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Whether you rent or own, you can make your home more energy efficient with solar panels. Using natural, renewable energy from something as certain as the sun, running your home via solar is a climate-effective way to live.

Switching to solar may seem daunting, but the below resources will address many questions you may have and get you started on the right foot. Are you overwhelmed by the cost? Look into loans and co-ops to save money. Do you want to talk to your landlord about making your apartment more efficient? Research energy efficiency ratings.

Living a more energy efficient life is not only possible, but affordable and easy.

Guest Blog By Green Business Network Member: Leslie Samuelrich, President, Green Century Capital Management

As the 2022 proxy season winds down, we at Green Century° are excited to share that nearly 30 major corporations have committed to action in response to our shareholder proposals on environmental issues. Furthermore, several of these proposals achieved record-breaking shareholder votes over the last few months: Green Century has won more majority votes on environmental proposals than any other shareholder this season.

Here are some highlights from our work pushing the world’s largest companies to reduce their environmental impact.

Preserving a National Treasure

Chevron* has abandoned plans to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and ended its involvement in the Arctic following two successive shareholder proposals from Green Century. The Arctic Refuge is often described as “America’s Serengeti” due to its dizzying array of wildlife, including polar bears, caribou, muskoxen, and millions of migratory birds.

Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Kroger*, America’s largest grocery chain, will set science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its full value chain, agreeing to the request of our shareholder proposal, which called on Kroger to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The food system represents a third of all planet-warming emissions, so supply chain emissions reductions from grocers are essential.

Nearly 70% of Costco* shareholders voted in favor of a similar Green Century proposal in January. In response, Costco expedited its timeline for disclosing and reducing supply chain emissions and announced its first operational emissions reduction targets. Similar Green Century proposals received remarkable 88.5% and 87.6% shareholder votes at US Foods* and Builders FirstSource* this spring.

Reducing Plastic Pollution

After Green Century co-led a proposal urging the company to reduce its reliance on single-use plastic, Coca-Cola* announced in February that it had set a first-of-its-kind goal to distribute at least 25% of all beverages sold globally in refillable or returnable containers by 2030.

Mattel* announced in April that it plans to reduce its use of plastic packaging, fulfilling an agreement with Green Century. The company, which makes a wide array of popular toys from Barbie dolls to Hot Wheels cars, revealed a new goal to reduce plastic packaging by 25% per product by 2030.

Protecting Forests

Lowe’s* agreed in March to accelerate its efforts to eliminate deforestation and the logging of old growth forests from its supply chains. Lowe’s is one of the world’s largest home improvement retailers and a major purchaser of wood. Lowe’s largest competitor, Home Depot,* would not agree to take action on a similar proposal, so Green Century brought it to a vote and 65% of the company’s shareholders instructed it to follow in Lowe's footsteps in May.

Securing the Right to Repair

Apple* will provide individual consumers greater access to materials needed to repair its products, starting with the iPhone 12 and 13. Apple’s announcement came on the same day that Green Century had to decide whether to press forward on a right-to-repair shareholder proposal that was putting the company under pressure. Apple has historically resisted allowing consumers to perform repairs, so the announcement was a notable reversal for the company. Apple launched the program in April.

Ending New Fossil Fuel Projects

Chubb,* Travelers,* and The Hartford,* three of the largest property and casualty insurers, faced shareholder proposals in May as part of Green Century’s new “Insure a Fossil Free Future” campaign, which aims to stop new coal, oil, and gas projects by denying them insurance coverage. Green Century filed proposals with each company asking them to stop underwriting fossil fuel expansion. The proposals garnered enough support from the insurers’ shareholders in this first year to file the proposals again next year.

While we’re proud of the progress we’ve achieved this year, there’s always more work to be done. Green Century will continue to push the world’s largest companies to reduce their climate impact, produce less waste, and preserve forests and other vital ecosystems, and we look forward to an even more impactful proxy season in 2023.

About Green Century Capital Management

°Green Century Capital Management, Inc. (Green Century) is the investment advisor to the Green Century Funds (The Funds). The Green Century Funds are a family of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. Green Century Capital Management hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.

*As of March 31, 2022, The Kroger Co. comprised 0.00%, 0.20%, and 0.00%; Mattel, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 0.04%, and 0.00%; The Home Depot, Inc. comprised 0.96%, 1.54%, and 0.00%; Lowe’s Companies, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 0.67%, and 0.00%; The Coca-Cola Company comprised 0.00%, 1.25%, and 0.00%; Apple, Inc. comprised 5.70%, 0.00%, and 0.00%; Chubb Ltd. comprised 0.00%, 0.45%, and 0.00%; The Travelers Companies, Inc. comprised 1.39%, 0.22%, and 0.00%; The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 0.12%, and 0.00%; Builders FirstSource, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 0.06%, and 0.00%; and Costco Wholesale Corporation comprised 1.45%, 0.00%, and 0.00% of the Green Century Balanced Fund, the Green Century Equity Fund and the Green Century International Index Fund, respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the Green Century Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

The percentage in favor was calculated by (i) dividing the number of votes in support of the proposal by (ii) the sum of the number of votes voted in support of and against the proposal. Abstentions and broker non-votes were not included in the calculation.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.greencentury.com, email info@greencentury.com, or call 1-800-934-7336. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The Green Century Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 235 W Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. 7/22

The Green America board is pleased to announce the 2022 appointments of two new board members, Salimata Bangoura for a one-year seat and Kimberly Jones for a three-year seat.

Salimata Bangoura, now based in Massachusetts and originally from Mali, is the founder of Dugu, a West African food and beverage company. The company’s newest product line is Yamacu drinks which are cold-pressed ginger beverages in a variety of flavors. Through the example she sets using culinary arts, Salimata teaches about African traditions and values and the crucial role that diverse women entrepreneurs play in building community.

Salimata is also a Green America Green Business Network member, a passionate advocate of anti-hunger initiatives and social justice, and the proud mother of three. On the importance of joining the Green America board she shared: “I know what is at stake if I don’t do my part in contributing to a better and safer world, and I believe that to accomplish that, I need to be at the forefront of an organization that is seeing to the security of that fragile future.”

Salimata earned a B.S. in International Health from Hunter College, an M.P.H from Boston University, and an M.B.A from Babson College.

Kimberly Jones, based in Chicago, serves as Vice President & Director of Community Engagement -Midwest with Self-Help Federal Credit Union. She leads the organization’s strategic engagement with community stakeholders and investors in both Chicago and Milwaukee.

Kimberly has a long history with Green America and the Green Festivals we coordinated in Chicago, going back to her previous position with ShoreBank, a pioneering community development bank. She shared: “My motivation to join the Green America board includes wanting to give voice to those communities that have historically been left out of the green economy conversation. I also seek to utilize my skills and experiences to think critically about bringing more awareness to, and encouraging more investment in, environmental and sustainability issues.”

Kimberly earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota-Moris and an MA in Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management from Columbia College Chicago.

A country music festival in Las Vegas; the Pulse night club in Orlando; Sandy Hook Elementary School; a theater in Aurora, Colorado; Virginia Tech…And more recently Buffalo; Uvalde; and Highland Park's Fourth of July parade. The list of lives lost senselessly to gun violence in the United States is a long one. In addition to the prominent cases that make national news, there are the daily deaths from gun violence that tear families and communities apart.

Many Americans believe our nation needs to adopt effective gun control policy to stem the tide of violence we increasingly see in our society. In addition to advocating with policy makers at all levels of government, we can also use our economic power as investors to withdraw support from gun manufacturers.

The first step is to know what you own. Have you reviewed the holdings of your mutual funds to see if they include gun manufacturers?

Unless you are investing in a socially responsible mutual fund, you might be investing in gun manufacturers and other industries you have no desire to support and prosper from. The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing maintains a chart of socially and environmentally mutual funds, including financial performance data as well as identification of the issues on which the funds are screened. You can find funds that are screened to exclude certain industries, in whole or in part, such as weapons manufacturers and the military; fossil fuels; tobacco; toxic products and more.

In growing numbers, investors large and small are aligning their investments with their values and their goals for our society. This approach to investing, one that integrates social and environmental factors alongside financial analysis, has a key role in building the green economy. Our investments are not just tools to create our own wealth, but a reflection of the kind of economy and society we want to support.

Professionally managed Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) assets now total more than $17.1 trillion in the United States and is expected to continue to grow. You can become part of this movement by using SRI products and services. At www.greenpages.org you’ll find SRI-dedicated financial planners, community development and green banks and credit unions, and mutual funds like Access Capital Community Investment Funds, Azzad funds, CRA Qualified Investment Fund, Domini funds, Green Century Funds, Neuberger Berman Socially Responsive Funds, Pax funds, and others that exclude investment in weapons and the military. For investors seeking to understand whether their mutual funds invest in guns, use this tool from our colleagues at As You Sow to identify gun-free funds.

Become a socially responsible investor today — people and the planet depend on it.

Business Support for Reproductive Rights

Green America’s statement on the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the other recent Supreme Court rulings on guns, American Indian rights, and climate action addresses the blow to people and the planet these rules represent. Green America underscores the acute harm done by these rulings especially to people of color, people with disabilities, young people, and low-income people. While more information on business responses will be forthcoming, below are several resources from business organizations on the business response specifically to the loss of reproductive rights:

American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN):

ASBN Statement on the Supreme Court Decision to Overturn Roe V. Wade

Webinar Recording: Reproductive Health Resources for Your Employees: with Dr. Sophia Yen (Pandia Health), Amy Merrill (Plan C), and Shelley Alpern (Rhia Ventures) and accompanying 1-pager How Companies Can Strengthen Reproductive Health Care

Pro Repro:

A Playbook for Business to Protect Reproductive Health

BSR (Businesses for Social Responsibility):

Key Ways for Business to Respond to the Fall of Roe v Wade

Don’t Ban Equality:

Frequently Asked Questions

As Janette McCarthy Wallace, NAACP General Counsel stated on June 24, 2022 regarding the impact of losing legal access to abortion:

Today’s Supreme Court decision marks a significant regression of our country.

We must all stand up to have our voices heard in order to protect our nation from the further degradation of civil rights protections we have worked so hard to secure.

Coming soon.

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Banks Can Make a Real Difference on Climate; Will They? 

The annual Banking on Climate Chaos report reveals how big banks are fueling the climate crisis through their financing, based on aggregated statistics from banks globally. 

Banks are exacerbating the climate emergency by funding the fossil fuel sector including tar sands oil extraction, Arctic oil and gas extraction, fracking, liquefied natural gas infrastructure, and coal mining.  

The report tallies how the sixty largest banks have financed fossil fuels with USD $4.6 trillion since adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015.  

Fossil fuel financing remains dominated by four U.S. banks - J.P Morgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. Together these banks account for a quarter of all fossil fuel financing over the last six years. 

Green America is pleased to join the hundreds of organizations world-wide that have endorsed the 2022 Banking on Climate Chaos Report; the report is essential reading for understanding the trajectory of banks’ financing of the fossil fuel sector. 

Change is Possible 

To help banks reverse this trend as swiftly as possible, the Climate Safe Lending Network has developed The Good Transition Plan, The Network is a transatlantic, multi-stakeholder collaborative of banks, NGOs, academics, investors and others working to accelerate the decarbonization of the banking sector to secure a climate-safe world.   

Some banks are doing the right thing. La Banque Postale, a major French bank, shows that change is possible. It committed to ending financing for all companies and infrastructure development in the oil and gas sectors by 2030 -- exiting the sector completely. 

Halt Fossil Fuel Expansion 

Such bank action is a rarity, however, as bank fossil fuel financing has plateaued in the last year rather than plummeting as needed.  

In particular, financing of fossil fuel expansion must end immediately. Despite a growing number of bank commitments to “net zero” carbon emissions in their lending and investment portfolios, banks continue to support new fossil fuel development. Research shows that the oil and gas industry is prepared to produce more oil and gas than we can burn if we are to limit global warming to 1.5ºC and avoid the worst climate impacts. 

Bank Promises on Climate Lack Scope & Speed   

The report notes that most big banks have policies addressing fossil fuel finance and climate. To meet the reality of the crisis, however, these policies need to go further and their implementation swifter. In 2021, several banks set “net zero” goals and 44 of the 60 banks in the report have now committed to net zero emissions by 2050.  

2050 is too far off; as a society we need to take dramatic action on climate change by 2030. There isn’t a moment to lose in transitioning bank financing in keeping the necessity of remaining below a 1.5-degree Celsius increase in global temperature. 

Amplify Indigenous Communities’ Voices 

Banking on Climate Chaos describes how Indigenous communities are leading global resistance to the fossil fuel industry.  

In 2021, the Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International published Indigenous Resistance Against Carbon, a report examining 26 cases of Indigenous resistance to the fossil fuel industry that led to quantifiable and large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  

Their resistance is based on a long history of resistance to colonization: “Indigenous resistance is based on hundreds of years of resistance to colonization, the preservation of their sovereign rights as peoples, their right of self-determination, and their right to say “no” — no to unwanted, unfettered ruination of not only their lands but also their cultures.”  

Voices of Indigenous communities must be included in all fossil fuel issues affecting their land and well-being, and in the shift to a clean energy economy. 

Four Essential Demands  

The report concludes by calling on banks to take bolder action: 

• End fossil fuel expansion immediately. 
• Respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and all frontline communities. 
• Immediately begin zeroing out all financing for fossil fuel extraction. 
• Measure, disclose and set targets to zero out the absolute climate impact of overall financing activities on a 1.5°C-aligned timeline. 

What Bank Do You Use? 

We know conventional big banks are driving the climate crisis.  

Fortunately, there are lots of better banking options to choose from so your deposits are not supporting climate chaos.  

Find banks and credit unions that reflect your values with our Get a Better Bank map.

The banks and credit unions included in our Get a Better Bank Map meet at least one of the following criteria: 

• Federal certification by the CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) Fund 
  
• Certification by Green America’s Green Business Network 
  
• Membership in Inclusiv: Inclusiv's mission is to help low- and moderate-income people and communities achieve financial independence through credit unions. 
  
• Membership in the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (US members) 
  
• FDIC-identified Minority Depository Institutions (The scope of this designation indicates minority ownership and/or having a majority of board directors who are a minority and a customer base that is predominantly a minority.) 

Together, using better banks, while holding major banks accountable for fueling the climate crisis, we can build a clean energy economy.

Calling on Businesses to Stand up for Democracy  

On the surface the Supreme Court’s recent decisions on guns, abortion rights, climate, religion, and Indigenous rights might not appear to have much in common. But they actually share an important trait: they will all cause the most harm to people who are already most disadvantaged or marginalized in our country: Black and Brown people, LGBTQ+ people, Indigenous people, people living in poverty, immigrants, non-Christians, and people with disabilities.   

As Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement about the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade: 

The Supreme Court has now officially given politicians permission to control what we do with our bodies, deciding that we can no longer be trusted to determine the course for our own lives. Due to centuries of racism and systemic discrimination, we already know who will feel the consequences of this horrific decision most acutely: Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, those living in rural areas, young people, immigrants, and those having difficulties making ends meet. Make no mistake – if they can take away the right to abortion, a right we’ve held for nearly 50 years, they won’t stop here: All of our freedoms are on the line. 

Overturning Roe v. Wade was an unprecedented reversal of the rights of people who can get pregnant.  

