Building an economy based on reality.

It's time that we completely wake up as a civilization to reality as it is: EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.

Carl Sagan said it decades ago, "the new consciousness is developing which sees the Earth as a single organism, and recognizes an organism at war with itself is doomed."

We must evolve from using war to get our needs met. This means every one of us. Starting with the language you use. Become aware of all of the ways that you use military and warfare lexicon in your daily life - do you really want to war if you are here to create peace?

From this recognition we must build an economy of connection, of relationships. An economy of peace, rather than one of war. Simply that.

Enjoy the video.

"The Possibility for Profound Change in America"

We're in the driver's seat for "The Possibility for Profound Change in America" an amazing lecture which recognizes each of us are responsible for systemic change for our civilization. I met Gar a while back and he's extraordinarily thought provoking. Inspiring, and worth the investment of time. Enjoy!


Gar Alperovitz E. F. Schumacher Lecture from New Economics Institute on Vimeo.

Book: "Economyths Ten Ways Economics Gets It Wrong"

The challenge of our time is that our myth is that we have no myths.


Irony is, that we are still a deeply mythological culture and it is high time that our culture recognize the false premises and untenable myths that define our economic paradigm.

This is most recently highlighted by a blog from The Capital Institute which mentions a book on the myths of our economic viewpoint. Here's the blog entry:


"A Capital Institute shout out to Leland Lehrman for sharing with us David Orrell's eloquent cri du coeur found at the conclusion of Economyths, 10 Ways Economics Gets It Wrong. Leland calls the book "a brilliant reconstruction of economics that covers gender, happiness, fairness and other perspectives on economics in intellectually and mathematically rigorous ways without becoming unreadable." "


From the book:

"So, students. Decision time. You live at what many believe is a bifurcation point in human history. You've seen all the graphs with lines curving up like a ski jump. Human population. Gross domestic product. Species extinction. Carbon emissions. Inequality. Resource shortages. You know that something has to give. You've got an idea that the price isn't right. Maybe you're even suspicious that if the world economy does turn out to be a Ponzi scheme, you or your children are a little bit late to the game."

"You therefore stand at a fork in the road. You can take the orthodox route -- and risk ending up with a qualification as impressive as a degree in Marxist ideology right after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Or you can take a chance on regime shift by speaking up, questioning your teachers, being open to disruptive ideas, and generally acting as an agent of change. You can insist that the economy is a complex, dynamic, networked system -- and demand the tools to understand it. You can point out that the economy is unfair, unstable, and unsustainable -- and demand the skills to heal it. You can tell the oracles that they have failed. You can go in and break the machine. And then you can do something new."

I'm heartened by the fact that so many people have economics on the mind, and are independently coming to similar conclusions.

I trust that in coming years our economy will look much different, and work much better for the well being of humanity and all living beings on the planet. 

We are the 100%

An important ethos expressed in this film, words of my friend Charles Eisenstein, author of the recent book "Sacred Economics"

Social Complexity Theory as a framework for new economic models

I have just learned from my brilliant friend Ron Schultz that he's the co-author of another book on complexity in the context of business. It is called "Coherence in the Midst of Complexity"

In my conversation with him, I learned that the ideas outlined in his book would most definitely apply in my field. I gathered that anyone who shares my passion for advancing the new frameworks in the fields of Sustainable and Responsible Investing would benefit from seeing the world through the lens of "coherence in the midst of complexity."

Here's an overview of Social Complexity Theory from the book's website.

"Complexity and emergence (the appearance and impact of the new) can be the bane of managers and their organizations. Both complexity and emergence threaten to upset adherence to predefined categories, which supposedly allows for efficiency. Indeed, traditional management thinking focuses on a retrospective coherence where ideas and events are assigned to categories, the categories are labeled, and outliers are treated as statistical deviants.  

"The study of how such attributed (retrospective) sense-making breaks down in and around organizations is the focus of social complexity theory. Coherence in the Midst of Complexity discusses the social complexity approach, where dialogue and stories allow for the degrees of freedom needed for the opportunities of emergence to take root. The book focuses on the experience of coherence and how such experiential lessons differ from the establishment and maintenance of categories and labels."

"Social Complexity Theory examines the role of coherence and emergence in organizations. Coherence is regarded by many psychologists as critical to day to the day productivity and effectiveness of individuals. Both scholars and managers have adapted this belief to the world of management and organizations. Coherence is regarded as a sign of a well-run organization. But, the concept of a coherent thought defined as how well an idea holds together as a single entity gradually breaks down as the scale shifts to individuals, groups, and ultimately larger organizations. 

"Adapting to and dealing with emergence is perhaps the most important task facing managers and organizations. Coherence as traditionally defined interferes with that task. By restricting the concept of coherence to measurement against definition (what we call ascribed coherence) managers and organizations implicitly are restricting their ability to deal with the unknown, the uncertain and the emergent." 

"Social Complexity Theory provides another perspective on coherence -- rooted in the felt experience of coherence and in the importance of emergence. Richard Rorty tells us: Knowledge is not a matter of getting reality right, but rather a matter of acquiring habits of action for coping with reality. In common parlance such coping mechanisms are called models. The aim of Social Complexity Theory is to teach managers and members of organizations to make use of some very different models as part of their coping mechanisms."

Upcoming Movie - "Thrive"

Thrive, a very important upcoming film with some friends in it. Here's a link to the trailer.

Greg Wendt Interviewed on "The Dr. Pat Show - Talk Radio to Thrive By"

Click here to hear the show.

Contentment.

From a Taoist Scripture - via a friend's text message:
"Don't chase after people's approval.
Don't depend on your plans.
Don't make decisions;
let decisions make themselves.
Free yourself of concepts;
don't believe what you think.
Embody the inexhaustible.
Wander beyond all paths.
Receive what you have been given
and know that it is always enough.
The Master's mind is like a mirror:
It responds but does not store, contains nothing,
excludes nothing, and reflects things exactly as they are.
Thus she has what she wants and wants only what she has."

