There is plenty of bad environmental news and even worse news about environmental policy. (And not just in the US but that is the epicenter). Still, there are reasons for optimism which are often worth holding onto and sharing. Andrew Winston, a prolific writer on sustainable business, gave his views on 2025’s Climate Week in…
Category: Sustainability
Information Is Key To Recognizing Progress
Hannah Ritchie’s Clearing The Air is a must read for anyone interested in the challenge of greenhouse gases. She answers fifty common questions about how the world can make progress addressing climate change. Almost everyone can learn something from the book. You may have been able to answer some of the questions, but few people…
Applying The Genetic Fallacy To The Carbon Footprint
I have just finished Hannah Ritchie’s Clearing the Air. More on that later — spoiler, it is a great book. As such, I was interested to see what a review that appeared in The Guardian newspaper had to say about it. The writer overall liked the book, which makes sense. But he didn’t stop there….
Greenhushing Is A Big Problem
The Economist recently highlighted the phenomenon of greenhushing. This is when firms keep quiet about their genuine sustainability achievements. This is the opposite of greenwashing — which is when firms trumpet dubious claims to sustainability. At first glance greenhushing doesn’t really seem to be a big problem. After all the firm is doing the good…
Can Any Single Country Make A Difference?
Can any single country make a difference to climate change? I could make this a short post by just saying, YES. That said, I will give a few more details. Bad Reasons To Do Nothing The other day I was hearing about someone who was relatively well-informed talk about how the US couldn’t really achieve…
Is Now A Good Time To Give Up?
David Suzuki, the famous Canadian environmentalist, just gave a pretty gloomy interview. According to Suzuki in respect of climate change, “it’s too late”. It led me to the question: Is now a good time to give up? It Is Too Late? I’ve never said this before to the media, but it’s too late. David Suzuki…
Being Part Of A Big Team
I have a confession to make. I think it is a bit odd when people click their fingers in appreciation of a comment. In some ways I get the basic notion — you don’t want to disrupt the speaker making the point. Still, making a meaningful show of support is what we have clapping for….
Strong States Help Markets To Thrive
Rebecca Henderson, a Harvard business professor, writes about the need for business to become better than it is currently. She has a great book from 2020 on this. (The book is well worth a read, apart from a strange metaphysical bit at the end which was badly in need of an editor to say, “no…
Cliches About Disruption Aren’t Public Policy Advice
In my last post I noted that I worked at the Labour Party during Tony Blair’s time. He is easily the best UK prime minister of my lifetime, so I really wanted to be positive about his institute’s report on climate change. The approaches outlined are quite sensible, but the overall report is just plain…
What To Do About Climate?
I was Finance Director of the Labour Party when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, it was a more optimistic time. There were notable problems of course; but at the least the mood music was positive. The Labour Party was proudly European, it wasn’t trying to…
