Slow Money
Friday, May 28, 2010 at 03:24PM I've been a big fan, if not a perfect practicioner, of the Slow Food movement. (I suppose Sam might argue that food at our house can be very slow indeed, but that's another problem.) Slow Food is an international organization that aims to keep food local, sustainable and healthy, while convincing people that it is worth taking time for both the preparation and the eating of food.
Last night, I was reading about the work of Woody Tasch who is the founder of the Slow Money Alliance. Intentionally drawing on the Slow Food movement, Tasch argues that we need to reconnect money and how we invest it to the communities that we want to see thrive and grow. Too often, he says, we think of the stock market as a neutral place where we can put money and then forget about it, especially if we use its profits for good. But he argues that we need to put our money exactly where our hearts are, acknowledge that growth isn't always good, and invest in small scale economies and ecologies.
Slow Money's current goal seems so small: they want Americans to put 1% of their assets into local food systems within a decade. 1%. That would be something on average of $30 a month spent on a CSA or at a farmer's market.
Here's my favorite part of the interview (printed in this month's The Sun):
The way we are going to rebuild [our soil] is by millions of small acts of restraint and care. We're not going to find a technological fix. We're not going to find a globalized-market fix. We're going to find lots of small fixes at the local level.
Reader Comments (4)
Amy,
Thank you for this post. I was unaware of the Slow Money Alliance, but the idea strikes me as timely and fundamentally sound. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but the idea of slowing things down - food-wise and money-wise - is appealing.
And congratulations - yours is the first blog post to which I have ever replied... a sign of the end times?
Shawnthea
It could be a sign of the end times! They are everywhere, as you know.
By the way, dear readers, I learned that the Slow Money Alliance is having their second annual National Gathering June 9th through the 11th in Shelburne Vermont. I realize that is next week already, but maybe for those of you closer to Vermont, you can let me know how it goes.
Book Mine just got Woody Tasch's new book, SLOW MONEY, (published by Chelsea Green) a few weeks ago. I gave it a brief glance, and it does sound interesting (of course, anything related to economics tends to interest me),but I haven't read it yet. Given Amy's comments, I'll definitely be taking a copy home.
Carol
P.S. Although it may have had its origins in investment, in my opinion Wall Street today is more about gambling than investing.
I didn't know about Slow Money, thanks for the tip. I've been trying to invest more locally and get involved in microfinancing. Microplace.com is a site where you can invest money (as little as $20) and it is used for small businesses(in US and abroad). Calvert Foundation issues most of the notes(like Certificates of Deposit). They're a great organization. I've also contacted local banks----we have a great one in Portland, Albina Community Bank---about where they invest their money. All local and mostly small businesses. It takes more work, but we can keep the money local, or at least going to people who actually use it.