Huw Davies – The power of money

If you are one of the growing population of  ethical consumers in the UK, you will take time to make careful decisions about the sourcing and production of products you buy. You no doubt want to do your bit to make the world a better place – for now and the future?

And, along with most people, you probably find banks and financial services pretty dull, just one of life’s necessities – but hardly the most exciting topic?

But take another look… because your bank and savings provider should be top of your ethical shopping list.

Many ethical consumers have not considered how uneasily their choice of bank may sit  with their other choices and beliefs. Their money may be used to support unethical activity, and certainly not to fulfil its potential to enable positive change. The future doesn’t just happen, we’re collectively creating it every day, and your savings play a big role in that – here’s why:

How banks put your money to work

Money does not stay still, it is passed around the global system, being lent and invested. This activity seems a far cry from handing over hard-earned cash at a local bank branch for safe-keeping.  But the fact is that, once out of your hands, your money enters a system which is far from transparent. Banks’ lending and investment decisions could see your savings helping to fund businesses and organisations you do not approve of – for example, tobacco firms, arms manufacturers, undemocratic regimes, or businesses with appalling records on pollution.

Of course, these same banks also support ethical businesses, and individuals – the problem is that in today’s interconnected global financial marketplace you cannot be sure that your savings are not doing harm.

Consumer choice

Increasingly, we want to know how the products we buy are sourced and produced, from fishing to clothing to coffee. If as a consumer you take an interest in, for example, how the food you eat reaches your plate, and make purchase decisions based on this, why not also challenge and understand how the money system works – and act on it?

Recent research shows that 85% of all UK savers want more information on what banks actually do with their money, and just three per cent of savers feel banks are transparent about what happens to their savings once deposited. At Triodos Bank, we believe savers have a right to know if their hard earned cash is being used to fund industries such as weapons production or the tobacco industry, only then can they make an educated choice as to where they deposit their money.

At Triodos we show our savers all the places we lend to, and they are all businesses and organisations working for positive change in either social, cultural, or environmental sectors.

Simple really.

The role of banks?

The same research showed that three out of four savers (74%) think banks should take more responsibility and proactively do more to help society. At Triodos we believe we need to see the banking industry doing more to support and focus on the real economy and its future rather than operating with a primary mission of delivering short-term shareholder returns. The sector as a whole must acknowledge  customers’ interest in the use of money, and properly consider the role that its power and influence can play in acting for positive change.

Change banking – one account at a time

As an ethical consumer, we’d love you to join us and put your money to work for good – while earning you interest. It’s easy, and means that your other ethical consumer choices are supported automatically by what your money is doing when it’s not in your hands.

Ethical consumers have demonstrated that our purchasing decisions can have an huge impact, helping products like fair trade and organics go from niche to mainstream. If buying the right coffee and cotton can change the world for the better, just imagine how powerful it could be if we all chose the right bank.

Huw Davies is Head of Personal Banking at Triodos Bank
www.triodos.co.uk

Triodos Bank is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Research has revealed that 78% of Britons don’t know how or where their savings are invested.  We investigate further, asking the public where they would and wouldn’t want their savings invested.

This video is part of our campaign, in the build up to National Ethical Investment Week, to raise awareness of the good you can do just by saving money with an ethical bank – and of how easy it is to do.

Where Your Savings Go (National Ethical Investment Week) from Charity Bank on Vimeo.

To learn more; join one of Charity Bank’s borrower visits, explore Charity Bank’s ‘Think Ethical, Save Ethical’ microsite, or visit www.charitybank.org

Charity Bank – Ethical Bank is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Wherever it’s invested, money takes a journey. This might be round the globe, round the big banks or round the stock markets. Sometimes it does some good along the way, sometimes it doesn’t.

Charity Bank makes sure that our customers’ money takes a shorter journey.  It spends less time travelling around and goes directly to charitable projects that benefit everyday communities, every day.

We invite you to join our 2011 Different Journeys programme, an inspirational opportunity to discover for yourself the difference our depositors’ money is making to our borrowers and the people they serve.

Each visit gives you the chance to meet the staff of the charities we support, as well as the people they work with and help.  We are hosting eight visits throughout National Ethical Investment Week.

We are hosting visits in the Midlands, Yorkshire, London, Cardiff, Hastings, South West, North West and Northern Ireland.

Learn more or sign up on our dedicated campaign micro site for National Ethical Investment Week.

Charity Bank – Ethical Bank is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

What are the credible alternative to the existing financial system?

