Allyson Lowbridge, Chief Customer Officer and resident B Keeper at Australian Ethical Investment, finds that the Champions Retreat and Australian Ethical’s new brand campaign have much in common. We are really excited to have Australian Ethical Investment come on board as a Major Partner of Champions Retreat!
Watch an Ode to Change here www.australianethical.com.au/mymoneymatters
As we count down the weeks to the Champions Retreat following a summer of devastating bushfires and flooding, what has become clear is that the world needs the B Corp movement now more than ever.
Many of us B Corps are responding to the climate emergency already by putting our values and our vision for a better world into action. But now it’s time to harness our power – our collective power – by convening, conversing and working together to show the world what’s possible.
This notion of collective power is at the heart of Australian Ethical’s current brand campaign. An Ode to Change calls on all Australians to act together and make their money matter in response to the climate emergency. In our campaign we ask:
“What do these lands mean to you?
“Will your children, like my children grow here too?
“They have a birthright to a healthy planet, so there’s some things we need to do.”
Make our futures one
At the dawn of 2020, I look back and realise that the 2010s were a lost decade for climate change. In Australia – and indeed globally – governments failed to take decisive and strong action to reduce our emissions.
However, the urgent and necessary needs of our planet cannot be addressed by one government or one sector alone. We can all help to influence positive social and environmental change by being responsible for our own choices.
That responsibility – that power – is in every single one of us as individuals and in everything we say, everything we buy and everything we invest in.
What if we used our money, our power, for the better?
Our money matters. It’s as simple as that. If we look at some of the biggest changes that have happened in
history, they were started by people who used their money – their power – to force change.
The divestment movement ended apartheid; boycotts abolished the transatlantic slave trade.
And now is the time to use the power of money to drive climate action.
One of the most impactful things we can do for climate action is invest our money ethically. Imagine if we all moved our money away from fossil fuels and supported the transition to a sustainable economy. Imagine the change that would follow. Because ethical investing is about so much more than just avoiding unethical industries. It’s about investing in a liveable, equitable future for everyone.
What if this land can heal with us?
This summer we all faced the tragedy of extreme weather. A perfect storm of drought and hot weather exacerbated the unprecedented bushfires that gripped Australia and the rest of the world. We watched in horror as residents and holiday-makers took refuge on a beach as the flames licked the edges of the sand; despaired at the deaths of more than one billion animals and opened our homes, our hearts and our wallets to help those impacted.
And yet our collective response – as everyday Australians coming together to protect what we love – proves that collective power is a force to be reckoned with. Can this be what heals the planet for future generations?
The Champions Retreat pulls us together from our different industries, our different businesses and our different geographies so we can immerse ourselves in a community of changemakers. Let’s make sure we use it to harness our collective power to drive the changes necessary to create a world that serves our collective humanity and the earth we all share.
Because after all, this air, this water and this land… it’s all we have.
