there’s revolution in the air…

These words form part of the design across the top of our beautiful new Aquapax carton (thanks again SunHouse) – they are personal and inspired in part by the wonderfully under-recognised poet Mr. Bob Dylan. I wasn’t much into Bob when I was growing up, but my brother Paul was and the song ‘tangled up in blue’ was one where the words always sounded ‘easier’ on my then young ears, despite not really understanding their meaning at the time. (give me a break it was 1974 and I’m not that old… yet)

‘There’s revolution in the air’ now sums up a feeling for where we are right here and now, with growing global consciousness and finally some genuinely powerful leaders who care for our planet. We simply haven’t had this critical mass until now and I can literally feel the change growing.

It is abundantly clear to me that there are so many organisations which treat their environmental policies the same way Enron treated their code of ethics policy. (it was 36 pages long apparently). Their first response to any introduction is ‘how much?’ which remains their only defense to supposed leaders watching over them as to why they aren’t prepared to even try something different.

Very soon, these ‘organisations’ (includes political parties, councils, small and large companies and other ‘entities’) are going to have to stand up and be counted. Words have meanings and non-specific environmental policies with fluffy words and an original intent of boosting a share price, or winning kudos or votes will very soon have to be invoked.

Bring on the revolution Bob – it’s Aquapax time…

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perspective is a wonderful thing…

I met my friend Jack Garwood for lunch today, so he could ‘bless my accounts’ prior to their formal close. We reflected upon the irony of life for so many people being the daily drudge of getting up every day to go somewhere else to do what they believe defines them. Dressing in clothes they wouldn’t choose to wear (if they understood there is a choice) and then commuting to get to the place they go, to do the job ‘needed’ to afford to pay for the clothes, car and house which they’ve left behind.

Perspective is a wonderful thing and in my own journey the realisation of it being ‘ok’ to let go and dream of what it’s going to look like really helps me. Thinking in terms of logistics, challenges, and imperatives isn’t nearly as constructive for me as a commitment to daily actions which maintain my business flowing on a course of its own in the general direction of where we’re going.

“People manifest their own reality” was Jack’s comment on this – he doesn’t always talk in code, but he was on form today and truly inspirational for it. I’m holding onto the end result and taking the actions I can to bear in its general direction. This continues to create the circumstances, serendipities, ideas, and discoveries of some truly inspirational and wonderfully generous people who are helping me bring about my dream.

“Think and let go” is how another teacher refers to the “how” question. I absolutely keep knocking on every door and turning over more stones than are probably wise on my journey. (I’ve always liked stones…) The bit Jack helped me fill in today was to challenge my perspective of whether it’s my responsibility to insist upon the path; there’s clearly an overall change I’m experiencing and never taking no for a final answer is leading our business forwards which is ultimately how we will get there…

Conventional rule books don’t work anymore because something called greed (on a scale never seemingly contemplated by clever economists) interfered with the way it was all supposed to work…

Beyond the noise of the media, I see ever more people making small but wise changes in their lives and growing, as I am, along the way. 🙂 Keep smiling; drinking Aquapax helps if you’re having difficulty with all this!

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the age of stupid…

The IFE (International Food Exhibition) in London over the past 3 days has been hard on my feet and I feel for the poor folk who had to get through today as well. It’s a good trade show and I’ve walked the whole of both halls thoroughly looking for ‘what’s new and exciting’. Delighted to see that Aquapax is still the only ecologically sensible offering in the ‘bottled water’ arena, but sad to see at least 4 new entrants in said arena, all trying to compete for who can produce and supply a plastic bottle of water cheapest.

Is it me, or was there once a degree of common sense in business where the strategy of staying out of the mainstream of competition made sense? Particularly where the competitive activity is unsustainable in the long term! But that’s not the age of stupid I refer to…

Tonight was our Transition Film night in Haywards Heath and we watched ‘The 11th Hour’ – a film I’ve previously blogged about headlined by Leo Di Caprio. It’s a frustrating film for someone who gets it and it makes me want to do something bigger than just blog about it.

I have to start somewhere though, so let me share 2 questions, taken from elements in the film, but asked in my own words…

1. What part of the unanimous scientific perspective that “we’re living on a planet where economics depends on growth and the reality is a declining biosphere”, don’t people get?

2. How can we spread the awareness that change is not going to happen without a critical mass of people understanding its criticality?

By way of answering question 2 for myself, there’s another film being previewed in the UK on Sunday 22nd, at 6pm. AGE OF STUPID is a privately funded film, which has happened through the commitment of some pretty special people. I’m putting a link to the films’ website here, so do please have a look.

The more people who make an effort to see this film in the early days, the greater the prospects of getting this work into commercial cinema; it would be pretty exceptional for such a hard-hitting film of this nature to get into mainstream venues. We all know every little helps, but this is even more important than the change in your pocket cliche of  said Walmart advert…

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serendipity…

I woke up thinking of this word in the early hours and then kept myself awake pondering the precise meaning and the influence of serendipity and sagacity in my life… (that’s what happens when I can’t sleep).

According to wikipedia, it’s the accidental discovery of something fortunate while looking for something else entirely and I can’t be alone in thinking my whole life has been a series of serendipitous moments.

Accidental discovery has long been recognised in science and some truly brilliant discoverers are made through researchers who are open minded to embrace the results of their experiments rather than bin them and keep trying to achieve the result they’re looking for. Embracing life in the same way has served me well and I’m grateful to myself for having trusted my instincts on so many occasions.

Today we had a snap inspection from our local Trading Standards Officer – a very professional chap named Steve, who called in to ensure we’re a bona-fide business and that we’re doing everything we should.

A waste of time on a beautiful but busy day was my first instinct, but I invited him in willingly nonetheless. In chatting through what we’re doing and how we’ve complied with the various TS rules and regs, I physically showed him how Aquapax is sealed from air and light, making a mockery of the 2 year best before date they insisted on. He then revealed an open mind to the possibility of extending our best before date beyond the current 2 years on the pack.

I’ve always said Aquapax has a theoretically unlimited shelf life, depending on the storage condtions. If you consider the water is microbiologically pure to start with and packaged in aseptic conditions, it’s a no brainer that there’s nothing inside the bacteria free package to grow and turn into something nasty beyond the 2 years on the pack.

The opportunity this presents if we can progress the conversation further with TS could be a great USP for Aquapax going forward…

I did a quick search on the word sagacity prior to posting this blog and stumbled across Niall Patterson’s blog called the sagacity of granny. He quotes his granny’s sagacious old quote “Whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye” which for anyone who doesn’t understand a particularly strong Scots accent means “What’s meant to come to you will come to you”.

I’m unsure what the future holds but retain the faith enhanced by a growing blog readership (113 readers yesterday) and the belief that all the messages of support we get from our website must ultimately come from people who would like to buy Aquapax.

Thanks Steve (Mr.T.S. guy) for meeting me with serendipity. It was nice to meet you too. 🙂

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