The Last Word

Emissions were not always the mainstay of CO₂ monitoring. When records first began at Mauna Loa, US, in 1957, they aimed to track the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ as it rose and fell with Earth’s seasons and orbital cycles.

The choice of location, 4000km from the nearest global industrial hub (and the nearest gypsum wallboard plant) in Los Angeles, however, was telling. CO₂ had been recognised as a product of burning fuels since the late 18th Century and as a greenhouse gas since 1859. Now, data from Mauna Loa substantiated the climactically consequential matter of industrial emissions: atmospheric CO₂ was increasing, by 35% between 1957 and 2025.

I recently discovered the marketing expert Rory Sutherland, a fiercely insightful and witty ‘chap’ from the British ‘old school.’ Sutherland has worked for the marketing firm Ogilvy and Mather since the 1980s, where he founded the company’s Behavioural Science Practice (BSP) in 2012.

If you ever try and fail to get to sleep at night, worrying about the events of the day and wondering what new challenges await you in the morning, it can be useful to try and visualise our place in the universe, and to picture the utter triviality of our existence.

Today’s venture capitalists are spoilt for start-ups in which to invest and reap the rewards. Two contrasting travesties from either end of the European age of adventure show the very different character of early venture capitalists and the extremes they went to – both in success and failure.

I’ve recently finished a two-day mountain marathon in the UK Lake District, where myself and my running partner David - the web editor here at Global Gypsum - carried all our cooking gear, food, sleeping bags and tent. I feel that it was a great opportunity to learn some life and business lessons.