For more pictures of life in Plomodiern, see
separate page.
We also went to visit my parents in Carmel, California.
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Dad, Mother, Keith and Roger, Carmel 1985; Dad and my nephew Christophe Heliot, 1985
For our first home in France, in 1986-87, we searched for a location near to nature but not too remote, more welcoming of foreign immigrants than the south of France, where we could help build the Bahá'í community, not too far from an international airport for frequent foreign travel, and where I could be useful in building the relationship between the Bahá'í International Community and the United Nations, as suggested by the Universal House of Justice. For this latter reason, we did not want to be too far from Geneva, Switzerland. We settled on the Department of Savoie, and found an old village house in 1986 in the hamlet of Les Allues, part of St. Pierre d'Albigny in the valley of the Tarentaise, between the cities of Chambery and Albertville on the way to the main skiing resorts. In addition, there was a train station with direct trains to Paris. It was a lovely place to live.
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Our home at Les Allues; family with my brother Greg
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With Agnés' dog Belle
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Martine and me at home at Les Allues; me at Les Allues
Every Tuesday in winter in St. Pierre d'Albigny, the whole school would go skiing at a small resort up the pass behind the village.
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Martine ready to ski; leaving St.Pierre d'Albigny for skiing; Alex
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my daughter Agnés; the buses waiting
The end of February is the Bahá'í festival of Ayyami-Ha, a time for hospitality and the giving of gifts. To replace the material side of Christmas for the children, we created a tent-like Ali Baba's cavern over our bed, where the children could have the surprise of discovering their presents. First we had a party with cake.
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Ayyyam-i-Ha party with cake; discovering presents in Ali Baba's cave
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Playing baby-foot; Martine bought me a new jacket and bow-tie (which I still have)
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Getting dressed up
We could also go back to visit grandparents and friends in Plomodiern, Brittany, and in Carmel, California.
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My father-in-law Claude and Martine; the children at Plomodiern
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Visiting the beauties of Brittany near Plomodiern
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My children in Brittany
My mother had moved to a home at the entrance to Carmel Valley, and my family often spent time there when we visited California to enjoy the Monterey Peninsula and catch up with my family, just as we visited Martine's family in Brittany.
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My Mother and Dad with me and my children, Carmel, 1987
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My daughter at Carmel Beach; Mother and me, Carmel Beach 1987
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Lunch at Nepenthe, Big Sur with Jean and Madeleine Pisani-Ferry, Martine's sister and brother-in-law 1987
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Mother's home in Carmel Knolls; deer below the deck
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Me organizing firewood
When we could not enlarge the house at Les Allues as we wished, we bought in 1988 what remained of a small chateau, La
Pallud, in the neighbouring village of St. Jean de la Porte. My office was in an ivory tower with a view of Mont-Blanc. It was a beautiful place to live, with skiing in the winter and hiking in the mountains in the summer. I continued as a consultant to international organizations and governments, while Martine established her own documentary film-making company, AkkaPro. When UNEP moved its Regional Seas Programme from Geneva to Nairobi, and with my experience building a regional seas programme in the Pacific, the Director, Stjepan
Keckes, a wonderful Yugoslav scientist and dedicated international civil servant, brought me to Nairobi on three-month consultancies to rebuild the programme.
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Chateau de La Pallud; Martine and Alex, La Pallud 1989; garden seen from La Pallud
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Martine and Alex, La Pallud 1989; Alex stomping grapes La Pallud 1988; Alex and Ned Blackmer 1989
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Catherine and Arthur preparing lunch; cousins Anne-Gael, Berangère, Agnés catch a TGV 1988
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The views from La Pallud; the sheep of the previous owner gave birth to lambs shortly after we moved in
More pictures of La Pallud in the homes file.
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Martine's youngest sister Anne (Nanou) Caillard came for a while
With the mountains of the Massif des Bauges right behind us, it was easy to go up and ski in the winter, and walk or go for a run in the forest in summer.