It will also condemn many people to a life of poverty.  

Creating greater poverty and misery, exacerbating socio-economic inequities, while rolling back gains made by disenfranchised peoples and harming the country overall, is a hallmark of the majority opinions of the Court this term.  

Consider: 

• Black Americans are twice as likely to die of gun violence as white Americans, and gun violence traumatizes the entire community where it takes place. And gun violence is estimated to cost the US economy at least $229 billion per year. 
• Climate change is already hitting and will continue to hit communities of color the hardest, creating enormous economic hardship. Poor people worldwide will bear the brunt of a fossil fuel economy that enriches the few. And the cost of failing to act on climate change could cost the US government $2 trillion per year.  
• Immigrants contribute extensively to the US economy and are major drivers of the economic recovery of the past two years. But many of these same immigrants are constantly in a precarious legal and/or economic position themselves. 
• The US government’s racist policies towards American Indian tribes, including denial of sovereignty to these tribes over their own lands, has led to widespread poverty in American Indian communities nationwide. Sovereignty gains of the past 30 years have helped to address widespread poverty, which is one reason why the Supreme Court’s decision to limit sovereignty is so concerning.  
• Access to reproductive care is essential to women and other people who can get pregnant taking part in the labor market.  Women living in states with greater access to reproductive care have higher earnings and face less occupational segregation. And restricting access to abortion could cost the US economy $105 billion per year. 
• When the government privileges one religion over others, or no religion, it provides a green light to antisemitism, anti-Muslimism, and threats to anyone practicing a non-dominant religion or no religion at all. In US history, the privileging of Christianity led to the exclusion of practitioners of other faiths or no faith from educational, civic, and employment opportunities, as well as exclusion from serving in office.   

An Unprecedented Assault on Democracy 

In the span of two weeks, the US Supreme Court not only struck down the 50-year-old Constitutional right to abortion, it also swept away a 100-year-old state law regulating concealed carry of firearms, limited the EPA’s authority to regulate climate emissions that the Court previously upheld, diminished American Indian tribes’ rights to enforce the law on their own territories, and weakened the separation of Church and State. 

The one bright spot is that the Supreme Court upheld the Biden Administration’s authority to end the Trump Administration’s cruel “Remain in Mexico” policy for some asylum seekers. But the Court’s other decisions will negatively impact immigrant populations. 

The impacts that these Supreme Court decisions will have on people’s lives and the country overall demonstrates why they are so unpopular – they are out of step with what the majority of Americans want and are fundamentally undemocratic.   

For example, polls show most Americans support abortion rights, regulation of guns, and want the government to act on climate change. And the decision to undo abortion rights opens the door to undermining contraception and marriage equality, which most people support as well.   

The Supreme Court’s next term already includes cases that could lead to the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights, election rights, climate regulation, and affirmative action.  

That’s why it’s so important for all Americans to use their political voice at all levels of government to undo the damage the Court is doing.  

The Role for Corporations in Protecting Democracy 

In a capitalist society, there is a crucial role for corporate America to play in opposing the unprecedented rollback of rights and economic harm this Supreme Court is creating. The voice of major US corporations in particular carries significant weight with legislators and the public. 

Corporate leaders overwhelmingly recognize that a well-functioning democracy is necessary for a strong economy and the vast majority think businesses should act to protect democracy.  However, most corporations are failing to actively voice support or direct their political expenditures for democracy, or to stop supporting anti-democracy, political candidates for local, state and federal office.  

While a number of companies spoke up to condemn the events of January 6, and several major corporations opposed legislation to curtail voting rights, most companies have been silent in the face of revelations coming out of the January 6 committee hearings.  

And it remains to be seen if companies will speak out and take action to support the expansion of rights in light of the recent Supreme Court rulings and growing anti-democratic practices of a number of elected officials and their supporters.  

But, companies can’t be neutral when it comes to right-wing efforts to undermine democracy.   

There are many actions companies can take, starting with those below: 

Support Human Rights 

• Support reproductive care for their employees, including paying for employees to access abortion in other states if it is banned in their own. A number of leading companies are taking action to protect their workers – more need to follow their lead.  And companies need to protect all their workers including hourly employees and contracted employees.
• Supporting state and federal legislation to legalize abortion and reproductive care for all people. 
• Large tech companies need to ensure their technology is not used to surveil people who are or could be pregnant or immigrants. 
• Actively support the expansion of rights for BIPOC and LGTBQ+ people and women to ensure equality for all people. 
• Support immigrant rights including a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and Dreamers, and humane treatment of all immigrants and asylum seekers entering the US.  
• Support Indigenous rights including Indigenous sovereignty over historic territory worldwide and the return of stolen lands, and the right of Indigenous peoples to reject extractive industries decimating their lands and sacred places by requiring free, prior, informed consent for any actions affecting their land and rights.  
• Support religious freedom and the rights of people to exercise the religion of their choice or no religion. 

Gun Control 

• Support effective gun control legislation at the state and federal level. 

Protect Democracy

• End financial contributions (direct and through trade associations) to politicians and political action committees that seek to roll back rights or undermine democracy, and call-out their antidemocratic actions. 
• Actively support the expansion of voting rights and oppose any efforts to curtail those rights. Hundreds of corporations voiced concern over the rollback of voting rights in the past year and more need to do so. 

Tackle the Climate Crisis

• Actively support legislation to reduce climate emissions and support a transition to clean energy and transportation, regenerative agriculture, the phase out of climate super-pollutants, and other climate solutions. A number of large tech companies are leading voices supporting climate solutions, and more companies need to join them. 
• Account for all of their climate emissions and create credible plans for achieving net zero emissions by 2035 and implement them. 
• Corporations should use the power of their banking deposits and the other business they do with banks to persuade banks financing fossil fuels to decarbonize their lending. 

Support Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 

• Incorporate Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) practices into their corporate culture, including hiring and promotions. 
• Use their corporate purchasing and contracts to support BIPOC and Indigenous communities, and diversity in hiring in contractors, including veterans, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ people.  

We All Need to Raise Our Voices  

We are all customers or employees of, or investors in, corporations, and companies increasingly listen to their stakeholders.   

Let’s use our consumer voices and dollars to call on companies to protect our rights.   

Vote our shares in support of resolutions calling on companies to protect human rights and protect the planet. And join other employees where we work to call on companies to do better on the climate, democracy, and equality. 

And let’s call on our elected officials to rise up and meet the seriousness of the moment.  

With democracy itself at stake, we need bold leadership at the state and federal level to secure our rights and liberties.   

Call your elected officials, sign petitions, join rallies and join lobby days when you can. Make get out the vote efforts a priority, and in November, vote and help others to vote.  

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These inspiring people switched their personal or community bank accounts to ensure they are not financing the climate crisis, forced labor, and inequality. Read on for inspiration and ideas on how to get started yourself.

Intro text

What is Regenerative Agriculture and why is it different from Organic?

Within the past century, agriculture has become one of the world’s largest drivers of climate change. The industrial processes, chemical inputs, and repeated, long-term tillage of working lands has been implicated not just for its impacts on the climate, but also for its destruction of biodiversity, soil health, depleted nutrition, and farm economic resiliency. Regenerative agriculture aims to remedy this. 

Regenerative agriculture pertains to a variety of farming practices that focus on soil health and regeneration. Green America recognizes six pillars of regenerative agriculture: soil health; climate resiliency; water quality; biodiversity above and below ground; farmer, farm worker, and rural economics; and food security. It begins with organic practices, like using non-GMO seeds and avoiding the use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals; and then goes beyond that to includes a number of other practices designed to optimize soil health, nutrition, and to bring carbon back into the earth. Those practices include:

• no-till
• cover-cropping
• composting
• diversifying crops
• integrative animal management.

Additionally, like conventional agriculture, organic agriculture still degrades the topsoil. Simply put:  Organic is good; but regeneratively grown crops are better—better for soil health—defined as the capacity of soil to function as a living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and people (Doran, 2002; Lehmann et al., 2020)—and human health.

Nutritional Difference between Conventionally Grown & Regeneratively Grown Crops

Whereas conventional crops have higher levels of heavy metals in them, organic and regenerative crops have higher levels of vitamins and minerals. Whereas, conventional crops contain greater pesticide levels, regenerative crops contain higher levels of phytochemicals, which are shown to exhibit health-protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Tilling the soil, a practice of conventional and organic farming, disrupts the soil so much that the microbes and worms are disturbed. Disrupting these microbial and worm communities affects crop mineral uptake. Worms ingest microbes and play a vital role in decomposing organic matter, keeping the nutrient cycle going and enhancing soil nutrient availability.

Finally, regenerative crops have an overall higher nutrient density.

Why Nutrient Density Matters

Nutrient density is the ratio of nutrients per calorie, or the nutritional value to energy intake. The higher the nutrient density of a food is, the more quickly we feel full and don’t overeat. Higher nutrient density helps our brains recognize that we’ve had enough to eat. Higher nutrient density also protects us from many illnesses and chronic diseases by reducing inflammation in the body. Furthermore, you are lowering your exposure to harmful chemicals that disrupt your body’s proper functioning by eating pesticide-free food. Exposure to pesticides has been shown to change your cells down to your DNA, confusing your body so it doesn’t recognize when it’s full, teaching it to store fat.  Regeneratively grown foods are shown to have high nutrient densities, including 34% more vitamin K, 11% more calcium, and 27% more copper.

Where to Find Regeneratively Grown Food

While it may be difficult to find and recognize regeneratively grown produce now, consumers have options.

Grow your own food

By planting a garden, you know exactly what’s going into it. It also saves you money at the grocery store and helps fight climate change by reducing the number of miles driven to ship and obtain the produce. Growing an abundant garden is easier and takes far less time than you might think.  Check out Green America’s Climate Victory Gardens campaign to learn more!

Talk to the farmers at your local farmers’ market     

Farmers’ markets are a great way to support local farms and buy the freshest produce. Don’t be shy about engaging sellers and asking about their farming practices! Who knows—you might even find a farm you really love that has a CSA you can join.

Join a local CSA

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs, is a setup where consumers connect directly with a farm and buy shares of the season's harvest. Typically, you buy into a CSA in the spring, purchasing crops upfront for weekly or bi-weekly pickups during the entire season.

Engage food companies

Write, tweet, or call the companies and grocery stores that provide your favorite products and ask them to source from regenerative farms. Encourage them to help the farmers they work with transition to regenerative practices. Let them know you care about how your food is grown and sourced.

Look for Soil and Climate Health Initiative Verified Label

Soil and Climate Health Initiative Verified is a groundbreaking new label that shows customers which companies care about regenerative agriculture.

Products carrying this label are made with ingredients from farms with confirmed commitments and actions to implement regenerative agriculture. In order to earn verification, farms track soil health outcomes, use practices that protect and nourish the soil, and commit to continuous improvement.

In our everyday lives, we are surrounded by pesticides and other harmful chemicals, including those found on our food, clothes, yards, water, and even in the air. Consumers are demanding ever more pesticide and chemical-free options; hence, the rise in the organic label since its introduction in 1990.

Have you ever stopped and wondered what’s in your drink? Which pesticides could be lurking in your morning cup of coffee or your evening glass of wine?

As it happens, our favorite drinks are steeped in synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. These chemicals are harmful to the farmworkers who harvest the crops that make these beverages, to the environment, to the people who live near the farms, and to you, the consumer.

While there aren’t many alternatives, there are a few options on the markets for consumers who want healthier, safer options.

Learn about the pesticides found in three of the US’s top consumed beverages: coffee (#1), beer (#5), and wine (#7). 

Coffee #1

For many people, the day starts with a cup of coffee. And research finds that drinking moderate amounts of coffee daily is good for you, helping to prevent several forms of cancer.

However, those health benefits could be undermined by the chemicals lurking in your cup of joe. Conventional coffee is among the most heavily chemically treated foods in the world. Its popularity means farmers will do everything to protect and increase crop yields, leading to massive amounts of chemical inputs, many of which make it all the way to your cup. 

One of the most common pesticides used on coffee (and many crops) is glyphosate, more commonly known as Roundup. There is a growing body of evidence that glyphosate is a carcinogen and causes other human health concerns.

Furthermore, the US has no Maximum Residual Limits on pesticides on coffee—it’s completely unregulated! Brazil—the #1 grower and exporter of coffee beans—has very lax pesticide regulations, putting the majority of US coffee drinkers at risk.

What you can do 

Buy certified organic coffees like Equal Exchange, or from other Green Business Network members! If you’re a decaf drinker, as a bonus, Equal Exchange’s decaf process is chemical-free!

Beer #5

Evidence of the earliest beer dates back to the 5^th millennium BC in Iran. As one of the oldest drinks in the world, versions of which sprung up in nearly every civilization, is it any wonder that the very first food regulation in the world was about beer and it’s still in place? The German Beer Purity Law was established in 1516, regulating that beer could only contain water, barley, hops, and yeast after 1857.

The US is the #1 hops exporter and #7 barley exporter in the world. Barley is known to have up to 7 pesticides on it, including the neurotoxins chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos (DDVP). Hopefully chlorpyrifos will be less of an issue in both domestic and imported beer after the EPA ruling banning it on food crops beginning in February 2022.

In addition to pesticides, hops are often chemically dried, as they rot quickly after harvest if they’re not dried properly. Hops have been known to have bifenazate, which is toxic to bees and other pollinators; as well as boscalid, a probable carcinogen, amongst many others.

What you can do

Unfortunately, there are few organic beer options, and the only mainstream option available is Michelob Ultra Pure Gold.

• Ask your local market or liquor store to stock organic beers if they don’t already.
• You could check out your local breweries, too – some are organic or use inputs with less pesticides. 
• Are you or any of your friends homebrewers? You could consider growing barley in your backyard—it’s a fabulous cover-crop.
• If you live in the hop belt, you could try your hand at growing a hop plant or two (it’s a perennial!), but remember: they grow really tall. You can easily buy organic hop seeds and rhizomes online.

Wine #7

Wine dates back thousands of years and millions of people still enjoy it today. The grapes that go into wines are often doused with multiple chemicals. The Pesticide Action Network found 56 pesticides on grapes, including neurotoxins, carcinogens, hormone disruptors, pollinator toxins, and reproductive toxins.

It is true that some of the pesticide residue is reduced during fermentation, it depends on the pesticide: some do not survive the wine-making process, while others are just as present as they were during application. Moreover, while grapes are the main ingredient in wine, many wines have flavor modifiers added to them, like sugar, acids, and chemicals.

Even wine that is certified organic is allowed to have 70 added chemicals in it, while conventional wine can have hundreds. However, the chemicals added to organic wine cannot have a harmful effect on human or environmental health as defined by the US Food and Drug Administration.

What You Can Do

Look for Organic

Organic wines are, fortunately, much easier to find than organic beer.

Though winemakers are not required to list all ingredients on their bottles, an organic label means that all inputs are organic. It also means that American wines do not contain sulfites—a common preservative in wine that gives many people headaches—while their European counterparts may still contain them.

Note: if it is labeled specifically as “organic grapes”, then the other additives may not be organic. Winemakers like Frey Vineyards make it easy to purchase organic wine online ($9-$50/bottle). Or check out this handy list from Food & Wine magazine ($14-$26/bottle).

