I have Working Assets for my long-distance service. The rate is great, you provide educational information on all manner of topics, have great customer service, and give a portion of your fees to charity. What is it that you are doing differently than other companies that allows you to spend money on social justice and still provide a quality product? -- Heidi Hunt, Topeka, Kan.
Michael Kieschnick, president of Working Assets.
By doing what we started the company to do -- bring like-minded folks together to achieve social goals with a human touch -- we have great customers! And these customers tend to pay their bills, commit less fraud, and stay longer than the customers of many of our giant competitors. It is really a virtuous circle -- by making donations and supporting activists we are able to provide excellent service and stay in business.
What is Working Assets doing to influence or pressure its credit card provider, Bank of America, to divest in coal companies like Arch Coal and Massey Energy that are devastating the environment and peoples of Appalachia through mountaintop-removal mining? Have you considered changing credit card providers to a company that is in line with the Working Assets mission and philosophy so your customers do not have to fund mountaintop removal and dirty coal every time they use their Working Assets credit card? -- Mark Smith, Willowick, Ohio
Unfortunately, we've never come across a credit card provider that is in line with the Working Assets mission and philosophy. There are some individuals who choose to eschew corporate influences and live off the grid. But for the rest of us, we offer credit cards and wireless phone alternatives to help consumers mitigate some of the negative implications of their transactions. We believe that the $50 million we've raised makes it worthwhile to swim in the stream of American commerce, but we have no illusions that it's free of pollution.
That said, one of our major activism initiatives this year is to prevent the construction of all new coal-fired power plants. We are working with a broad coalition on this effort, including Rainforest Action Network's Dirty Money campaign, which calls on banks to stop investment in new coal plants. Just like when we advocated against the bad bankruptcy bill rewrite, which the credit card companies pushed through, we won't let our business relationships color our positions or philanthropy.
Given your passion for the environment, have you been able to integrate eco-practices into the daily business of running Working Assets? If so, what are those initiatives? -- Josie Scanlon, San Francisco, Calif.
Perhaps the most important attribute about our internal operations is that we are the only tree-positive company around. Not only do we use recycled paper -- primarily post-consumer recycled paper -- we go well beyond that and estimate how many trees we need to plant as if we were recycling nothing. We started this after reading a challenge many years ago by Paul Hawken to companies that use paper to start planting trees. Since then, we have donated over $700,000 to wonderful nonprofits that plant trees around the world.
While big business is quickly becoming an integral part of the solution to global climate change, I fear that even if we reduced carbon emissions by, say, 80 percent by 2050, we still might see significant economic inequalities in our society. How can we ensure that the greening of our economy doesn't only solve environmental problems and neglect the social divide we already see in the environmental movement? -- Emily Wheeler, Middlebury, Vt.
By your location and your discussion of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent, I wonder if you were involved in creating Step It Up? If so, many thanks. Working Assets was an active participant and organized one of the largest Step It Up events in which we picketed the local Hummer dealership. After a dare by a fellow employee, I went dressed as a polar bear.
Most social movements face tensions over class and economic inequality, and the environmental movement is no exception. We try to support great nonprofits that explicitly tackle this tension -- in recent years, we have backed the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (with a big focus on creating green jobs in urban areas) and the Apollo Alliance, which is bringing together labor unions and environmental groups over a shared agenda to create well-paying jobs in the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy. We have also been an early and frequent supporter of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, founded by activist Lois Gibbs.
Given the health risks posed by cellular towers, how do you justify your company's aggressive marketing of cell phone service? -- Ayn Lowry, Berkeley, Calif.
Definitive data on cell phone towers and health risks does not yet exist; scientific research in this field is ongoing, and my hope is that by the time the scientific community reaches consensus, the government agencies charged with protecting our health are run by true public servants, not industry shills. The donations and activism generated by our wireless and credit card customers are aimed at achieving exactly that result. As realists, we recognize that cell phones are here to stay. Our data show that customers who sign up for Working Assets Wireless are simply making a choice among carriers; they're not deciding to use a cell phone where they otherwise would not. When they use Working Assets instead of AT&T or Verizon, their donations and activism empower American consumers to challenge the decisions of big business and advocate for stronger health-related regulation of all industries. We will welcome regulation to protect health; in fact, we recently resigned from the mobile-phone-carrier industry group because we objected to their anti-consumer positions.
What has been your most effective stance in convincing corporations that a greener way of doing things is smart business? -- Ken Billings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
It has been a long slow road in convincing other companies that it makes business sense to operate in an environmentally thoughtful manner. Honestly, when we started the company in 1985, we were hopeful change would come far more quickly than it has. We try to serve as an example to other companies that it is possible to thrive as a business precisely because of our environmental values. We also have found it helpful to be an active participant in social networking groups such as the Social Venture Network, where entrepreneurs can come together and challenge each other to find better ways to be in business. Perhaps the most enjoyable is teaching -- both Laura Scher (our chair and CEO) and I teach courses each year at Stanford University on social entrepreneurship. I am confident that in the coming decades, some of our students will emerge as the next generation of business change agents.
What do you mean by preparing seminarians for social-change work? Are you suggesting they step out of the pulpit and into the streets? -- Beth Thornton, Santa Barbara, Calif.
The Beatitudes were literally blessings -- blessings of good things such as peacemaking -- as opposed to the negatives of the Ten Commandments. The Beatitudes Society is dedicated to supporting students at seminaries and divinity schools who wish to take on the hard task of leading a life committed to social and environmental change. Religious leaders have unparalleled credibility, and we indeed are training students to fulfill positions of leadership.
We must do something to help the people who suffered so greatly from Hurricane Katrina. I believe that Working Assets could or should put a temporary hold on the 50 projects/organizations that they give to, or maybe lower the percentile to 10 percent of all donations, and give the remaining money to specific organizations that are trying to help communities affected by Katrina. Would you be up for a major campaign like that? If so, when? If not, why not? -- Julie du Bois, West Hills, Calif.
The failure of our country to seriously address the ongoing needs of those devastated by Katrina is a moral stain on the nation. We have not done what you have asked, though we have done a lot. In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, we helped organize flights for refugees to temporarily leave the area for prearranged shelter, and sent staff to Houston where we worked to break through the bureaucratic obstacles. We have worked extremely closely with our ally ACORN, which is headquartered in New Orleans, not only raising money through special appeals but focusing with them on citizen actions to push Bush, Congress, and other decision-makers to follow through on their promises.
On a personal note, my wife has led several groups to do reconstruction work, and is a fierce advocate for maintaining a focus on the Gulf Coast. But heartbreaking as it is, too many other critical organizations depend on us for funding and activism to simply set them aside. There is nothing harder than making choices about our limited money when there is so much at stake. But that is one reason why we are committed to growing our wireless business, so we can increase our support for essential needs.
A video interview with Bill Moyers
The Yes Men reveal their next big stunt
A video interview with the Yes Men
Comments
View as Flat