Economics based on Beauty and Community: Putting Aesthetics back into the Economy

Here's an article I posted on Ethical Markets Blog a while back - enjoy:

Right before I boarded a plane after a green business conference last year, I noticed a Body Shop store in the terminal next to the gate. The Body Shop was founded by the late Anita Roddick who was a very influential and inspiring thought leader who was one of the pioneering business people who incorporated social and environmental values into her operations. 

As I thumbed through my reading materials I found an article in Resurgence Magazine by Roddick entitled “The Currency of Imagination.” This eloquent article laid out some of her guiding principles and reflections on being one of the only CEOs in the crowd of human beings who raised their voices against the globalization paradigm represented by the 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle.

In the article she laid out a new vision for society, a vision which I share, where we establish community and beauty as driving values for our individual and institutional decision making. I have learned that for any successful endeavor in new economic thinking to work, it must be built on a culture of trust and collaboration amongst the participants. Such ideas have inspired me in the efforts I have made in my region. I am the co-founder of Green Business Networking in Los Angeles, a monthly networking event which brings together entrepreneurs and professionals committed to greening our economy through their businesses and the Green Economy Think Tank which convenes sustainability leaders to evolve solutions for a green economy.

Somewhere along the line we picked up a virus in our culture’s source code. This virus misguided us by placing money and power as the central measuring sticks for success, all fed by a rapacious economic operating system driven by the gospel of consumerism. The ethos of our economy has become largely devoid of beauty and community, transactions have become ”complex, opaque, [and] anonymous based on short term outcomes” according to Don Shaffer, President of RSF Social Finance. Instead, he states our transactions need to become “direct, transparent and personal, based on long term relationships.” On a similar theme, Judy Wicks, founder of the White Dog Café, who is also a co-founder of the very successful movement “Business Alliance For Local Living Economies” lives these principles. She says that her business was built on the principle of “maximizing relationships” rather than “maximizing profits.” As a result of her focus, her business thrived with the satisfaction of higher sales, and happier people.

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, and the significant ills facing our world, it has become clear to many people that the prevailing economic paradigm is no longer working to improve the wellbeing of all of humanity. With climate crisis, declining ecosystems, billions in wretched poverty, food riots, childhood diabetes, etc. individuals and institutions are experiencing the severe ramifications of an avaricious and predatory economic model. However, there is another way.

"Money and Life - A Story about Money That Will Change Your Life"

Just befriended Katie Teague who is making this amazing film "Money and Life"  with interviews with my heroes and friends such as Orland Bishop, David Korten, Lynne Twist, Hazel Henderson, Ellen Brown, Stuart Valentine, Bernard Litaer, Charles Eisenstein who are some of the most inspiring people in this field I have met. 


The movie articulates many ideas which are unexamined issues in our global culture which has by and large placed the money at the center of the altar. 

So, since our global civilization worships the God of Money, or the accumulation of it, we are all well served to inquire into the nature of Money, and Life. And explore how we can work with money to heal, serve and increase life and well being for all residents of our world.


Lynne Twist states - "It's as if we, as a species, have realized we have a terminal disease and we need to come together in community and get ourselves through the crisis, and it will change the very fabric, the very nature, of our relationship with life itself."



Money & Life trailer from StormCloud Media on Vimeo.

The Empathic Civilisation Emerging For The Community of Our Planet

Simply - as all disciplines of knowledge such as anthropology, biology, physics, psychology, economics, neuropsychology, etc. become more sophisticated and evolve, every discipline must also evolve in response to incorporate new world views. Further all the institutions of our culture - education, governance, religion, commerce, etc. are currently based on outdated world views.  As the world views evolve, so must the institutions.

This video is one of the most succinct articulations of a vision of an empathic civilization based on solidarity with all life on the planet.

Public Banking - "Banking in the Public Interest"

Excellent article was just written called "Reviving Main Street - A Call for Public Banks" highlighting the opportunity states across America have to restore a healthy economy - simply by creating a state bank.

Surprisingly, North Dakota is the only state in the union which has created its own bank.

The article highlights work of thought leader Ellen Brown , and the Public Banking Institute which educates policymakers about the opportunities from the straightforward process of forming a state owned bank.

Her site shares that:

"Public Banks are...
• Viable solutions to the present economic crises in US states.

• Potentially available to any-sized government or community able to meet the requirements for setting up a bank.

• Owned by the people of a state or community.

• Economically sustainable, because they operate transparently according to applicable banking regulations

• Able to offset pressures for tax increases with returned credit income to the community.

• Ready sources of affordable credit for local governments, eliminating the need for large “rainy day” funds. 

• Required to promote the public interest, as defined in their charters.

• Constitutional, as ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court

...and are not

• Operated by politicians; rather, they are run by professional bankers.

• Boondoggles for bank executives; rather, their employees are salaried public servants (paid by the state, with a transparent pay structure) who would likely not earn bonuses, commissions or fees for generating loans.

• Speculative ventures that maximize profits in the short term,  without regard to the long-term interests of the public."

The Fastest Growing Socially Responsible Business Movement in the Country....

BALLE, The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies is a national effort of independent business networks in over 80 cities.

Green Business Networking, the non-profit business community I started in 2006, is the LA County BALLE network dedicated to serving LA Region's business professionals and owners building our green economy!

Here's an inspiring video about the BALLE effort, and conference - and look for my brief comment at 3:21 into the video:


Place Matters: Living Economies 2011 from BALLE on Vimeo.

Measuring our success and standard of living - it's not only about the money we make!

