Green in the Park

Yesterday I went to Green in the Park, an event run by Scottish Enterprise to explore how businesses can become more environmentally aware and how they can use their green credentials to attract business.
It was a lavish affair - held at Cameron House Hotel - and was very well attended. The facilitator was Muriel Gray who, as if often the case at these events, was more interesting that the speakers. She talked briefly about what she felt was a redefining of the idea of luxury so that excess had become vulgar and it was tracebility, connection and some kind of environmental sustainability which were becoming the qualities in demand. I hope that she is right.
Other speakers talked about their guest houses and the marketing opportunities of being "green" and a man from Thomson's airlines spoke (interestingly but not that convincingly) about what the package holiday companies were doing to address their environmental issues. There was also a perfectly pleasant but completely irrelevant cooking demonstration by Nick Nairn. The organisers had obviously decided to throw money at this one!
It is always a good things to take time away from the garden and the Christmas preparations and to go and meet people -I always think that I don't have time and yet I always come away with several good ideas or interesting contacts. Today it is back to painting the market stalls and sewing chintz canopies for them.