Good News for anyone looking for an ethical high street bank

Church-backed bid for RBS arm could herald ethical bank:

"The Church of England is backing a bid for hundreds of branches being offloaded by Royal Bank of Scotland, raising the prospect of a new, ethical bank on the high street."

Read more: http://goo.gl/mag/Tplbs6F

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

Is what you eat a matter of justice or a lifestyle choice?

These days there are many options when buying food: organic, locally grown, soil association certified, rainforest alliance approved. But what does it all actually mean?

In this cafe session (the first of two organised by members of the community itself following our recent crowdsource gathering) we will try to answer this question and discuss whether taking such labels into consideration when filling your grocery basket is important.

In other words, does God care what you eat?

Wednesday 19 June, 7:30-10pm at Coffee Republic, North Finchley.

How to stop using Google

Unhappy about Google's tax arrangements? You can disentangle yourself... (Given that my whole life runs on Google - including this blog - this would be really hard, but a provocative challenge and practical tips for putting your mail where your mouth is.)

"If you want to take a stand over tax, Google will only notice if it doesn't get your attention. Here are usable alternatives to its services."

Read more: http://goo.gl/mag/r9xLPBP

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

On cheap clothing, development and tax dodging

"Developing countries like Bangladesh lose an estimated $160bn in tax dodging by multi-nationals annually. That's a bigger sum than all the money spent by governments around the world on aid. And George Osborne's change to the rules on how foreign subsidiaries of multinationals are taxed in last year's Budget will make it more attractive for large firms to avoid their economic responsibilities in poor countries."

Read more: http://goo.gl/mag/uD7tFZy

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

What will stop the next factory collapse?

We often talk about ethical consumerism and thinking about where our belongings come from at JM. As Nathalie reminded us as a recent gathering, the clothes may be inexpensive to you, but someone has paid for them.

News of the tragic collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh has made this a much more public issue and a good moment to generate all important change in the system. I've just signed this petition in support of safer working conditions - you might be interested in doing the same. Do think about writing a personal message rather than just spamming them with the standard text.

Guilt-free clothing

We've all seen the horrific images of hundreds of innocent women burned or crushed to death in factories while making our clothes. In the next few days we can get companies to stop it happening again.

Big fashion brands source from hundreds of factories in Bangladesh. Two brands, including Calvin Klein, have signed a very strong building and fire safety code. Others, led by Wal-Mart, have been trying to wriggle out of signing by creating a weak alternative that was pure PR. But the latest disaster has triggered crisis meetings and massive pressure to sign the strong version that can save lives.

Negotiations end in days. H&M and GAP are most likely to flip first to support a strong agreement, and the best way to press them is to go after their CEOs. If one million of us appeal directly to them in a petition, Facebook pages, tweets, and ads, their friends and families will all hear about it. They'll know that their own and their companies' reputations are on the line. People are being forced to make *our* clothing in outrageously dangerous places - sign on to make them safe.

Last week's tragic collapse fits a pattern. In the last few years, fires and other disasters have claimed a thousand lives and left many others too injured to work. Bangladesh's government turns a blind eye to dismal conditions, allowing suppliers to cut costs to make clothes at a pace and price that global fashion giants expect. The big brands say they check up, but workers say the companies can't be trusted to do their own audits.

The companies are making up their minds right now. Let's call on the CEOs of H&M and GAP to lead the industry by signing the safety plan. Sign your name then share this email widely - once we reach 1 million we'll take out ads that they can't miss.

Read more
Collapse renews calls for safety agreement (Wall Street Journal)
15 May deadline set for Bangladesh safety plan (Industriall)
Western companies feel pressure as toll rises in Bangladesh (NBC News)
Avoiding the fire next time (The Economist)
Bangladeshi garment factory death toll rises as owner arrested on border (The Guardian)
Bangladesh factory safety under scrutiny after collapse (CBC)
Hazardous workplaces: Making the Bangladesh Garment Industry Safe (Report, Clean Clothes campaign)

Move Your Money

Last year we looked at the idea of ethical consumerism and choosing to spend our money with greater care. 

Where you keep or invest your money is also an important ethical decision. Move Your Money is a resource to help people make informed, ethical banking decisions. We're planning to have Joel from MYM come along to Justice Matters some time this year, but if you can't wait, you can hear him speak at this event hosted by the London Green Party on 4th Feb. 

If you go along, let us know what you learn! 

Our Spring/Summer programme is here!

The new year is upon us and with it comes an exciting new theme for Justice Matters: 

Food, glorious food. 

