I am very passionate about this subject and have decided to post my thoughts even though it is a little late for this part of the world (as unfortunately I have been out with the flu). However, it is still late evening on 15 October in the US, Canada, Latin and South America – thank goodness for different time zones!

In thinking about my post, I began to reflect on what poverty actually means? How do you define it? What are the measures? I have previously posted some questions and shocking facts about poverty on Soul Economy but decided to dig a little deeper and find answers to these questions.

The World Bank defines poverty as:

“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.”

Poverty is commonly measured based on income or consumption. The World Bank measures extreme economic poverty as living on less than $1.25 per day. New poverty estimates released in August 2008 show that approximately 1.4 billion people in the developing world (1 in 4) are living on less than $1.25 a day. And while there are efforts in place to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger with the Millennium Development Goals, rising fuel and food prices will mean more effort will need to be undertaken to achieve results.

At home here in Australia we are considered the lucky country in many ways, however there are extremes. We have a major gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians on matters such as health, housing and education. In fact, Indigenous Australians live nearly 20 years less than other Australians. We have many homeless on our streets. The ABS reported 105,000 homeless people in Australia on Census night in 2006. This is likely to increase with the current pressure on the housing and rental markets.

So in reflecting on the topic of poverty today, I would like to think about ways in which we can help to eradicate poverty. How can we make a difference? What steps can we take? Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Take action by signing the pledge and writing to the Treasurer to Close the Gap between the life expectancy of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians – visit www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/indigenous-health/take-action/
2. Volunteer – if you wish to use your professional skills check out www.goodcompany.com.au/
3. Buy a copy of the “Big Issue” and generate income for the homeless and long-term unemployed to help them to get back on their feet
4. Make a microfinance loan to entrepreneurs in the developing world – check out www.kiva.org/
5. Support a relevant charity – consider a Charity Gift Vouchers through www.karmacurrency.com.au/
6. Buy fairtrade – this ensures that the producer is paid a fair wage for their goods as well as a fairtrade premium that goes back into community to address important matters such as health, housing and education. Check out the inspiring and passionate soulful entrepreneurs featured on Soul Economy when you next wish to purchase a gift, clothing, homewares, corporate promotional products, hampers, tea, coffee, sleepwear, bags, accessories, shoes, kids clothes, toys, games and puzzles, jewellery and more – there is some really cool and funky stuff!
7. Help take fairtrade mainstream – buy your daily “fix” of coffee/tea/chocolate from a cafe or shop that supports fairtrade or encourage the cafe from where you buy your coffee/tea to stock fairtrade, ask your local supermarket to stock fairtrade products, encourage your work colleagues to switch to fair trade products such as tea, coffee and chocolate and become a fairtrade workplace.
8. Share what you have learnt with family and friends and encourage support and action!

I read an interesting article recently highlighting initiatives being implemented by universities overseas to support fairtrade. I was inspired when reading this as I feel that it is so important to educate our youth on these matters, even though reports show that Gen-Y already recognise the need to be socially responsible. I like to view these initiatives as part of the overall need to become more sustainable, and really like the definition given by the Sustainability Leadership Institute:

“Sustainability can be described as each of us doing our part to build the kind of world – economically, environmentally and socially – that we want to live in, and one that we want our children and grandchildren to inherit. It means becoming aware of all interconnections – visible and invisible – in which our day-to-day choices affect the intricate balance of social, economic and ecological systems.”

Soul Economy was pleased to learn that universities in Australia are also taking an active role in improving their sustainability performance and in educating students to do the same. Macquarie University (MU) is taking positive steps and has established a Sustainability Office. As an alumni of Macquarie’s business school, MGSM, I was very pleased to learn this and attended MU’s Sustainability Fair last month. A wide range of exhibitors attended, along with great bands and speakers, plus there were workshops and Circus Solarius entertainers to add to the fun. While there, I had the opportunity to meet more wonderful fairtrade and organic companies. I even came across the company “Rentachook” – where you to rent a chicken for a month or more enjoy freshly laid, free range eggs each day.

