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HONG KONG SPEECH (Dec09)
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They were all represented at the workshops I spoke at organised by CIO Connect, a trade
association for Information Officers working in corporates. The topic was 'A
Climate for Change' - rather appropriate just a few days in advance of the Copenhagen
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RUSHLIGHT AWARDS
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Since the Rushlight Awards, for
clean technology, started three years ago, I have been a judge for the overall award
winner. This year I was also judging the green products category.
Winners will be announced at a dinner on 28th January 2010, which is preceded by a
showcase, where technologies can be viewed.
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THE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF FOOD AND DRINK (Nov09)
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Tim Lang, who has almost as many titles as Peter Mandelson, one of which is
sitting on the Sustainable Development Commission, admitted that no-one was yet clear about
what exactly a sustainable diet was. He told the food industry audience at a
Westminster seminar that there was much more clarity about what wasn’t
sustainable. I asked him about whether a vegetarian ready meal might actually
fit the bill, given that the food processing industry was far less wasteful of resources
than millions of individual households both in preparation and cooking. He
agreed that this might be the case and that it’s important ‘not to demonise food
processing’. But he also pointed out that home cooking had cultural and social benefits
that shouldn’t be over-looked.
Another hot topic was the significant impact of meat on climate change
emissions and how it might be possible to reduce global consumption – this was presented by
Tom Macmillan, director of the Food Ethics Council. But the highlight for me
was a presentation from the National Consumer Federation illustrating how incredibly
confused most members of the public are about sustainable food issues. She said
that she simply didn’t know what to do or what to think when faced with so much information
and such complexity. And that just about summed it up.
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SOMERSET WASTE PARTNERSHIP WORKSHOP (Nov09)TEXT
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I gave a key note presentation at a workshop organised by the Somerset Waste Partnership, who are responsible for waste throughout
the county. My speech highlighted some of the public misperceptions about waste,
packaging and plastic bags. I also illustrated the shocking problem that we have in
what's known as WEEE waste. This rather cute acronym stands for ' Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment'.
See blog for an article I wrote on this. And Click here for
links to packaging briefing sheets I wrote
for M&S. And click her for links to plastic bags.
Steve Read, MD of Somerset Waste Partnership said this about my
presentation:
"Julia brings a fresh and challenging perspective to the issue
of packaging. She's keen to puncture the myths and misconceptions consumers have about
packaging but she doesn't let the retailers off the hook. Not afraid to be controversial,
Julia's presentation got people talking at a higher level"
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VISITING
BEDZED WITH GENERATION GREEN (nov09)
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This was my second visit to Bedzed - the first was about a year after it
started in 2003. This time I came with about 20 school children as part of the British Gas Generation Green Think Tank, that I am leading. It is
our third visit to a 'green' project. The first was to Closed Loop Recycling in Dagenham, where they recycle plastic
bottles. The second was the Met Office in
Exeter, where the children learnt something about the science of climate
change. And our next meeting will be at the Houses of Parliament, where
we’re going to present the children’s policy ideas to Government. We’re
hoping that Gordon Brown may attend – or at least Ed Milliband – and perhaps some
Conservative MPs too. Greg Barker, Shadow Minister for the Environment has booked
the room for us, so that’s a good start.
See Blog for more about Bedzed….
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CHILLING FACTS (Nov09)
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I met up with Nick Cox from Earthcare Products and Fin Walravens from the
Environmental Investigation Agency. We
reviewed the results of our second survey on supermarket refrigeration for our Chilling
Facts campaign www.chillingfacts.co.uk
(see the blog I have written on this). The first survey launched on Radio
4’s Costing the Earth programme in January this year, showed that supermarket
refrigeration is a huge contributor to climate change. Worryingly, it also
revealed that although there are viable climate-friendly alternatives none of the
supermarkets had made much progress in switching their technology. As
much as 1/3rd of the carbon footprint of most supermarkets can come from the coolants in
their refrigeration and a further 1/3rd from the energy used to power their cooling
systems. This year the results of our survey were more
encouraging. But we won’t be reporting them until early next year, so you’ll need
to wait until then to hear more….