Of course, whether your alcoholic beverage is organic, the alcohol itself carries health risks. Remember to drink alcohol responsibly. 

Take Action

Sign our petition to the EPA telling it to ban organophosphates.

WASHINGTON DC – JUNE 16, 2022 – As the public comment period closes for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new rule mandating corporations to implement climate disclosures, Green America submitted a petition on behalf of over 15,000 stakeholders lauding the rule and urging that it be strengthened. The public comment period on the rule, “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors,” closes June 17, and comments will be reviewed ahead of the SEC’s final rulemaking in 2023.

The Green America petition states, “We support the overall direction of the rule and urge the Commission to further strengthen it for maximum effectiveness as the climate crisis intensifies.” It recommends the following provisions be added to improve the rule: 

• Ensure that free, prior, informed consent (FPIC) is obtained and recognized as material when consulting with Indigenous communities and any marginalized and frontline groups on resource extractive projects.
• Require companies to disclose how they manage climate and community risks related to their business operations and climate mitigation and energy transition processes.
• Include reference to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in line with other reporting frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.
• Include nature-related financial impacts in climate risk disclosures as modelled by the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosure.
• Require disclosure of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from large companies’ value chains since in many cases, the majority of emissions are from Scope 3.
• Do not allow companies to decide whether their Scope 3 emissions are material and remove the safe harbor from liability for false Scope 3 reports.

“The climate cannot wait,” said Fran Teplitz, Executive Co-Director for Business, Investing & Policy at Green America. “To make the impact the times require, the SEC must mandate the disclosure of climate information that investors, companies, and stakeholders need to protect human rights and communities, the environment, and the economy. This must include disclosure of Scope 3 emissions and upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.”

Kate Finn, executive director of First Peoples Worldwide, which works from a foundation of Indigenous values to achieve a sustainable future for all, supported Green America’s letter: “Indigenous Peoples are among the first to feel the impacts of climate change – whether erosion of land from rising seas for coastal communities or increasing habitat loss for forest, land and animal stewards from the Amazon to the Arctic. The SEC now has the opportunity to provide for companies, shareholders and investors a minimum standard towards the full context for understanding a corporation's climate-related commitments as related to Indigenous Peoples' welfare and their right to free, prior and informed consent. The materiality of these deeply interconnected issues cannot be understated, and, if left unchecked, have impact not only on investor portfolios, but will create further harm to people and the planet. We are grateful for Green America and the thousands of signatories for putting these fundamental and critical considerations forward to the SEC and all stakeholders.” 

Climate disclosure mandates for public companies will ensure that companies obtain the data needed to bring their operations in line with crucial greenhouse gas reduction goals and will give all stakeholders the understanding needed to advance climate solutions. Voluntary corporate disclosure of climate impacts and risks has fallen short. The SEC must approve the strongest climate disclosure rule that supports human rights, a healthy planet and the economy.

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ABOUT

Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today’s social and environmental problems. www.GreenAmerica.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: Max Karlin for Green America, (703) 276-3255 or mkarlin@hastingsgroup.com.

Washington, D.C. — Today, more than 1,000 businesses called on President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and members of Congress to invest in the economic well-being of the nation and the health of communities across the country by passing ambitious climate legislation that will put the U.S. on a path to solving the climate crisis.

The businesses hail from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands, employ more than 350,000 Americans, and range in size from billion-dollar multinational industries to Main Street retailers. Generating more than $200 billion of cumulative revenue annually, they represent sectors across the U.S. economy— including construction, energy, agriculture, real estate, travel and tourism, financial services, healthcare, and more. Binding them together is both their shared understanding that climate change is already harming their businesses and the U.S. economy and their shared sense of urgency that Congress must act soon to address it.

“Get the job done now and pass ambitious climate legislation to put our country and our world on a path to solving the climate crisis,” they wrote in the letter. “We are counting on you to act boldly.”

In the letter the businesses are calling for the lawmakers to:

▪ Meet the urgency and scale of the climate crisis with ambitious federal investments to accelerate the transition to affordable, secure, domestic clean energy.

▪ Seize the economic opportunities to lead the world in clean energy manufacturing and deployment and create jobs, spur innovation, strengthen supply chains, and reduce costs and volatility for businesses and consumers.

▪ Tackle inequity by targeting climate and clean energy investments in disadvantaged, rural, and frontline energy communities.

The letter comes as negotiators in the U.S. Senate work to finalize a long-sought package of climate, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and environmental justice investments that are critical for the U.S. to meet its climate and economic goals.

“Businesses of every size and sector are speaking out as climate change puts all of our businesses at risk,” says Kellee James, CEO of Mercaris, a Maryland-based commodity market data service company that signed the letter. “Climate change is severely disrupting supply chains, dislocating employees, interrupting manufacturing and distribution operations, and causing other impacts in every region of our nation. The costs are only going to mount until we start taking steps to turn the tide.”

“Our business is already severely impacted by extreme weather events and drought that will only get worse and more costly if action is not taken” Minnesota grain and livestock farmer Dawn Breitkreutz, explained. “We work hard to mitigate our impact through adoption of regenerative farming practices,

and many farmers are at the forefront of addressing climate change. But we will be back in the dustbowl and unable to meet the world’s food demands if we do not scale up support for farmer innovation and practices to improve soil health and build resilience across America.”

“Operating in all 50 states, Holcim is proud to lead the construction materials industry in developing more sustainable ways to build," said Michael LeMonds, Vice President, Holcim US. "But we can’t act alone. We’re excited to see the U.S. enact the policies and investments that will help us and others accelerate the shift to innovative clean industrial practices that are good for the climate and good for business. Congress must not miss this chance to cement the U.S. as a global leader by developing the manufacturing capacities and supply chains necessary to support a clean-energy economy that is built for the future.”

“I wonder how much longer people will want to come visit beaches blighted by red tide, visit mountains with no snow, or hike forests filled with smoke from wildfires” pondered Jared Meyers, CEO and Founder of Legacy Vacation Resorts in Florida and the Southwest. “We see the effects of climate change right now on our business and it will be catastrophic for us if it is not addressed.”

“Entire industries like ours are at risk if we don’t act,” said Chris Steinkamp, Head of Advocacy for Snowsports Industries America. “Our $79 billion industry is dependent on consistent winter seasons which have already become shorter, and climate impacts are already disrupting business across our supply chains and retail networks.”

The letter is the latest in a series of efforts across the U.S. pushing Congress to adopt ambitious climate investments. In recent weeks, federal lawmakers have heard from nearly two-dozen U.S. governors, a diverse coalition of U.S. athletes, the Outdoor Industry Association, and nearly 50 large enterprises in separate letters urging a climate deal. Advocates, lawmakers, and others closely following the months of debate and negotiation in the Senate generally believe a deal must be struck this summer in order to be finalized during this session of Congress.

View the letter to lawmakers and the 1000+ signers here.

About Businesses for Climate Action

Businesses for Climate Action is an ad hoc group of business associations and organizations that joined forces to develop a sign-on letter to lawmakers calling for passage of ambitious climate legislation. The core organizing groups behind the statement are: American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN), B Lab US and Canada, Climate Collaborative, Climate Neutral, EcoAthletes, The Green Business Network at Green America, Pet Sustainability Coalition, NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, and Snowsports Industries America (SIA). They networked with an additional thirty-five business associations and sector groups from across the U.S. to reach out to businesses to ask them to sign-on to the statement.

Media Contact: Helen Booth-Tobin, booth-tobin@ceres.org, (617-247-0700 ext. 214)

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Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

WASHINGTON DC – JUNE 9, 2022 – Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the United States, is facing new pressure from a coalition of stakeholders after delaying and undermining efforts by the industry to eliminate hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) from refrigeration systems. HFCs are greenhouse gases with thousands of times the warming capacity of carbon dioxide, and supermarkets are leaking millions of tons of them every year.

Green America and Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) launched a new action calling on consumers to sign a letter to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen demanding the company adopt ultra-low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and replace current HFC systems at all of its nearly 2,800 stores by 2030. Currently, Kroger has only committed to using non-HFC alternatives at seven new stores. 

The consumer action comes just ahead of Kroger’s June 23 annual meeting at which a shareholder resolution filed by Friends Fiduciary will be voted on that asks Kroger to prepare a report on eliminating the use of hydrofluorocarbons.  The resolution notes that “Kroger’s apparent lack of a comprehensive plan to eliminate HFCs in refrigeration exposes Kroger to financial, regulatory and reputational risks.”

“HFCs account for 63% of Kroger’s direct climate emissions,” said Dan Howells, Climate Campaigns Director at Green America. “Kroger has known about this problem for years, but its efforts are failing to meet the urgency of the issue. The climate crisis is here, and we need Kroger to provide a clear, detailed plan to cut these dangerous emissions on a more aggressive timeline.”

Kroger scored only 16/100 on EIA’s 2020 Supermarket Scorecard, which tracks the largest U.S. supermarkets on their efforts to reduce HFC emissions, lagging behind its competitors: ALDI, Whole Foods, Target, Publix, Meijer and others. 

“There is a global effort to phase down HFCs because of their potent climate impacts. It is incredibly shocking that a company like Kroger continues to rely on these obsolete climate destroying coolants when there are myriad other widely available and used HFC-free options,” said Avipsa Mahapatra, Climate Campaign Lead at Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). “Kroger must commit to adopting ultra-low GWP refrigerants in all new stores and to share a plan to phase out use of HFCs by 2030.” 

Refrigerant leaks from US supermarkets emit 45 million metric tons of greenhouse gases every year, the equivalent of 9.5 million cars on the road. Following pressure from Green America, EIA, and allies, Walmart announced that it would transition to “low-impact” refrigerants by 2040. 

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ABOUT

Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today’s social and environmental problems. www.GreenAmerica.org. Over a hundred thousand consumers have joined Green America’s Cool It Campaign to demand that supermarkets cut HFC super pollutants that accelerate the climate crisis.

Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an independent non-profit campaigning organization dedicated to identifying, investigating, and implementing solutions to protect endangered wildlife, forests, and the global climate. EIA Climate campaign is working to eliminate powerful greenhouse gases and improve energy efficiency in the cooling sector, and expose related illicit trade to campaign for new policies, improved governance, and more effective enforcement. www.eia-global.org.  EIA created the first interactive grassroots platform for corporate accountability on refrigerants, at www.climatefriendlysupermarkets.org. Hundreds of citizen activists have submitted data to EIA’s map and signed petitions urging supermarkets to transition to HFC-free technologies.

MEDIA CONTACT: Parke Qua for Green America, (216) 276-2476 or pqua@hastingsgroup.com.

Avipsa Mahapatra for EIA, amahapatra@eia-global.org

Guest Blog from Green Business Network Leader Naturepedic

Eco-friendly, green, sustainable … ever see a word so many times that it starts to lose its meaning? Have you seen clothing made from “recycled materials” but no information on what those are? How about “all-natural” skincare products?  

Without qualifying these words, terms like “green” mean … well, not a whole lot. The rise in eco-conscious behavior from consumers has brought with it a marketing tactic known as greenwashing, which can make it hard to consume mindfully.

In the organic mattress industry where Naturepedic operates, we frequently see this happen when companies tout materials like soybean foam or eco-foam. Sounds great, right? Until you do your research and discover that soybean foam can contain as little 3-5% soy content. It’s not uncommon for these “friendlier” foams to consist of off-gassing petrochemicals.

Similarly, take a closer look at bamboo sheets before you let the word “bamboo” win you over. Bamboo fabrics can have environmental benefits, but that varies quite a bit depending on how the bamboo is processed.  

So, how can you avoid falling for greenwashing? And will you need a degree in chemistry? Naturepedic can help.

What is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing tactic designed to foster the belief that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is. It often involves making false or misleading claims and can include:

• Advertising
• Public relations
• Mission and vision statements
• Packaging
• Alleged partnerships

Have you heard of a lie of omission? Withholding information that reflects poorly on a company is a form of greenwashing, too.

7 Common Greenwashing Tactics

Greenwashing can be as simple as using vague, undefined terms, like “green” or “sustainable,” but it can also be more complicated. Watch out for these greenwashing tactics.

1. Lack of Certifications

Always look for third-party certifications and verifications when vetting a company or product. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and MADE SAFE® are some you can trust.

2. Fake Endorsements

You'll see this trick a lot with terms like “100% Natural.” Companies create graphics that resemble an official seal or emblem … but don't have any official organization associated with them.

3. Red Herrings

Some companies claim their products are free of a toxic chemical that isn't typically used in their type of product anyway. Or, they promote not using a chemical that has been legally banned. In rhetoric, this is referred to as a red herring, and you see it as a red flag.

4. Deceptive Imagery

Lush forests, sparkling streams, untouched beaches – websites, packaging and marketing materials often use gorgeous, natural images to convey an inflated sense of eco-friendliness. Look beyond the images and read the ingredient labels.

5. The Lone “Green” Product

It’s important to look at manufacturing companies. What else do they make? If their other products contain toxic chemicals, there's a good chance that their “green” option is manufactured at the same factory … and susceptible to cross contamination.

7. Hidden Partnerships and Investment

Look into what other companies this brand is associated with. For example, do they produce certified products but invest in endeavors that cause pollution? If they're just after the sales, anything's free game.

How to Vet Companies for Sustainability

It seems like everyone is hopping on the green wave, so who’s sincere? Always consider the following questions when researching companies:

• Do they belong to environmental organizations and advocacy groups?
• Do they have reputable, third-party certifications?
• Have they been mentioned in third-party reports?
• Are they transparent about what's in their products?

And lastly, check if they've recently published a sustainability report. At Naturepedic, we aren't just committed to organic products, but also to the transparency that comes with them. As a part of this effort, we invite you to view our 2022 Sustainability Report to see our progress and to help you consume as ethically as you can.

Naturepedic is proud to be a certified member and Leader of the Green Business Network at Green America.

Web exclusive: This is an expanded version of the article that appeared in the Summer 2022 Green American Magazine

SCW emerged in 1982 when the local activist organization Syracuse Peace Council decided to stop producing the Peace Calendar that Dik Cool initiated at the Council. Dik launched Syracuse Cultural Workers, which started with the popular Peace Calendar, and has grown in terms of offerings and staff.

This spring, SCW announced the exciting news that it is transitioning from a sole-proprietor model to a worker-owned co-op.  In speaking with Dik and a group of some of the 13 employees, all laughed and shared: Lots of people thought it was always a co-op and even that they all lived together!

Because of Dik’s anti-hierarchical instincts, the business has, however, operated with the feel and ethos of a collective in many ways. “Being a collective was in the air,” said Andy Mager, Coordinator & Social Movements Liaison. By having  a strong emphasis on respecting and supporting employees, and cultivating community in the work place, Lisa Kane, Assistant Bookkeeper, shared: “Becoming a co-op makes sense because it is who we are.”

In May 2021, SCW began discussing the idea of a transition to worker ownership at a monthly staff meeting. Dik, now in his late 70s, has been stepping back from various aspects of running the business. What should the next step be? Should they sell the business? Or pursue Dik’s gifting of the company to workers as a co-op?

Initially, it wasn’t clear how to proceed and the idea of continuing with the sole proprietor model was still on the table. Several workers had experience with worker-ownership, and they organized workshops with an expert on co-ops to better understand the real implications of being a co-op. Not surprisingly, everyone needed to understand: what happens in the co-op model if there’s a crisis? Who decides and manages how to proceed? Ultimately, workers agreed unanimously to pursue worker-ownership.