From the joys of urban bee keeping, to the importance of Fairtrade, meat-free Mondays and the Live Below the Line challenge, there's something for everyone to get their teeth into.

Join us every first Wednesday in the month at The Bohemia pub (N12 9QH) from 8pm and every third Wednesday at Coffee Republic in North Finchley (N12 9QR) from 7:30pm. 

Get all the latest information - sign up for email alerts (see how in the column to the right), Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

See you at a gathering soon!

Sam and Victoria, Sara, Lizzie and Elaine

Injustice in your pocket

Earlier this year we screened Blood in the Mobile, about blood minerals mined in the DR Congo and used in mobile phones. Now Friends of the Earth have done some new research into tin mined for use in smartphones - find out more and then take action!

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

Practical steps to change the world

During this term, we have been collecting simple actions that each of us can do to make a difference to the world we live in. Ryan has kindly typed these up, so here we have a top 25 Everyday Tips for Ordinary Radicals.

1. Switch your energy provider to one that uses more renewables.
2. “Soap-up” before running shower.
3. Cut down on petrol ‘fill-ups’ (conserve fuel).
4. Allotment sharing, or collective sharing of your fruit and veg harvest.
5. Do some gardening for the elderly in exchange for growing fruit and veg in their garden.
6. Use E-Cloths.
7. Buy ecover washing up liquid and clothes washing liquid. You can even get refills from local natural food and health stores - so it saves plastic too.
8. Send less to landfill less - get a compost bin.
9. Turn off unnecessary lights at home.
10. Turn off plug sockets that aren't in use (eg. mobile phone chargers).
11. Don’t leave TV on standby – switch it off when you're not using it.
12. Eat meat sparingly (say, once or twice a week). Its very energy and water intensive to farm.
13. Go vegetarian, vegan or pescetarian.
14. Make your own cleaning products for bathroom / kitchen / glass / floors (lemons and limes have natural cleaning properties).
15. Buy organic food.
16. Recycle.
17. Walk or cycle to places rather than driving.
18. Don’t waste paper - use portable electronics rather than printing things out that you only need once.
19. Reuse old paper by tearing it into quarters and using it for shopping lists and fridge notes.
20. Research the ethics of your supermarket. Consider switching to Waitrose, M&S or Sainsburys.
21. Make your own clothes.
22. Get involved in clothes swaps.
23. Shop at charity shops - supports people in need and extends the life of discarded clothing. The ones that in affluent areas often have top fashion labels and barely worn items!
24. Convert car engines into being fuelled by recycled vegetable oil from restaurants (bit more effort but great idea!)
25. Don’t get a lawn mower – get a goat! You get a mowed lawn without the cost of fuel plus regular milk - what's not to like?! To be fair, this probably isn't too practical for most of us, but Urban Shepherding is a real thing. Perhaps a more practical response is to share a lawn mower with your neighbour - after all, how many mowers does one street need?

At the end of our last gathering, Victoria challenged us to commit to doing one of these by the next time we meet. We'll be looking forward to hearing what people get up to when we meet in November. 

Which one will you do?

Activists, optimists and ordinary radicals?

Recently, one of our members shared with us how she had felt uncertain about joining Justice Matters because she wasn't that actively involved in campaigning or anything like that. Thankfully, a conversation with another member encouraged her that we weren't all zealous placard waving revolutionaries, but rather ordinary people with a shared passion to make a difference in whatever (often small) ways we can.

Reflecting on this conversation, I wanted to explain a little bit more about our invitation to 'activists, optimists and ordinary radicals' in case anyone else was uncertain about whether JM is the place for them.

There are no admission criteria to be a member of Justice Matters aside from an appetite to get involved with the community. You don't have to work in the charitable sector or be a seasoned campaigner. You don't even have to be especially engaged with any particular issue to come along and take part. It is our hope that through JM you may find an issue or an organisation that inspires you and you might like to get behind, but that needn't be the case from Day One.

So what do we mean by calling ourselves a network of activists, optimists and ordinary radicals?

Our membership is quite varied. Some of our members work in International Development and other Third Sector organisations. Some are active in championing a specific cause or charity. These two sets might be described at the activists, but not everyone has that same clarity of purpose or opportunity to be engaged in this way. A good number of our members are what might be called 'ordinary radicals' - individuals living their lives as best they can, making deliberate decisions about where they shop, what they eat and where they save their money. They may do this to different degrees, but they make concious decisions to live a life alert to the impact of their choices and seeking in their own everyday way to sow positive change into the world around them. If that sounds like you, you are just as welcome as the person running fundraising marathons or visiting Number 10 to lobby the Prime Minister.

