Sponsored by: Love Mikana and The Good Capitalist

Local vendors include:

• • Adesso
• • Plum Goods
• • Betty Belts
• • Goodland Kitchen
• • Salty Dog Publishing

Grab a glass of wine, shop local and support all that makes Santa Barbara so sweet.

When: Wednesday, December 12th, 5-8pm

Where: Pali Wine Company, 116 East Yanonali St, Santa Barbara

What: Holiday Pop-Up Shop for good. | Wines by Pali Wine Company | Food by Goodland Kitchen

Happy Holidays and we will see you there!

RSVP on Facebook at on.fb.me/holidaysforgood

Sponsored by: Oreana Winery, Youth Interactive, DNA Imagery

* Hear inspiring stories from tech entrepreneurs making a difference.

* Check out the brand new Youth Interactive center for technology, entrepreneurship, and the arts.

* Mingle with local social entrepreneurs and do-gooders.

* Learn about electronics recycling and conflict free electronics campaigns from local organizations.

* Shop in our pop-up shop where you can purchase technology for humanity.

* Drink wines for Oreana *
(All proceeds from wine sales will go to Youth Interactive programs.)

Speakers include:

Shivani Siroya
Founder – InVenture
InVenture’s new product InSight helps low income individuals and business owners do daily accounting and financial tracking so that they can better manage their money.
www.inventure.org

Mike Colosimo
Co-founder- THRDPlace
ThrdPlace is a web and mobile platform that enables you to crowdsource and manage community action. Funds, supplies, people… they can help.
www.thrdplace.com

Dawn O’Bar
Vice President – Unite to Light
Unite to Light is a not for profit 501 (c) (3) corporation dedicated to providing low cost lighting to those without electricity, and eliminating the health and environmental issues associated with existing light sources used by this population, such as kerosene.
www.unite-to-light.org

Tabling guests:

- Nation Builder – www.nationbuilder.com
- Less Is More – www.lessismore.org
- The Truth Told – www.thetruthtold.org

Located:
Youth Interactive Center
209 Anacapa St.
Santa Barbara, CA, 93101

About Youth Interactive:
Youth Interactive is an after-school program for students of all ages focused on teaching Technology, Entrepreneurship and The Arts.

* Hear inspiring stories from globetrotting surf entrepreneurs making a difference.
* Mingle with local social entrepreneurs and do-gooders.
* Browse goods in our pop-up shop where every purchase makes a difference.
* Learn about environmental campaigns from your local Surfrider Foundation chapters.

Speakers include:

Alec Avedissian
Founder, Rareform – Upcycled surf merch

Jason Moriarty
Founder, Harvest Blue – Surf apparel that gives back

Jack Ucciferri
Board member, Project WOO – Sustainable surf tourism in Nicaragua

Sean Brody
Founder, Kwepunha Retreat – Community development through surf tourism in Liberia

Kevin Whilden
Co-Founder, Sustainable Surf – Greening the surf industry

Tabling guests:

Surfrider Foundation, Santa Barbara
Surfrider Foundation, Ventura
 

Why Surfing?

The Santa Barbara beach culture is a lifestyle that has people from all over the world captivated. And in this beach town, if there are waves, there are surfers! Surfing has a long-lived history here that is echoed throughout every part of our beach-loving community.

The Problem

Surfing, like many other industries, have seen the industrialization of the lifestyle have negative effects on the very heart and soul of the sport; humanity and the ocean. Surf merchandise and world travel bring to light not only the complications of an environmentally conscious surfer, but also the complexities which we all face as global consumers.

The Solution

Join us as we celebrate and hear stories from surf entrepreneurs that are striving to bring surfing back to its roots, as being a culture that actively promotes good stewardship to the environment and humanity.

Rareform
http://www.rareform.com/

Kwepunha Surf Retreat
http://www.kwepunha.com/

Harvest Blue
http://www.harvestblue.com/

Project Woo
http://www.projectwoo.org/

Sustainable Surf
http://www.sustainablesurf.org/

Surfrider Santa Barbara
http://santabarbara.surfrider.org/

Surfrider Ventura
http://ventura.surfrider.org/

Here’s the thing…students are from different backgrounds and majors, so a marketing student and a young engineer are not really looking for the same thing. In other words, there is no simple way to answer the question–it takes each student to start looking around at all the opportunities out there and find what speaks to them. I thought it would be really useful to pull together the best ‘jumping off points’ to the opportunities that are out there for students. Whether it’s a fellowship, first job, summer internship, volunteer project, or a class, there are many ways to dive in to social enterprise.