SCW is drafting a structure for governance and management with five levels of worker engagement. There isn't yet a deadline for completion; they want to take the time needed to grasp and review their choices, to hear from everyone, and to allow the direction to unfold. The co-op spirit and approach clearly infuse their process, boding well for next steps. Other positive signs for future success leap out from workers’ views on what they are so proud of at SCW:

We’re always at the front of issues. Always new products that reflect what’s needed – whatever needs to be said and told.

Nick Janvier, Shipping Specialist

              My life’s work is community organizing. We’re not just selling product but helping groups and individuals be effective.

Andy Mager, Coordinator & Social Movements Liaison

I’m proud of our sense of community, working toward the same cause - peace, love, justice.

Lisa Kane, Assistant Bookkeeper

This is passion-driven work, the work is priceless. It’s great to see democracy in the workplace, with skill-building to be critical and loving.

Karen Kerney, Art Co-Director

There’s a lot to be proud of, longevity, perseverance, and quality; our mission and commitment.

Dik Cool, Founder & Publisher

Dik elaborated, noting that half the staff have been with SCW for 15 years or more, and what a testimony that is to the value of SCW’s mission and the deep community that has developed, even with lower-level pay. Breaking bread together over soup in the fall when fulfillment and shipping needs are most intense and celebrating individuals’ milestones and birthdays – all contribute to everyone feeling valued.

“Our ability to respond quickly to world events is also really important. We have letters from people all over the world describing how they use our products to advance the causes they are dedicated to,” Dik added. Those letters include comments such as:

I do believe that art is a powerful force for change and you are one of the best examples of this idea.

Customer in Montreal, Canada

Keep those gutsy posters coming. This country is desperate for alternatives.

Customer in Spokane, Washington

…pleased to see that SCW just keeps on doing great work and finding graceful, beautiful ways to convey progressive values.

Customers in Cleveland, OH

I am an Old Marine from a long conservative family. You can now say that you have Republicans and Conservatives among your customers.

Customer in Barrington, IL

And here’s an interesting bit of feedback SCW shared – the reason the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Lexington, KY gave for rejecting a Peace Calendar in 1989 that was sent to anti-imperialist political prisoner Susan was due to its inciting disorderly conduct in the security of the institution. (The power of art and history!)

Returning to the transition to worker-ownership, Dik said that he is following developments but is not in the thick of it: “It seems to be going well.” He added, laughing at the understatement, “The business has never been financially robust. Selling political products often doesn’t show a profit. It’s a tough call, evaluating collective and personal responsibility.” Workers will have to figure out how to manage without Dik’s leadership and subsidies to the business in the future.

What’s next for Dik? He’ll be spending more time focusing on his health and on his grandkids-of-the-heart who live next door with whom he has a “gruncle” – grand uncle – relationship. He also looks forward to gardening, traveling, and speaking. Dik certainly has decades of insights, passion, and business smarts to share with people across the generations.

What does SCW most need to succeed going forward? Everyone agrees – more orders! Andy expressed concern about their aging customer base and the need to attract younger people; fortunately, that’s improving with social media outreach. Karen agreed, asking, “How can we continue to be successful with outreach across movements?”

“We want the business to continue to play a role in moving society forward, especially at a time when things are moving backward,” Dik affirmed.

Nick summed-up so much of what the SCW team shared with Green America: “It takes a certain person to work here. This is the longest place I have ever worked. Syracuse Cultural Workers needs to exist. I have so much appreciation.”

The Green Business Network congratulates Syracuse Cultural Workers on its next phase as it continues to be a beacon of hope and effective organizing for people and the planet.

Visit: SyracuseCulturalWorkers.com

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Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

From the most recent issue of our magazine, Green American, where we update readers on the progress we've made over the last quarter on climate, finance, food, labor, social justice, and more.

Renewable Energy Must Advance Equity

This spring, Green America issued a major new report on energy justice: “Calling for a Clean, Just Transition” highlights how companies in the telecommunications sector can move to 100% renewable energy in a way that benefits the communities most harmed by fossil fuels. The report, developed by Green America and Silleck Consulting Services, LLC, builds on the successes of Green America’s Hang Up on Fossil Fuels Campaign, which has moved the telecommunications sector to go from using almost no renewable energy to making some of the largest corporate clean energy purchases in history.

The report outlines the climate crisis and its disproportionate impacts on Black and brown communities, the impacts of the fossil fuel industry on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities, and how the telecommunications industry can leverage its increasing solar and wind purchases to support jobs for those communities, as well as women workers who are also underrepresented in the sector.

“Sometimes those of us in the clean energy transition movement become so focused on deploying megawatts that we don’t stop to think about who is benefiting,” Olivia Nedd, policy director of the access & equity program at Vote Solar, says in the report. “Who has access to the technical assistance, lawyers, modeling experts? How are these decisions being co-created (or not) with impacted communities? The connection between what people are asking for and the policies being discussed just doesn’t exist.”

In addition to Nedd, the report features experts in the energy justice movement working on the front lines to advance equitable, clean energy initiatives. It concludes with a list of social and environmental justice criteria for telecom companies to include in clean energy contracts to ensure they are rectifying racial, gender, and other inequities resulting from energy production and within the energy sector, reducing environmental harms and supporting workers’ rights.

This summer, Green America will publish part two of the report, which will look at how AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are doing in regard to the transition to 100% renewable energy and the inclusion of energy justice.

Farmers & Food Companies to Pilot Green America’s Soil Carbon Initiative

Green America is excited to be enrolling the first cohort of farmers and food companies in our Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI) program. SCI is a commitment and certification program designed to drive soil health, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water quality, climate resiliency, food security, farm profitability, and improved rural community economics.

SCI is the first third-party independently verified, outcomes-based soil-carbon program which is open to every grower and food company. This program was launched in 2019, and developed in collaboration with over 150 partners connected to our Soil and Climate Alliance Network. SCI has dedicated the past two years to technical aspects of soil testing. In March 2022, SCI launched the Go-To-Market program, which includes piloting our soil-carbon Farm Standard with farmers and ranchers across the country.

Farmers and food companies alike are responding enthusiastically to the call. The farmers joining the program, our Founding Farmers, are located across the US and run farms ranging in size from less than 100 acres up to 20,000 acres.

SCI provides multiple benefits to farmers in the pilot while protecting soil health and ensuring that soils act as a climate solution:

• Information: Access to the world’s best soil health tests that provide real data on soil health progress—and interpretive guidance and planning for the producer’s best next steps, depending on farm goals, since every farm is different.
• Farm Profitability: Focusing on soil health helps farms reduce input costs and increase profitability.
• Network: Farmers who are part of the Go-to-Market pilots become part of SCI’s Founding Farmers network to exchange ideas with other farmers—and provide advice to shape the future of SCI.
• Market: SCI helps farmers get ready for the growing market of companies and consumers looking to connect with farms focusing on soil health and climate outcomes.
• Label & Verification: Farmers earn the SCI label to verify their progress to companies and consumers.
• 2022 Financial Benefits: Pilot costs are covered for soil health tests and expert regenerative consultants to help producers develop and implement regenerative farm plans.
• 2023 and Beyond Financial Benefits: Annual fees will always be waived for members of the SCI Founding Farmers network, and members have first eligibility for the SCI Farm Fund for transition investments and ongoing dividends (starting in 2023).

Raquel Krach at Massa Organics in Glenn, California, said: “Having a solid farm plan is a critical tool that farmers need to succeed with regenerative agriculture. By providing education and guidance, SCI can ensure that farmers who enroll in this program have the best chance to get it right from the start.”

Once Green America completes the pilots with the farmers, we will scale up SCI so more farmers and millions of acres of farmland can make the transition to regenerative agriculture.

Call for Green America Board Candidates!

We are preparing for the fall election of Green America board members. We seek diverse candidates from our membership who are passionate about Green America and our mission to harness economic power for social justice and environmental sustainability.

Our board of directors is a member-elected stakeholder board with representatives elected by individual members, business members, and Green America worker-members. This fall we will elect two seats representing individual members. One seat will be for two years and one seat for three years, beginning January 1, 2023. The board convenes at least quarterly.

If you are interested, email your expression of interest to Fran Teplitz at fteplitz@greenamerica.org by July 1, 2022. Please explain why you wish to serve, along with a description of your involvement with Green America; your actions for environmental sustainability, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion; your background with nonprofit organizations and boards; and any other information about how you could further strengthen Green America’s work.

Home ownership is a huge part of what makes families able to maintain and grow wealth over generations. But even decades after the civil rights movement, People of Color are disproportionately locked out of this path, keeping families, neighborhoods, and even whole cities economically depressed. Only 44% of Black Americans own their homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with 74% of white Americans.

Above: The Heidelberg Project, a long-term art installation by artist Tyree Guyton, pays homage to Black Bottom, a historically Black neighborhood in Detroit, MI, where Guyton grew up. Parts of Black Bottom were paved over for a highway and other parts were not rebuilt after 1967 riots. Photo by Mathias Berlin, 2019.

Black Americans overall are greatly disadvantaged in building wealth. Black families especially face systematic barriers to getting out of previously redlined neighborhoods and build wealth at the same rate as their white peers. It isn’t for lack of trying. It’s a long, complex history and intertwined cycle of poverty that creates hurdles that People of Color must overcome before they can reach the goal of home ownership.

When people are not able to achieve home ownership in desired locations, they lose access to jobs, schools, and even health outcomes that would benefit individuals, society, and the economy as a whole. Solutions are needed to fix housing discrimination and poverty at both the individual and systemic levels to lift the entire economy. Radical approaches and rethinking are needed to make an impact for families and the systems that created these problems in the first place.

Building a Country on Racism

From the beginning of US history, European colonists knew that land and housing were valuable. Settlers violently “removed” Indigenous peoples on the North American continent and forced “treaties” under duress, creating a baseline of stealing and denying wealth from communities deemed lesser. This stolen wealth largely still hasn’t been returned.

And of course, white settlers also built wealth on the very lives of Black people, trafficked across the ocean and enslaved. After Black people were freed, they moved north, seeking job opportunities, in the Great Migration. However, jobs and wages for Black people were limited.

Meanwhile, former slave owners were compensated for their loss by an average of $300 for every enslaved person, which is worth over $5,000 today.

Discrimination and Civil Rights

After the Civil War, the Jim Crow era took hold, when anti-Black legislation legitimized racism. Legislators and land owners restricted the places People of Color could live. The government-sponsored Home Owners’ Loan Corporation made maps showing where large populations of Black people lived—colored in red—and designating those areas as risky to invest in. This is where the term “redlining” came from.

Banks did not often provide home and business loans to People of Color and, when they did, they added unfair high-interest rates for people living in those areas. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 intended to stop discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin when it came to the sale, rental, zoning, and advertisement of homes, but discrimination persisted. Black and Brown people that tried to buy homes outside of redlined areas had difficulty finding real estate agents that would show them the neighborhoods they wanted to live in, and banks that would give them loans.

“The Fair Housing Act recognized what many have known for generations—that where we live impacts nearly every part of our lives: from the schools our children attend, to the jobs we have access to, to the quality of the air we breathe,” said a Dept. of Housing and Urban Development spokesperson. “Housing is the foundation for a stronger, more connected society—just like our schools, roads, and highways.”

My parents experienced this first hand in 1990 and 2000 when they bought their homes. My mother, who is white, always met with real estate agents and negotiated contracts. It wasn’t until signing time that my Black father would show up. Once, the bank tried to re-negotiate the interest rate and my parents threatened to sue and file for discrimination. Even in 2021, my father got an appraisal for his home in Howard County, Maryland, and suspected it was low. When he then removed all the photos of our family and had a white friend stand in for him, the second appraisal came back $51,000 higher.

The Poverty Trap

This inability to create wealth through housing feeds into a larger poverty trap. When people are unable to move to better neighborhoods, when they are unable to access better jobs, when they are unable to create these jobs for themselves, the neighborhoods they live in reflect this.

Maps of areas most affected by lead can often be matched up to redlining maps, showing that lead poisoning—which can lead to developmental delays and even death—affects Black children at a greater rate. The CDC lowered the safe level of blood lead levels in 2021 to 3.5 micrograms, meaning more children could be suffering from lead poisoning than were previously diagnosed.

At the same time, schools suffer from a lack of funds and maintenance. Public schools in formerly redlined areas receive federal and state funds like other areas, but nearly half of a school’s budget comes from the local level like property taxes, according to Education Week. That means kids in neighborhoods with lower housing prices go to schools that have less funding, which may arise in the form of outdated lead pipes, lack of materials like new textbooks, or less equipment for science and art classes.

A Stanford study determined that the schools with the lowest teacher salaries also serve the highest demographics of children of color. In turn, these schools have more inexperienced teachers and higher turnover rate for staff. Housing in redlined areas is also less likely to have high-speed internet, further hindering families in times of remote learning.

The odds are already stacked against children growing up in formerly redlined and low-income neighborhoods, who must face systemic barriers in health, education, and finance from their homes, schools, and banks. While dismantling these systems cannot happen overnight, decades of innovative ideas and local trial and error have led to solutions that could be used to mitigate discrimination and poverty nationally.

Solutions: Past and Present

Historical documents from Baltimore, Cleveland, and Kansas City, show that “straw buys” helped Black families access white-only neighborhoods in the 60s and 70s. White couples would buy a home and then pass the sale and loan over to the other family—in Cleveland, entire organizations sprung up to integrate communities in this way, according to the Cleveland Restoration Society. Interracial bussing and lotteries into charter schools have taken away the educational barriers for some children.

Before the 2008 housing crisis, Black Americans were targeted by banks for subprime loans. Over a decade later, this discrimination is still being dismantled at the local and federal levels.

Supporting local and small lenders is a start. Lending institutions familiar with communities of color have seen success and low delinquency rates when they personalize their service instead of focusing on single numbers like rigid credit scores, as shown by data from the Federal Reserve and National Credit Union Administration. This may be especially true since the communities they serve are more likely to take out larger student loans and have a higher income-to-debt ratio.

Institutions like community development financial institutions, credit unions, and community banks are focusing on borrowers’ cash-flow and rental history payments more so than the credit score or lack of a score.

Some communities, like Cuyahoga County, Ohio, offer down payment assistance programs for low-income homebuyers who complete homeownership courses. In this case, potential homebuyers can receive 10% of their home purchase to use on their home or up to $14,900 for completing the course.

In 2021, The US Justice Department also launched the Combatting Redlining Initiative which aims to ensure fair lending practices and examine potential redlining with mortgage lenders as well as coordinate with State Attorneys Generals on violations.

At the local level, communities are also trying to reclaim neighborhoods that were destroyed in the name of convenience and capitalism. Citizen-led campaigns aim to remove the highways that were built in the 1960s on land that used to be thriving Black neighborhoods. These highways are now in disrepair and the people want them returned to walkable urban centers.

For example, Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood was demolished for I-375. Now, there are plans in place to remove a stretch of highway and replace it with a six-lane boulevard. Citizens are encouraging the planners to work with Black-owned businesses to reimagine what the historical district looked like instead of letting it fall prey to gentrification.

