[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0YIupCcmE&feature=player_profilepage] On my visit to Qatar, one of the things that struck me is the fact that the oil floating in the Persian Gulf isn’t just in the fluid form carried by the huge tankers that ply the waters off this small but affluent Middle Eastern Kingdom. Petroleum can also be found in its waters

It’s not often that one gets an opportunity to try to influence those who are engaged in setting a new course for a crucially important part of the world. But it was a privilege that my friend Bill Nicholson and I had this past week at the Middle East Economic Future Conference in Doha, Qatar,

Reprinted from Ode | Spring 2011 issue Jurriaan Kamp Almost two years ago at a natural products conference, I ran into an old friend. I’d known him for some years as a passionate advocate for the natural and organic industries. He’d founded various companies in that space. He was an environmental activist. So it was

Once again, I am being pulled back to the sea and the one cause that is most closely intertwined with my “son-of-a-fisherman” roots. It happened this past week in New York while spending some time with my peers in the sustainability business. Of the various subjects we discussed, the fate of the world’s oceans was

On April 25 I was in Bentonville, Arkansas, just as the region was caught by the full force of Mother Nature’s wrath in the form, of deadly and destructive tornadoes, flooding and the most incredible display of lightning I have ever witnessed. I had never in my entire life experienced a storm quite so intense.

Recently, I sat on a panel (which I mentioned in a previous blog) in which it was suggested that what we need is new language to address our environmental concerns, since our present terminology no longer seems to be resonating with a large sector of the public (a phenomenon I like to refer to as

While it may not have been a milestone in my career, the meeting I just attended with a really brilliant team of experts on social media was a major learning experience that opened my eyes to the near impossibility of trying to keep pace with the flow of new technology. It made me realize, for

Last week I had the honor of attending the Fortune Brainstorm Green Conference in Laguana Niguel, Calif.. Having just returned from a memorable trip to Sao Paulo, I was a little overwhelmed (as was my American Express Card), but went anyway, wondering exactly what I might gain from attending this event. I soon realized, however,

Sao Paulo Sometimes, we experience miracles – and when we do, they should simply be enjoyed and embraced, rather than questioned.  That was the message conveyed by Father Timothy R. Scully, a professor of political science and Kellogg Institute faculty fellow at the University of Notre Dame, during the course of an intimate mass to

Sao Paulo This is an incredibly vibrant city –one that gives me the same feeling as I had in (yes) Las Vegas in the mid’90s of being a “happening place” with unlimited potential for smart growth and urban solutions. San Paulo is an incredible mass of humanity concrete and brick, but its people are upbeat