Find your Calling

There is one big step to take before diving into the hunt for opportunities. Know thyself. Ask yourself some important questions and discover what you are truly passionate about first, and get an overview of the process:

How To Find a Job with Social Impact
http://netimpact.org/do-good-work/job-search-steps

5 Lessons For Becoming a Social Justice Entrepreneur
http://www.care2.com/causes/5-lessons-for-becoming-a-social-justice-entrepreneur.html

Volunteer

This is also stated in the article linked above, but I want to emphasize it again. Once you know what issue you are passionate about, spend some time, either locally, nationally, or abroad, volunteering with an NGO that works on that issue. Even if you know what you’re passionate about, there’s nothing like getting out there and experiencing it for yourself. That experience becomes part of your story, and gives you a leg up when applying for internships and jobs.

Volunteer Match
http://www.volunteermatch.org/

Idealist.org
http://www.idealist.org

Serve.gov
http://www.serve.gov/

Get an Internship

Internships are the stepping-stones to getting the career you want. Often times internships are very competitive, so it’s important to build your experience locally, in school, or through volunteering to set yourself a good chance of landing one. Here are three great places to look for internships with companies and non-profits that do good.

Charity Village
http://www.charityvillage.com

Idealist.org
http://www.idealist.org

Internships.com
http://www.internships.com

Uloop
http://www.jobs.uloop.com

Get a Fellowhsip

Fellowships are an amazing opportunity to put your passion and ideas into practice around social innovation.

Echoing Green – Fellowship Listings
http://www.echoinggreen.org/work-on-purpose/resources-results/13

Get a Job

This one can be trickier. Start by finding the companies or nonprofits you really want to work for, and start tracking their blogs and websites to catch any job openings. In addition, Echoing Green has a great blog series called Social Impact Jobs that collects many of the best opportunities.

GiveToGet Jobs
http://www.givetogetjobs.com/

NetImpact Job Board
http://netimpact.org/do-good-work/job-board

Idealist
http://www.idealist.org/

Echoing Green – Job Site Listings
http://www.echoinggreen.org/work-on-purpose/resources-results/8

Echoing Green – Social Impact Jobs
http://www.echoinggreen.org/tags/social-impact-jobs

—

These are just a few of many places online to find opportunities for a life and career with purpose. If you have any other tips, suggestions for places to looks, or other ideas, leave a comment!

Well, apparently 16 billion ways, for starters. In the U.S., we spend $16 billion on Valentine’s Day gifts.

Wow, we really do love thee… a lot! Since consumer spending is a big part of how we currently choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day, we would, ahem, love, to tell you how to harness that consumer power in order to make choices that take the environment, labor conditions, and other practices into consideration.

FLOWERS

Photo courtesty of: Pink Sherbet

Stop to smell the roses, just check for labels while you are at it.

Valentine’s Day is a big-time holiday for the flower industry – $1.7 billion big – for just this one day. Some of the concerns around the production of flowers include the damage to the health of the workers and the land due to heavy use of toxic pesticides, the carbon footprint of exporting flowers (80% of roses sold for V-day are from South America), and  the forced labor and child labor conditions that exist in the industry.

If you are lucky like we are in Southern California, you can buy flowers locally but nationwide you can look for labels when you shop for flowers to ensure that certain conditions are being met to protect the people and land involved in the production of flowers.

Here is a helpful summary we found on WholeLiving.com:

Fair Trade Certified
This label means the flowers come from sustainable farms that provide fair wages and safe, clean conditions for workers and also help fund community development projects.

USDA Organic Certified
No synthetic pesticides or fertilizers are used at any time during the growing process.

Veriflora
A third party (Scientific Certification Systems) has determined that both the workers and the natural resources are protected during production.

Rainforest Alliance Certified
The green frog seal means that the farm follows Sustainable Agriculture Network standards for limiting pesticides and providing access to health care and education to workers and their families.

If consumers are diligent in seeking out flowers with these labels, more producers will have to ensure that their practices meet these standards.

CHOCOLATE

Photo courtesty of: Carol Browne

What melts in your mouth and also enslaves 200, 000 children in West Africa?

If you guessed, chocolate, you are right. If you guessed popsicles, nice try but we are actually talking about chocolate.  This daily decadence also gets a big boon from Valentine’s Day consumption; we spend $350 million on chocolate treats for this holiday.

Since about 75% of cocoa comes from West Africa it is important to know that there is a serious issue of forced child labor on cacao farms in Ghana and Ivory Coast. This issue got world wide attention in 2001 with the release of the report titled A Taste of Slavery – How Your Chocolate May Be Tainted.  Still, the actions taken by leaders in the chocolate manufacturing industry were insufficient – amounting to a “pledge” to end forced child labor by 2005. Well, it is 2012 and child slavery is still a major issue in many industries and is still very prevalent in cacao farming.