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VISITING BEDZED WITH GENERATION GREEN
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The third and final visit for the Generation Green youth
think tank is being held at Bedzed, which stands for Beddington Zero Energy
Development. It is Britain's largest sustainable community, with
both office and residential accomodation in the same building.
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2k RECYCLING (Nov 09)
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In the UK we throw away mountains of plastic waste and use lots
of plywood. Apart from a small amount of plastic bottles and an
even smaller number of plastic bags, pretty well all the rest of our plastic
debris is discarded, never to be used again. Omer Kutluoglu, a
Turkish entrepreneur and INSEAD graduate, thinks this is ludicrous.
I visited Omer at the site of his new factory near
Luton. His business, 2k Manufacturing is setting up to start
recycling large quantities of mixed plastic, including electronic waste, into a
product called Eco Sheet. See my blog for more about this.
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WRAP (Nov09)
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I was a bit frustrated watching the panel session at the
WRAP conference on Resource Efficiency, at the Royal
Society. John Humprhies, from Radio 4’s Today programme was
typically witty in his introductions, and the contributions from Hilary Benn,
Minister of State for the Environment and Marc Bolland, CEO of Morrisons were
worth listening to. My frustration was because I had been invited to be
one of the panellists but had had to decline because of a previous commitment,
which was then cancelled at the last minute. So I had to content myself
with a couple of questions from the floor. In my place, giving the
consumer perspective, was Joanna Yarrow from Beyond Green. There was
also David Palmer-Jones, Chief Executive of SITA UK, Will Day from the
Sustainable Development Commission and Nick Pollard, CEO of Bovis Lend Lease. Bovis had a
number of initiatives focused on reducing waste. However, given that
the building industry is possibly the most wasteful industry on the planet, this
is long overdue. And I was a little disappointed that their targets for
Passiv Buildings (super insulated low energy buildingS) would not be fully
implemented until 2050 – too far in the future.
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BIG GREEN HOME SHOW (Oct09)
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My talk was on eco-renovation. I explained that knocking
down a building and starting again is generally not the greenest option. We
should be making do with what we’ve got. Apparently you could drive around
the world about 10 times and use the same amount of energy as is embodied in the bricks
of a typical Victorian house. I also talked about what I’d done at my home and –
just as importantly – what I haven’t yet done. The Big Green Home show was
organised by the National Self Build & Renovation Centre. Their events
manager wrote to me afterwards saying:
"I had to drop you a line to say 'a huge thank-you' to you
for being such a fantastic guest speaker - you were absolutely superb!....
You made a very inspiring speech and I would have no hesitation whatsoever in
recommending you to other event organisers as a guest speaker on eco or renovation
matters as a whole - or as an after-dinner speaker - as you have such a warm and
welcoming 'touch' to your delivery."
Naomi Handford-Jones, Big Green Home Show, Centre Events Manager
The National Self Build & Renovation Centre, Oct09
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AMSTERDAM DECLARATION – CLUB OF ROME (Oct09)
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The two day conference in Amsterdam was organised by the Club of Rome,
famous for its Limits to Growth Report in the early 1970s. Worryingly, the
over-riding theme was that their concerns and predictions about the depletion of the
world’s natural resources were proving to be rather accurate. And that the
threats from climate change would shortly be irreversible unless there was a very dramatic
change in the world’s response. The culminated with a document called the Amsterdam
Declaration. The plan was to present this to the Copenhagen Summit in December as
further reinforcement to some significant global commitments. Gorbachev was one
of many high profile speakers – Click here to see my blog.
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AGE OF STUPID
(Oct09)
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I’ve been wanting to see this film for some time, so when I discovered there
was a screening close to my home in Somerset I signed up. Actually, I sent out
information about the film and managed to recruit about 20 people to come along too, including
my children. I did find it interesting but I have to admit, not as compelling as An
Inconvenient Truth. See my blog about
it.
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CAOBISCO -
CHOCOLATE & CONFECTIONARY (Sep09)
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The European trade association for the chocolate and confectionary industry -
CAOBISCO held its 50th Anniversary event in Brussels. My speech on sustainability issues
focused on traceability in the supply chain, sustainable agriculture, climate change and
packaging. But I didn't forget to mention obesity and fair trade. At
the dinner after the event I was presented a gift for giving a challenging and provocative
speech.