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Alex in the woods; the children went for a run
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My children; me with brother Greg
If it snowed, we could even play in the snow near La Pallud in winter.
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Catherine, Martine and Agnés in the snow; Arthur too
In 1989. we went back to California for a visit, and even got in some skiing in the High Sierras of Yosemite
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I continued with OCA/PAC until 1991, when Martine had health problems and had to return to Europe with the children. The UN was organizing the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, so I was seconded to the secretariat in Geneva and drafted chapter 17 of Agenda 21 on oceans, coasts and small islands, helping to launch the concept of Small Island Developing States. In 1990 I published my first book, Unless and Until: A Bahá’í Focus on the Environment. I also prepared a Directory of Islands of the world for IUCN and UNEP.
We lived for a few months in the Chalet Ferry, St. Die, France, in 1991. Jules Ferry was a famous 19th century political leader who created the public school system in France, and his great-grandson is my brother-in-law Jean Pisani-Ferry.
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My brother Greg, with Bahiyyih, Mary Nakhjavani and son Ian, and my family at St. Die 1991
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Bahiyyih and Martine at St.Die; my daughter 1991; preparing to cross the Vosges mountains on horseback 1991
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND 1992-2002
In March 1992, UNEP asked me to become Coordinator of the UN System-wide Earthwatch, based in Geneva, Switzerland, to assist the whole UN system to monitor and assess the global environment and to warn of new problems that were coming, so I remained in Europe. I also became Deputy Assistant Executive Director of the Division of Early Warning and Assessment. I collaborated with the sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development, helped to develop global observing systems, and launched and guided a process to develop indicators of sustainable development. In 2000, for my last two years in UNEP before retirement, I was made Director of a new Coral Reef Unit, charged with organizing efforts to save the coral
reefs of the world, my original scientific interest. I also applied my systems thinking to the larger problems of society, writing another book The Eco Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis (Zed Books and George Ronald 1996).
In 1992, we attended the Bahá'í World Congress in New York City
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My daughter and me, and Martine with my mother at the Bahá'í World Congress
The Alliance of Religions and Conservation organized a World Summit of Religions and Conservation at Windsor Castle in 1995. Many heads of religions attended, including Ruhiyyih Khanum and a delegation from the Bahá'í International Community. Four experts were invited to present the issues to the religious leaders. I represented UNEP, and there was the director of the Environment Department of the World Bank, the head of the BBC World Service, and Susan George the economist. After four days of discussions, all the religions agreed that we had a responsibility of stewardship for the environment.
Summit of Religions at Windsor Castle 1995 (I am back row centre), Bahá'í nine-pointed star on left
My professional missions often gave me opportunities to give Baha'i talks and assist with local activities in many places around the world.
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Speaking in American Samoa, where my brother Keith lived, in 1994 and 1996
My UN career ended at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2002. The first week, as a UNEP official, I was launching what they called a type 2 partnership for coral reefs with the collaboration of the UN and the scientific community. The second week I had retired and represented our Bahá'í-inspired International Environment Forum (IEF) which was accredited to the conference.
Speaking at an IEF seminar at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002
Mother with her four sons in Carmel, ca. 2000
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND 2002-PRESENT
(see also my TRAVEL page and my CHALET and ACTIVITIES pages since 2000)
At the time that I joined the United Nations, the retirement age was 60, so in August 2002, I had to retire. I was attending the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a UNEP official the first week. The second week I had retired, and headed the delegation of the International Environment Forum (IEF), our Bahá’í-inspired professional organization which was accredited by the UN in the science and technology major group, organizing events in the science forum, with the conservation community, with the business community and at the university.
