I sat in the petrol station, playing my guitar to the African night, watching the cars, taxis, and mopeds cruise in looking for a couple of liters of fuel, while my driver did his level best to get the van started again. “No petrol, only diesel” was the answer everyone got from the kind attendant; many of the vehicles never stopped rolling, and just passed on to the next establishment.

My driver was crouched in the back seat of his van, where he was hooking up his two reserve batteries to his well-used jumper cables, while the attendant stuck himself halfway behind the wheel, took the key, and followed my driver’s bluntly delivered instructions: “Turn on. Wait. Start.” (Ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh …) “Turn off. Wait.” Continue reading →

“Let’s talk about transformation for a couple of minutes” says the moderator, John Kao (a San Francisco-based consultant who also plays a mean jazz piano). Apparently, that’s all the time they have.

At the moment, three business leaders are on the stage, representing a major car company, a big bank, and a smaller, socially responsible bank. We’ve heard some good stories, and some good marketing messages of course, the highlight of which was the origin of the Carbon Principles: one big bank actually listened to Jim Hansen, and put a chokehold on new funding for coal-fired power plants in the United States. Continue reading →

Here at the Tällberg Forum— Sweden’s annual festival of words and music, science and dreams about sustainability and globalization — things are getting a little clearer. This is the last day, so it’s just in time.

Take 350, for example. This morning I went to the great big tent to join a very small group in a “Hosted Conversation” on the topic of communication and climate change. Bill McKibben, originator of 350.org, was there. So was Mark Lynas, who wrote Six Degrees, as well as two of Sweden’s TV meteorologists (the weather is so important here that weather reporters have become key climate change communicators). And the King was there as well, with a surprisingly small retinue, just listening. We heard from a businessman who had been a reluctant, slow convert to the cause (he now dedicates 50 percent of his time to the issue); a bishop who sparked off talk about the nearly taboo (in Sweden) topic of religion as a force for change; and a young activist who is trying to get everyone to paint one finger green as a badge of commitment. Continue reading →