Blogs & Ecology

If you’ve been seriously bruised in the stock market lately, and your 401k is starting to look like a 201k, maybe it’s time to consider investing your money where it can do some good. The expanding area of socially responsible investing (SRI) is offering a growing selection of innovative financial products that provide both financial and social returns. Consider it much safer and certainly much more rewarding than the stock market, which is starting to resemble a night out in Vegas.

A group of 52 high profile investors announced the beginning of a massive letter writing campaign to urge businesses to sign on to the UN’s Global Compact. "Amid the current financial crisis, this underscores the importance of universal principles and the long-term management of environmental, social and governance issues," said Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, Georg Kell, "We applaud this effort, which represents the largest recruitment drive ever undertaken with respect to the UN Global Compact."

Designers enrich our lives in a myriad of ways. From furniture to coffee mugs, a designer is part of the production team. The pervasiveness of design gives designers an important role and an opportunity to use design to call attention to important social issues.

For the last two days Australian business representatives, government and the non-profit sector have convened at the 9th annual National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development. The theme for this year’s forum was ‘Re-Calibrating the Risk from Climate Change: an urgent business task.’ Throughout the each day, invitees have participated in a range of workshops, covering topics such as the implementation of the Australian Emissions Trading Scheme to exploring ‘sociocracy’ as a new method of governance.