A note from me

Good Folks,

We’ve had quite a week!

It was a milestone birthday for my wife, Mary. She took the reins in deciding how to celebrate! Our London-based daughter and our L.A.-based daughter joined our extensive family grouping in The Hague, along with Mary’s sister from Singapore, so we had a full house. On Wednesday – the actual birthday – we had a family group and a friends group both take on an excellent Escape Room challenge involving stealing a Fabergé egg! Both groups succeeded with about one-and-a-half minutes to spare!!! So we called it a draw, which was lovely (although, to tell the truth, we were 10 seconds faster so really, we won!). We then took over a local Italian restaurant run by friends for a fantastic lunch, and then Mad Mary went to the airport for her first ever parachute jump! She was all kitted up and standing by the plane when poor weather intervened so we’ve postponed this insane experience until later in the summer. 

Saturday was an all-afternoon and all-evening house party involving about a hundred people coming in and out to celebrate with us. These were friends from all different threads of our lives wishing to commemorate the occasion and catch up with Mary, who has brought her rich brand of love and deep caring to so many people over the years. We all want to encourage her now to make sure she puts time into really expressing her brilliant artistic talents alongside the hours she has always spent caring for others. She has blessed so many people. And we were blessed at the party with an impromptu, unrehearsed mini-concert from a local friend and Mary’s sister, both professional singers, who met at the party and found they shared mutual musical interests!

We are all individual, quirky people, with family and friends. We live at the human scale. It may seem that huge resources are required to shape the world, but we all shape the world around us, for better or worse, through our individual lives. This Newsletter considers this truth as it applies to energy transitions.

My Bi-Weekly Guide

Humanising Energy Transitions: 5 Steps

In the past couple of Newsletters, we have been considering different aspects of Energy Transitions, but it can seem that all necessary actions require large-scale resources and large-scale business or political power. However, collectively, we actually have considerable power and there is much influence we can bring through our actions as individuals. I guess this is one of the things that the World Energy Council means by “Humanising Energy”. 

So, in this Newsletter, I introduce 5 individual roles that most of us can play to promote constructive energy transitions.  

1. Lifelong Learner:
   Energy transitions are not straightforward, but neither is there a need for so-called “rocket science”. You do, however, need to see beyond simple slogans to understand a little about how environmental, economic or organisational systems work. You do need to invest some effort to learn what changes are likely to be helpful or detrimental, or what has significant versus minor influence, and adapt to changing circumstances as they evolve. We can all commit to this learning journey to improve our understanding and, hence, make our other actions more effective.
   

2. Citizen:
   In the types of societies many of us live in, we are able to exercise political influence through our voting behaviour and through various forms of protest or activism. We can shape political action through individual voting or through participating in citizen’s movements like Extinction Rebellion or WWF. Political action shapes policy, legislation and regulation, and well-informed citizens can apply pressure for constructive and effective changes. It is really valuable to know, understand and shape the policy platforms, relevant to energy transitions, of competing political parties. Informed citizens can do all of this.
   

3. Consumer:
   Our consumption choices can not only have a direct impact on our emissions but can also give indirect evidence of our preferences to businesses. If enough people indicate a preference for goods or services with a low-emissions footprint - even forming a “consumer movement” that demands them - then providers will look to benefit from serving and growing that market segment. The challenge is that the substantial investments required to reduce emissions are generally needed far upstream in the supply chains that eventually deliver those final goods and services to us. This investment could be kick-started, however, by, premium consumer markets in goods like fashion, electronics, automotives, and food, and by rigorous regulatory standards for their emissions footprints. Consumer movements and citizen movements can drive these changes in business investment and standards.
   

4. Professional:
   Many of us have a professional life of some kind. Some of us will sit somewhere in the 8 extended business chains that account for over 50% of emissions - fashion, food, electronics, personal care and similar fast-moving consumer goods, automotives, construction, professional services, and additional freight outside these commercial chains. Some of us will sit in organisations that serve the activities involved in these long business chains, use their goods and services, or regulate them in some way.  If we understand the systemic changes required to accelerate energy transitions, we can help reach out beyond our own activities to build the kinds of alignments that can accelerate energy transitions through smart business, smart policy and smart politics.
   

5. Community member:
   We live in multiple communities – families, work, leisure, local, and online. If we understand the effective changes in behaviour that will help other people also accelerate energy transitions, we can take the time to introduce this understanding to our communities.  We can be teachers, nurturers, or encouragers in our communities who help others also fulfil their different energy transition roles effectively.  We can be more active community members in ways that enrich the community, bring personal satisfaction, and ultimately benefit everybody.

Question of The Fortnight

Every fortnight I’ll be asking a thought-provoking question in hopes of sparking interesting and enlightening discussion.

I’d love to hear your response! You can do so by simply responding to this email.

Today’s question is:

Which of the 5 highlighted energy transition roles do you think you already perform effectively, and where do you think you could improve? 

Join The Dodo Club

The Dodo Club is Waiting!

The Dodo Club is my FREE online community, built for collaboration, learning and mutual support.

In the interest of avoiding the fate of that unfortunate bird, the dodo, this community aims to help us secure our own personal legacies and to leave a healthier planet for future generations.

Dodo Clubbers will have access to bi-weekly webinars, our community resource hub, weekly themed discussions, and Q&A sessions. Once in the community, members can access roundtable discussions mediated by, original learning material, and 1 on 1 coaching sessions with myself.

To be a part of the discussion and to have your voice heard, please join the community through the link below.