The Unbearable “Likeness” of Being
Do you really “like” someone – or something for that matter – when you enter that over-used word in Facebook or where-ever else the unremarkable one word opinion is called for? Are you expressing admiration, appreciation and/or acknowledgement? Or are you just saying something as briefly as possible just for the sake of it? To be noticed? “Like” is a much over-used word in the casual, but often reported, speech of the young and not so young. We should say more than “like” if we really want to show our support for something or someone significant. I was thinking about the inadequacy of “like” when considering the legacy of the late – and to many, great – British Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher. She was liked, admired, even loved, by many. She was a strong leader – you have to “like” her for that – but she also generated just as many “hates” for her pronouncements, her actions and her treatment (of colleagues and opponents). We report today on Thatcher’s early leadership on climate change. We “like” that. Remember she was an Oxford chemistry graduate and research chemist before she took up law, then politics. Also in this issue: Reports of sustainability and profits as business bedfellows; creating climate wealth; the importance of ethics; and wise words from Jeffrey Pfeiffer & Nitin Paranjpe. We “like” what they have to say. Stories on clean energy developments in Australia, UK and the US, along with clean cookstoves in Cambodia and the latest LED energy saving lights. US companies campaign for the climate and robots have a place in the construction industry. A little bit of serendipity, historic heroes, a cleaner maritime industry and hackathons for the environment. What more is there to like? – Ken Hickson
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