What if your banking choices could significantly reduce your carbon footprint?

Welcome to a journey where we navigate the environmental and social impacts of banking. Inspired by Charlie Cummings of Walden Mutual Bank's profound comparison of an average American's carbon footprint to a lump sum in a bank account, we explore how your financial decisions can make a real difference. Drawing insights from our research and our experiences, we offer practical advice and resources for making responsible banking choices.

Ever thought your banking practices could reflect your personal values? Find out how banking with credit unions and entities like Aspirations Bank can uplift local economies and communities. Aspirations Bank, a certified B Corp and a 1% for the planet member, exemplify how your debit card usage can actively offset your carbon footprint. We delve into the benefits of aligning your financial decisions with your convictions and explore how Conscious Coalition provides 10% cashback when we shop with certain businesses.

Now, what if we told you ESG wasn't just three random letters but held the key to understanding banking's impact on the environment, people, and communities? Join us as we dissect ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) and its relevance in banking. We discuss the disparities in banking, focusing on how communities of color have been historically denied wealth-building opportunities. To elucidate this, we take you through the history of Black-owned banks in the US and their commitment to their communities. Let's make sense of the past, challenge the present, and build a brighter future together!


Quotes:

"$125,000 in a bank account is equivalent to an entire year of the average American's carbon impact. So an entire year of eating, driving, flying, buying, etc. All those behaviors are the same as $125,000 parked in a bank account with one of the top five banks in the country. And the reason is because those same five institutions are the single largest funders of fossil fuel development in the world."- Charley Cummings

“When 70% of African Americans don’t have a bank branch in their neighborhood, it suggests to me that they are much further away from the American Dream.” - Kenneth Kelly, chairman and CEO of First Independence bank in Detroit

Links: 

• Aspiration Bank 
  • Conscience Coalition List
  • Planet Protect by offsetting your fuel
• REI and Capital One Partnership
• Why we need Black-Owned Banks
• The Black Businessman Who Built and Empire Despite Jim Crow Oppression
• Our Episode with PayActive from March 2022

Books:

• Let Us Put Our Money Together: The Founding of America's First Black Banks

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