Plastic surgery: plastic packaging conference

I've been to an interesting conference today, discussing the issues surrounding plastic packaging. There was a really good list of speakers, who had lots of facts and figures about the good and bad of plastic packaging, but the following was the one fact that really stood out for me.

Do you know how long it took the USA to change from a society where 90% of travel was by horse, to a society where it was 90% by car? Can you guess?

12 years!

Imagine what a massive transition that must have been and the change in infrastructure that would have been required. I'm not sure what period it happend, but I would've thought early 20th Century (I could probably look it up on Wikipedia). Obviously there are lots of factors involved; economy, income, supply etc. But it goes to show that massive changes to fundamental aspects of society and culture can take place relatively quickly - if the outcome is attractive or desirable.

And that's the big challenge with climate change... How do you make it attractive (and not just frightening or depressing)?

DEBI Awards

Unfortunately it wasn't our night at the DEBI Awards on Thursday evening, we didn't win our category. But we were really pleased our Today and Tomorrow initiative reached the finals at our first attempt. We have already given our certificate pride of place on the wall of our office!



The overall winner this year was Paignton Zoo. To find our more about what they have done take a look at their website. To see the full list of category winners visit the DEBI website. There are (or will be) some photos. The award ceremony was held at the Met Office in Exeter, and it was a great evening. It was really interesting to talk to the other finalists and learn about what they've done within their businesses. The diversity of businesses in the finals was fascinating and an inspiration for looking at what else we can do with Today and Tomorrow.

The next step

Exciting news over the weekend: William took his first steps - about five - then he sat down, looking very pleased with himself!

Here he is, updating his Facebook page with the news.


(I'm only kidding about Facebook).

Sustainable cities

Apparently Bristol is the most sustainable city in the UK, according to the 2008 Sustainable Cities Index, published this week. The 20 largest cities in the UK are assessed across a range of criteria, but the report stresses that it doesn't mean Bristol is a genuinely sustainable city - it's just better than the others. Generally Britain is far behind the global sustainable leaders: Portland in Oregon or San Franciso. Their success is due to the vision of city leaders in the 70s and 80s. To find out more click here.

Go and buy a hat

The little woolly hats on the Innocent smoothies are in Sainsburys now! Charlie was busy knitting back in September, as part of Innocent's Big Knit, to support Age Concern and keep older people warm this winter. Innocent hit their target of 500,000 hats, and for every smoothie with a hat that's sold 50p goes to Age Concern. So go on, help keep someone warm, and get some healthy fruit down you!