There was a sign in Albert Einstein's office at Princeton which said: "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

With our singular focus on money in our global culture, many carry the belief that simply "more money" equals "more happy".  At a very basic level of subsistence more material goods and services in our lives are necessary for a degree of happiness, but beyond the fundamental level, there are diminishing happiness returns on every extra dollar of income or accumulation.  All of us know in our heart of hearts that at for anyone who has their basic needs met, the "more money equals more happy" is not really true.

Then, how do we measure the standard of living or true well being happiness in a community or a region?  Challenge is that our much of lives and well being do not all fall into the category of "economic activity."  Yet the issue remains -- how do you MEASURE the level of progress and standard of living in all of the non-financial dimensions?

In his book "Prosperity without Growth - Economics for a Finite Planet" Tim Jackson states:

"There is an interesting overlap between components of prosperity and the factors that are known to influence subjective well being or 'happiness'. Indeed to the extent that we are happy when things go well, and unhappy when they don't, there is an obvious connection between prosperity and happiness. This doesn't necessarily meant that prosperity is the same thing as happiness. But the connection between the two provides a useful link into recent policy debates about happiness and subjective well being."

Some of the components of "quality of life" - real wealth - are loving relationships, supportive and vibrant community, good health, cultural and creative stimulation, healthy and vibrant natural environment, contributing to society in a meaningful way and spiritual fulfillment. 

Yet, ironically, one of the key methods that most countries define standard of living is the measure of "Gross National Product" or GDP, which is simply a financial measure of economic activity.  But to meet the Earth’s challenges, these outmoded ways of measuring the “product” of our economy have to be reexamined. They are out of touch with our finite supply of natural resources (or natural capital) upon which our economic growth depends and they are similarly out of touch with the non-financial dimensions of the well being of participants in a society.

Article - "What’s blocking sustainability? Human nature, cognition, and denial"

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift from the old ways of understanding reality to a more sustainable civilization. William Rees wrote an article that articulates key concepts.

In summary he writes: 

"In 1992, 1,700 of the world’s top scientists issued a public statement titled The World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity. They reported that “a great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.” More than a decade later, the authors of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment were moved to echo the scientists’ warning asserting that “[h]uman activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of the Earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.” Ours is allegedly a science-based culture. For decades, our best science has suggested that staying on our present growth-based path to global development implies catastrophe for billions of people and undermines the possibility of maintaining a complex global civilization. Yet there is scant evidence that national governments, the United Nations, or other official international organizations have begun seriously to contemplate the implications for humanity of the scientists’ warnings, let alone articulate the kind of policy responses the science evokes. The modern world remains mired in a swamp of cognitive dissonance and collective denial seemingly dedicated to maintaining the status quo. We appear, in philosopher Martin Heidegger’s words, to be “in flight from thinking.” Just what is going on here? I attempt to answer this question by exploring the distal, biosocial causes of human economic behavior. My working hypothesis is that modern H. sapiens is unsustainable by nature—unsustainability is an inevitable emergent property of the systemic interaction between contemporary technoindustrial society and the ecosphere. I trace this conundrum to humanity’s once-adaptive, subconscious, genetic predisposition to expand (shared with all other species), a tendency reinforced by the socially constructed economic narrative of continuous material growth. Unfortunately, these qualities have become maladaptive. The current coevolutionary pathway of the human enterprise and the ecosphere therefore puts civilization at risk—both defective genes and malicious “memes” can be “selected out” by a changing physical environment. To achieve sustainability, the world community must write a new cultural narrative that is explicitly designed for living on a finite planet, a narrative that overrides humanity’s outdated innate expansionist tendencies. "

Davos Annual Meeting 2011 - Redefining Sustainable Development

Institute for New Economic Thinking - Rethinking Economics

"Overview

Founded in October 2009 with a $50 million pledge byGeorge Soros, the New York City-based Institute for New Economic Thinking is a nonprofit organization providing fresh insight and thinking to promote changes in economic theory and practice through conferences, grants and education initiatives.

The Institute recognizes problems and inadequacies within our current economic system and the modes of thought used to comprehend recent and past catastrophic developments in the world economy. The Institute embraces the professional responsibility to think beyond these inadequate methods and models and will support the emergence of new paradigms in the understanding of economic processes.

The Institute firmly believes in empowering the next generation, providing the proper guidance as we challenge outdated approaches with innovative and ethical economic strategy.

The Institute’s objective is to expand the conversation to create an open discussion for a wider range of people. Some would say that present day dialogue is closed and polarizing. We recognize the need for an environment that is nourished and supported by discourse, a discussion that spans a much wider spectrum of thinking and incorporates the insights of other intellectual disciplines in both the natural and social sciences.

The Institute was conceived during the first half of 2009 through a series of discussions that culminated at a summit in July of 2009 in Bedford, NY."

The co-founder of the institute  Research in Motion’s CEO Jim Balsillie gave a particularly good talk as his participation in the panel at the World Economic Forum on the subject of "redefining economics," and rethinking the entire paradigm of the situation.

"Property is intended to serve life" - notes on the fact that corporations are not people.

"Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man." 
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

As a financial advisor, I advise people on their property - and much of that property exists in shares of corporations.


What is a corporation, more than simple property that are collectively owned and operated by human beings?

Oddly enough, however, somewhere in our legal code over the last 150 years such property was given the same rights and voice in our democracy as human beings. Most recently the supreme court has granted business interests unlimited spending in campaigns - thus granting corporations the rights of human beings in the democratic process of governing our society. There is an excellent article on the entire issue called "Wal-Mart is Not a Person" which gives a comprehensive overview of the topic, which excerpts Justice John Stevens of the supreme court:

"It might be added that corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their “personhood” often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for  whom our Constitution was established."

And most interestingly - if we really look at the point of view that holds that corporations are actually persons - then the question which human beings are actually represented by such corporations?