I decided to stay in Geneva, where I have a small apartment (29 m2) in the Châtelaine neighbourhood of the town of Vernier, a suburb of Geneva, a 3 minute walk from the UNEP offices in International Environment House. I escape when I can to my little chalet in the forest nearby in France. For two years I continued as a consultant to UNEP with activities that were an extension of what I had done before. In fact, UNEP continued for 8 years to provide me with an office for my projects with them, especially as Coordinator of the UNEP/University of Geneva/Graduate Institute Environmental Diplomacy Programme (2005-2009). I also had consultancies with other international organizations and the French oceanography agency IFREMER. Later I was a consultant to the World Economic Forum and the World Bank as well as UNEP. Part of my time was also devoted to IEF activities, and to ebbf – Ethical Business Building the Future, another Bahá’í-inspired organization bringing ethics and values to the business community and the workplace, where I was also a member of the Governing Board.
In addition to professional consultancies, many of my activities supported Bahá'í communities and our Bahá'í-inspired organizations. I spoke on a panel with economist Augusto Lopez-Claros at the European
Baha'i Business Forum (EBBF), now Ethical Business Building the Future, Annual Conference, de Poort, the Netherlands, in 2003.
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On a panel with Augusto Lopez-Claros at the ebbf Conference 2003; at a reception with Richard Helmer 2003; walking in the hills behind Acuto, Italy, with George Starcher at an ebbf conference in 2006
The World Economic Forum sent me to Taiwan to prepare a report on its economic success, so I was able to speak as well at the Bahá'í Centre in Taipei in 2005.
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Speaking at the Bahá'í Centre in Taipei, 2005
With a family spread around the world, as well as many professional assignments, travelling continued to be part of my life. I visited my mother in Carmel,
California, and then Quebec to visit my son Alex in 2005. When my mother passed away in 2006 at the age of 97, the family gathered in California for the funeral.
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My brothers and family after Mother's funeral 2006
Later in 2006, I joined my brother Greg and his family in Bulgaria and we went on to the first Bahá'í Summer Gathering in Macedonia, where I was one of the teachers. (more pictures on the Travel page).
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Macedonian Baha'i Summer Gathering, Ohrid, 2006
At the Finnish Winter School in early 2007, I was one of the teachers on "Challenges to the World and Possible Responses", and gave a number of other talks for Bahá'í communities in Finland.
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Finnish Winter School, January 2007
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Finnish Winter School, small group discussions
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With my good friend Mika Korhonen (fellow ebbf board member) and family
In July 2007, we had a family reunion at Martine's parents home in Brittany. This was followed in August 2007 by a wonderful visit with Greg and his family at the Baha'i Summer School in Bulgaria, followed in October by time with my son Alex and his family in Quebec. My daughter and son-in-law were in Geneva, so I did not have to travel to see them.
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Alex with Benjamin; Mahalia, Alex and Benjamin in Brittany 2007; daughter and son-in-law 2007
The International Environment Forum conference was in Ottawa in 2007 (pictures),
and I also gave a Bahá'í talk in Chambery, France.
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Speaking at the IEF Conference, Ottawa, 2007; a Bahá'í talk in Chambery, France
At the 2008 Conference on Peace and Development in Montenegro, I spoke on the environment as a force for peace.
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Speaking at the ECPD Conference in Montenegro, 2008
At the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2008, I met two other members of the International Environment Forum, Elizabeth McLean from Puerto Rico and my old friend Austin Bowden-Kirby from Fiji.
With Elizabeth McLean and Austin Bowden-Kirby 2008
In 2008, I met the Canadian architect of the Baha'i
House of Worship in Chile when he visited Geneva, and discovered that his inspiration for a "temple of light" came from a painting by Mark Tobey in my own collection (see separate
page). In 2008, I also made two visits in June and December to Quebec to see Alex and his family.
With Siamak Hariri 2008
In 2009, I was back in Bulgaria in June for a stay with Greg and his family, and went again to Quebec in August for a visit to Alex and the Gagnon family.
