Gareth's Blog - Terra Infirma

Stop frightening people about climate change

14th May 2018

One of the basic principles of psychology is that, despite millions of years of evolution, we are still instinctive animals at heart. We fear fire,...

Reasons to be Cheerful part 514

11th May 2018

Well, the good news just keeps coming. Zero carbon aluminium smelting, coal-free-energy days, too much solar energy in the summer (so how do we store...

Sustainability Lessons from 14 years in Local Government

7th May 2018

Regular readers may have noticed that my output here and on social media has been somewhat patchy over the last few weeks, That's because I...

How to measure true commitment to Sustainability

30th April 2018

Here's a great quote to guide our answer to this crucial question: Commitment is an act, not a word ~ Jean-Paul Sartre Here are some...

Eyes on the (Sustainability) Prize

26th April 2018

There's a new, if rather clunky, phrase going around the political commentariat at the minute - 'tribal epistemology'. Coined by US journalist David Roberts, the...

A Neat Sustainability Innovation Story

23rd April 2018

About a decade ago, I bumped into Simon Daniel on a station platform. Simon and I been in the same year at Uni in the...

When is a Sustainability Strategy not a Sustainability Strategy?

18th April 2018

I saw this odd story yesterday that BP had released a 'Sustainability Strategy' based on holding its carbon emissions steady while the business was predicted...

Long term vs short term in Sustainability

16th April 2018

In Sustainability, we talk a lot about lengthening our mental timescales – 'building cathedrals', making products longer lasting etc. And while this is great, we...

Do SMEs feel the heat on Sustainability?

11th April 2018

This month's Ask Gareth is slightly different as it reflects on a conversation on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) with fellow Sustainability consultant Michelle...

The Power of Sustainability Rankings

9th April 2018

One of the more uplifting concepts in the last decade or so has been the emergence of pro-Sustainability activist corporations, a welcome break from the...

Gareth’s Blog