Additionally, the Biden Administration has proposed a $30 billion American Jobs Plan to invest in new Small Business initiatives including a $1 billion grant program through the Minority Business Development Agency.

A Not-So-Radical Solution for Poverty

While these housing solutions help individuals, the problem of wealth inequity remains. While it is possible to petition your local government officials to find solutions to housing discrimination in your area, the best way to break down these barriers is the most direct: money. Universal basic income (UBI), is a policy which gives a base amount of money to residents simply for living in an area.

This idea may seem radical, but it has been tried with success across the US. Stockton, California, studied the effects of UBI after a program called Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), where it gave residents $500 per month from January 2019 to January 2021. In that time, employment increased as did physical and mental health. Residents who received the payment scored lower on a stress test than those in a randomized trial, and their stress continued to decrease in stress over time. People also started to pay more back in debts.

In a similar pilot program, members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina have received $4,000-$6,000 in dividends from the reservation’s casino since 1997. A long-term study published in 2016 by Duke University researchers, called the Great Smoky Mountains Study, found that by four years of receiving this extra income, poverty rates had fallen by half for participants involved. After 10 years, the kids who were the youngest when the money started coming in were also less likely to have developed mental health issues or substance use disorders. They compared the findings to the non-Native children in the area who do not receive this additional income.

Gaining the Privilege to Plan

Mitigating financial insecurity through housing access programs and direct payments, opens doors to build wealth. People are no longer focused on making sure they have enough money to find their next meal or pay their utility bills. They begin to plan ahead, thinking about their goals and legacies they want to leave for their children. Instead of focusing on the short-term and just raising their children to survive, adults can look for meaningful employment and begin to save to buy homes.

Hope Lane-Gavin, fellow for health equity at The Center for Community Solutions, says that sometimes the best thing that people of means can do is to talk about the subject and find the angle that they know resonates like cost efficiency. These people may have the time and ability to take off work and go to a public forum.

“There are ways rich people and white people can raise awareness and say things we can’t. It happens from offices to the White House,” Lane-Gavin says. “Use your privilege and your voice. Sometimes it’s not a matter of they don’t care or don’t believe it. They just don’t know.” ✺

Aja Hannah is a writer, traveler, and mama. Her articles have been featured nationally and internationally in publications like The Progressive, The Independent, and Hawaii Business Magazine. She’s the author of two books and hundreds of articles.

Don’t wait for “perfect market conditions” to set up an employer-sponsored retirement plan; that day may never come! Even in a turbulent market, today is still the day to commit to setting up a retirement plan for your employees if you don’t already offer one. An IRA that includes socially responsible (SRI) mutual fund options can even be set up for one employee.

Green Business Network Director Fran Teplitz spoke with long-time, certified Green Business Network member Rob Thomas, founder of the Social(k) retirement plan platform, about costs that employers should keep in mind when selecting a retirement plan. Social(k) {GBN} works with employers – including small businesses – to figure out what kind of retirement plan makes sense to provide.

Rob explained that given the wide range of SRI options available across all types of mutual funds, it’s easier than ever for employers and employees to find funds that meet their financial goals and that match their values or mission.

What is often harder for people to understand is the cost structure. And that lack of understanding can lead to inertia.

“Many people don’t want to discuss pricing because retirement plan structures are new to them, but it’s actually not that hard to grasp, although there are a number of different parts,” Rob assures. “Green Business Network {GBN} members are already committed to environmental sustainability and social justice, so opting for a plan in keeping with those values makes sense. Green business leaders just need to take the next step and get comfortable with understanding the costs so they can move forward,” he added.

Fran: Yes, green businesses gravitate toward SRI or ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)-focused retirement plans rather than those with only conventional funds that invest in fossil fuels or for-profit prisons. You believe that understanding costs is a bigger challenge for employers than understanding the funds available. What are the costs to understand?

Rob: There are two types of fees, hard dollar fees per employee and for administration, these are clear, and the employer receives an invoice for them. Then there are “soft” fees that are based on the assets involved and these are not as obvious. Mutual funds, for example, have expense ratios, a fee for the fund to do its work. The platform provider,  also charges a fee, as will the plan advisor if one is needed to help select funds and review the overall portfolio and the record keeper. These are all legitimate costs but may be harder to track.

Fran: So where does one find these fees spelled out?

Rob: These fees are provided online by the retirement plan, typically in a summary of the plan that explains its 408b form that the government requires for disclosure of retirement plan fees. This form includes a description of services and the associated fees. The plan advisor and plan sponsor (usually the employer) need to pay attention both to fees and to the financial returns of the investments to help identify the best-suited plan.

I’d say that ESG mutual fund fees in general can run 25 to 50 basis points – that’s how fees (i.e., the expense ratio) are measured and is simply another way of saying .25% to .5%. The expense ratio is determined by dividing the fund’s expenses by the value of the fund’s assets. {According to Investopedia, The average expense ratio for actively managed mutual funds is between 0.5% and 1.0%.  For passive index funds, the typical ratio is about 0.2%.}

Some ESG funds might have greater fees because they are smaller funds, but research has shown that an ESG approach can reduce financial risk and lead to better outcomes in the world. They can definitely be a better investment than lower cost, “monster-sized” funds.

Fees for a plan advisor who provides oversight, answers questions, and handles administrative details are usually around 50 basis points.

The record keeper, an essential role that tracks where individual employee’s assets are invested, is often a flat fee between $2,000 - $5,000 per year.

The typical platform fee for the user experience is approximately $3,000.

Fran: This is very helpful information, especially for smaller employers that have no HR person. It’s great to know there are firms like Social(k) dedicated to people and the planet that can make it easier for businesses to help their employees save for the future.

Rob: The language around retirement plans scares people off, but if you spend some time on it, it’s not too hard – and it’s really important to do. Saving for retirement will make your life better and employers can use retirement platforms like Social(k) to make it a smooth process for everyone.

To learn more about retirement planning, see Green America’s free guide: Plan for a Better Future: How to Add Socially & Environmentally Responsible Investment Options to an Employer’s Retirement Plan

To learn about Social(k) visit: socialk.com

Green America is not an investment adviser nor do we provide financial planning, legal, or tax advice. Nothing in our communications or materials shall constitute or be construed as an offering of financial instruments or as investment advice or investment recommendations.

In any given month, white Americans save and invest hundreds of dollars more into their accounts than their Black counterparts—76% more, to be exact. This information comes from the 2020 Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey (Ariel is a Black-owned investing company), highlighting the discrepancies faced by Black Americans when it comes to financial equity.

Investing remains exclusive, painting a more somber financial reality for Black Americans.
Leaders, activists, and progressive institutions, however, continue to fight for financial equity and the undoing of centuries of financial exclusion.

Access: Financial Inequity, For Centuries

Calvin Holmes, president of the Chicago Community Loan Fund {GBN}, sees racism and white supremacy at play in financial barriers, from a lack of workplace promotions and discrimination in the American education system, preventing Black Americans from a more lucrative resume.

“American history is full of examples of violent white supremacists stripping or blocking BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] wealth building,” Holmes states.

He offers the example of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and Viola Fletcher, who was seven when a white mob destroyed everything her family built. At the time, Tulsa’s affluent Black community, the Greenwood District, was known as “Black Wall Street.” White people in the area were resentful of their Black neighbors’ wealth and success. In the Massacre, white mobs burned the entire district, including churches, schools, a hospital, a library, and over 1,200 homes. Over 800 people were injured and as many as 300 died.

“She had never made enough money thereafter to cover her basic needs,” Holmes explains of Fletcher’s life following the Tulsa Massacre. “She instead was left to a penniless life of working as a domestic servant for whites.”

In 2021, a century later, Fletcher testified before Congress for the right to reparations.
Reparations, a system of remedies for egregious injustices, is the least the US owes to Black Americans for the enduring generational trauma of slavery and intentional financial inequity. The Land Back movement for Indigenous peoples, which you can read more about on p. 16, is a form of reparations, as was the 3.45 billion Deutsche Marks West Germany agreed to pay Holocaust survivors in 1952. But no reparations have been paid to Black Americans, intentionally keeping wealth-building opportunities from them and staying in line with a system that was built by and for white people.

“The financial services industry has a history of systemic racism, with systems to legally discriminate against Black Americans,” says Teri Williams, president and chief operating officer of OneUnited Bank. “From slavery to Jim Crow to redlining to predatory lending, changes in public policy are needed to reverse systemic racism and help Black Americans build wealth today.”

Investing and the Racial Wealth Gap

New technologies, apps, and companies are making investing easier for everyone, notes Williams. She cites things like “keep the change” apps, which round up payments and divert the extra to your savings. Another solution is automatic 401(k) enrollment, which should become easier since Congress passed the Secure Act 2.0 in March 2022, mandating employers enroll employees in the 401(k) program.

“From slavery to Jim Crow to redlining to predatory lending, changes in public policy are needed to reverse systemic racism and help Black Americans build wealth today.”

—Teri Williams, OneUnited Bank

“Corporations and government must continue to do more to hire lower-wealth Black and brown people into their highest paying jobs,” Holmes says. “They must diversify their cabinets and boards to help their operations generate more racial economic equity and thus create more wealth for non-white people to invest.”

Creating more wealth is crucial—especially while the racial wealth gap continues to exist. During the pandemic, about twice as many Black Americans than white had to borrow from their retirement savings and dip into emergency funds, according to the Ariel-Schwab survey.

Black Americans also continue to make less than their white counterparts, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, and hold 2.9% of the overall wealth in the country, compared to white Americans possessing 86.8% of wealth, according to the Federal Reserve.

Tools for Fighting Inequity

COVID-19 was a sobering reality for everyone. According to the survey, on 2020, Black Americans cut spending, put money into savings and investing accounts, and checked investment performance at higher rates than white Americans. This, combined with more recent financial optimism, led Black families to talk more about investing (27% compared to 18% of white families). Now younger generations of Black Americans are investing at higher rates and need to be supported.

“We believe in defining the Black community by our assets rather than our challenges, including the $1.3 trillion we spend annually,” offers Williams.

As outlined on the OneUnited website, one asset-focused strategy for closing the racial gap is prioritizing one of six transactions: savings & investments; profitable business; improved credit scores; home ownership; creating a will; insurance.

“All six strategic transactions are the cornerstones to building generational wealth, but we recommend each family choose one that is either the easiest to accomplish or creates the most economic reward,” Williams says. “Once you learn the steps necessary to accomplish your goal, your learning will become actionable rather than academic.”

Holmes also shares how the power of the internet has broken down many barriers for financial literacy.

Williams wants to see outreach work to Black communities, like that of DREAM and BlackFem.

Changing the Narrative

Tools, though, are not enough to create enduring change—and let white-dominated institutions off the hook. We must change the way society sees and the government acts on wealth equity, white supremacy, and systemic oppression.

“Government agencies, charitable foundations, and corporations often work in concert to stigmatize Black Americans to attract resources to address the problems they name,” Williams condemns. “They fail to realize that in doing so, they succeed at writing Black Americans into the public’s mind as a problem to be solved and a threat to be mitigated rather than aspiring and contributing human beings.”

This narrative must be changed for true economic justice and equity, Williams says.

A reimagined world where Black people can invest and grow wealth equitably has huge potential to improve individual lives and grow the green economy. It’s what’s required for true economic justice and equity, concludes Williams.

According to a 2021 report from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, people with incomes of $80,000 a year report more happiness and confidence in weathering negative events than those making less. Unsurprisingly, when people have enough money to cover bills, unexpected events, have fun experiences, and higher quality of life, they are happier. Investing can be one step toward that goal.

A 2022 update to the Ariel-Schwab survey found that Black investors are 15% more likely to align their investments with their personal beliefs than white investors, and more likely to prioritize socially responsible investing (SRI). The Black financial leaders highlighted on p. 10 show examples of how that might be done with Black American’s collective $1 trillion in buying power. Prioritizing and improving Black Americans’ wealth, as well as their education and access to investing, will increase the power of SRI investing, and green our economy.

Simply put: it’s important to make investing equitable for Black Americans because it is what they are owed, and also because Black investors will add to the strength of the society and a healthy planet. ✺

Being the first in your family to have success can be empowering––and draining. When someone experiences upward mobility, it typically affects their immediate family. However, for Black people, sometimes someone making it can mean the entire family makes it. After all, it would take 228 years for the average Black family to obtain the same amount of wealth as white families, according to a report from the Institute for Policy Studies.

The media often highlights stories of Black people succeeding despite the odds. When we watch the NFL draft, we see a Black boy who grew up in an impoverished neighborhood surrounded by his closest loved ones, all ready to celebrate his success. We’ve also seen the same scenario for actors and singers.

In a 2010 interview with Oprah, singer Fantasia opened up about the pressure of being her family’s breadwinner at 19 after her American Idol success and the subsequent bankruptcies she faced.

“I was young, fresh in the game, and I just wanted to sing, without really understanding that you still have to watch after everything that you have going for you,” said Fantasia.

This phenomenon also extends to the average person who may be the first to obtain a bachelor’s degree, or someone like me, who is married with no children. Having a degree and no kids may seem to free up my finances, since children can be costly, so I may appear to be the right person to ask for a loan.

While Black individuals may be expected to pull their families up the class structure, growing strong financial legacies can empower families for future generations.

What is the Black Tax?

A. Donahue Baker, the co-founder and CEO of financial services firm Money Avenue, understands this situation firsthand. He was the first in his family to graduate college and the first to earn a six-figure income. Baker explains that the “Black Tax” describes the financial cost successful professionals of Black families pay to support less fortunate family members.

“It is exacerbated by societal pressure and an economic system that has historically denied Black people opportunities to build generational wealth,” Baker explains. He describes being the safety net in his family once he landed his first high-paying job.

“My family began to look at me as the source of funds for everything just because the perception was that I could afford it whether that was true or not,” Baker says. “Then later in life when I started my own CPA practice, I saw it play out repeatedly with entertainers, NBA players, and entrepreneurs.”

The expectation of better-off individuals to support their family members instead of putting money towards growing wealth, such as through housing or the stock market, impacts one’s ability to pass on a legacy to their loved ones.

“Despite the odds, many Blacks have still been able to achieve financial success, but some feel that success has left a sense of obligation or guilt to help less fortunate family members and friends,” Baker says. “Many realize it is usually those family members that have sacrificed and/or contributed to their success.”

Historical Factors for Income Inequity

The roots of the wealth gap took hold during the slave trade in the US, when Black people were kidnapped and forced to provide labor that built wealth for white families. The trauma of this era reverberates to this day, both psychologically and economically. Not every slave was freed in 1863, after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, and while some slave owners were given reparations, no slaves were.

Instead, vagrancy laws were enacted as early as 1866, which meant that anyone who appeared to be homeless or not working could be jailed. Freed Black men, without any wealth to purchase a home, were sent to prison to supply free labor (read more about the racist prison system on p. 18). General Sherman’s “40 acres and a mule” field order was also rescinded by President Johnson.

Black veterans were also unfairly treated despite fighting in the world wars. The G.I. Bill, signed in 1944 by President Roosevelt, offered veterans college funds, unemployment insurance, and access to affordable housing. Black veterans, while technically qualified for the Bill, came home to find themselves targets for lynching throughout the country instead, and were more likely to be dishonorably discharged than any other group. Not only that, they were denied access to vocational programs and scholarships, which made them more likely to be unemployed. While 1.2 million Black men served, only 12% were able to take advantage of the G.I. Bill, according to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

With these barriers in place, Black families struggled for longer to get their footing under them, and that is why, to this day, some families may still be working towards obtaining generational wealth.