Stevens addresses this here:

"It is an interesting question “who” is even speaking when  a business corporation places an advertisement that endorses or attacks a particular candidate. Presumably it is not the customers or employees, who typically have no say in such matters. It cannot realistically be said to be the shareholders, who tend to be far removed from the day-to-day decisions of the firm and whose political preferences may be opaque to management. Perhaps the officers or directors of the corporation have the best claim to be the ones speaking, except their fiduciary duties generally prohibit them from using corporate funds for personal ends. Some individuals associated with the corporation must make the decision to place the ad, but the idea that these individuals are thereby fostering their self-expression or cultivating their critical faculties is fanciful."

Not all businesses are corrupt, yet when it comes to the simple process of human beings coming together to design ways to serve life, the people that founded this country intended that actual people engaged in democracy. Thus it is imperative that we only grant constitutional rights to actual human beings, not property.


There are a number of movements afoot to amend the constitution, among them is http://movetoamend.org/ which states:

"We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.

* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule."

The simple thought here to take away is that as citizens in this world to we must continuously refine our discernment of the true motive, and the consequences, of decisions, laws, candidates, proposals, and political movements. And to discern whether such laws actually serve the quality of life of human beings.
 

Article I wrote "Social Capital Markets Conference 2010: The Evolution of Money and Meaning" for Green Money Journal

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's Social Capital Markets Conference. I wrote an article about it for Green Money Journal below.


"Social Capital Markets Conference 2010: The Evolution of Money and Meaning"


The very existence of the Social Capital Markets conference, known as SOCAP, says it all - over 1,300 vibrant, excited, inspired, brilliant leaders - philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, micro-finance entrepreneurs, advisors, and consultants who joined together at San Francisco's Fort Mason in early October. They're all working with investing as a means to create better lives for the world's poor, restore and grow healthy ecosystems, foster social entrepreneurs, local food systems, local businesses, and more. All this was just a glimmer in the eye of SRI investors decades ago. Now, it is a reality.


It began this year for me the moment I took a photo of one of the receptions with my phone and posted it with this caption: "Tune in - turn on! Can you feel the Evolution happening? Social Capital Thought Leaders Meta Networking for the Common Good! It's REALLY happening all around the world and a thriving vortex in San Francisco! http://www.socialcapitalmarkets.net "


Estimates are that upwards of $120 billion of investment capital is now available for investments which have meaningful returns, while at the same time address environmental and social woes.

Applying "Feminine Values" to guide leadership in Finance

Axioms shared by Fincancier Halla Tomasdottir who helped to rebuild Iceland's financial system after the crash in her TED talk.

(1) Risk Awareness.
(2) Straight Talking. Use Simple Language that people understand.
(3) Emotional Capital. Emotional due diligence is as important as financial due diligence.
(4) Profit With Principles.



"Halla Tomasdottir, an Icelandic fund manager and founder of Audur Capital, a wealth management firm in Reykjavik, is certain that if women had been at the helm of Iceland’s economy and its major banks, the country would not have been brought to its knees."
The Daily Mail, March 28, 2009

Watch Video Here.

"Capitalism 2.0: How Big Money is Shifting Corporate Culture Toward Sustainability" Panel I moderated at the Global Summit -

In November 2010, I moderated a panel discussion at The Global Summit conference in San Francisco.

The two panelists were leading thinkers in the sustainability: Andy Behar - CEO of As You Sow Foundation, who's mission is to "To promote corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, grantmaking, and innovative legal strategies"

and John Perkins - As Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm, John Perkins advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He worked directly with heads of state and CEOs of major companies. His books on economics and geo-politics have sold more than 1 million copies, spent many months on the New York Times and other bestseller lists, and are published in over 30 languages.



Here's a link to the video.

"Fixing the Future" Now. Realities and gifts of new economics models.

I had the pleasure of meeting David Brancaccio at the SRI in the Rockies conference recently where he talked about the manifestations of a new economy. His video documentary on PBS called "Fixing the Future" will give you a better idea of his findings, and I trust give you visions of a new world awaiting us.

Watch the full episode. See more NOW on PBS.

"Of Human Wealth: New Money for a New World" by Bernard Lietaer

Bernard Lietaer's new book "Of Human Wealth: New Money for a New World" outlines a pathway forward for humanity's monetary system.

"We can end the threats to our environment and aid dramatically in its restoration; we can help
provide meaningful work for all, with work that enhances and replenishes the world about us; we can effectively address fundamental urban and rural concerns and assist in the development of viable, sustainable communities; we can care for the sick and the elderly and provide all of our children with adequate shelter, healthcare, nutrition and decent educations.  We can indeed create a better world where life and all living systems flourish. This is not an idealistic dream, but rather, a pragmatic attainment, and achievable within our very own lifetimes."

Collaborative Consumption - the economic operating model for the 21st Century

Collaborative Consumption Groundswell Video from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

"Hazards of Prophecy: Failure of Imagination" Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws

From Arthur C. Clarke's "Hazards of Prophecy: Failure of Imagination"
I would replace "elderly scientist" with "many people."

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

We CAN create our own money - complimentary currencies!

Part One:


Part Two:

How Big Brands can save Biodiversity - 25% of Top 15 commodities controlled by 100 companies

Jason Clay of World Wildlife Fund says it straight - 25% of the top 15 commodities are controlled by only 100 companies.

There is massive opportunity for just making these companies shift to sustainable production and supply chains across the key commodities on the planet....

Watch here:

The Movie Avatar - is actually a documentary for how we have spread our civilization!

Did you see Avatar? If not, there's no question why it's a blockbuster - one of the most entertaining films I have seen in years.

Of great interest to many is the story of the film - what it is telling us.