Financial markets, we are told, are the lifeblood of our society, which is why governments across the globe have gone to such enormous lengths to prop up failing financial institutions. However is the economic crisis really over? Is the ‘business as usual’ mentality destined to produce more of the same instability? What plausible alternatives to the current system are there that would promote employment, social and environmental equality, whilst ensuring the economic stability we require?

Bringing together some of the leading voices in alternative economics including Ann Pettifor, Hazel Henderson, Tessa Tennant, Julie Richardson and Nathalie Buschor. This course will cover macroeconomics as well as the experiences of those working with money and investments on a daily basis. The course will uncover the myths and flaws that surround the current banking system, before drawing on the wide range of ideas and experience to explore how a new economic dawn could really lead to a fairer robust system that supports and serves the interests of communities and ecosystems.

Ann Pettifor recently featured in The Observer magazine as one of six pioneers in green thinking. Her work and writing has concentrated on the international financial architecture, the sovereign debts of the poorest countries, and the rise in sovereign, corporate and private debt in OECD economies. She is well known for her leadership of Jubilee 2000, an organisation that placed the debts of the poorest countries on the global political agenda, and brought about both substantial debt cancellation, and radical policy changes at national and international levels.

Hazel Henderson is a world renowned futurist, evolutionary economist, a worldwide syndicated columnist, consultant on sustainable development, and author of Beyond Globalization, and seven other books. She sits on several editorial boards, including Futures Research Quarterly, The State of the Future Report, and E/The Environmental Magazine (USA), Resurgence and Futures (UK).

Tessa Tennant is Executive Chair of The Ice Organisation myice.com, an environmental rewards programme. Tessa co-founded the UK’s first equity investment fund for sustainable development in 1988, the Merlin (now Jupiter) Ecology Fund. She was Chair and co-founder of the UK Social Investment Forum uksif.org and of the Carbon Disclosure Project cdproject.net where she is now a Trustee.

For more details click here: http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/rethinking-finance-good-servant-bad-master

Email:admin@schumachercollege.org.uk

Tel:+44 (0)1803 865934

Schumacher College, Dartington is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Here’s a great topic to avoid – money! In my experience of coaching, discussing financial issues can be one of the areas that clients have most resistance to broaching and yet money is something from which we can learn a tremendous amount.

You’ve only got to set yourself the challenge of living just a single day without spending any to discover just how dependent we are on using this tool of modern society. What does our approach to using it tell us about ourselves and how can we benefit from that knowledge?

Security

For many of us, having enough money gives us a sense of security. But what does enough mean? In absolute terms, enough can be a different amount of money for each of us. So, clearly it’s not a magical fixed sum that’s enough for anybody to live on, but rather how we value it and what we use it for that determines what’s enough for us.  So perhaps what we can learn from our feelings of security or insecurity around money is how much money – savings, debt, monthly income – represents a feeling of enough for us.

Vehicle for Expressing Ourselves

When I asked Jane what her concerns were around her financial situation, she replied that money just seemed to flow into her bank account and then disappear! She didn’t know where it was going or how it was or wasn’t supporting her way of living. Naturally, this led to some worrying on her part and also feelings of lack of control of how her hard earned wages were being used.

One way to view money is as a vehicle for expressing ourselves. What does “where our money goes” say about us? Our level of debt might represent our willingness to be led by others. When we manage debt well, then this could indicate that we know our boundaries and responsibilities.

How much we spend and where we buy the necessities in life can express much about our views on the production of food, clothes and toiletries. It can illumine our attitude to health versus convenience, ethics versus costs and wisdom versus blind compliance.

Jane summoned the courage to investigate the particular stream of money that made its way through her life, following its arrival, stemming trickles running into areas she no longer valued, creating pools to store some savings and encouraging a small and steady flow into good causes.

Gratitude and sharing

To what extent are we prepared to share our money? Jane decided that she was happy to share 5% of her income with good causes and also that she would carry a small amount of cash with her each day for what she called spontaneous donations! This, she said, gave her the flexibility she needed and also the reminder each day of the joy that she could experience from giving.

In addition to these changes in habits, Jane decided that she wanted to change her attitude to paying bills. She’d noticed her tendency to feel resentment towards paying others for services and goods, as she perceived bill paying as something that depleted her funds. With some encouragement, she was able to find and express gratitude for the services that others had provided for her or the goods they had made. She also discovered that she felt gratitude for her ability to pay and for the skills she had that enabled her to earn a living.

Living Without Spending

A great way to highlight the effects of something on our lives is to try living without it. Having committed to 2 days without spending money, Jane reported that she had become more creative! How had this happened?

A couple of common rat race habits are:

• spending our way out of misery and
• spending our way out of problems.

