Sustainable banking. An idea whose time has come?

At Triodos Bank, our mission is to make money work for positive social, environmental and cultural change.

And we take a simple approach to achieving that. We only lend our savers’ deposits to organisations actively doing good – like fair trade businesses or renewable energy companies. And we regularly publish details of all the loans we make, so our savers know exactly how we’re using their money.

As a result, our business has grown consistently over the last 25 years, as we have built lasting relationships based on trust and transparency with both savers and borrowers.

Today, Triodos is as solid and stable as ever. Our solvency and capital base are strong. We have good liquidity, because we only lend “real” money entrusted to us by our savers, so there’s no need for us to borrow from other banks. And, because we only invest in people and businesses we believe in and really understand, we have high quality assets.

Some might think our approach to banking old-fashioned. We believe it’s the future.

And we’d like to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of individuals and organisations who have shown they share that belief, by choosing to bank with us.

If you think you might like to join them, we’d be very happy to hear from you.

Visit us now at www.triodos.co.uk or call free on 0500 008 720.

Triodos Bank NV (incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands with limited liability, registered in England and Wales BR3012). Registered Office: Brunel House, 11 The Promenade, Bristol BS8 3NN.

Know where your money goes new Internationalist DECEMBER Issue 418

Contents

Told ye so! There, I said it – but for those of us long sceptical of corporate power and the money machine, it’s hard to resist the temptation. As stock markets tumble, banks plead for public bailout and predictions of a gloomy future cloud the neoliberal sky, we’re no longer prophets in the wilderness. And as usual, the real losers will not be those ‘who can’t afford to fail’ but those for whom failure has been preordained from birth. This issue deals with the series of crises that have hit so hard this year. The first part concentrates on the hunger crisis provoked by escalating food prices. This is followed by a special section dealing with the debt and credit situation that has plunged the world into the most serious economic downturn since the ‘Dirty Thirties’. In both parts we take an initial stab at what alternatives based on a fairer future might look like, and how to seize this vital moment. Over the years, the NI has spilt a lot of ink drawing out the common strands of experience (and often exploitation) that link people in the Global North to those in the Global South. But reality is now providing much more graphic lessons. During the 1980s almost every country in the South experienced a

wrenching debt crisis as they tried to pay off usurious loans from big international banks recycling petrodollars. With the current ‘First World’ debt crisis, the shoe is on the other foot. Homes are being repossessed and job losses are starting to mount across the North. And who is responsible? Those same pesky financial wheelerdealers. So far the North has not experienced the widespread hunger and malnutrition that haunts a billion people – and counting – in the South. But we are facing some pretty hard times. What better point to start making the links of our common humanity, so that we can begin to control capital rather than the other way round. For, in the end, ‘told ye so’ will not build a fairer world.

Richard Swift for the New Internationalist Co-operative

Food crisis

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4 Year of living dangerously Richard Swift on the hard edge of hunger in a year of perpetual crisis. Action – a new diet for the world food system.

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7 Profits in hungry times Agribusiness and industrial farming: 10; farmers and the famished: nil. A report from the campaign group GRAIN.

10 Food last! Across the world, popular protest has demanded adequate food and fair prices. Stephanie Boyd reports from Cuzco in Peru.

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12 We care too... ag-Inc advertorial The NI gives big agribusiness its say.

Financial crisis

23 The road to meltdown How did we get here? David Ransom takes a global – and historical – look.

25 Clean start – creating a fair global economy Out of the ashes of the crash, how are we to create a fairer future? New Internationalist asks leading experts from around the world to focus

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14 Meat’s too expensive Chris Brazier makes the case for a green and fair diet.

16 FOOD CRIsIs – THe FaCTs

18 Peak soil David R Montgomery on the one thing we can’t afford to run out of.

20 selling out the farm Ray Burley is caught in the cost/price squeeze.

21 Fusion time A new way not only to cook but to organize the whole food economy – Wayne Roberts stirs the pot.

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on specific areas and propose practical action for change.

30 an historic opportunity for transformation Late-night meetings between Asian and European social movements produced the beginnings of a manifesto for change – the 'Beijing Declaration'.

RegulaR FeaTuRes 2 Letters Giving motorists a bad press; recycling shit; animal testing. PLUS: Letter from Cairo – in the damp, dark winter, Maria Golia finds cold comfort in a pharmacy queue.

32 Southern Exposure Photographer Ernesto Fernandez recalls the dawn of a new age as Cuba celebrates the 50th anniversary of its revolution.

33 Making Waves More than just a boardgame, according to its makers, Andy Sheerin and Andy Tompkins, the War on Terror challenges the terrorism taboo.

34 Mixed Media Three outstanding films, including the 5-star Baader Meinhof Complex; haunting music from Armenia and Greece; Mark Thomas belches out the Coca-Cola devil while John le Carré’s latest novel skewers the deserving.

36 Big Bad World Polyp on female beauty and male laughter. PLUS: NI Prize Crossword

Front cover and magazine design: Andrew Kokotka.

All monetary values are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise noted.