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News & Views From the Front Line
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Happy New Year!
Looking back, 2009 was a brilliant year for Terra Infirma. We worked with some great new clients like the NHS, Aker Solutions Ltd, Middlesbrough Council and Innovation Scout, while continuing working with long term clients like the EU and the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme. We had our rebranding exercise to polish up our image and installed a new phone system. And our turnover kept growing, despite the ongoing recession (we also spent more on the business than ever before).Personally, my big story was the birth of Jimmy, my second son. Coming a close second was the publication of book #1, The Three Secrets of Green Business and getting about half of #2, The Green Executive, written as well. I also launched the Green Gurus website and added profiles of 10 environmental pioneers. Hint: this could just possibly become book #3 - you read it here first.
Looking forward to 2010, we're starting with the book launch at Newcastle Business School on 28 Jan (e-mail us for details or to book a seat), and, to be confirmed, one in London soon after. As mentioned, I hope to have The Green Executive finished by June. Or July. Hopefully. Which means a publication date of Spring 2011. We are also planning to have some quality new content on the website in the Spring of this year. And of course, the Low Carbon Agenda will continue to provide unique insights, news and tips for free throughout the year - this month we'll be looking at peak oil before going on to low carbon strategy development and leadership.
The wider sustainability picture will almost certainly move on rapidly through 2010. OK, Copenhagen was a flop - or a 'Klimafarce' as the Danish press dubbed it - but it did show that the world was serious about taking on this issue - and at a Premier level, not just lip service from environmental ministries. Proactive businesses will continue to move ahead of the pack, green spending will continue to rise (as it has through the recession) and laggards will fall further behind as they lose business to greener rivals. The big questions that remain are whether the economy will be rebuilt as green as everyone claims it will be, whether green technologies will go mainstream (solar PV, electric vehicles, smart grids et al) and, here in the UK, whether the result of the general election will have any effect on this.
So what are your green goals for 2010? You could sign your organisation up to the 10:10 campaign, you could set up a staff committee, you could appoint a director level staff member to lead on green. You could set an ambitious target, develop your strategy or develop a new green product. Whatever it is, if you need some assistance, you know where to find us!
Labels: green executive, green gurus, news, terra infirma, three secrets of green business
# posted by Gareth Kane : 21:05
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Thursday, 26 November 2009
M King Hubbert & Peak Oil Theory
If anyone is interested in the background to the concept of peak oil, I've just posted a profile of the godfather of peak oil, M King Hubbert, on Green Gurus. The profile covers recent controversies.A future edition of The Low Carbon Agenda will look at peak oil and its implications for the industry of the future.
Labels: green gurus, m king hubbert, peak oil
# posted by Gareth Kane : 06:47
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Saturday, 1 August 2009
We are Three!
Terra Infirma is celebrating its third birthday today! In those three years, we've worked with hundreds of businesses and public sector organisations ranging from the third biggest organisation in the world (the UK's National Health Service) to micro-businesses and solo entrepreneurs. While I'd be lying if I said the recession hadn't made things frustrating sometimes, we're finding there are plenty of people out there who realise that sustainability is the future.
And there's an exciting and challenging year ahead. We're bringing new clients and partners on board as we speak, the Three Secrets of Green Business is out in December and I'm planning to have the manuscript of book#2 (working title "The Green Executive") finished by this time next year. We also have plenty of other exciting ideas working their way towards fruition.
I'm off on holiday to the (hopefully) sunny Yorkshire Dales for a couple of weeks, so things will go a bit quiet on the blogging front. If you want more to read in the meantime, check out Green Gurus which now features the godmother of the modern environmental movement, Rachel Carson. I'm taking books by EF Schumacher, Arne Naess and David Pearce away with me, so they're in the pipeline along with economist Herman Daly and climatologist James Hansen. And don't forget, there's always the back issues of "The Low Carbon Agenda"...
Wishing you a great holiday period, back soon,
Gareth
Labels: green gurus, holiday, terra infirma, three secrets of green business
# posted by Gareth Kane : 09:23
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Monday, 6 July 2009
New! Green Gurus site
If you were wondering why I asked for your favourite Green thinkers a while ago, here's the answer: I've started a new website called Green Gurus (www.greengurus.com).As the name suggests, it will assess the contribution made to the environmental/sustainability cause by some of the leading thinkers in the field. It will be infrequently updated as these entries require quite a bit of research and are usually the results of me catching up on some of the unread classics on my bookcase. I would really appreciate feedback in the comments - feel free to disagree!
The first two entries are for James Lovelock of Gaia fame and William McDonough and Michael Braungart who developed the Cradle to Cradle concept.
Labels: green gurus, lovelock, mcdonough, terra infirma
# posted by Gareth Kane : 07:46
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A highly accessible, practical guide to those who want to introduce sustainability into their business or organization quickly and effectively.
