Past Post Highlights
I am in no way a prolific writer but among the increasing number of things I’ve written, I look back on a few posts and think, “Yep, I like that post, it’s who I am; it’s what I truly believe.”
The most important of these is a post published on Mongabay on January 6th, 2013. Entitled “Between Two Worlds: Tears for the Unheeded Wisdom of Elders” the post went WAY beyond any 800-word blog limit. I wrote it to help me distil and share my thinking on the way we’re treating the planet and how we’re failing to act. I love this post. It generated some lovely feedback and comments on Twitter and for that I have always been grateful.
Between Two Worlds: Tears for the Unheeded Wisdom of Elders
Another important post for me, published on November 20, 2013 was one I wrote for Australia’s ABC Radio. One of my heroes is Robyn Williams, an Australian National Living Treasure. It was Robyn’s ABC Science Show that aired Barrie Oldfield’s wonderful interview with Richard St Barbe Baker in May 1979 that set me on my life’s course in forestry. Robyn also hosts a show called Ockham’s Razor where speakers are invited to share their thoughts on a particular subject. I enjoyed writing and reading the text, but meeting Robyn Williams was a terrific highlight.
The Devastating Impact of Deforestation
I also like this piece that was published on Huffington Post on March 18, 2011. Called “Dancing with Devils”, it highlights the story of how Nestlé came to adopt its excellent No Deforestation Responsible Sourcing Guidelines. The dance partner analogy is really important to how we bring change.
And finally, though this is not a post I wrote, it’s a wonderfully written piece, published in The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and other Australian newspapers on March 29th, 2014 that captures some personal things about me but also about the way that TFT and I work. I am very grateful to Michael Bachelard from Fairfax Media in Australia. Michael is the first journalist who has ever sought to deeply understand how the change processes I’m involved in happen. He went way beyond the “Company caves into NGO pressure” headlines and asked, “How did this change happen and how did an Aussie forester like you get involved?” I think it’s a really sensitive piece and again, the response when it was published deeply inspired me.