I enjoyed sitting in the sun, sipping on my fairtrade coffee and learning about the sustainability initiatives being implemented by Macquare University. There are 15 aspects that MU are working on to improve their sustainability performance, plus they are implementing some really interesting policies and plans such as having their GSE students develop a model to measure the Footprint of the University.

It would be great to hear from you about initiatives other universities, both in Australia and overseas, are undertaking to improve their sustainability peformance.

In 2006 I embarked on a London working holiday (like most Aussies do) however had the fair trade encounter that inspired the direction I have taken today.

The first encounter was when my partner and I wandered into Progresso cafe (in need of a caffeine kick after browsing Portobello Markets). This place had a menu offering as strong as that of a Starbucks with unique layout & great branding but best of all it was in the name of fair trade.

An everyday type of business with a fair trade supportive edge, I liked that idea so much that down the track I would apply it to my business. I later found out that Progresso is a chain of coffee bars launched by Oxfam, visit: http://www.progreso.org.uk they plan to expand throughout the UK and hopefully one day they will give Oz a go!

After visiting Progresso fair trade became more prominent, it was impressive to see the vast range of fair trade products available in UK supermarkets not just coffee, but bananas, flowers, peanuts, water and wine! Check out http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products/retail_products to view the array of products available. It seems as though most products have a fair trade alternative.

Australia is slowing catching up; today if you go to the tea and coffee aisle of Woolworths or Coles you will find some Fair Trade options which is the start of something wonderful! Just be sure to support the fair trade items and brands available here today so it will continue to build for the marketplace of tomorrow!

Prepared and © by Carinda, Hamper Hut (August 2008) for Soul Economy.

The Hamper Hut
PO Box 363
Gladesville NSW 1675 Australia
P: +61 (0)434 460 650
E: sales@hamperhut.com.au
W: www.hamperhut.com.au

I visited the Organic Expo featuring the Green Show in Sydney on the weekend. I really enjoyed it, not the least of which the little squealing piglet from kiddie’s Farmyard Friends, who did not like being patted. I was pleased to learn that while it was held for 3 days, the first day was for trade. This gives these smaller, responsible companies the opportunity to showcase their products and, if picked up by mainstream retailers, facilitate the growth of ethical consumerism.

My experience started with the opportunity to carbon offset my ticket – and whether you are an advocate, believer or not of carbon offsets, I thought it was great to have the option. Plus, for this you received a $5 gift voucher from Todae. The only pity was that they were not there on the day so the gift could not be claimed. Will I now need to buy more carbon offsets so I can make the purchase and actually use my gift voucher?

There was so much to learn, and EAT and DRINK! Kylie Kwong’s cooking demonstration was great, in particular her yummy pumpkin recipe and asian coleslaw. I must applaud the exhibitors for being so very generous with a ready and plenty supply of goodies to sample. And I did spot a few visitors who I think had simply come for a free meal – but hey if they are being educated at the same time then this is a win! All the food was really delicious and it just reinforces the benefits of buying organic.

There was a good crowd at the expo and the exhibitors I had the opportunity to speak to were pleased with the results by the time Saturday afternoon came around. And there was still Sunday to go. I was impressed to see many kiddies there as well – it is good to have them learn from a young age the benefits of ethical purchasing.

The Green Show enabled companies that are eco-friendly but not certified organic to showcase their goods. This meant that fairtrade companies such as The Dharma Door, could be involved. I met some great people – including the owners of Sassy Treats, Bokashi Composting, Doorstep Organics and Natural Origins – and was able to learn more about the benefits of organic purchasing, ethical investing, eco-gardening and very, very old seeds. I just wish I had more time to road test the many organic wines on show, and accompany this with some delicious organic cheeses. I will definitely be going again next year!

Last weekend it rained and rained. We were all a little snuffly, cold and listless. So we dragged out the cards and board games and taught the children to play. And in the process they taught us some valuable life lessons. On a rainy Sunday afternoon.

