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Sophia Pinto Thomas's avatar

Thank you for another great, comprehensive piece about all this crazy shit.... and YES for line breaks where we have to sit with this information!! Society- and ecology-destroying powers that be are so ubiquitous, we hardly consider it abnormal at this point. it's terrifying. so we have to read and (re)learn and meditate on everything around us. You clearly incorporated those values into this piece so thank you -- now I know more!!

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Casey Albarran's avatar

It sucks because all these companies have the resources to make banking, shopping, etc so convenient, but it’s not difficult to make these small switches, and the more of us that make the changes the more it will affect these investments.

Thanks for pointing out the bad players and providing options for solutions.

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Spencer R. Scott's avatar

Yeah it's been a bit difficult to find banking solutions at the individual level that can match the quality of service of the big banks. I think thats why it's important to ladder this up to the company level because certain climate banks like Amalgamated work well for companies, but when we tried them for personal finance, they lacked some very crucial tools. But the more we support them the better they'll get!

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Casey Albarran's avatar

Yess. I have Atmos but it’s lacking in several ways, but love the idea. Currently using their savings, and donating at least $1 a month to one of their donation partners unlocks a higher savings rate.

I tried micro investing in solar and renewable companies thru the stock market but it’s very risky.. a lot of them haven’t done well lately.

This stack inspired me to (micro)invest in an ESG ETF. I use Cash App for my casual investments (they are unlikely to have a perfect track record but probably less invested in oil and war than big banks) and the only ticker I could find was iShares ESG aware ETF available on the platform.

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Spencer R. Scott's avatar

You might want to check out As You Sow's Clean 200 list of companies that are rated for several climate and social indicators (https://www.asyousow.org/report-page/2022-clean200-investing-in-a-clean-energy-future). I don't know about short term investing, but As You Sow also has info on their highest rated ETFs https://fossilfreefunds.org/funds?dsc=false&srt=c2f5coogutweight

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Ian Carver's avatar

Hi! This post inspired me to look more into climate banking options - I found this comparison site helpful and thought others might as well. https://mightydeposits.com/

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Shanti's avatar

After a YouTube challenge last year (lol) I did a bunch of shifting banks and financial providers, although the process is a bit different. I'm really lucky that there is a major bank here that is completely fossil fuel free, including in its investments!

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