Creating Financial Legacies

Several government programs have been started hoping to help families build a legacy and break down racial barriers to wealth creation. For instance, the Federal Housing Administration has programs that encourage people to buy their first homes, even for seniors. The Earned Income Tax Credit and Medicaid expansion have also helped to create equity for low income individuals, regardless of race. These ensure that they have access to healthcare and an extra cushion at tax time.

On the local level, cities like Evanston, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, have started reparations programs for descendants of slaves. Evanston residents can take advantage of grants to buy or repair their homes. In April 2022, the city of St. Louis created a voluntary reparations program in which residents may voluntarily contribute funds to help struggling areas of the city. Black residents have expressed concern about not understanding how to apply or qualify for assistance through that fund.

For those looking to educate themselves, resources are even available from your phone. Podcasts such as Paychecks & Balances and Afronomics offer culturally competent financial advice on the go. Scholarships and loans for students can be a form of reparations to help create equity for those from families who can’t afford to send their children to school. Scholarship programs can alleviate the strain of carrying student loan debt, since it can impact your credit worthiness, and 48% of Black students owe 12.8% more than they’ve borrowed. Bold.org keeps a running list of scholarships that decrease the need for loans and/or encourage diverse representation in careers like STEM, law, and hospitality.

Another means of reparations can involve the average consumer supporting Black businesses. Employers can also work to close the pay gap that persists between people of color, and banks can revise their lending programs, since Black entrepreneurs are less likely to get venture capital funding.

It can be tempting to give your family the world as a breadwinner, but that doesn’t mean you should feel obligated to deplete yourself or your finances. We must take care of ourselves to take care of each other. Our ancestors built the foundation and planted the seeds for us. By creating financial legacies, we are replanting those seeds for the next generation. ✺

Tonya Russell is a South Jersey-based freelance writer who is passionate about health, wellness, and culture. Her words can be found in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Washington Post and Well and Good.

Families ripped apart. People stripped of second chances. And the inability to have a secure, financial future. All these are consequences of incarceration.

The prison system makes a profit off the lives of incarcerated peoples and their loved ones while deepening the wealth gap for Black and brown communities that are disproportionately more likely to be imprisoned.

Fees, fines, debts, and hiring discrimination follow formerly incarcerated people for their entire lives. Time in prison reduces someone’s lifetime earning potential by nearly half a million dollars on average, according to a 2021 report from the Brennan Center.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. The cultural and economic benefits of prison reform would benefit everyone in US society, from those on the inside to those who might not think they even have ties to the justice system.

Prisons Keep Poor People of Color Poor

The US locks up 2.3 million people annually, which costs taxpayers and families of justice-involved people $182 billion per year, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. That funding could go to public goods like education, public health, and growing vibrant communities.

The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with roughly half that population incarcerated for drug-related crimes. The War on Drugs, started in 1971, resulted in mandatory minimum sentencing laws that began to incarcerate people for longer than ever before.

People who live below the poverty line are more likely to be incarcerated: according to a 2018 report from the Brookings Institute, boys who grew up in the bottom 10% of incomes (in families that earn less than $14,000) are 20 times more likely to be in jail by their early 30s than boys from the top 10% (families earning more than $143k). When Black Americans make up nearly 20% of those below the poverty line, and Hispanic people make up 17%—while their white counterparts don’t even break 9%—the racial wealth gap is deepened by a conviction.

The litany of fees criminal defendants must pay—from phone calls to probation fees—ensure that those without wealth stay that way. Bail is one such fee. In fact, most people in jail are not convicted, but are locked up awaiting trial, according to Prison Policy Initiative. A 2018 study by Princeton economists found that the average bail amount for Black defendants is more than $7,000 higher than white defendants. For people with a support system or money on the outside, the ability to post bail allows them to continue working, whereas those that cannot afford bail stay poor behind bars, and may stay for months to years before a trial.

Friends and families of incarcerated folks are forced to foot the bill for calls and commissary purchases, too. A 15-minute phone call can cost upwards of $5, depending on the state—an incarcerated person making 12 to 40 cents an hour on maintenance jobs would have to work over 40 hours to afford the call. Unpaid penal labor is legal under the 13th Amendment in the US Constitution.

Inside the prison, wealth disparity is visible on gendered lines, too.

The Cost of Prisons on Women

Julia Arroyo is the managing director at Young Women’s Freedom Center, a nonprofit in California that seeks to inspire young women and trans youth of all genders who have been disproportionately impacted by the prison system to create positive change in their lives and communities. She notes that even in prison there is a gender wealth gap.

“If we look at the way that some of the labor plays out inside, women were getting paid half the wage as male prisoners,” Arroyo says. “Folks are working for maybe 15 cents an hour. And they can take your 15 cents. Maybe you’ve altered a blanket, and now you need to pay the jail back for the blanket because you turned it into a pillow.”

For people that menstruate, necessary products are costly and often inadequate. In Missouri, the Department of Corrections offers free but nonabsorbent sanitary napkins. Incarcerated people make a base pay of $7.50-$8.50 a month, but absorbent menstrual products can cost them 70-80% of their monthly wage, according to MOST Policy Initiative.

Arroyo notes that outside, the caregivers for incarcerated men are often women, paying for phone calls and commissary allowances. But that doesn’t always carry over for incarcerated women.

“If you look at a men’s prison, lines are around the corner on visiting days,” says Arroyo. “When you look at a woman’s visiting room, it’s a very empty place. Mass incarceration affects [women] both ways. Either we’re caregiving for the loved ones that are incarcerated, or that we’re incarcerated and we’re less likely to ask our loved ones to support us because we know that we don’t want to take resources from our children or our families.”

Detention Centers: Jail for Asylum-Seekers

Immigration is technically a civil matter, not a criminal one, yet detention centers function much like prisons. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains hopeful immigrants, 69% of whom have no criminal record, according to 2022 data from Syracuse University. Yet for asylum seekers, seeking freedom from persecution in another country means being put behind bars in the US. ICE detains immigrants in approximately 200 jails, according to Detention Watch Network.

When Maribel Morales was 19, she fled the violence and poverty of Guatemala to seek refuge in the US. Morales crossed into Texas in 2014, claiming asylum, and spent nearly a month in detention in San Antonio before being transferred to the West County Detention Facility (WCDF) in California. US policy dictates that asylum seekers must be imprisoned and can seek bail if they are deemed to not be a threat to society.

After three months at WCDF, Morales’ $7,500 bail was reduced to $2,500 in San Francisco court. She was reunited with her father in Opelika, Alabama, after he paid bail, but nearly eight years after her release, her legal status is still unclear. Morales’ time in detention was short compared to others in situations like hers. Immigrants in detention centers for several months are often put to work for little to no pay.

Two years ago, her father returned to Guatemala and was no longer able to support her. Finding employment became vital for Morales, who was now pregnant.

“I applied for a Tax ID number and got it. I couldn’t work or get into school without an ID,” she says. “If I had a social security number, I could at least get a better job.”

Morales is currently working as a server in a restaurant earning $2.50/hr. plus tips, and going to school on her days off, but her impending court case has been postponed nearly three years due to the pandemic.

Unnecessary barriers to entry into the country and job growth make it harder for immigrants to contribute economically and culturally.

What Could Be

What could be possible if offenders were rehabilitated instead of incarcerated and innocent immigrants were not immediately put behind bars?

The reality is that many formerly incarcerated people have a great deal to contribute to the economy and to society, they just don’t know how. According to data from the Legislative Analyst’s Office of California, prisons spend more on maintenance of inmate records than on vocational training. And when, for example, California spends $106,000 on keeping a person in prison per year, with only $3,600 of that towards rehabilitation, it’s not hard to see why things aren’t changing.

In Norway, prisons are focused on rehabilitation and education. As a result, the nation has a 20% recidivism rate and former prisoners that once thought their only skill was selling drugs walk out with a diploma, vocational training, and the self-confidence that they are capable of more than their crimes.

Norway’s goal of creating good neighbors out of prisoners has been adopted by state prisons in North Dakota. Charles Butcher, who was in the Missouri River Correctional Center in Bismark in 2019, says that the prison’s transformation-based methods helped him learn conflict resolution skills.

“It took a lot of time for me to learn to just walk away. I picked it up here,” Butcher told US News & World Report.

While it’s too early to determine the amount of money formerly incarcerated people in North Dakota have contributed to society, a report from the ACLU noted that taxpayers would save over $125 million over the course of six years. That money could be invested in schools, social services, and other resources to strengthen communities.

Removing Incarceration from Immigration

For immigrants, coming to the states is about creating a better life—the same philosophy behind the American Dream that pilgrims were looking for when they first crossed the Atlantic. It’s what Morales was looking for when she fled Guatemala and why she continues to go to school.

The DACA program, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, ensures that the more than 825,000 people who immigrated to the US as undocumented young children can stay and work. More than three-quarters of that number are employed in essential jobs such as health care, education, and the food supply chain. Collectively, DACA households hold over $25 billion in spending power, strengthening their local economies. These contributions to the economy would not exist without DACA.

Transforming the System Starts at Home

Beyond money, what cultural contributions and thriving communities could we create if we focused on care instead of mass incarceration? This hope, called transformative justice, is what the Young Women’s Freedom Center works towards—to help people that have been impacted by the justice system or the street market to become positive leaders in their communities. Arroyo says that changing this system begins at home.

“I think our kitchen table is a place where we can start to have deeper conversations about what it means to see our communities thrive and be successful,” says Arroyo. “We all have to be brave and creative in thinking about ways to address poverty, oppression, racial and gender injustices.”

Just like how incarceration affects entire families and communities, it will take collaboration and collective action with neighbors and relatives to create a better justice system.

“It’s not just going to come from one of us,” says Arroyo, “it’s going to come from all of us.” ✺

NC Hernández is a Chicano writer from southern California who now lives in Mexico City with his partner and two cats. He has worked as a behaviorist for children with autism, a touring musician, and an immigrant rights activist who led the first visitation program in California for federally imprisoned immigrants.

In the beginning, a woman fell from the sky, clutching seeds and fruits. The animals helped her find safety on the back of a turtle and brought her mud, from which she grew the seeds and fruits into a wilderness. In these moments together, the animals and Skywoman created Turtle Island, later named North America by European colonists.

This creation story, shared among many tribes in the Great Lakes region, as told by Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, reflects the relationship Native tribes have shared with the land for countless generations—and one that was stolen from millions of people when colonists crossed the ocean and forcibly removed Native tribes from their lands. And while returning land back to Native peoples is a moral imperative, there are economic and environmental benefits that would come with doing the right thing.

Today, that movement is called Land Back, and is about putting Indigenous lands in Indigenous hands. Krystal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota, Northern Cheyenne), the director of NDN Collective’s Landback campaign, says that reclaiming land is part of a bigger movement.

“It’s the reclamation of our kinship systems, our governance systems, our ceremony and spirituality, our language, our culture, our food systems, our housing, our health care…those are all based on our relationship to the land,” says Two Bulls. “The land provides for us and is a life source for us.”

From the Black Hills to the Amazon Basin

In 1868, the US entered a treaty with the Great Sioux Nation that designated the Black Hills, spanning 1.2 million acres in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, as “unceded Indian Territory” to be used exclusively by Indigenous peoples. But when Lieut. Col. Custer led an expedition to investigate rumors of gold deposits in the Black hills and found it, the US government violated the treaty to seize the gold. That led to the deadly Battle of Little Bighorn as Custer violently drove out Indigenous communities. Over a century later, the US Supreme Court awarded $100 million in reparations, but the Sioux Nation refused—the land was never for sale to begin with, and what is owed is not a monetary sum, but the land back.

Beyond the legal obligation to honor the treaty, there are economic benefits to honoring treaties. Helen Ding, a senior economist at World Resources Institute, published a report demonstrating just that.

The 2016 report titled Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs: The Economic Case for Securing Indigenous Land Rights, focuses on securing Indigenous land in Bolivia, Brazil, and Columbia, which collectively contain most of the Amazon Basin and is home to millions of Indigenous peoples. If these peoples could have secured land titles, the estimated benefits in ecosystem services—such as reduced pollution, erosion control, and carbon storage—could result in an estimated economic benefit of up to $119 billion for Bolivia, $1.2 billion for Brazil, and $277 billion for Colombia over a 20-year period, according to that report. As a climate mitigation strategy, the cost of securing Indigenous land titles in the Amazon Basin is five to 42 times lower than the average cost of carbon capture and storage for coal- and gas-fired power plants.

When it gets down to the dollar, protecting Indigenous land rights makes economic sense.
“Moving away from land rights as a legal issue and helping people to understand that increasing land tenure security is essentially an economic matter and helps to reduce carbon emissions and protect forests,” Ding says.

Ding says that the biggest barrier to securing Indigenous land rights comes down to economic opportunity costs on the land. If a nation deems that oil, forestry, or gold on the land is more valuable than treaties, then they likely won’t honor land rights. This case played out in the Black Hills during the 1800s.

“That whole area in the Black Hills has been a [gold and tourism] moneymaker for the US government and the state of South Dakota for hundreds of years now,” says Two Bulls. “The money made off those lands that we were removed from, our traditional territories, and by treaty, technically should go to the tribes.”

That is why Ding’s research team focused on the economic side; by demonstrating that respecting Indigenous land rights results in more long-term economic benefits than resource extraction proves that the better investment for governments is in Indigenous people.

Healing Happens on Ancestral Land

Settler colonialism has resulted in genocide, poverty, addiction, and much more harm to Native nations, which have the highest poverty rate among minorities according to Census data. Two Bulls states that the root of their ills comes from land theft; therefore, the solution is giving land back.

Across Turtle Island, Indigenous tribes are finding ways to return home. In 2020, the Esselen Tribe was returned nearly 1,200 acres of their ancestral lands near Big Sur, California, after 250 years. In late 2021, the Squaxin Island Tribe was gifted over a thousand acres of land near the southern Puget Sound in Washington. In April 2022, 465 acres in the Chesapeake Bay was donated to the Rappahannock Tribe.

These stories are examples of land back. While there are many ways in which land can return to Native hands, such as a land purchase or a trust, the 465 acres given to the Rappahannock was the result of collaboration between the tribe and the Chesapeake Conservancy. The Conservancy managed a massive fundraising effort to purchase the land to donate to the tribe. While 465 acres is a small fraction of the Rappahannock’s original territory, it is a step in the right direction.

“It has been a long journey for the tribe’s restoration to the lands of our forefathers,” said Chief Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock Tribe during a celebration event. “To be able to reconnect with the DNA that is in the ground and on the cliffs.”

“There’s more work to do,” says Joel Dunn, CEO of the Chesapeake Conservancy. “There’s more land to protect along this beautiful river. There’s more land that we can buy for the tribe.”

With that land, the Rappahannock Tribe will be able to reclaim their cultural ties and practices. Chief Richardson describes the land as the tribe’s “grocery store,” with more than 250 plant and animal species the tribe gathers for food, crafts, and medicinal purposes. The environmental stewardship the tribe promises to practice—including developing an Indigenous conservation education center to teach future generations—will help restore the wetlands and help declining species make a return.