We started with a game of Snap. The cards were tumbling out of our hands in a fast haze of colour and anticipation, Snap! Snap! Snap! Our daughter, five years old, was quick. She soon had a large pile of cards amassed in her hands. More than she could manage. “Gimme some?” pleaded her 3 year old brother, not really playing, but throwing cards on the pile and shouting “snap!” every three seconds. She looked up from her hoardings, and surveyed his hands, then mine, then her dads. Seeing we had only one or two cards each, her look of maniacal glee at winning slowly softened. She said “You can all have some, here you go” and proceeded to share her stash. Her father and I protested, “No it’s OK you keep them; you earned them.” And then she said, “No, we all did, it’s everybody’s cards and I don’t need them all anyway. If I take everything we won’t be able to play anymore.”

BAM! Life lesson No. 1 from a five year old: Only a few of us enjoy the abundance of what many have produced. How can that be fair? To move forward in this way has payoffs no doubt, but at what cost? By leaving others behind? In a world where mothers dig holes in the ground to place their children at night to keep them warm in the absence of blankets and clothes, a few of us hold too much. Open your closet. Am I right?

We moved on to playing Monopoly, our abridged version seeing as there were two players who didn’t know what rent meant. Understandably we were soon in a mess, with a five year old stuck despondently in jail and a three year old who’d lost the entire bank’s money down his pants. “We will have to find another way,” said their dad. “This isn’t working. They’re too young. They don’t understand ….and we don’t have any money anyway….”

BAM! Life lesson No. 2 as taught by children to their parents: In an economically driven world, where money is currency, many people lack the currency to play. They don’t have the knowledge and they don’t have the money. Without the knowledge that comes with education, they don’t even get to proceed to Go; they simply don’t get to play. For those of us who know better, got an education, earned some money, we have the power to say “this is not working, we will have to find another way.” Like a father looking at his children, feeling their distress at being left out, we have to lift our gaze to see our wider family, see their distress, and find another way to play.

This weekend my children taught me how the power of one can serve the collective good. What my daughter gave to us in our game of Snap, in her small five year old way, was freedom. She released us from not having enough by sharing what she had acquired, and in that gesture we got given the freedom to play. Together we learnt the lesson of creating a playing field where everyone gets to play. And we learned that we have the power to create it. It’s up to us. So if games are like life, is life a game? If so, how will you play?

Prepared and © by Mihiri Udabage, Generation Wonder (June 2008) for Soul Economy.

Generation Wonder
PO Box 1187
Meadowbank NSW 2114
P: +61 (0)2 8213 9058
W: www.generationwonder.com

For the second year running Australian Ethical sponsored the Australian Ethical Art Prize with all entries exhibited at the TAP Gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney. The winner of the 2008 Ethical Art Prize was Amanda Seddon.

After a week of exhibiting the entries at the TAP Gallery, the prize was awarded to Amanda last Saturday, 17 May. Soul Economy had the pleasure of asking Amanda about the meaning behind this wonderful piece of work.

“The work was a large scale cryptic which I like to call a meditative piece! Artists were asked to reflect upon the Australian Ethics Charter. In reflection upon the charter, the work turned out to be a meditative response about the individuals duty upon doing what’s right in everyday life.

As a mother and an artist, I find it so very challenging in maintaining a totally ethical lifestyle. Be it recycling, taking care of the natural environment, buying and sometimes being able to afford Australian produce, the list is endless, and is no easy task to make sure you can always be ethically considerate in everything that you do. We live in a society where things are made to be easier, rather than ethically sustaining.

The work hopefully represents an overwhelming feeling, an individual almost overcome by an indiscriminate sea of unlabelled elements. There should be a feeling of diligence of dealing with the intrepretive issues though, as the depicted charcter takes a deep breath, ready to wade through further, rather than drown.

The work was designed not to confront the viewer with a specific message, but instead, to act as a catalyst to facilitate the state of individual thought within the context of the show.

I was very glad that the work was well received by many at the show, and I was very impressed that the Australian Ethical investment and superannuation company, along with the TAP gallery were so innovative in creating and presenting such an art award. I was also very inspired by many of the other exhibiting artists works at the show.”

