The Weekly - July 30, 2020 - 7

...AND THERE'S MORE CARBONCONSCIOUS BANKING
BANK ON IT

F R O M TO P L E F T: CO U R T E SY BAC K B O N E M E D I A , L AU R E N DA N I L E K , CO U R T E SY R U F F W E A R

Bank of the West
leads the pack of
institutions looking
to be transparent
and fund conservation and climate
change action.
The way Ben Stuart,
chief marketing officer at Bank of the
West, explains it,
your bank should be
like your breakfast
cereal. "You pick
up the box and you
can read exactly
what's inside," he
says. "But for every
dollar a consumer
deposits in a bank,
90 cents goes back
out in world. Most
people would be
shocked to find out
what it gets used
for. That money
can go to finance
fossil fuels, fracking,
coal, arctic drilling,
even tobacco..."
Until now. Bank of
the West is making a concerted
effort to create an
account and debit
card that's not only
transparent, but
also helps create
real change.

The 1% for the
Planet Account lets
consumers give
back to environmental causes and
Protect Our Winters (POW) will be
the first beneficiary:
The bank will donate 1% of net revenue from the new
account to POW at
no cost to the customer. And its tracking tool-created
with Swedish think
tank Doconomy-
gives customers the
ability to add up
the carbon impact
of every purchase
they make with the
100% biodegradable/compostable
card. Plus, there's
no monthly service
charge.
"It's important to
do this right in an
era of greenwashing when all kinds
of companies are
making all kinds
of promises," says
Stuart. "We are not
making promises;
we are executing
policy, and we are
giving individual
consumers a way to
take action."

Fight global climate change and fund
climate-fighting nonprofits with carbonconscious banking.

UNDERNEATH IT ALL

Aspiration, a socially conscious onlineonly bank, has planted a million trees
over the past three months by enabling
customers to round up debit carb purchases to plant carbon-absorbing flora.
Tree planting combats climate change
while also improving soil strength and
preserving animal habitats-which can
also improve water quality. A million trees
absorb 24,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, offsetting one car per household
in Atlanta; Tucson, Arizona; or Kansas
City, for a year, while providing oxygen
for 2 million people to breathe.
"Planting a million trees is a big
achievement, but it is just the beginning,"
says Andrei Cherny, Aspiration CEO and
co-founder. "What we've seen during COVID-19 is our customers want to do more
by aligning their money with their values."
Aspiration customers can see their
sustainability score and a score for places
they shop with Aspiration Impact Measurement (AIM), and ensure their deposits don't fund oil drilling or pipelines. They
can also carbon-offset gasoline purchases automatically. -Berne Broudy

Grizel Williams, a Latinx multihyphenate,
can now add podcast host to her many
titles, including mental health therapist, writer, photographer, and nature
lover. The idea for Underneath It All, a
conversation-based series produced by
Ravel Media (She Explores, Women on the
Road), came to Williams as she thru-hiked
the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian
Trail. At the time, she had felt ostracized in
the outdoor community as someone diagnosed with clinical depression. However,
the more she talked with folks outdoors,
the more she realized how many people
turn to nature as a place of refuge and
healing. These stories, she saw, weren't
being widely shared due to pervasive
stigmas. In Underneath It All, Williams
hopes to "tell the stories of the dark valleys of our lives in order to better cherish
the experiences on those mountaintops."
With a deep-dive into everyday people's
experiences with mental health difficulties and the influence of the outdoors, she
hopes to help people better understand
each other and break negative stigmas
along the journey. -Emma Athena

A new podcast tackles mental health and
the influence of the outdoors.

BEST FRIENDS

Limited-edition designs reflect Ruffwear's passion
for conservation-and canine companions.
To generate funds for conservation, Ruffwear has created its Artists' Series of matching dog bowls and human trucker hats featuring art inspired by the company's home state of Oregon. A portion of proceeds from
the series will be donated to nonprofits of the artists'
choice. Sheila Dunn's watercolor rendition of the Alvord
alkaline desert will benefit The Conservation Alliance.
Adam Haynes depicted Mount Bailey, a volcano north of
Crater Lake, and chose to support Protect Our Winters.
Christina McKeown used watercolors to capture Sparks
Lake and will direct funds to American Whitewater. -EA

OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2020 / THE WEEKLY 7

https://www.bankofthewest.com/ https://www.aspiration.com/ https://underneath-it-all.simplecast.com/ https://ruffwear.com/

The Weekly - July 30, 2020

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