General

October 8, 2024

There are far more powerful, sustainable, regenerative strategies today – they offer much more compelling action options than “be afraid and lobby your government”

June 8, 2016

“A watery by-product of fruit and vegetable processing, which used to end up in the sewerage system, is now being served at restaurants as premium drinking water.” Yes, this article is about bottled water – but it’s also about a fundamental shift in how entrepreneurs are thinking differently and turning “waste” back in to high-value…

August 10, 2015

Once upon a time entrepreneurs were thought to be born rather than made.  However, like any human craft there’s a strong element of skill. We now know a lot about the skills and habits of successful repeat entrepreneurs.  These are 3 of our current favourite skill-builders –  along with video intros – for finding, funding…

July 6, 2015

When leading brands start turning regenerative thinking into business innovation, you know there’s a fundamental mindset shift underway. Here are a few big brand indicators that particularly caught our eye: Adidas  collaborates with Sea Shepherd to make running shoes out of ocean plastics: http://www.fastcoexist.com/3048033/adidas-knit-these-sneakers-entirely-from-ocean-plastic-trash McDonalds hooks up with Rocky Mountain Institute to design a Net…

July 5, 2015

A good friend loaned me the book “This Changes Everything” by social activist Naomi Klein.  It’s a massive book and I’m still processing a lot of its content.

February 3, 2015

“Human behaviour doesn’t fit into a simple cause/effect model….Resist simplifications…” – Margo Main In an increasingly complex world, “just” is a symptom of over-simplification that blinds us to  possibilities for systems transformation.  Maybe it’s an excess of super-hero movies, technology overwhelm, or an industrial culture of production line thinking. A single-answer “solution” about sustainability (or…

November 17, 2014

A common topic in many of my coaching conversations – especially with sustainability practitioners – is that there are useful models for understanding HOW people are different and what motivates different groups. I’ve found that the four Temperament Types is a useful model for understanding and influencing and gives clients some useful ‘aha’ moments as…

September 26, 2014

Most human behaviour is dictated by our opinions and beliefs about the world. If we don’t examine and test them, we can end up becoming impotent, angry and depressed.  In the sustainability game and especially in the media, one limiting belief I come across repeatedly is that “Sustainability requires government action.”

September 24, 2014

Back in the 19th century the human race got hooked into chemical and mechanical engineering. We developed steam power and learned to make soap in quantity, then later fell in love with petrochemicals. While these have been useful tools to a point, their side effects are showing up as increasingly damaging. Biomimcry is showing up…

July 6, 2014

It’s a chilly winter’s afternoon in my home town down under, and I’m catching up on my reading list.