That is just a taste of why it is important to buy chocolate that is linked to cocoa comes from farmer co-operatives and fair trade sources.

In Santa Barbara, we have a wonderful chocolate shop, Chocolate Maya, where you can buy fair trade, organic, and farmer co-operative sourced chocolate.

Or check out the Grenada Chocolate Company – a wonderful group that we just discovered after watching the documentary, Nothing Like Chocolate.

JEWELRY

Photo courtesty of: Jeff Belmonte

 
So you want to buy a little bling?

Well, you are not alone – we spend $3.5 billion on jewelry for Valentine’s Day. While “conflict free” has become a more well known term in the last few years, especially among brides-to-be, it is not just diamond mining that is conflict ridden. Many minerals, like gold and silver also come from mines in Central America and Africa where safe conditions for workers and environmental protections are not part of the business model.

Let’s look at gold mining. According to the New York Times, it takes 30 tons of rock to create one ounce of gold. Also, in the mining industry, cyanide is the poison of choice used to separate the gold from the rock. This is, of course, toxic for the workers, the land, and the water supply (where run off from mines often end up, if not deliberately dumped there).

The good news is that there are other options when shopping for jewelry for that special someone. There are designations of “conflict free gold” but look for recycled materials when buying gold and silver (and other mine-sourced metals). Or, choose jewelry that is made from other materials like recycled paper or recycled glass.

Once again, here in Santa Barbara we have a great store, Plum Goods, that offers ethically sourced and locally made jewelry options (as well as other unique Valentine’s Day gifts).

Another option is the bright and beautiful paper-bead jewelry from Bead for Life.  Not only are their offerings eye-catching, your purchase helps to support economic development programs for women in Uganda.

In the lead up to our Valentines for Good event and in the weeks following, our goal has been to give you reasons and options to make conscious consumption choices. However, we also want to balance that with the reminder that thoughtful gestures, kind words, or a home-cooked meal are also excellent ways of participating in this splendid but consumer co-opted holiday.

Cheers!

If you came to our recent event ‘Valentines For Good‘, you saw that we want to be part of putting some real meaning and good back into gift buying on Valentine’s Day, so we’ve put together this guide to some unique and surprising Valentine’s Day gifts that also help make the world a better place. This year, let’s make Valentine’s Day about real love and generosity.

1. PACT Hearts Underwear

PACT is an awesome underwear brand that makes beautifully designed and sustainable undergarments that also make a positive impact in the world by donating a portion of each sale to charitable causes. For Valentine’s Day, PACT created the Share The Love line of underwear, t-shirts, and socks, with each sale supporting Citizen Effect, a charity that supports community projects in Uganda, India, and the USA. Check out their offerings at online or at a local retailer
www.wearpact.com

2. The Giving Keys

We came across this wonderful story of doing good and wanted to share it with you. The Giving Keys creator Caitlin Crosby works with the homeless community in Los Angeles to craft these unique key necklaces with inspirational sayings. www.thegivingkeys.com

3. Sir Richards Condoms

So if you get lucky this Valentine’s Day, or just decide to ‘celebrate’, here’s a way to do it that’s both safe and does good. Sir Richard’s is not only  made from natural latex and has a sleek design, for every condom you buy, they donate a condom to someone in need in the developing world. http://sirrichards.com    

4. Sevenly T-Shirt We’re big fans of Sevenly and the awesome online platform they’ve created to make a positive impact by creating a uniquely designed fair-trade t-shirt each week that support different charity causes. Each t-shirt is only available for seven days. This week, they’ve got an awesome shirt for Valentine’s Day that puts some meaning back into the holiday. For $22, you get the shirt and give 35 meals to children in Darfur. www.sevenly.org

5. The FEED Love (RED) Bag

FEED is already an amazing brand of bags and other accessories that provides meals to those suffering from hunger around the world with every purchase. Now they’ve teamed with (RED) to do even more. The purchase of this bag provides about 30 days of medication and treatment for women suffering for HIV/AIDS through the Global Fund and 30 nutritious school meals through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), thus providing one month of life-saving assistance. http://www.feedprojects.com

6. The Prosperity Candle

Set the mood and do something good for women around the world at the same time. Each Prosperity Candle is handmade by women artisans from countries like Uganda, Burma, and the USA, and purchases support their communities and the mission of empowering women by investing in women led businesses. http://www.prosperitycandle.com

7. Name – A – Roach

There’s no better way to say  “I Love You” than being able to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after the one you love. Yup. The Bronx Zoo is offering lovers an alternative gift for Valentine’s Day, allowing people to name one of the 58,000 of these hissing cockroaches for only $10. If you want to do something even more special, for $20 you can name a cockroach and get a cockroach shaped artesian chocolate from The Chocolate Box NYC, a luxury chocolate maker. In either case,  don’t worry, your lover will feel good about this! Make sure to tell them that the proceeds go to help preserve species and wildlife in Madagascar. www.bronxzoo.com
 

 
— Have any ideas or suggestions for other great gifts for Valentine’s Day that give back? Post a comment and let us know!

