Turning a famous symbol into light
- On taking leadership – check out my very good friend Michael Mobb’s plan to make the suburb of Chippendale in Sydney sustainable. He’s thought about everything with everything green buildings to art to the urban heat island effect to his favourite topic — food.
- Again on leadership, I recently watched “The Lady”, about Aung San Suu Kyi’s struggle for democracy in Burma. Kyi was not able to return to the UK when her husband had prostate cancer and they were separated when he finally passed. When the dictatorship told her “you must choose between your husband and your family, or your country”, she responded with “what choice is that”? On May 12th, Kyi was formally sworn into the Burmese Parliament, ending 24 years of struggle, of which 15 years were spent under house arrest.
- I’ve got another post up on the Fifth Estate, continuing my series for the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All. This time I’ve focussed on new and innovative solutions for light – including the long lauded “coke bottle” light which was recently nominated for an Ashden award.
I recently spent three weeks in Myanmar, and it took no time at all to discover, first hand just how much the people there really do adore The Lady. Most of the taxi’s we took had her picture hanging from the rearview mirror, roadside stalls were selling shirts with her face featured on them, and people we spoke to were quick to tell us how much they loved and supported her. The owner of a cafe in Bagan, told us how a jubilant street party resulted after the National League for Democracy marched through the streets after the recent political reforms. He said “before [the reforms] we don’t smile so much, now we have hope, now we have something to smile about”. I wish an Australian politician would give me reason to support them even half as much, as the Myanmarese support The Lady.
Wow Jess – sounds like you had an amazing trip, and at exactly the right time too! Thanks for sharing your personal views of the place – You’ve definitely inspired me to go!