Cadbury's research shows that 64% of the carbon footprint of a milk
chocolate bar comes from the dairy component.
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PROCTER
& GAMBLE - BABY CARE AND DETERGENTS
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I sit on Expert advisory panels for Procter & Gamble on both babycare -
chiefly nappies - and detergents, which includes cleaning products. At a recent meeting
we've also advised on batteries, as P&G now own Duracell. The most recent baby
care meeting was in August 2009, although I met up with some of the P&G team, whilst giving
a speech in Malta to the disposable hygiene products industry, in September.
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EDANA -
DISPOSABLE HYGIENE PRODUCTS (Sep09)
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The European trade association for disposable hygiene products held their
annual event in Malta. My speech highlighted concerns about our disposable society,
explained the public confusion over what is the greenest nappy option and looked at whether
eco-labelling will help or hinder environmental improvements.
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GENERATION GREEN VISITS THE MET OFFICE IN EXETER
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This was the second trip for the Generation Green youth think tank. The
first was to see a plant recycling plastic bottles in Dagenham. This time round we went
to the Met office in Exeter. It was a real eye opener into the science of climate
change. The meterologists at the centre didn't differentiate between those studying long
term trends and those focusing on the weather in the next few hours or days. They were in
no doubt that climate change is real - and they should know. The children were given the
chance to present an imaginery e weather forecast for their area in 50 years time.
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MARKS
& SPENCER (Sep/Oct08)
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Having written a consumer briefing sheet (and done a video) on carrier bags
for M&S, I am now working on a similar briefing on packaging issues, which will be
published online. This will be followed by a briefing paper, also on packaging issues
but targeted at businesses, government and NGOs, explaining in more detail M&S's
strategy, approach and policy recommendations. And, alongside Jane Bickerstaffe from
Incpen (Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment) and Mark Barthel from WRAP
(Material Change for a Better Environment) I sit on an expert advisory panel at M&S
focusing on packaging too!
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EAU DE
VIE (Jul09)
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See my blog about lunch with Eau de Vie and how their bottled
filtered water compares with tap and bottled mineral water.
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GENERATION GREEN VISIT - PLASTICS RECYCLING
PLANT
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I was impressed by the passion, enthusiasm and knowledge
of many of the children who are participating in the Generation Green youth think
tank,
sponsored by British Gas. Age 7-14 we met at Dagenham docks to have a look around the
Closed Loop recycling plant.
See my blog about this
visit
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SUSTAINABILITY
WEBINAR (Jun09)
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I didn't know what a 'webinar' was when I was
invited to present one by SustainAbility, the company I co-founded in 1987. It was a
little unnerving speaking to a faceless audience, particularly when they asked questions.
All I could see was a list of names on a screen in front of me, along with my slides. And
I could hear an occasional bleep of someone joining or leaving the conference. It made me
realise that I normally rely quite a lot on visual cues from questioners. The
conference was about 'consumer engagement' and had been set up solely for SustainAbility
clients.
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SPEECH FOR CIO
CONNECT (Jun09)
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I was invited to make one of two key note speeches at the Royal Society by
CIO Connect. CIO stands for Chief Information Officers and its
members expertise is in information technology. The them of the event was change
- Climate for Change - Business in Transformation. And my brief was to talk about how
businesses will be affected by climate change and how they should respond. I've
subsequently been invited by CIO Connect to speak to businesses in Hong Kong - in December
2009.
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OECD - PARIS - JUN09
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It was one
of those conferences where people sit around the table with signs in front of them saying which
country they're representing - and there were interpreter's boxes through glass panels above
them. This one in Paris was hosted by OECD and was all about consumer empowerment and
responsible business conduct. I was chairing a session about what consumer's expect, so I
started by saying that as a consumer I would have expected the OECD to have jugs of tap water
for everyone to drink rather than rows and rows of bottled water. Surprisingly, this was
greeted with some applause. Some of the other messages that came out of my session
were: that greener products should not compromise on their functionality; that surveys
were not so great at picking up actual consumer behaviour; that the priorities in developing
countries were very different to developed ones; that reducing consumption didn't necessarily
mean living poorer lifestyles; and in Vietnam the concern was very much focused on the poor
quality of products, which could be extremely hazardous.