To see more of Amanda Seddon’s great work check it out at http://www.myspace.com/ajay180

What does City Council have in store for Sydney? Sustainability is high on the agenda it seems. See plans, listen to podcasts and check out the many visions for the Harbour City all here.

You can also visit the 2030 Exhibition at Customs House until 30 May 2008.

As part of this year’s National Volunteer Week (NVW), goodcompany is bringing together Australia’s leading corporates, charities and skilled professionals in a meaningful Exchange of ideas and aspirations.

To celebrate this year’s NVW theme — Volunteers Change Our World — this event will share vital information about the sector, some amazing success stories and open opportunities for linking skilled volunteers and charity organisations.

The event will be held at the Establishment in Sydney on Thursday, 15 May from 6pm-8pm. To register click here.

While I have restricted myself from indulging in chocolate in more recent times, my partner arrived home the other night from the Fairtrade Fiesta (as part of Fairtrade Fortnight 08) with a gift of 3 blocks of fairtrade, organic chocolate. One was from Cocolo – the Dark Mint Crisp flavour – and the other 2 were from Scarborough Fair — the Dark Orange Chocolate and Fruit and Nut Milk Chocolate flavours.

I was interested to find out more about these companies. Cocolo is a premium Swiss chocolate. The Cocoa and Evaporated Cane Juice are sourced from Fairtrade Co-operatives. The cocoa is produced by El Ceibo in Bolivia and Conocado in the Dominican Republic and the unrefined evaporated cane juice comes from AlterTrade in the Philipines. These communities are able to reinvest in their farms, their schools and their communities by selling the best beans through the Fairtrade market. Cocolo chocolate is also certified by www.bio.inspecta.ch, the leading organic certifier in Switzerland, and is GMO free.

Cocolo has 8 flavours. In addition to Dark Mint Crisp, they offer Dark Almond Chocolate, Dark Bitter Sweet, Dark Orange, Chocolate Milk Hazelnut Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Dark 70% and White with Almond Crunch. To find out about stockists in your area, please contact one of our local distributors — which in NSW is Organic Trader Pty Limited – or ask your favourite store to carry it.

Scarborough Fair was created from a commitment to bring quality Fairtrade certified products to the mainstream market at mainstream prices. They import the fairtrade ingredients and then use local manufacturers to blend the chocolate to support both third world producers and local manufacturers. In addition to their chocolate, which is also also Australian Certified Organic, their product range includes tea and coffee.

Scarborough Fair offers 4 flavours — Dark Orange, Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and Fruit and Nut Milk Chocolate. They are available through selected Coles in NSW.

On the same night I received these fairtrade, organic chocolates, I had also attended a function where I received a goody bag complete with Lindt chocolates. After indulging in both and reflecting on this, I enjoyed the Cocolo and Scarborough Fair chocolates more. Maybe it was because I found them not only delicious but I felt good knowing that I was supporting a better quality of life for the communities where the products are sourced as well as a lower impact on the environment than other alternatives. So overall a more rewarding experience!

Chocolate: the non-Fair Trade option

Since consuming the chocolate, I have read some of the frightening and appalling statistics compiled bythe Edmund Rice Centre about chocolate production:

• 12,000 children have been trafficked into cocoa farms in Cote d’Ivoire, Africa – nearly 1/2 of the world’s chocolate is made from cocoa grown there
• While the minimal age for working on farms is 12, most children are 9 to 16 years of age and have been tricked into travelling with traders and then sold to plantation workers
• Most of these slaves are not allowed to use the toilet during work hours, are only free for a couple of hours a day and are fed burnt bananas and corn paste
• Farms barely receive 5% of the profit from chocolate, whereas trading organisations and the chocolate industry receive about 70%
• The Fairtrade Certifies production criteria guarantee a minimum price, ensure that no child or forced labour is used, farmers’ organisations are democratic and plantation workers can participate in trade unions

One thing is for certain, I will not be buying or consuming non-Fairtrade chocolate again!

You can view Danish architect, Jan Gehl’s vision for a more sustainable city – here – and view the dates of upcoming talks too!