarket comes to town wouldn't it be far more popular if it was state of the art green. That doesn't just mean wind mills on the roof or even solar power. It means it should be super energy efficient, have day light lighting, green roofs (plants on the roof), less construction waste, innovative recycling systems and many other green features... Other speakers included directors from the UK's largest retail developers, Land Securities and Hammerson, as well as the property director at Sainsbury and the architect of the Blue Water Shopping Centre.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) invited me to make the key note speech at their conference on 'Civil Society responding to Climate Change' in Brussels. See My Blog about this - it was a bureaucratic nightmare.

Q: What’s in your wallet?
A: Power...p
Think green consumerism’s the latest thing? Well, we’ve been here before. Back in 1988, the million-selling Green Consumer Guide helped sweep aerosols off a thousand supermarket shelves. Then it all went a bit quiet. So what’s different this time round? And will it last? Julia Hailes, co-author of the original eco-shopper’s bible, has some answers........

Bizarrely, one of the most interesting subjects I researched for The New Green Consumer Guide was 'green death'. On Saturday April 28th made the key note speech at the Green Funeral Exhibition organised by the Natural Death Centre.

On display were a range of coffins from plain cardboard to ones made from banana leaves and water hyacinth. And key points for discussion included the horrors of embalming, mercury emissions from crematoria and why we bury bodies too deep in the ground for worms and bacteria to break them down.

If you want information on 'green death' and burial you couldn't do better than to buy The Natural Death Handbook.

As part of a panel of external experts, I was invited to talk to an international audience of McDonalds restaurant owners and other employees, in Chicago. We were told to be provocative and give our honest views of the organisation, which I enjoyed! See My Blog for a detailed description of the trip.

2007 marks the 20th anniversary of SustainAbility. I co-founded this company with John Elkington from a back room in his family home in South-West London. Since then SustainAbility has established itself as a leading consultancy and think tank. Whilst working with John, we wrote eight books together but in 1995 I sold out of SustainAbility and moved to Somerset - but I still retain close links. Today SustainAbility employs around thirty people from offices based in London, Washington and Zurich....

I haven't been the greatest fan of McDonalds in the past but was impressed with their response to Greenpeace's campaign in 2006 on soya used in chicken feed coming from newly cleared rainforest. (See more about this in my Blog). So I went to Naples to give a presentation to McDonalds European Management Team on sustainability issues. This trip was covered in the Financial Times. And I've agreed to go to Chicago at the end of April to sit on a panel debate on the same theme to an audience of McDonalds international management.

NATIONAL TRUST QUESTION-TIME STYLE PUBLIC DEBATE - NEVER MIND THE ICE CAPS! WHO CAN SAVE BRITAIN'S BACKYARD? (MAR 07)

Rosie Boycott chaired an audience led debate with a panel of personalities from business, media and politics at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), London. I was on the panel alongside David Miliband, Secretary of State for the Environment; Professor Philip Stott from the University of London; Steve Howard, the CEO of the Climate Group (www.theclimategroup.org); and Alex James, best known as bass player in the band Blur.

The debate was staged by the National Trust to mark the launch of their photographic exhibition 'Exposed: Climate Change in Britain's Backyard'. Highlights of the exhibition are on show at the RGS

ALFI is the official trade body of the Luxembourg Investment Fund Industry - Europe's biggest fund centre in terms of assets under management. I gave the key note speech at their conference, attended by 780 delegates. The title of my speech was: Is the investment community making money at the expense of the planet? The answer has to be 'yes' but my hope is that there more of them are beginning to see that the environment should be far higher up their list of priorities. See more about this on my Blog.

Procter & Gamble have set up an External Advisory Panel on sustainability issues for their Fabric & Home Care business - essentially focusing on detergents and cleaning products. The idea is to provide an external perspective and help identify emerging environmental tends. Our first meeting took place in March 2007 at a splendid location outside Brussels (see my Blog for more details). Further activities are planned. Procter & Gamble have a website, called Science in the Box, which provides information on their safety and sustainability approach.

I signed up to a half day session with Charlie Simpson from Garnett and Simpson. I found it tremendously helpful and am looking forward to demonstrating my improved skills at numerous forthcoming conferences and management briefings.