Jérémie Gagnon 2009
2009 was the year of the Copenhagen
Climate Change Summit (COP15), where the Bahá'í International Community and the International Environment Forum planned a series of activities on Bahá'í principles relevant to this issue. UNDP was afraid that the intergovermental conference would be a failure (which it was), so they invited all the religions to prepare action plans on climate change, and invited them to present them to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Prince Phillip at a gathering at Windsor Castle the month before. Tahirih Naylor of the BIC and I were the Bahá'í representatives. There was a procession into Windsor Castle with banners, the formal presentation of action plans, and a royal vegan banquet.
Gathering of Religions for Climate Action Plans, Windsor Castle
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The formal gathering at Windsor Castle; presenting the Bahá'í Action Plan to Ban Ki-Moon and Prince Phillip; Prince Phillip and Ban Ki-Moon
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Procession, Windsor Castle; some of the religious representatives
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Bahá'í delegation, Tahirih Naylor and Arthur Dahl; procession; Bahá'í banner
After my first pilgrimage to the Bahá'í Holy Places in Haifa, Israel, with my family in 1960, I wanted to go back before I was too old to go again, so I made a second
pilgrimage to Israel 50 years after the first in February 2010.
Family visits have continued regularly over the next decade until interrupted by the pandemic of 2020. I was in Bulgaria with Greg and his family in July 2010, in Quebec again in August 2010 with my son Alex and family. I also spoke at the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) Conference in Croatia, and co-chaired a session; and addressed an AIESEC conference in Switzerland.
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Speaking at the ECPD Conference in Croatia; AIESEC conference in Switzerland, 2010
I visited my son Alex and family again in Quebec in July 2011, and made a trip to California with my brother Greg and family in July-August 2011. I spoke at the ECPD Conference in Montenegro later in the year.
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At the ECPD Conference in Montenegro in 2011
The International Environment Forum organized its 2011 Conference in Hobart, Tasmania, where I was a panelist, and its 2012 Conference as an IEF event at Rio+20, Rio de Janeiro, where I also spoke.
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IEF panel in Hobart 2011; speaking at IEF event at Rio+20, 2012
In 2012, I traveled again to California with Greg and his family in July-August 2012, including a visit to Yosemite. I made it back to the top of Mount Hoffman, in the High Sierras of California at age 70, 47 years after my last climb up. However my nephew and niece, and their Bulgarian friends, reached the top first. [see travel
page for more photos]. From there I went on to Quebec. My brother Keith passed away in American
Samoa and I had to go to his funeral in December 2012.
On top of Mt. Hoffman, 2012
In March 2013 I visited Greg and his family in Bulgaria and then joined them in California in July-August 2013, before going again to Quebec. The pattern repeated in 2014, first California in July-August 2014 with Greg and family, then Quebec, followed by a return to Sofia,
Bulgaria in November.
Since Greg and his family moved to the Czech
Republic for their children's schooling, I visited them there in August 2016. In October 2016 I represented Switzerland at the dedication of the Bahá'í House of Worship for South America in Santiago, Chile. In 2017, Alex and his family came to France, first to the amusement park at Puy
de Fou and then to Paris in July 2017. I was off again to Bulgaria in August 2017 to see Greg and his family. In 2018 we celebrated my grandson Luca's first birthday at Martine's home at Ormes in March, and later was able to follow the work
in the garden at Ormes. There was also a visit to Quebec in April 2018 to see the Gagnon-Dahl family. In May-June 2019, I made an extensive Bahá'í teaching trip through Scotland, speaking in 24 communities in 22 days, and in the Scottish Parliament. Other travels are reported on my Activities page, until travel ended with the pandemic in 2020.
Having spent so much of my life dealing with environmental problems, I wanted to do something to give young people hope in the future, so I wrote another book In Pursuit of Hope: A Guide for the Seeker (George Ronald 2019). Most recently, with two Bahá’í friends, the economist Augusto Lopez-Claros and the international law expert Maja Groff, we prepared proposals to reform the United Nations that won the New Shape Prize of the Global Challenges Foundation in 2018, and we went on to write a book on the subject, Global
Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
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