Soul Economy

Following on from our earlier post about the Benefits of Sustainability Reporting, Ulrike Schuermann from Momentum International Partnerships outlines the key issues surrounding sustainability reporting for Soul Economy. It would be great to hear your thoughts, ideas and experiences.
One, if not THE key issue is how we can achieve a balance between appropriate regulation and [...]

With increasing pressure on companies to prepare sustainability reports, Soul Economy asked  Ulrike Schuermann from Momentum International Partnerships about the benefits of reporting. Ulrike’s response is as follows.
The benefits of sustainability reporting as a management tool - not just an accountability tool - for businesses can be significant and benefits include:

Improved financial performance – [...]

Soul Economy spoke to Melissa from the FairWear recently to find out a little more about FairWear. This great organisation was established to ensure that clothing workers are not exploited and that they are at least receiving the conditions and rates of pay set out in the Industry Award. So make sure you look out [...]

[ August 24, 2008; 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. ]

Visit the Fair Trade Market in Manly on Sunday, 24 August and join the celebration of Manly Council’s Accreditation as the first Fair Trade Community in NSW, and only the second in Australia.

There will be a range of fair trade companies showcasing a wide range of products from food and beverages to sports gear, clothing, [...]

It was a great pleasure for Soul Economy to have the opportunity to ask Tracey from ibuTrade some questions recently. ibuTrade is an online gift shop for fairtrade and eco-friendly products with the added bonus of free extra gift services such as postage, gift wrapping and even writing on the gift tags.
1/ What inspired you [...]

Fairtrade Town is defined in Wikipedia as “a status awarded by a recognised Fairtrade certification body describing an area which is committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods. By extension, the organisations also award the statuses of Fairtrade City, Fairtrade Village, Fairtrade Zone, Fairtrade Borough, Fairtrade Island, Fairtrade County and Fairtrade University.”
The Fairtrade [...]

While I watched the movie Blood Diamonds some time ago it is one of those movies that I continue to think about. So, I was very pleased to read an article recently about the fair trade jewellery movement.
The Sun Herald reports that ethical gold jewellery accounts for less that 1% of the global $56 billion [...]

It’s Saturday morning and the last wine bottle clatters into the recycling bin. Your head is one throbbing mass and the brain inside simmers in the little liquid your body has managed to conserve. In a matter of hours you will have managed to recover slightly, but the effects of alcohol extend much further than [...]

Sustainable fashion - it sounds like an oxymoron. In an industry built upon the profitability of disposability, where a style of jean has a shorter lifespan than a wedge of Pecorino cheese, how could anything be sustainable? The use of sustainable textiles (think broader than purely organic textiles) in the production of garments has a [...]

I recently read “The New Philanthropists” by Charles and Elizabeth Handy. What an excellent read filled with inspiring stories of what they refer to as “new” philanthropists” meaning that they “don’t fit the old mould of grant-giving foundations, …They are hands-on, pioneering and entrepreneurial…” Charles Handy also refers to them as true “social entrepreneurs”.
This then [...]