So that's the activists and the ordinary radicals explained - different but both welcome. What about the optimists?

The reason we include optimists in our description is because we are aware of lots of people out there who see that the world is in a mess and would like to make a difference, but feel that there is no way the barriers to change can be overcome. This is not an unreasonable position to hold given the scale of the challenge. If that's how you feel, you are just as welcome to come along as anyone else. However, we believe that the situation is not insurmountable, that change is possible and that we can play a part in that. If we didn't believe that, there would be no Justice Matters; there would be no point in trying. We are optimists because we have hope. If you share that belief, then you'll fit right in and we've love to see you at a future gathering. However, you don't have to share that hope to be welcome. Come along and see what we're about - who knows, you may even rediscover your optimism...

The world I want to see

Last Wednesday, some of us went along to a panel discussion inspired by the forthcoming Rio+20 World Summit. The speakers - including Caroline Spelman MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Rt Rev Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells - were asked to speak on the subject of 'the world I want to see' and then engaged in a lively Q&A session. Sara, Lizzie and Sam were tweeting avidly, so you can find more by looking up the #FaithinRio hashtag on Twitter.

First to speak was Caroline Spelman MP, who began with a review of what has and hasn't been achieved since the original Rio World Summit in 1992:

"[The original Rio Earth Summit]was a turning point in the way the world looks at the links between the environment, development, and the economy. There has been progress on poverty alleviation, with significant improvements in access to water, education and healthcare in all regions of the world. Many businesses have embraced sustainability issues, and renewable energy has grown substantially.

Yet substantial challenges remain. Approx 1.4 billion people around the world still live in extreme poverty and those who were the poorest 20 years ago are still the poorest now. Environmental degradation continues, and sustainability has not been integrated fully into economic decision making."

Spelman highlighted that in just three year's time there will be an extra one billion mouths to feed. By 2030, DEFRA forecasts that water, food and energy will all be stressed. Each of these are potential flashpoints for conflict as well as sources of suffering. We do not have the luxury of time; we need Rio+20 to hasten change that benefits the most disadvantaged. But growth should be about more than just raising GDP, she said; well being and quality of life should also be indicators of success. For these reasons, the minister pledged that the UK would to push for a meaning set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be agreed in Rio.

DEFRA have posted her whole speech on their website, so you can read what she said in full if you are interested.

Next up was Steve Waygood of Aviva who spoke on the need for better corporate social responsibility within the global business community. He said that consumer power was an important way for the masses to shape the behaviours of the multinationals, but since

"90% of the data on business responsibility is missing [from public scrutiny]"

holding businesses to account and making informed investments is hard. To solve this, Aviva are leading a broad coalition of businesses and other stakeholders to pushing for corporate accountability and sustainability. At Rio+20 they will be seeking agreement on a transparency framework to that will reveal the true state of an organisation's corporate sustainability. As Waygood himself put it: 

"Corporations should deploy their vast resources to improve lives, not just profit margins. Paying tax is just the start."

Third in the line up was Nanette, a lady working with CAFOD in the Philippines. She spoke about the importance of meaningful collaboration between communities, local government and local church to effect sustainable development, identifying that:

"ordinary people, anointed leaders and elected leaders need to take on responsibility and accountability."

She was especially keen to stress that sustainable growth must be socially just; Rio+20 must not be about developed countries making decisions about developing countries without their say or involvement. In the same way, she argued that while the Green Economy held great promise for the development of underdeveloped parts of the world, to deliver change that benefits local communities and not just shareholders, those green technologies should be in the hands of local communities, not the multinational corporations.

The presentations closed with a rousing statement from the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who spoke with great passion, challenging Christians to stand against poverty, the arms trade and the military industrial complex. He encouraged those present not to fritter away their potential but rather to spend their lives doing something that changes the world. After all:

"We can't just have a concern for poverty," he said, "we have to act to end it."

Watch the Bishop's speech in full:

Throughout the presentations and the Q&A that followed, we were reminded that the impact of climate change is not a future problem; for many in the developing world it is a real problem today. It was clear that amid financial meltdown in Europe, ongoing conflict in the Middle East and political scandals at home, keeping sustainable global development and the ambitions of Rio+20 high on the public agenda is going to be a struggle. Struggle we must however, for as Caroline Spelman identified in her closing statement, the charge we have is to leave the planet in a better condition that we received it.

Bank on something better

Just found this great website which empowers customers to move their money based on info about the ethics of major banks - check it out!

"Move Your Money UK is a national campaign to spread the message that we can help to build a better banking system. We aim to provide people with the information and confidence they need to make decisions on the types of financial institutions they want to support."

http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page