Soul Economy

This World Day Against Child Labour will mark 10 years since the adoption of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on tackling the worst forms of child labour. Held this year on Friday, 12 June the focus is on girls in child labour. It is shocking to discover that an estimated 100 million girls are [...]

It is World Environment Day (WED) on Friday, 5 June 2009. What is WED? Well, it began in 1972 and marked the start of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
Celebrated each year on 5 June, “WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and [...]

Soul Economy had the pleasure of speaking to Sonya Tirtajaya, Climate Change & Special Projects Officer at Manly Council recently. Manly Council received Fair Trade Accreditation from the Fair Trade Association of Australia & New Zealand (FTAANZ) making Manly NSW’s first Fair Trade Community, the second of all in Australia, which is a terrific achievement. [...]

While many of us are now aware of “Blood Diamonds”, thanks to the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, what most of Australia and, indeed the world, do not realise is that  “Blood Chocolate” also exists as a tragic and violent reality for a significant number of very poor people in West Africa?  Easter is fast approaching [...]

World Fair Trade Day and Fair Trade Fortnight are fast approaching. These 2 key events on the Fair Trade calendar give you the opportunity show your support for Fair Trade and all of the inspiring, Fair Trade entrepreneurs. To ensure that producers are paid a fair wage, to help empower these producers and, in turn, [...]

Wow! Today we celebrate the 98th International Women’s Day. The very first International Women’s Day (IWD) was launched by Carla Zetkin on 19 March in 1911 to celebrate the social, political and economic achievements of women. Carla was an influential socialist German  politician and fought for women’s rights (Source: Wikipedia). In 1913, International Women’s Day [...]

Starbucks announced recently that it is going to “double its purchases to 40 million pounds in 2009, making it  the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the world”.  And, earlier this year McDonald’s introduced Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee into its McCafe stores.
This started me thinking about about what all of these certifications and [...]

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 [...]