A February morning in Westminster saw the Environment Minister, David Miliband MP, alongside the shadow environment spokespersons, Peter Ainsworth MP, for the Conservatives and Chris Huhne MP for the Lib Dems, responding to challenges raised by nine leading environmental groups: CPRE, Friends of the Earth, Green Alliance, Greenpeace, National Trust, RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, Woodland Trust and WWF. These groups say that they're not yet convinced that any political party has yet developed an approach to environmental issues that matches the breadth or urgency of the challenge. To this effect they have come up with a 'Green Standard' calling for more radical action, particularly relating to climate change. To find out more click here.

Even the luxury goods industry are concerned about green issues. Smythson, the up-market stationery company, asked me to come and help them get started in looking at what they should be doing and how to prioritise their environmental policy initiatives. The meeting was attended by Samantha Cameron - David Cameron's wife - who is the Creative Director at Smythsons.

I have started working with the Environmental Change Institute in Oxford on Personal Carbon Allowances (PCAs). The current focus is exploring the potential for trials to establish whether this might be an effective tool for reducing individuals carbon emissions. The workshop held at the RSA in February, pulled together a number of interested parties to discuss different approaches.

Along with 70 others I went to Hannover on a Passivhaus Study Tour, organised by the Building Research Establishment (BRE). We were on a fact finding visit hosted by ProKlima, the regional climate protection agency.

PassiveHaus has been phenomenally successful in establishing construction standards for new houses in Germany which results in CO2 emissions about a quarter of those currently mandated in other Northern European Counties. It's based on a 'whole house' approach to design, resulting in extremely efficient new homes that don't need a conventional central heating system and have high indoor air quality. The key principle is for the houses to be super-insulated, super air tight and super well ventilated. For further information see Passivhaus UK website or a blog written following our visit by Mark Brinkley - click here. I was generally impressed with the system but horrified to see that one of the Passivhaus we visited hadn't installed energy-efficient light bulbs!

Organised by the Somerset Trust for Sustainable Development (currently being re-named the Ecos Trust), the Homes for Good Exhibition was held in Weston Super-Mare in February. It showed people how buildings can be designed, built, refurbished, decorated and furnished in an ecologically sensitive way with demos and talks on sustainable building and lifestyle. I spoke about The New Green Consumer Guide with ideas on what people do in their homes.

FTSE4Good has set a widely accepted standard for responsible business practice. They're now launching new climate change criteria, which will be unveiled at an event on 6th February 2007. Speakers include the Rt Hon David Miliband MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Stuart Rose, CEO of M&S and Sir Digby Jones, Vice President of UNICEF.

I've now led the discussion following two screenings of An Inconvenient Truth in Ilminster, Somerset, the first time alongside Rosie Boycott. Organised by South Somerset Climate Action, the theatre was packed both times. On March 13th I held a question and answer session following another screening, this time in Halstock, Dorset, organised by the Renewable Energy Group (Dorset based)

Quoting from the Guardian - "with wit, intelligence, passion and hope, Al Gore's film, plainly shows that climate change is the biggest moral challenge facing our civilisation..... the film gets right to your gut. Using graphics, photographs and computer animation, the former US Vice-President sets out the case that the climate is changing. By the time he's done, you accept that we're facing a planetary emergency...... and you desperately want to do something about it.... a model of political communication."

For further information about South Somerset Climate Action email Joe Burlington - joe@jburlington.co.uk. They organise regular meetings and events. For further information on the Renewable Energy Group contact Richard Smith - bucheron.smithy@virgin.net

Tory leader, David Cameron has set up the Quality of Life Commission to investigate every aspect of the quality of life agenda: transport and housing; urban planning and the quality of public space; pollution, waste, biodiversity and the countryside; energy and climate change. The groups are chaired and vice-chaired by John Gummer and Zac Goldsmith (see picture), respectively. They will provide independent input into the Conservative Party environment policy, which will be announced in July 2007.

In January 2007 I attended a workshop organised by the Built Environment Working Group. The main focus was exploring the potential for reducing the carbon footprint of both new and existing buildings. David Strong, Managing Director of BRE Environment was the Covenor.