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MORRISONS -
CHEMICAL WORKING GROUP (Oct09)
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As well as working with Morrisons on their environmental policy across the
board, I've been asked to sit on their newly formed Chemicals Working Group. The first
meeting is early in November 2009.
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SOUTH SOMERSET
TOGETHER - ZERO SOM - JUN09
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Organised by South Somerset District Council the
Zero-Som Sustainability event included an exhibition with lots of green stall-holders and
with me as the key note speaker. My main message was that we can all do something
and that what we do does make a difference even if on its own it feels trivial. One
of the first companies I challenged about trying to insist on giving me a carrier bag was
M&S - now they are promoting the fact that by charging for carrier bags they've
managed to reduce the number given out by 80%. And I advise them on a range of
issues, including packaging. It was great to be giving a speech on my home turf -
the picture on the left is the pinnacle of Ham Hill in South Somerset. I could see
the monument from my bedroom window as a child. Click here to see the video.
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RADIO 2 - JEREMY VINE SHOW ON FOOD
WASTE
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Listen to fierce debate about the merits of 'slop
bins' or garbage pails as I prefer to call them. I'm being challenged by a chap who
didn't impress me much with his views on food waste, recycling and climate
change.
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GREENWISE INTERVIEW WITH ME - WHY ALL BUSINESSES SHOULD HAVE A
GREEN STRATEGY - MAY 2009
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Julia Hailes, veteran environmentalist, author of
theGreen Consumer Guide and sustainability consultant to blue chip clients, including
British Gas, P&G, Morrisons and M&S, talks toGreenWise about what
businesses can and should be doing to improve their green credentials and if there is
anything SMEs can learn from big corporates....... Click here for
article
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PRINCE OF WALES MAY DAY SUMMIT -
May09
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The North West
Regional event of the Prince of Wales May Day
Summit was held in the Concorde Hangar at
Manchester Airport. Periodically the sound of aircraft almost drowned out the speakers. And
I had rather mixed feelings about sharing the room with the world's most polluting aircraft,
however magnificent the engineering! But the event was well attended with over 200 business
people signing up to the Network's climate change pledge in Manchester. There was a real
buzz about the place as the delegates were genuinely interested in what changes they could
make to their business and exchanging information on what they'd already done. I made a
keynote presentation encouraging individual and corporate action rather than waiting for
either government or indeed technological progress to come up with the solution to climate
change.
"I thoroughly enjoyed your speech and the real
examples of how individuals at all levels can make a difference - very thought provoking
and inspiring."
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Click here to view the podcast
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BRITISH GAS - GREEN
YOUTH THINK TANK
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75% of young people say that they think their views on environmental issues are
not being heard. So Generation Green a schools project sponsored by British Gas is setting
up Britain's first green youth tank - Our Planet Our Say - for 7-14 year olds. I'll be
leading the group of 20 young people around a plastics recycling plant, a renewable energy
project and to visit Britain's greenest street. I'll then be encouraging them to come
up with green policy ideas that we'll then present to the government.
I spent a morning in a radio studio talking to radio stations around the
country encouraging young people to visit the generation green website and say why they'd like
to be selected for the green think tank.
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PROCTOR AND GAMBLE EXPERT PANEL - MARCH
09
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It was the third meeting of the Expert Panel on
detergents that P&G have put together. This time it was held near Geneva and
the topics discussed included Duracell batteries, which are part of the P&G
portfolio. The idea of the panel is to get some outside views on sustainability
issues relating to P&G products and to look at future innovations from this
perspective.
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SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM CONFERENCE - MARCH 09
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VisitEngland
with support from the national tourism organisations in Britain and Ireland hosted the first
dedicated area on sustainable tourism at the Best of Britain and Ireland Travel Trade Forum (26
and 27 March). The talks were prefaced by the Minister for Tourism, Barbara Follett, who
spent a significant part of the short time she spoke explaining why she didn't have time
for questions. The other sessions I chaired
included ones on hotels, conservation holidays and green
destinations.