“When we reclaim lands, it opens up economic opportunities for us to be able to have revenue streams that are able to address the issues in our communities,” says Two Bulls. Tourism is one such revenue stream, says Two Bulls, noting that NDN Collective’s Land Back campaign currently has a focus on public lands like national parks and monuments.

“The root of [the word] ‘economy’ means taking care of your home,” says Two Bulls. “We’re not trying to reclaim land ownership in a Western colonial way of thinking about it. We are trying to reclaim our ways of being, which was never based on money.”

And while giving land back creates economic and environmental incentives, it also means giving Indigenous peoples the means to care for themselves and their communities again through their relationship with the land. ✺

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“I have always believed in the healing power of nature,” says MuLondon’s founder, Bo. It is the idea at the center of the UK-based skincare company—using what our own planet provides us to thrive healthily and naturally. 

An appreciation for nature and its abundant beauty and resources was instilled in Bo from an early age. 

“As I was growing up, this love and fascination for the botanical world was reinforced by my mother,” he explains. “She would often talk to me about medicinal plants, their properties and their Latin names, and she would show me what natural remedy to use in case of cuts, bumps, bruises or an upset tummy. A whole new world opened up to me.” 

Nature remained a throughline for Bo. 

Next was a role at a biodynamic farm in Sweden. It was there, he said, that the “unspoilt coast of the magnificent Baltic Sea” made him realize the intimate connection between all things inhabiting this planet. 

There was an unexpected side effect to living in Sweden, however. The combination of genes, stress and the lack of sun caused Bo to develop eczema and psoriasis, which in turn led to a drop in self-confidence. Skin and self-esteem have always gone hand-in-hand—don't you remember the days of acne, puberty, and high school? But Bo was determined to do something about this. 

“I wanted an alternative to steroid creams, so I went back to my roots,” he says. “I started reading everything that I could about herbs, essential oils and natural skincare. I realized there were too many ingredients in everyday products, and most didn’t do much.” 

So, he began making his own, testing them on himself and friends, and when results were successful, the idea was born to create his own line—with higher standards. Because while it is important, of course, that skincare products are safe, Bo posits they should also be effective and kind. 

Revolutionary, huh? 

It’s not the only way MuLondon strives for progressive practices, though. When it comes to ethics as a company, MuLondon is committed on several fronts. 

“Being green is at the core of what we do. For us, it’s personal, so we choose to work with organizations and certifiers that are aligned with our values and beliefs.” 

Beyond being a Green America Gold certified business, MuLondon is also registered as organic, cruelty-free, and vegan, as well as a member of 1% For the Planet and a Certified B Corp. You can read more about how MuLondon strives for these high standards here. 

MuLondon is also a proud supporter of the UK LGBTQ organization Stonewall. 

What does that have to do with skincare and being a green business? (Besides being featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, of course!) 

As Bo, who is gay, put it to someone who emailed him about staying out of politics, “We are, and always have been, a political company. That is baked into our very core and what we stand for. Buying our products—buying any product—is in itself a very political act. When you do that, you’re supporting everything that company stands for. 

 “Our values are kindness, compassion and inclusion, and we will continue to speak up for that.” 

Bo, MuLondon's Founder

It goes back to Green America’s core principle of voting with your dollar. 

Being a good company is more than using recycled materials or posting Black Lives Matter on Twitter. To truly be a good company, it is about being a force for the triple bottom line: people, planet, profit. And that is where MuLondon’s support for Stonewall originates. 

By being a company that is kind to the planet and people—including fair wages and demanding inclusivity—it builds a more holistic and progressive approach to the economy, of which we are all a part. 

And that’s what Bo stresses—we're not alone. 

“I’ve learned to ask for help - from my peers, my customers, the organizations I work with and business support networks.” 
 
He suggests you do the same, because it can go a long way: “Ask how you can develop and what you can do better. I now understand that there’s always room for improvement. There’s so much I have learned by working with our certifiers. They have helped me see where my blind spots are. 

“We can all grow and thrive in harmony if we are mindful of our relationship with nature and ourselves.” 

May 25th marks two years since Minnesota police office Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. In that time, the United States has seen protests supporting Black Lives Matter (BLM), calls for more accountability and police budget reallocation, and promises to do better by BIPOC Americans. 

In the corporate world, promises abounded. 

As William Michael Cunningham, CEO of Creative Investment Research told Fran Teplitz, Green America’s executive co-director for business, investing & policy, as of June 2021, 261 corporations pledged $67.186 billion to BLM-related organizations—with little to no transparency or accountability. 

Companies boasted their commitments to diversity and progressive workplaces, even while reports revealed that companies making solidarity statements had 20% fewer Black employees on average than the ones that said nothing. 

It shouldn’t take police brutality or the deaths of Black people in the streets to catalyze change. The numbers show such a change is already both desired and beneficial. Numerous studies reveal most employees want inclusive workplaces, and diverse companies performing better financially, creatively, as well as in areas of engagement and decision-making. 

One action businesses—even the smallest ones—can take is prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through training and education. 

Green Business Network member Takoma Park Silver Spring (TPSS) Co-op has been undertaking such an endeavor since 2019. 

General Manager Mike Houston shared insights about this process, including its origins, areas that need improvement, and what it means to show up and do the work.  

What prompted TPSS to take this step? 

Houston: This started in the fall of 2019. We had our board elections and after seeing the Takoma Park City Council go through similar training, the board was interested in doing the same. 

We have 50 employees that come from 20 different countries, so we’re a diverse co-op to begin with, but that didn’t mean this wasn’t something we needed to do. 

TPSS began reaching out to consultants and getting proposals on scope, timing, resources, and cost for thorough and sincere DEI training. Then COVID hit. 

Houston: Everything got put on hold, and then put on hold again. But there was such a desire to do this and have the board and staff do it together. We picked back up again in fall 2021 and kicked off in February 2022. 

We had to make sure we dedicated enough time, especially for the staff. It’s a comprehensive program we’re going through, and we needed to make sure we could get everyone—even in a virtual space—together at the same time. 

Depending on the make-up of a business, as seen following the 2020 BLM protests, many DEI statements or commitments can come across as—or genuinely be—the work of a white savior complex. What expertise and choices did TPSS make when mapping out this training to avoid that? 

Houston: Leah Kedar is our trainer, she runs The Kedar Group. Part of her coaching focuses on the historical perspective. 

We’re incredibly lucky to be in Washington, DC. We’re going to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. We do those visits on our own and then come back for a debrief. 

We’re also fortunate to have a diverse staff to enrich this experience. But I’ve talked to other co-ops and they’re looking to increase the diversity of their staff. What I say to that is: change the pool you’re recruiting from, look in new places. 

What are TPSS’ ultimate goals with DEI training? 

Houston: The Board oversees the store with policy. And if we’re going to tackle issues that were done historically, intentionally—like systemic racism—we must be intentional in our direction and policies. 

It’s getting everyone to the same place in terms of learning the history of what's happened in this country. So that when we go to look at the policies of how the stores run, how we get people promotions, what we pay people, all the different things that go into running a business, we're working from the same set of facts and can make equitable policy decisions.  

Then there's the interpersonal. It's a good training opportunity for the staff. We so rarely get the time to step off the sales floor and think about big picture things. 

What did you wish you had known in hindsight? 

Houston: We’ve only had three sessions so far, with several more upcoming. 

There’s nothing I’d change, but it is crucial to understand this is a time commitment. It’s a good idea to plan not just a couple of one-hour sessions, but several longer sessions with a trainer. You want the trainer to get to know your organization to help create solutions and programs that are specific and helpful. 

For the board and employees, it comes down to acknowledging and accepting it’s a big part of what we’re doing this year, maybe the only big thing we do this year. You don't need to try to squeeze in extra things. You're saying, “We value this, this is worth our time, this is our priority.” It's okay to put other things off in service of that. 

Studies have shown there are bottom-line and financial benefits to having a diverse company. How do you view this? 

Houston: I certainly think there could be a bottom-line benefit. It wasn’t a factor in the decision for us, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be for other people or companies. 

For us, it was important to have that historical learning, to have that understanding as we make store policies, or advocate for policies more broadly. If you're doing business in this country, if you either have a diverse staff or desire to have a more diverse staff or customer base, we're not all coming from the same set of knowledge. 

What have you gotten from the DEI training so far? 

Houston: It’s been powerful. The Holocaust Museum left an impression as I went through the history—it all happened a lot faster than I realized. You can't help but connect these things back to current politics and policies, so, again, historical context is important for understanding the world that we exist in to do business.  

It's also seeing the staff from a different point of view, hearing them. Some have felt comfortable sharing personal things, things from countries that they grew up in. It's really powerful. These are people that I've worked with for years and years, but you know, you're hearing new stories and seeing them in a different light than, you know, walking through the aisles and figuring out what products to sell. 

Are vulnerability and being uncomfortable critical to the success of DEI training? 

Houston: I absolutely think so. It’s important to have those expectations that you’re going to be covering uncomfortable topics and confronting things in life you may not think about a lot. 

There are several organizations whose mission is to help businesses become more inclusive and just. Maybe your business will be next. 

We’re stronger together. United we stand, divided we fall.

When it comes to hardships, many of us take comfort and heartily believe these expressions. But when it comes to the economy, capitalism itself, it’s every person for themselves, let the free market decide, and pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

This kind of thinking costs us, a lot. Individualism and racism cost us a lot.

Measuring the Cost

The true cost of racism cannot be placed in a bank account—it costs real people every day. In cases like Emmett Till, Ahmaud Arbery, and Sandra Bland, it costs irreplaceable lives. At the other end of the spectrum, a subtly racist comment could ruin someone’s day and make them feel unsafe and unwanted. Safety and the right to the pursuit of happiness are profoundly valuable and yet intangible.

Yet, there are economic costs to racism for all of us. Several organizations and firms have tried to put a monetary price on what racist policy and society has cost in the economy. This is a cost not just for Black, brown, and other people of color who face it personally, but for every person in our country.

A February 2021 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco says the cost of racial and gender inequity on the gross domestic product (GDP, a measure of the economy) is $2.6 trillion, and that’s just for 2019. Over the last 30 years, gender and racial gaps have created greater and greater losses in the US GDP that add up to approximately $71 trillion.

A 2020 report from analysts at Citi Bank calculated that if the US had closed the Black-white economic gap by the year 2000, the US economy would be worth $16 trillion more than it is now. That could have included $2.7 trillion in incomes, 6.1 million jobs created through investment in Black entrepreneurs, and 770,000 potential Black homeowners, with home ownership being a path to generational wealth over centuries.

Why Can’t We Close the Gap?

Workers Pitted Against Each Other

The gaps in pay and wealth stay open because racist, capitalist culture has Americans bathing in the lie that the economy is a zero-sum game—if people who are different from “us” are gaining, “our people” must be losing. White people are fed this idea by “divide-and-conquer” politicians and companies who benefit from upholding the belief, which can come from either side of the aisle, according to a 2019 social psychology study in Science Advances.

Economist and author Heather McGhee shared a story in her 2019 TED talk, about visiting an auto factory in Mississippi where workers were trying to form a union. The benefits—higher pay, a pension, and better healthcare—would have helped everyone, regardless of race. McGhee heard from white workers she interviewed that they planned to vote against the union if the Black workers were for it. The Black workers told her the same. Both groups believed that if someone that didn’t look like them was lifted up, then they would be left behind or even lowered. The union vote failed.

McGhee noted the importance of not blaming factory workers for their views. Companies keep money in their accounts when union votes fail. Indeed, sowing racial discord is an anti-union tactic companies may use purposefully or subliminally.

“I’m more interested in holding accountable people who are selling racist ideas for their profit than those who are desperate enough to buy it,” McGhee said.

For the people, Black and white, who didn’t get to join the union, they and their families lost out on higher wages, which would be good for the local economy, giving them more spending money, quality healthcare, and more. But what about for the rest of the country, outside that community?

“To a large degree, the story of the hollowing out of the American working class is a story of the Southern economy, with its deep legacy of exploitative labor and divide-and-conquer tactics, going national,” McGhee wrote in her book, The Sum of Us. In that book, McGhee uncovers the hidden economic costs of racism to the entire population.

Whether or not we choose to acknowledge it, our society’s tendency to “ladder” individuals is what keeps equitable policies back, says Amanda N. Jackson, economic justice campaigns director at Color of Change, a civil rights organization that uses online organizing to uplift Black communities.

“Folks need to feel that they are a rung higher than the person that is not them, or create a scenario where people are ‘below’ them,” Jackson says. “The government had racist redlining laws on the books nearing the 1970s to ensure that a whole class of folks, Black people, could not have home ownership, and therefore wealth, that was on par with white society.”

Education Alone is Not the Fix

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco report shows that disparities in labor market outcomes, like earnings and ability to get a job, have persisted “despite changes in laws, policies, and programs meant to remove barriers and prevent discriminatory practices.” It even says that the gaps cannot be explained by measures of talent or skill—meaning race and gender mean more to your job outlook than your degree.

Pervasive anti-Black stereotypes might cause people to think—if more people of color and women got degrees, then they would be able to get better jobs. But the data shows that’s not true. According to 2021 report from think tank The Insight Center, education might be increasing the earning power for white people, but only increasing debt for Black families. Black households with advanced degrees have about half the wealth as a white household with a bachelor’s degree according to that report.

Jhumpa Bhattacharya, vice president for programs and strategy at the Insight Center, says that paradoxically, the more education that Black people obtain, the bigger the gap in wealth becomes, because they are forced deeper into debt. For example, median wealth held by a white person with a bachelor’s degree is $278,200, whereas for a Black person that figure is $49,700. For a white person with a master’s or doctorate, median wealth is $634,900 where a Black person in the same circumstances median wealth is only $132,000, still less than half of a white person with a bachelor’s degree.

“The system was built for you to stay in a certain place and for particularly white men to be able to move forward, so we cannot expect the same solutions that helped white folks gain wealth to do the same for Black and brown people. We actually have to change the system,” Bhattacharya told a group of philanthropists in a talk for the Asset Funders Network.

How do we Imagine and Implement Solutions?

Investing in People is a Proven Solution

Bhattacharya explains when looking for solutions to an economic gap like this, the people are the economy. When you balance a household budget, what you spend must be covered by your income that month—but that’s not how an effective government invests in its people, she explains. Bhattacharya says a government that’s by the people and for the people should be investing in people, not always looking for direct revenue to make it up.

“Let’s say you invest in the child tax credit [from the Build Back Better bill]. What does that do? It gives people money. That’s money going out the door, but it’s also money that people can spend in the economy,” Bhattacharya says. “It allows people to live healthy lives. That’s the way we should be thinking about revenue and the economy.”

The child tax credit was a payment sent by the government to help cover the cost of raising children, which is a common benefit citizens of other wealthy countries receive. This was part of the American Rescue Plan for COVID-19 relief, increasing and expanding a previous benefit, as well as making it monthly. The benefit gave families a dependable source of income and closed a loophole excluding half of all Black and Hispanic children from fully benefiting because their families earned too little income, according to NPR. The child tax credit under the American Rescue Plan cut child poverty by roughly a third and cut food insufficiency by 26%.