In the US, we consumed about 3.6 billion pounds of chocolate in 2010. We spent about 18 million dollars on chocolate confections and that number has continued to grow, despite the economic downturn. Those figures represent a lot of consumer power. If we choose wisely with our dollars, we strengthen efforts to increase the use of sustainable farming and fair labor practices and the number of fair trade farmer cooperatives within the cacao farming and chocolate manufacturing industries.

So, when buying chocolates for your loved one this Valentine’s Day, make choices that support good capitalism. If you happen to live in our great town, you can make a wise and delicious choice by visiting Chocolate Maya.

This charming chocolate oasis, run by proprietor Maya Schoop-Rutten, provides locals and visitors with the opportunity to indulge in a little sweetness (ok, sometimes more than a little) while supporting fair-trade and organic products.

In addition to offering fair-trade and organic packaged chocolates, Maya is a chocolate artisan and handcrafts her own truffles and hand-dipped confections. She travels to cacao plantations all over the world in order to meet the growers and ensure that labor conditions are fair and farming practices are sustainable. To top it all off, her handmade delights are packaged up using environmentally friendly materials.

Maya shared her wonderful chocolates and stories about her sweet adventures at our Valentines For Good event last Thursday from 6pm – 9pm at Reds Bar and Tapas.

Make sure to check out her shop at 15 W. Gutierrez St in Santa Barbara!

We know there are a lot more people out there that would be excited to tell their stories and be inspired to hear others tell theirs. And frankly, we didn’t want to give up the cocktails. (We all like to have fun too!)

We are a small team, we do what we do because it is something we are inspired by and passionate about. (Yes, we all have other jobs.) We recognize that world is changing rapidly. Business models are being re-thought. What were unlikely partnerships between not-for-profits and the corporate world are now like-minded organizations partnering to achieve great things beyond the bottom line.

We’re stuck on an idea: we are creating a venue to bring our community together and to redefine business and organizations and inspire individuals so that each becomes a powerful force for social change. It is one small step towards making our community a better place to be. This might make us fanatics, but it can’t be helped. We love what we do.

The Good Capitalist is a community of individuals, businesses and nonprofits sharing and connecting what works.

• Create change through communication and sharing.
• Connect GOOD in our community.
• Tell stories that inspire change and create actions.

Want to get involved? Drop us a line at thegoodcapitalist@gmail.com!

Farmers West Flowers & Bouquets CEO Wilja Happé

We do love flowers. We recently attended an event where a nice fellow was handing out single stems of brightly colored daisies he had just purchased from the farmers’ market. That simple long stem with a burst of pink on the end made us smile not just in the moment but for a whole week.

With Valentine’s Day coming up in a few weeks, flowers are on our mind again. In fact, we Americans spend an average of $70 every year on flowers for Valentine’s Day. But almost all of the flowers we buy are grown overseas on farms that follow questionable labor practices and unsustainable and polluting environmental practices.

As socially conscious consumers, this presents a dilemma: Should we forgo flowers altogether, or is there another way?

Well it just so happens that right in our backyard are a number of local flower farms that are doing things the right way, sustainably and socially responsible.  When we buy flowers that are California grown, sustainable, and environmentally friendly, we’re putting money back into our local economy while doing something good for the people and planet.

So at our Valentines for Good event this week, we’ve invited Wilja Happé, the founder of Farmers West Flowers and Bouquets, a socially and environmentally responsible local grower, to share the story of how her company does good. 

Wilja’s company, which was founded in 1990, is located in Carpinteria, CA. This great little city (Santa Barbara’s neighbor to the South) is a hub for commercial flower growing. Wilja has created a thriving business and from its inception, her company has employed sustainable agriculture and fair labor practices.

But their commitment to giving back extends beyond the boundaries of the farm. As we learned recently, Wilja has used her skills and ability in flower growing to help make a difference in Africa.

Since 2008, Wilja has traveled to Rwanda to work with the non-profit group Solace to help build Solace Farms, a community garden and flower farm that provides HIV-positive women, genocide survivors and orphans a way to become economically self-sufficient and support their families. 

(courtesy Farmers West Flowers & Bouquets)

Come learn more from Wilja about her company and the project in Rwanda at our Valentines for Good event – this Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 6:00pm at Reds Bar and Tapas.