In India today - a company wants to blow the top off of a Holy Mountain to gain the 70 million tons of bauxite inside of it - and therefore destroy the sacred homeland of the Dongria people who have called this mountain their home  for millenia. Something isn't working here.

This story is not isolated, it has played out over many generations, the most well known was the how the "conquistadors" - Columbus, etc. "discovered" America.  Our culture's world view and related stories of history taught in our schools continue to allow for this destruction of life by framing the stories and celebrating the destroyers as leaders and heroes.

Charles Eisenstein inteview from "Money and Life" Movie

I deeply appreciate the conscious and insightful perspective which Charles Eisenstein to the conversations of money, value, quality of life and culture. Here's a video of some his thoughts from an upcoming film called "Money and Life"

Charles Eisenstein Interview for Money & Life Film from Charles Eisenstein on Vimeo.

"Inside Scoop on Green Business Networking" An article about a non-profit I co-founded

The recent article in Whole Person Calendar "The Inside Scoop on Green Business Networking" covers the group I co-founded in 2006 called "Green Business Networking"

"Many people are interested in protecting the environment and want to engage in positive “green” business practices. They also want to meet like-minded people who also share similar lifestyles that evolve towards sustainability. But where do “green-minded people” go to network? Others may wonder if networking isn’t really just a disguised excuse to have a few drinks at a bar? GreenYour.com, “your guide to green anything,” has a good primer on how to find green networking events and offers this advice if you are deciding the pros and cons of green networking:

On the prowl for an eco-job? Recruiting for a conservation project in the community? Simply looking to connect and converse with like-minded folk? If you responded “yes” to any of the above queries, attending a green business networking event may be the solution."

Read the entire article here. 

Ostrich, Musical Chairs or Plan B

My friend Leslie Christian of Portfolio 21 Investments wrote an excellent piece in the "Reimagine Money" blog from RSF Social Finance. The post is on assessing our own views on how to deal with the ecological limits of our economic growth.

She writes:  "As you think about your own response to risk, it’s unlikely that you will jump immediately from ecological limits to how much you should invest in stocks versus bonds versus real estate. It’s more likely that your responses fit into one or more of the following categories. You’ll notice that the risk responses below do not explicitly deal with investing, much less with traditional asset classes. Rather, they provide a way to examine your personal tendencies for dealing with risk, which is an essential precursor to forming an intelligent, risk-based investment strategy."

I agree, every time I discuss a situation with a client I do my best to assess how they feel about their response to risk.

She goes on to describe three different responses to risk: the ostrich approach, musical chairs or plan b.

Read her entire article here.

Growing slow money - a video from the slow money alliance

My friend Woody Tasch is changing the world of money with his "Slow Money Alliance".

Here's a video from his effort to give you an idea of what it's all about:

Why does a hamburger cost less than a salad?

NY Times article discusses food subsidies as rationale why our food costs are not in line with nutrition.

John Perkins - Shapeshifting Corporate Culture To A Sustainable Thriving World

Reality Sandwich just published a wonderful interview with John Perkins - author of the best selling book - "Confessions of an Economic Hitman."  In the interview he points to the opportunity, and responsibility we have to shift our global corporations to ensuring well being for all of Earth's inhabitants.

The interview finishes with an important opportunity:
Perkins states:

"Imagine if a number of us had the dream that Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nike all committed to making sure that nobody in the world ever goes without sufficient water, food, or clothes. If we had that vision, we would tell those companies, look, we're never going to buy anything more from you until you do this.

Coca-Cola is like Godzilla. Can you really see it responding to these kinds of demands?

Immediately following the tsunami last winter, Coca-Cola sent millions of bottles of water to the victims. But every day 24,000 people in the world die of thirst. and starvation. You don't have to wait for a tsunami—there is a much bigger tragedy. If people have that vision and begin to act upon it, I guarantee you that Coca-Cola will change, and if Coca-Cola changes, then Pepsi Cola will have to change too. And everybody else."

Goldman v. United States: What It Means

"It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but what humanity, reason and justice tell me I ought to do." - Edmund Burke, statesman, philosopher  

My friend John Fullerton a 20 year Investment Banker from JP Morgan just wrote a must-read piece on the recent Goldman Sachs issues of conflict of interest, and the resultant SEC Lawsuit.

                 

John's last sentence sentence sums up my views on the need to rewrite the source code of financial system.

"There is much hard work ahead in creating a resilient and trusted financial system that serves the needs of the real economy rather than the self-interest of a few.  More importantly, finance must evolve so it can fuel the transition of the real economy to respond to the injustice of gross and increasing wealth inequality, and, for the first time, to intelligently acknowledge the finite boundaries of the ecosystem that are in conflict with the finance driven global economy’s never ending growth of material throughput." 

Many of America's Foods are killing it's people.

We need a new economic system that incorporates caring for each other and nature.

"Economic systems are human creations. Every economic institution and program, from banks and corporations to unemployment insurance and Social Security, is a human invention.  The economic rules we we take for granted are human inventions.  We must decide which economic rules we want to keep and which we want to leave behind, and invent new economic rules that meet our authentic human needs.  If we join together to demand these new rules, we can each play a part in moving toward a more caring economics and a more caring world."

From "Real Wealth Of Nations" by Riane Eisler.

SUSTAINABLE AND RESPONSIBLE INVESTING: How Your Money Can Help You and the World

This is an article I just wrote for Whole Person Calendar.

"Sustainable And Responsible Investing: How Your Money Can Help You and The World"
You can view the article PDF here.

In the past few years, our financial system has been rocked to its core. Belief in profit-driven motives as the sole metrics of perfor-mance has been fundamentally shaken. Our perception of risk have been forever altered, and our economy is shifting toward a new foundation. Traditionally, investments are made with one, and only one, measure in mind -- how much money does the invest-ment return? Every investment is consid-ered for its financial return potential, yet fi-nancial return should not be the only metric for success. In today’s world, investing pro-cesses must take into consideration the im-pact on the environment, the individuals employed, the communities involved, the climate, biodiversity issues, and a host of other factors.

