You ever have that feeling when you get out of an interview or exam, and about 30 seconds after leaving the room you go “Oh crap, why didn’t I say that???”?

Well, apparently you get the same feeling when you give a talk. I felt that way after my talk at the London Green Fair on Sunday 10 June, where I spoke about the Rio+20 summit and intergenerational justice. Perhaps I’m being too harsh on myself.

But, in particular during my responses to questions from the audience, I wish, on reflection, that I had said the following:

1. Tech fixes aren’t enough – we need new forms of economy, organisation and political voice. Technological progress is fine, but it must be fair, equitable and accessible. Community renewable energy is a good example.

2. Market mecahnisms for nature are useful, and I often use/refer to them in my work. But putting a price tag on every species we find is deeply unsettling to me and doesn’t address the deeper problems we have – nature is not a commodity and we can’t treat it like one.

3. We need new narratives. The most important one we’re in now is the post-1979 Reagan-Thatcher neoliberal economic narrative. New narratives (or rediscovered ones) are the best way to build a movement for change. A movement is like a double-helix – intertwined with narratives it needs and tells.