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SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN KENYA -
MARCH 09
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Having co-founded the Haller
Foundation in 2002 (now called Haller) and not been
back to Kenya for four years to see progress on the ground, I was delighted to see
how much has changed. Along with the other members of
the Haller Board of
Trustees I went to see
the some of the communities that the organisation has been helping, near
Mombasa. Projects to date include a sustainable agriculture training
programme, dam building, village scale biogas units, environmental education and a mobile
medical clinic.
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BRITISH GAS -
GENERATION GREEN - JAN 09
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I've been recruited by Blue Rubicon PR to work with British Gas on Generation
Green a schools and community plan encouraging green behaviour. More information to
come!
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MINIMISING WASTE WORKSHOPS - JAN
09
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We met in Bridgwater although
there was a replica workshop the following day in London. The idea was to sound out views
of people who dealt with waste about how to reduce it. I was surprised but pleased to
learn that South Somerset, where I live, has the lowest per capital waste in the UK. So I
can't be the only one that has dramatically cut my waste since they've introduced fortnightly
collections. Unlike the columnists in the Daily Mail, I'm a big supporter of this
approach. But we do get our food waste and other recyclables picked up once a week, which
is a good incentive to recycle. The workshop was organised by Kit Strange from
the Resources Recovery
Forum (See picture
below)
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RUSHLIGHTS AWARDS DINNER - JAN
09
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I was a main
category judge for the Rushlight Awards, set up to promote renewable energy and clean
tech companies. The black tie dinner for prize winners and other interested parties
was held in London. And the overall winner was.....Novacem - a company developing a cement that actually locks up CO2 rather
than release it. The cement industry is close to top of the league for its climate
change impact, so Novacem's idea could make a huge difference.
Photo: Helena Bridge, Kit Strange (Resources Recovery Forum) and me arriving at the Rushlight Awards
dinner
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FOOD ETHICS
COUNCIL - CONSUMER CULTURE - JAN 09
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I chaired
this Food Ethics Council Business
Forum dinner discussion
how the recession might affect ethical principles. Amongst those attending were
McDonalds, Unilever and Weetabix and the speaker was Professor Neil Ward from the University
of East Anglia. Despite reporting a significant downturn in sales of organic produce,
I felt the mood of the meeting was quite optimistic. It was felt that values might
become a higher priority for consumers, which would make them think more carefully about
what they buy, perhaps leading to reduced consumption. Not so good was the prediction
that pressure on land and water was going to be by far the biggest concern for the food
industry.
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M&S PLAN A - IN
ITS FOURTH YEAR - JAN 09
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Changing pizza packaging at M&S has saved 800
tonnes of waste, which is the equivalent to all the packaging for fruit and
veg
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I asked Stuart Rose whether he thought M&S could improve on its communications to shareholders about
Plan A (I think they could!) I've come across a number of people who are
asking why M&S is 'wasting' their time on environmental initiatives whilst the share
price tumbles. Stuart Rose was adamant that Plan A has been good for the bottom
line. He said that it might seem tempting to backslide on the commitments made in
better times but that he had not intention of doing this.
I've been at all the Plan A update events - it's now entering
it's fourth year. And what surprises me is how many different things M&S are
doing. The audience for this progress report was full of people coming at the issue
from different directions - I don't think any of them felt ignored, even if they weren't
totally satisfied.
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Some of the
highlights included:
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Advice to consumers on how to save
£1000 through environmental measures
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M&S expecting to achieve all Plan A
targets by 2012
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Three eco-factories working for M&S
- 2 in Sri Lanka and one in Wales
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120m hangers have been taken back for
recycling
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Now planning re-use of 85% of hangers,
which would save equivalent of 5000 barrels of oil
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Have gone from using 4m plastic bottles
for 50m to make jackets and cushions etc
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Employee campaign on healthy
eating
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No waste to landfill by
2012
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30% renewable energy by 2008/09 and
100% by 2012
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