One of my clients, Terrie, is an anti-tobacco educator for colleges across California. She’s devoted to her job and has a talent for helping young people recognize the perils of smoking. That’s why she was appalled when she learned that every one of her mutual funds held large investments in tobacco stocks. For Terrie, the revelation that her investment portfolio conflicted with her personal values is what sent her to my office and marked the beginning of her interest and inquiry in socially and environmentally responsible investing. Another client of mine, Mary, is pleased that now her “mon-ey is where her mouth is.” Mary, a successful television actress, is very active in supporting environmental groups and progressive causes. For years, her advisor was a family stockbroker at a major brokerage firm. On a number of occasions, she raised her concerns about companies in her portfolio that depleted natural resources and befouled the earth. Mary encouraged her advisor to find investments and mutual funds that were socially and environmentally responsible. Throughout the relationship, the broker derided her concerns; he dismissed such requests and advised her that sustainable and respon-sible investment strategies were inferior. Eventually Mary got fed up. She came to me seeking someone who would not only listen to her concerns, but also help her to earn competitive returns on her portfolio. Mary says she is pleased that her wealth is not only growing, but it is also helping to fuel positive change in the in corporate America and having an impact through community development investments she has made. Her investments, she says, are now safeguarding her family’s welfare – and the planet’s.

Mary and Terrie aren’t alone. The trend toward sustainable investing, also known as socially responsible investing (SRI), began in the 1960s, as people began to shun companies like Dow Chemical that profited from the manufacture of napalm for the Vietnam War. The movement to sell off “sin stocks” gained momentum in the 1980s. A growing number of investors found it unconsciona-ble to hold stocks in companies that did business in apartheid South Africa. Success with helping to end apartheid inspired socially responsible investors to turn their attention to other issues, such as protecting the environment and promoting fair labor practices. One faith-based institutional investor on the East coast, alone, leverages its $90 billion in assets to make better corporate citizens out of companies as large and powerful as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and General Electric.

Today, one out of every eight dollars under professional management in the U.S. is part of a values-based portfolio. In 2007, the Social Investment Forum reported that socially responsible invest-ments in the U.S. totaled more than $2.71 trillion in total assets under management using one or more of the three core socially responsible investing strategies—screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing. About one out of every ten dollars under professional management in the United States today is involved in socially responsible investing—11 percent of the $25.1 trillion in total assets under management.

How Can I Become A Socially Responsible Investor

Mama's Hot Tamales - one of my favorite restaurants in LA and anchor for change

Wanna make a 79% return? Check out Grassland Ecosystem Restoration...

I first heard of the term "ecosystem services" in the groundbreaking book "Natural Capitalism - Creating the Next Industrial Revolution" by Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. Essentially the concept is that ecosystems provide tangible value to the global economy far greater in scope and economic value than the economy itself.

I just came across an article on Science Daily which references a study which actually tallies the potential rate of return on investing in restoring particular ecosystems.

This is truly next level for me, as the concept of actually MAKING MONEY while RESTORING ECOSYSTEMS is very, very sexy indeed.

The article states:

"Experts concluding the global DIVERSITAS biodiversity conference in Cape Town described preliminary research revealing jaw-dropping dollar values of the "ecosystem services" of biomes like forests and coral reefs -- including food, pollution treatment and climate regulation. Undertaken to help societies make better-informed choices, the economic research shows a single hectare of coral reef, for example, provides annual services to humans valued at US $130,000 on average, rising to as much as $1.2 million."

The article cites estimated return estimates from such investments in various ecosystems:

"•Coral reefs: 7%, (with a cost-benefit ratio of 2.8);
•Rivers: 27%, (cost-benefit ratio 15.5);
•Tropical forests: 50% (cost-benefit ratio 37.3);
•Mangroves: 40%, (cost-benefit ratio 26.4);
•Grasslands: 79%, (cost-benefit ratio 75.1)."

If we could spur an investment gold rush into such endeavors to restore and actually expand such ecosystems we'd see a revolution in the church of money.

Imagine - greedy Wall Street Executives clamoring over eachother to restore more and more ecosystems. Now that is the closest thing as a good use for greed if I ever saw one.

More green jobs per million...

I got this chart from my friend Andy Lipkis' blog, created by University of Massachusets at Amherst. It simply speaks for itself. Green Industry creates more jobs per million dollars invested...

This is how economics should work - regenerative ecological systems for economic gain!

An ecological network for economic gain. A fish farm and bird sanctuary!

Our bread basket is threatened by a systemic liquidation of natural resources. We can create world where every community can feed it self.

Farms that restore ecosystems rather than destroy.

Farmers experts in relationships.

Create a business for serving others - Social Entrepreneurship

A Vegan in a Hummer?

Many enviros simply want change, as long as they don't have to change their lifestyle very much.

I know this from experience, my own! Admittedly - this green guy still could do more.

Yet the smartest people I know are aware that our happiness is built on lifelong journey of learning. Ray Anderson's book "Midcourse Correction" is a testament to that sage wisdom applied in business.

There's a movement afoot in the MIT Circles -

Smart managers are wary of epiphanies. “Suddenly, everything looked different” should be the last line of a short story, not a report from the management front. But sometimes, something makes you look at a matter you’ve paid a lot of attention to in a different way. Even if you look at everything differently for only a moment and then you return to your original perspective, that perspective has been changed.That may have happened to some people at last week’s Pop!Tech conference, in Camden, Maine. One of the speakers was Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire, who delivered a variation of his standard talk on sustainable food. In that talk, he dropped this nugget:

“A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.”

Read the entire article here.

“A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.”

