Triodos Bank Annual Meeting Tackles Food Security
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 04.28.08
Image courtesy of Flourish.
Whenever we’ve discussed Triodos Bank, the European sustainability-oriented savings bank with branches in the UK, Spain, The Netherlands and Belgium, we’ve always been impressed at the number of customers who attend their annual meetings. In many ways it’s no surprise though, as these events are far from the usual dry run-through of the organization’s finances – last year’s event included an organic lunch and a chance to hear speakers explore the thorny but fascinating topic of ‘ethical consumption.’ We’re bringing news of this year’s event a little late for anyone to actually attend (it was held on Saturday), but it is still worth noting for the sheer relevance of the topics that were due to be discussed:
“The theme for this year's meeting is food, and how we meet the challenges of producing enough without damaging the planet we depend on. And you’ll get a chance to discover more about how Triodos has become the UK’s organic bank. Speakers include Rob Hopkins – co-founder of the Transition Towns movement, a network of communities responding to the challenge of climate change [Author’s note: See our interview with Rob here.]. Rob will explore how people across the country are taking positive steps to deal with our reliance on rapidly diminishing fossil fuels, and what it means to you. Triodos Bank’s UK Managing Director Charles Middleton and CEO Peter Blom will look back at 2007, and share our plans for the future. And you’ll have a chance to hear from some of the people who benefit from Triodos Bank finance, including Brigit Strawbridge from BBC 2’s ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’.”
Add to that a lunch provided by green restaurant pioneers Bordeaux Quay [see our review and interview with chef Barny Haughton] and you have a recipe for a pretty unmissable event – so it’s a shame we missed it. We’d love to hear from anyone who was there on how the day went, and we look forward to a day when all banks are as concerned with safe-guarding our collective future as they are with interest rates and overdraft charges.
::Triodos Bank::via site visit::
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- American Media & the Green Movement: Questions for Readers to Ponder
- How to Go Green: Beers
- The Times Newspaper on Transition Towns & 'Apocalypse Now'
- Lessons in Biomimicry - Part 2 Natural Systems