Jane noticed that, on days when she was resisting spending, she used her creativity to find solutions to problems, for example by reading the manual on her central heating boiler when it failed and finding out how to reset it, rather than calling out an engineer. She also reported enjoying a relaxing walk in the park during her lunch break rather than buying a bar of chocolate to cheer herself up and working through her lunchtime.

Conclusion

Old rat race habits die hard, especially when it comes to our approach to money and especially in a recession when the temptation is not to face up to our finances. When we know what’s enough for us, how to express ourselves – our gratitude, shared joy and creativity – through money, we can learn a lot about ourselves and how to embrace money as a life serving tool.

Sally Lever is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

5 June
2009

World
Environment Day (WED), 5
June, 2009, is an initiative aimed towards building worldwide awareness
of environmental issues and climate change and is a principle vehicle
for the United Nations to enhance political attention and action

(http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/). This year’s WED slogan is
‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate change’
which reflects the urgent need for an internationally binding policy
on climate change. Although a significant part of the fight against
climate change is the implementation of an international policy, it
also requires individual and corporate actions.

As part of Article 13’s
ongoing commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) commitment, and
specifically our efforts to support the environment and climate change,
we robustly monitor our own environmental impact, as well as show advocacy
and support for its protection. Below are examples of our actions, reporting
and review measures:

• We conduct a monthly audit
  of our usage of paper, electricity, and fuel, seeking to improve our
  impact on the environment. We believe that these small actions contribute
  a positive impact and are in keeping with our corporate sustainability
  and responsibility status.
• Secondly, we volunteer members
  of our in-house team for conservation work, as part of our efforts towards
  the protection and management of environmental resources.
• Thirdly, we create awareness
  and highlight the latest information on environmental technologies,
  policies and conferences through regular advocacy and information dissemination.
• See our UNGC pages for our latest actions and 2009 KPIs

   (http://www.article13.com/csr/ungc_iip_values.asp).

A small selection of
Article 13 resources includes:

• Article
  13 Climate Change Resource centre: http://www.article13.com/csr/climate-change-cont.asp
• Article 13 environmental case
  studies:
• Aviva – reducing and offsetting
  carbon emissions http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1376
• 3M – Development of a life
  cycle management approach http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1312

For information on how
Article 13 can assist you in auditing your company’s practices, developing
environmental action plans, and reducing your business related environmental
impacts, contact Fiona Banyard on 020 8840 4450 or email fionab@article13.com

Money Matters

Putting the Eco into Economics

- global crisis and local solutions

David Boyle

28th May 2009

Published by Alastair Sawday Publishing

Visitwww.sawdays.co.uk to buy a copy

£7.99• Paperback •  ISBN 9781-906136-20-8

From
hedge funds to hyperinflation, credit cards to credit crunch, David
Boyle’s new book demystifies the economic system that has us all caught
in its tentacles. 

Now,
more than ever before, we are worrying about money.  With our
mortgages, savings, credit card bills, loans and pensions, we are all
implicated in a system that operates ostensibly in our name.  But for
something we all use so much of, money is extraordinarily elusive; it
is coins and it is debt, it is a plastic debit card and it is infinite
numbers of bytes in cyberspace.  But where has all the money gone?

Money Matters is
essential reading for anyone who feels in the dark about the economic
situation.  It will brief you for the current financial debate and will
make you look at everything from your bank statement to the coins in
your pocket in a whole new way.

The
book covers the origin of money, the banking system, the stock markets,
trading, the global flow of e-money, debt, mortgages, interest, tax,
pensions, the global currency of oil, forgery, great crashes of the
past, the dot.com
explosion, the credit crunch of 2007 and the 2008 crash, and the
emerging ways to trade in the future, such as Ethical Banking, Local
Exchange Currencies, the Transition Town Movement, and sustainable
finance.

David Boyle has
written widely about money from a green and ethical perspective.  He is
a fellow of the New Economics foundation and editor of their newspaper,
Radical Economics.  His books include Why London needs its own Currency (2000), Virtual Currencies (2001), The Money Changers (2002) and The Little Money Book (2003).

The
Bristol Vegan Fayre May 30^th
and 31^st
2009

Now
in its 7^th
year, the Bristol Vegan Fayre continues to be the biggest vegan
gathering anywhere in the world, with record crowds expected for this
year’s event after the near sell out 2008 show which saw over
11,000 visitors over the 2 days

Organised
by Bristol based firm Yaoh, The BVF 09 is once again an eclectic mix
of all things vegan, with 100 stalls including 20 caterers with vegan
food from all over the globe, plus 40 talks and cookery demos over
the weekend, and an amazing line up of entertainment for the whole
family.