Excellent Video about Complimentary Currency in Germany

Article I wrote for Triplepundit.com - Economics Built on Beauty and Community

I wrote an article last fall for Triple Pundit:

Right before I boarded a plane recently, I noticed a Body Shop in the terminal next to the gate. The Body Shop has been a leading business that incorporates social and environmental values into its operations. It was founded by the late Anita Roddick, one of the emergent leaders in the expanding and evolving “green” business movement.

Roddick was a very influential and inspiring thought leader, she stood as a pillar of the socially and environmentally responsible business movement. As I thumbed through my reading materials I found an article in Resurgence Magazine by Roddick entitled “The Currency of Imagination.” This eloquent article laid out some of her guiding principles and reflections on being one of the only CEOs (if not the only CEO) in the crowd of human beings who raised their voices against the globalization paradigm represented by the 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle.

In the article she laid out a new vision for society, a vision which I share, where we place community and beauty as driving values for our individual and institutional decision making. I have learned that for any successful endeavor in new economic thinking to work, it must be built on a culture of trust and collaboration amongst the participants. Such ideas have inspired me in the efforts I have made in my region in co-founding Green Business Networking, a monthly networking event which brings together entrepreneurs and professionals who are committed to greening our economy through their businesses.

Somewhere along the line we picked up a virus in our culture’s source code. This virus misguided us by placing money and power as the central measuring sticks for success, all fed by a rapacious economic operating system driven by the gospel of consumerism. Our economy has become devoid of beauty and community, transactions have become ”complex, opaque, anonymous based on short term outcomes” according to Don Shaffer, President of RSF Social Finance, and our transactions need to become “direct, transparent and personal based on long term relationships.” On a similar theme, Judy Wicks, founder of the White Dog Café, who is also a co-founder of the very successful movement “Business Alliance For Local Living Economies” lives these principals. She says that her business was built on the principal of “maximizing relationships” rather than “maximizing profits.” As a result of her focus, her business thrived with the satisfaction of higher sales, and happier people.

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, and the significant ills facing our world, it has become clear to many people that the prevailing economic paradigm is no longer working to improve the well being of humanity. With climate crisis, declining ecosystems, billions, food riots, childhood diabetes, etc. individuals and institutions are experiencing the severe ramifications of an avaricious and predatory economic model. However, there is another way.

I spend a fair amount of energy inquiring into the nature of the latent economic opportunity of which Roddick spoke–that which incorporates beauty and community into the economic equation. I am also keen on discerning the most effective and coherent actions necessary to transmute our current economy of waste into an economy of thriving abundance, conservation and renewal for 100 percent of humanity. Our economic paradigm utilizes debt manipulation and consumerism as a short-sighted means to an unforeseen dead end and endless gluttony for few at the top of the heap.

Roddick said:

Consumerism doesn’t care if we buy in beautiful or ugly surroundings. Few aspects of the global economy provide beauty or community and, worse, in many ways it drives them out by deliberate manipulation of debt, which is as as powerful motivator as invented in human history. On the other hand, providing for these vital needs requires another kind of economy altogether, which emphasizes beauty, community and creativity.

Sadly, and with far reaching consequences, our current economy has failed to value such manifestations of “beauty, community and creativity. She pointed out that the economist John Maynard Keynes “talked about the hideous waste of economic system that could not recognize art or beauty…. In a speech to the Irish government in 1933, he urged politicians and economists to raise their ambition, and spend the money on beauty.”

Yet, the economy of beauty that we need transcends and includes the artful beauty of which he speaks. It is a culture of thriving community of people inspired by, evolving and learning from others and from and beauty that surrounds them.

How do we recognize and create such a vibrant community as the foundation of a successful economic paradigm?

Such a community has “deep connectivity” between participants. In a private paper, leading thinker Jon Ramer wrote that some of the citizens in a society of deep connectivity are “committed to produce something in their lives and the lives of others.” And, that such a society “is for building relationships, producing meaningful results, learning and growing together via a principled-approach to personal and community development.”

An economic system that encourages such “deep connectivity” is based on what I would call the currency of relationships. A perfect example of is the deeply successful Mondragon Cooperative movement, a community based economic system successfully operating the Basque region of Spain. It started during the Great Depression in the 1930s and thrived amid the oppressive Franco dictatorship. Mondragon succeeded in such a fascist context “by avoiding confrontation, not by being passively servile but by doing what was for the good of all.”

Author Thomas Greco made an important point that the success of Mondragon experience is replicable, but only in conjunction with the simultaneous weaving of a strong social fabric. That effort need not necessarily be centered around ethnic identity and culture, but could based on other common factors between the participants – such as religious affiliation, geographical proximity, shared values, or other factors that create common interests (but with concern for the greater common good always foremost.)

It is precisely this inherent characteristic of wishing to be part of something greater than ourselves that has given humans a sense of meaning since time immemorial. This heroic sense of contribution and sharing for the common good is a key principal of success.

Consider: has there ever been a time in history when this kind of collective heroism is more important than now, when the stakes are as high as they can get?

Mondragon scholar, Terry Mollner makes a distinction between the declining ‘material age’ and the emerging ‘relationship age,’ and concludes that the [Mondragon founders] ‘set about building a Relationship Age society by extending into more sophisticated realms the Relationship Age values which were already present In Basque Society.’

Along the same lines, Roddick concludes “We will succeed to the extent to which we encourage human connection and conversation. We will succeed also to the extent to which we spend the small change of imagination – the human stories about people and places and what they aspire to do.

Although it has been said before – we are at a critical juncture where our global circumstances require each of us to embrace that responsibility in every relationship we have. We share the responsibility to manifest the “Relationship Age” right where we are. A Relationship Age where artful living in deep connectivity is the evolutionary catalyst to shift our current economic operating system into a creation of shared wellbeing for our lives here on spaceship Earth.