Another example of investing in the people was a coalitional campaign Bhattacharya and her colleagues at the Insight Center helped drive, that led to the passage of The Families Over Fees Act in California in September 2020, which forgave $16 billion in criminal legal fees and fines, such as arrest fees, parole fees, and jurisdictional transfer fees, among 20 others, debt that was mostly held by Black people. In theory, these fees are billed to fund the legal system but end up acting as their own form of punishment to people charged of crimes as they pursue justice and to those released from incarceration.

“We talked about the impact it really has on people—the mental stress that folks have to deal with when their wages are being garnished to pay off these really unjust debts,” Bhattacharya says. “Think about balancing a budget to bring into government coffers by charging a surcharge on mostly Black and brown people who are struggling to make ends meet anyway.”

We cannot expect the same solutions that helped white folks gain wealth to do the same for Black and brown people. We actually have to change the system.

—Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Insight Center

Eliminating these debts is an important step in dismantling centuries of racist economic practices. Unfortunately, many states still charge fees that end up costing Black and brown people more. Changes in narrative and information about these successes create shifts toward justice. We need large and small shifts to move us closer to closing the wealth gap and ending economic oppression.

Build on the Social Shifts of the Pandemic

The last two years have been game-changing in work that seeks to close gaps and end economic injustice. The pandemic and the summer of Black Lives Matter protests following the 2020 murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, moved the needle on social justice movements. According to experts across sectors, white people became more aware of social injustices, from violent policing to Black people dying at disproportionate rates from COVID-19.

For example, James Malone, chief financial and diversity officer at Community Capital Management (CCM) {GBN}, says 2020 was a tipping point for many investors, who became more willing to put more money toward impact investing for Black and brown communities. The Land Back movement also gained traction—which is a win for social justice and the economy. In so many ways, imaginative solutions to social inequality will benefit all of us.

Jackson says we need to make sure these changes persist in the coming years.

“Many Black households and households of color are still struggling to rebuild—normal was never a context to apply to these communities,” Jackson says. “If we aren’t grounding economic injustice now in the pandemic, I think it just becomes a greater challenge to do so.”

Systemic issues, economic racism, and individualism costs so much more than money—it costs people the vast possibilities their futures could hold. That’s not the status quo we want to continue; social change is possible if we continue the momentum. Fighting for justice for all communities in policies and opening our minds to unlearning beliefs can propel us forward to a world built on thriving communities and care. Our country is held back by racism in countless systems—there is no wrong place to start dismantling it.

We can do it for the equitable chance at a bright future and well-being. Because united, we stand. Together, we rise. ✺

Imagine you’re driving. Your partner in the passenger seat says to you, “Oh, looks like you’re driving with your parking brake on.” What do you do? You disengage the brake and have a smoother drive. If you were a new driver, you might ask, “How do I do turn it off?” What you wouldn’t do is say, “I like driving with the brake on.”

Daryn Dodson uses this metaphor to explain how removing bias from investing means greater impact for women and Black and brown communities, as well as greater returns for investors. Dodson is the managing director of Illumen Capital, an investment management firm that is leveraging diversity for the betterment of society and investors.

Dodson’s firm is part of a growing tide of companies offering unique solutions to diversify the investing industry and increase impact investments that target Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other communities of color.

Pictured above is the National Memorial for Peace & Justice in Montgomery Alabama. Illumen Capital brings investment managers to this site to learn about the history of racism in the U.S. in an anti-bias workshop. Photo by DiAnna Paulk, 2019.

Disengaging the Bias Brake

In Dodson’s metaphor, the brake is unconscious bias and the car is the returns on investments. Illumen Capital has created a bias-reduction program aimed at reducing racial and gender bias and helping investment managers find and invest in entrepreneurs who have been overlooked and underestimated.

Investors dedicated to socially responsible investing (SRI), or “impact investors,” wake up every day to change the world and make money for investors, he explains. His business bets on the idea that those impact investors will be excited to unlearn their biases when they discover that they’re missing out on impact, and financial returns, by holding unconscious bias.

“We’re helping people remove their blinders to notice and recruit to boards, to their portfolios and to their teams,” Dodson says.

This program includes taking impact investment managers, fund managers, and leading asset owners to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, also known as the Lynching Memorial, in Montgomery, Alabama. There they take part in an immersive experience, going on listening tours, learning about empathy, and specifically focusing on the Black American experience, says Maria Lopez Rosas, executive assistant at Illumen, who participated in the program in 2020.

The ethos behind this program comes from collaboration with Stanford University psychology professor and researcher Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt and her team. With other Stanford researchers, Dr. Eberhardt and Dodson co-wrote a 2019 peer-reviewed report on the subject. Their study found that top-performing financial managers of color may be most harmed by racial biases.

“In financial services—an industry grounded in the principle of avoiding uncompensated risk—investors are ironically taking on such risk by not investing in more diverse managers, as diverse teams are shown to outperform homogeneous teams,” the paper states. So Illumen set out to fix that.

Illumen’s portfolio of people-of-color- and women-led investments includes startups in health and wellness; education; climate and sustainability; and financial inclusion.

“We had one foundation shift [its total investments] from $50 million in strategy around women and people of color and impact to $1 billion,” Dodson says. “Our insights were one of the critical factors in that shift and transformation of their commitment to the sector, because they realized they could do it in a market driven way. They realized that, without reducing biases, they might miss opportunities.”

Opportunities Down the Line

While Illumen works directly with impact investors interested in reducing bias to deepen their impact and results, other strategies for combating systemic racism have been introduced for investors—be they individuals, foundations, university endowments, or religious organizations.

James Malone, chief financial and diversity officer at Community Capital Management (CCM){GBN} says that just as there was a reckoning with racism in our country amidst COVID and the high-profile murders of numerous Black people in 2020, so too was there a reckoning amidst investors.

“We’ve been investing in low- and moderate-income communities for 20 years and many of the beneficiaries of that capital have been Black and brown individuals, families, and minority communities,” Malone says. “Our investors were looking for a way to be more affirmative in their support for minorities and the BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Color] communities.”

Malone, whose background is in socially responsible investing and impact investing (i.e. investing that targets specific communities and social issues for funding) and has been with CCM for 11 years, was heartened to see this surge in enthusiasm for the work he does. CCM was already putting capital to work benefiting minorities, and after an increased interest by clients, the company created the Minority CARES strategy, which focuses on eight impact themes that target and aim to make a positive impact on minority individuals, businesses, and communities. These themes include affordable health and housing, enterprise development and jobs, education and childcare, and more.

Since creating this layered investing strategy, CCM has raised over $100 million in investments, mostly from banks, foundations, and religious organizations that were looking to specifically support minority communities and diversify their investments.

CCM and Illumen’s strategies represent two ways of financing projects that will uplift Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous people in our society who have been systemically underfunded due to racist policies and bias.

Feeling the Impact

These strategies are proof that the SRI industry is growing—and the numbers back that up. Malone saw 2020 as a tipping point for investors, who became more willing to put more money toward impact investing for Black and brown communities. Investing in Black-owned businesses could have a huge impact, according to a December 2020 report from the Brookings Institute, which showed that if Black-owned businesses matched the population size and revenue matched non-Black businesses’ revenue, the total revenue of Black-owned businesses would increase by $5.9 trillion. There are bound to be more innovations and racial-justice focused investing products as investment managers and entrepreneurs see growing interest from investors.

“All investments are impact investments, but the question is, what are you impacting?” Malone says. “If you’re investing, it does have an impact. But is it the impact you want?” ✺

I once thought I had to choose between advocating for my Black identity and the planet,” author, activist, and founder of Intersectional Environmentalist Leah Thomas writes in her new book, The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet.

Leah Thomas makes a compelling case that we can only achieve environmental justice when we are activists for both communities of color and the environment.

What Is Intersectionality?

Civil Rights activist and scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw first coined the term “intersectionality” in a 1989 University of Chicago Legal Forum paper examining how ignoring the intersection of race and gender in Black women marginalizes their experiences.

This is the backbone of Thomas’ work and the environmental liberation movement—that is, widespread organizing and community building to achieve Black liberation, climate justice, and environmental justice, as defined by Ayana Albertini-Fleurant at Generation Green.

“Sometimes people may say, ‘It feels so overwhelming considering everything at once,’” Thomas explains. “Maybe it’s going to take more work to consider the economic impacts, the health impacts. But if you consider them, you can create solutions that address everything. I don’t think it’s a pipe dream.”

What you can do: Education is a form of activism, so the first step is learning the history from the Black, brown, and Indigenous voices at the forefront of this movement.

A Safe Planet Means Safe Workers

In 1968, more than 1,300 Black men from the Memphis Department of Public Works demanded higher wages and environmental safety measures during the Memphis sanitation strike. The Environmental Protection Agency considered this “the first time Black Americans mobilized… ‘to oppose what they considered environmental injustice.’”

This is only one piece of historical evidence highlighting intersectionality in Thomas’ book.

“Paying people poorly shows how a system values them,” she explains. “If you treat people better, I think you’re also going to treat the Earth better. A disregard for both people and planet leads to unsafe working conditions.”

Another example is the fashion industry, and the dangers of fast fashion: endangering and not paying garment factory workers, mostly women, to create clothing quickly and cheaply while working with toxic chemicals. Green America is working to address this injustice in our Toxic Textiles campaign. Read more about it in the winter 2019 Green American, “Unraveling the Fashion Industry”.

What you can do: Vote with your dollars. Learn where your money is going and prioritize your financial support for ethical employers, businesses owned by Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other members of communities of color, and sustainable companies.

Recognize Climate Change is Already Fatal

Those who contribute the least to climate change—from the employees outlined above to unassuming residents—will be some of the hardest hit by its devastating consequences.

Thomas uses the example of Cancer Alley, a stretch of land along the Mississippi River in Louisiana that is home to 150 petrochemical plants and refineries—and higher rates of cancer compared to the national average.

For people living in majority Black and low-income areas of Cancer Alley, their cancer risk is over 10% higher than in majority-white areas.

This goes straight back to events like the Memphis sanitation strike and Thomas’ call for intersecting solutions. Multi-pronged solutions, like Green America’s Clean Energy Victory Bonds, which would provide safe, green jobs while supporting a just transition to clean energy, is how we need to address intersectional, environmental justice.

What you can do: Think and act locally. Seek out voices from community members who are not in majority groups, like people of color, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ neighbors about their realities of where you live. Volunteer locally, vote locally, and pay attention.

A Healthy Environment? That’s a Benefit of White Supremacy

In a country built on white supremacy, it is important to remember that racism endures as the most insidious intersection of all systems and social issues. Beyond Memphis and Cancer Alley, Thomas recalls environmental history to show this.

“If we take it back to the first Earth Day [April 22, 1970], it was a movement that wasn’t inclusive,” Thomas says. “With it, we saw a ‘Not in my backyard,’ type of approach to environmental policy.”
Thomas cited Arturo Sandoval, an organizer of the first Earth Day, who said, “After Earth Day, there was a succession of a lot of national federal legislation… enacted specifically to protect the environment.”

That success was primarily, sometimes exclusively, felt by more affluent and whiter communities. This outcome, Sandoval argues, led the largely white middle- and upper-class environmental groups to believe such success was enough and there was no need to reach out to marginalized groups. As Thomas further explains, some of the legislation following Earth Day “directly diverted toxic waste into Black, Brown, and low-income communities.”

“This is what happens when you don’t have intersectional advocacy,” Thomas explains. “It diverts the problem to other people, where it becomes out-of-sight, out-of-mind for those more privileged.”

Another historical example is from Warren County, North Carolina, where, in 1982, activists protested the placement of a hazardous waste landfill in the predominantly Black community.
“The common feeling was that these communities were targeted based on their demographics,” the Department of Energy states on its page on environmental justice history. “They all felt that but for their race and economic status, their communities would not have been designated to host a hazardous waste disposal facility.”

As of 2019, race is still the main indicator of where toxic landfills are placed, and “even when socioeconomic factors are similar across white and non-white communities, the minority community is still more likely to be near environmental hazards,” Thomas quoted activist and professor Paul Mohai as saying.

Studies continuously show the connection of corporations and industries consciously and actively choosing to pollute these communities, while systemically racist housing policies, like zoning and redlining, keep communities of color in these unhealthy neighborhoods.

What you can do: Look inward and examine your own advantages. Lean into learning how to center voices of communities of color and how to know when to speak, listen, and prioritize action. For white allies, a good first step can be joining your local SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) chapter.

What Lesson Will Be Next?

Equipped with this information, now where do you go? Thomas wrote this book for her younger self and for emerging environmentalists of any age. There will always be more to learn, starting with intersectionality.

“I love it when people learn about the history of the environmental justice movement,” Thomas says, suggesting learning about the “mother” and “father” of environmental justice, Hazel M. Johnson and Dr. Robert Bullard as first steps.

“But I know spending a Saturday learning doesn’t sound super fun,” she continues. “Look around for some local protests, get involved in grassroots organizing. You’ll be surprised at the things you can get passed in a city council meeting.”

For example, in April 2016, the LA City Council approved land-use restrictions and mandates for higher-rated air filters, earning a win for residents in the most polluted neighborhoods of the city, who had been fighting for more environmental health protections.

The book isn’t perfect, Thomas notes, but neither is activism. Thomas advocates for any starting points, big or small, and making mistakes.

“You never have to silence parts of your identity or force them to take a back seat in order to advance a cause,” Thomas writes. “We can create our own environmentalism that is intersectional in nature and that truly advocates for the protection of all people and the planet.”

What you can do: Before you go out and fight the good fight, remember that not all activism looks the same. For disabled activists and Black and brown protesters, physical demonstrations can be more dangerous. Check out the toolkit at the end of Thomas’ book, which offers a breadth of resources on different kinds of activism.

Handcrafted, sustainably made and scoured from the US. Mirrors Decorated fills homes & spaces with papier-mache wall mirrors. This is where innovative artistry meets functional decor.

These "Works of Art" evoke Feelings of Wonder & Joy!

Original designs with a Mayan and Japanese influence. The bold, brilliant, subtle, monochromatic styles and colors of these unique works are well suited for any color scheme and children of all ages. 

Investigating the costs of racism to all of us.

Short Description

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Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

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Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

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Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

Colorful, paper based, plastic-free party supplies and decorations.

Test

This week I have bar soaps, shower gels, and body washes facing off in a suds-filled arena to see which will emerge from the fray awash in victory. Also in this issue: Do spare tires expire, and which is better for your oral health, an electric or manual toothbrush? 

Green America has released a number of scorecards that evaluate...

Chocolate Retailers

The Chocolate Retailer Scorecard rates the stores carrying your favorite chocolate on child labor, deforestation and fair trade.

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Chocolate Brands

How good is the chocolate we buy? Some companies enable deforestation, farmer poverty, and child labor.

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Apparel Retailers

How do popular apparel brands, leading fast fashion brands, and retailers stack up on chemical management? 

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Wireless Service Providers

The Clean Energy Wireless Scorecard grades the top U.S. telecommunications companies on their renewable energy usage.

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CBD Certifications

The CBD (cannabidiol) certification scorecard addresses sustainable CBD farming, manufacturing, and production practices.

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Receipt Practices

Green America's Receipt Scorecard groups reviews retailers and businesses by in-store receipt practices.

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