The
acoustic stage sees a variety of musical talent throughout the
weekend including acts such as Bristol jazz combo Kev & Mike’s
Groovy Thing and local legends Dub From Atlantis, plus headliners
SohoDolls on Saturday, right opposite the onsite licensed bar. There
is also a performance stage in the amphitheatre with Brazilian
Dancers and Sikh swordsmen amongst others, and the Kids Area is
rammed to the rafters with an assortment of magic shows and workshops
for the nippers

But
The Main Stage once again grabs the headlines with some truly
excellent acts on later in the day – The Saturday line up is
definitely party time with The King Blues on the Main Stage at 5pm,
with Ian Dury’s band The Blockheads headlining Saturday at 9pm.
Sunday sees reggae uberstar Horace Andy (famed for his work on the
Massive Attack albums) take the stage at 7pm along with his band Dub
Asante, with Macka B fresh from headlining last years St Pauls
carnival live on stage Sunday 5pm.

The
show starts at 11am both days and runs to 10.30 pm on Saturday and
8.30 pm Sunday. Tickets each day are £8 in advance, £10 on the gate
before 5pm and £12 after 5pm. Kids under 12 come in for £4 each
day, and babies under 12 months come in for free. For advance tickets
go to www.yaoh.co.uk/catalog
- also available from The Bristol Ticket Shop

The
event website is www.bristol.veganfayre.co.uk

Contact
Yaoh on 0117 9239053 or email info@yaoh.co.uk

Thanks
to all our sponsors including Bute Island, Beanie’s, The Vegan
Society, Off The Hoof, VitaMix, VeggieSnow, Mad Promotions,
VeggieVision, Foods For Life, Shakeaway, Community Foods, Kingfisher
Toothpaste and Excellart

Trusts
and foundations should consider environmental, social and governance
(ESG) risks and opportunities in their investments to safeguard value
and protect the interests of future beneficiaries -according to new
research released today by the EIRIS Foundation.

Sustainable returns: The value of environmental, social and governance factors for Foundation investments
examines why issues such as climate change and corporate governance
pose financial risks and opportunities for trusts and foundations.

Despite
their role in supporting pioneering social and environmental projects
through grants, many trusts and foundations are still lagging behind
other asset owners when it comes to responsible investment. This can
lead to significant conflicts between mission and investments. 

The
financial crisis has highlighted the risks that all investors,
including trusts and foundations, are exposed to. It has underlined the
importance of responsible ownership and long-term investing which
require accountability, transparency, and the consideration of
‘extra-financial’ research in the investment process.

The
EIRIS Foundation’s new report sets out why these principles make sound
financial sense for trusts and foundations. It explores the growing
body of evidence to show how the integration of ESG risks and
opportunities into investment can safeguard and enhance value for
shareowners.

The paper also highlights the following steps
that trusts and foundations should take to ensure they are managing
investments in a responsible and sustainable way:

1) Agree a position on responsible investment
2) Research investment manager’s expertise and practice in ESG integration
3) Include ESG integration in the investment mandate
4) Join collaborative initiatives, such as the Carbon Disclosure Project
5) Vote shares on ESG related issues
6) Engage with companies directly or via investment managers
7) Invest in sustainability-themed funds such as greentech, microfinance or timber
Invest in responsible investment funds that use ESG integration

Report
author Sam Collin, Charity Adviser at the EIRIS Foundation, said
‘Responsible investment is nothing new – some charities have been doing
this for decades. There is compelling evidence that ESG issues have a
financial impact and this shouldn’t be ignored by trusts and
foundations. This fits clearly with the fiduciary duties of trustees
and with Charity Commission guidance. Trusts and foundations that fail
to take ESG  issues into account could be seen as acting imprudently
and failing to secure their long term financial sustainability.’

Alastair
Hanton, Chair of the EIRIS Foundation, added ‘The integration of ESG
factors into investment processes is now recognised by the mainstream
as a way to enhance value – as demonstrated by the $18 trillion worth
of signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible
Investment. It’s not enough to just assume that ESG issues are being
integrated into the investment process. Acting as responsible owners,
trusts and foundations should question and encourage their asset
managers to adopt and implement best practice in responsible
investment.’

During fair trade fortnight (23rd Feb – 8th March) the Fairwind Trading Company will be giving away free gifts on their fair trade gift website www.fairwindonline.com.

For every £10 you spend (excluding delivery) they will send you a free butterfly fridge magnet or window decoration.

The more you spend the more butterflies you get!