An article on Local Currency quoting me from Whole Life Times Magazine

Following is an article which quotes me about my efforts to create a local currency for the Greater LA area.

Originally published in Whole Life Times:

One way of keeping money in the community is to create an alternative system of currency

In 1932, while the world struggled through the Great Depression, a small Austrian town tried an economic experiment. To stimulate the local economy, leadership in Wörgl created its own local currency, or scrip, known in German as freigeld (literally, free money).

Based on the thinking of Silvio Gesell, an early 20th-century social activist and economist, the new currency was novel in that it depreciated monthly, which increased the pace of its circulation. Rapid currency circulation goosed the economy, putting residents back to work. Advocates of local alternative currency systems explain that what’s really happening with this sort of currency “velocity” is real reinvestment in the local community.

The “Miracle of Wörgl” seemed to be serving that community well and was interchangeable with official state currency, but the Austrian National Bank, concerned over a perceived threat to its money-printing monopoly, shut down the experiment after just 13 months.

Nearly 80 years later, as economic malaise lingers throughout the United States, the Wörgl saga is inspiring local currency supporters seeking to unlock underutilized resources that might mitigate financial tsunami cycles and create a more independent economic model.

Complementary Currencies

The first question might be, is that legal? It is. Creating and using a local currency—sometimes called complementary currency, in that it “complements,” but doesn’t replace, a national currency—will not unleash the dogs of the U.S. Treasury, as long as it isn’t coin and doesn’t look like U.S. currency. Well before the Wörgl experiment, local currencies were common, and there are hundreds of more recent examples, from Canada’s Vancouver Island to San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Totnes, U.K. In a less formal way, barters take place all the time, albeit not transferable via a common coin of the realm.

In 1991 a group in Ithaca, New York, created a currency, the Ithaca Hour, to promote local economic independence and community reliance. Its name was intended to convey the idea that currency is both a means of exchange and a representation of someone’s time spent laboring. At that time, $10 was the average hourly wage in the county, so an Hour was worth $10 U.S. With more than 100,000 bills circulating, Ithaca Hours continue offering an alternative medium of exchange used by 900 businesses and health care providers.

In the Massachusetts Berkshires, another local currency project took off in 2006 with the support of the E. F. Schumacher Society, a kind of alternative economic think tank. Named for a British economist who advocated decentralization, the society studies how local currencies work. More than 2.5 million BerkShares have been issued, with about 150,000 now circulating. Accepted at 385 area businesses, BerkShares are colorfully illustrated with historic Berkshire figures and other artwork by regional artists, further emphasizing localness. Offered through 13 branches of five local banks, 100 BerkShares are equivalent to $100 U.S., but can be purchased with $95 U.S. Thus, users receive a 5 percent discount at local businesses that accept the currency.

The alternative Massachusetts currency has received more attention from communities nationwide since the current economic downturn, according to Sarah Hearn of BerkShares. “Increasingly, communities are looking to find citizen-based solutions to economic instability, and rightly identify local currencies, like BerkShares, as elegant tools for growing more sustainable local economies,” notes Hearn.

Commitment to keeping dollars local may be enough of a driver to create a community currency. Even small shifts in market share to local businesses can create economic activity and employment gains, studies have shown. One analysis found buying from local merchants rather than chain businesses results in three times as much money staying in the community.

In nearby Ojai a working group has been established to brainstorm ways to increase area economic opportunities, and potentially create a local currency. Further north, the college town of Davis also is studying developing an alternative currency, Davis Dollars, and Eureka trades Humboldt Community Currency (CC). The Humboldt Community Currency Exchange Project suggests that participating goods and services providers accept payment half in CC and half in U.S. currency. One Humboldt CC equals one U.S. dollar.

Sustaining Planet and Economy

Here in Los Angeles, the Green Business Networking group, formed in 2005 when a small group of local business leaders began meeting informally to discuss ways of working together to advance sustainability and wellness ideas and businesses, is exploring the feasibility of a complementary currency for the greater L.A. region.

“I’m motivated to work with money and business exchange to drive sustainability,” explains cofounder and certified financial planner Gregory Wendt, who is also director of sustainable investing for Enright Premier Wealth Advisors, Inc., an established registered investment advisory firm based in Southern California. “We need to change the way we work with money.”

Still in very early discussion stages with interested regional businesses and individuals for a process that might take two to three years, Wendt envisions a regional currency that would find its initial footing in the green business community. While it’s too early to know how the currency would be backed or how actual mechanics might function, Wendt anticipates the currency taking shape through evolving discussions and a series of community gatherings that identify and address issues.

Hollis Doherty, a student of the Wörgl experiment, shares Wendt’s enthusiasm for establishing a local currency. After stumbling across the Austrian story, Doherty was “galvanized about the idea of creating a local currency,” so much so that the L.A. resident traveled to Austria and the Unterguggenberger Institute. Named for the Wörgl mayor who implemented the 1932 currency plan for his town, the think tank promotes the idea of alternative mechanisms for exchange.

Now an associate with the Unterguggen-berger Institute, Doherty finds the idea of new thought for how money is viewed to be a transformative topic, with the potential for huge social impact.

“My focus is on a currency that includes more people in the economy, one that is more abundant for more people, and favors exchange over hoarding by the few,” Doherty says. “The Institute would say there is no perfect system, but they do say it’s healthier if more than one medium of exchange is available.”

Hopefully an alternative currency would help to buffer Los Angeles in the event of a future economic downturn, regardless of what happens in Sacramento or Washington, D.C.

“It will be a very regional effort that promotes a thriving economy for the L.A. region, driven by locally owned businesses and local farms committed to sustainable business practices,” says Wendt. “What’s most important is that this be a catalyst for change.”

- By L.A. writer Maria Fotopoulos for the Whole Life Times Magazine