Updates from Bank of Nature
Where we are. Where we are going
Hi all:
After an unintentional hiatus from Substack, we’re back. So, a heads up about new content coming over the next few weeks.
This spring/summer, we commissioned original research on our fiduciary litigation strategy. If this is new to you, look for a post forthcoming about fiduciary duty, fiduciary standards law, climate finance and our court challenge, highlighted by a Sept 23 Zoom call with international experts.
This summer/fall, we started a legislative initiative to engage state senators in a review of the fiduciary standards in their governing law. That has begun with one state senator last week, another we hope this week and half of US states in December. This is actually super exciting and look for a forthcoming post about why.
We have further developed our network of associates and collaborators and completed our Arizona State University fellowship.
What does “fiduciary” have to do with something called Bank of Nature? Excellent Q.
Bank of Nature is a vision and environmental philosophy. Yes, nature can be a bank.
Right now, we’re focussed on the “how.” How does Bank of Nature become a bank, with real money and real impact at the scale of climate? We’re building the engine that makes the lights go on. That’s the fiduciary angle, public pensions, fiduciary finance and other unfamiliar ideas in the mainstream that have amazing potential.
What can you do? Another excellent Q.
Get comfortable with lingo like “fiduciary” and fiduciary duty. It’s key.
Read up on our background posts so the next ones make sense.
Tell me what lands, what doesn’t land and what you want more info on. This is a big, new idea that addresses many conventions that we, everyone, take for granted as settled ideas when they really need a reboot/shake up. Making accessible our big, new idea, like Bank of Nature’s engine, is my goal. I need help in making it so. Leave a comment:
Keep an open mind. Notice the power of a stuck status quo to maintain conventions, even if they actually don’t work. Think about the scale required to attend to crisis like climate. Answer this Q: What is the untaken safer alternative to the status quo?
Do you have colleagues in the Divestment movement or ESG? Connect them to us. We have for them new, energizing ideas that they might value.
Do you have a state senator on your rolodex — someone with an interest in climate and writing climate bills and someone without a donor from the oil and gas sector as a conflict? Connect us.
Then, practice a little bit of imaginative future casting with us: If the world was made a lot safer in January 2023, what has happened? It could be anything or anyone — but our #climatehope set point has gone from “unsafe” from issues like climate to “safer.” Leave an idea in the comments, or just leave a comment.
Lastly, donors, foundations, grants and other $$$: We’re actively fundraising to capitalize what I expect will be our breakout year in 2023. Connect us with seed capital, impact money and others who want systemwide change and can finance our Phase 1 roll out.
Regarding this: "This is a big, new idea that addresses many conventions that we, everyone, take for granted as settled ideas when they really need a reboot/shake up." to attend to this: " Making accessible our big, new idea, like Bank of Nature’s engine, is my goal."
I think you need to invest time (a little resourcing even?) to finding the ideal analogy to communicate when in the past we have urgently needed such a reboot to escape a mega dead-end but established idea - the easy ones that come to mind for me are all from biology but will be linked to ideas of evolution/adaptation and so won't go down with the religious right. There must be some idea from human medical history (an old bad treatment now abandoned?) or an institutionalised piece of equipment or method that was widely accepted as good/useful but then rapidly wasn't (examples I first think of like spraying DDT or rubbing joints with DMSO are likely done somewhere and so also don't work). There will be a few good analogies out there that are familiar enough and apt enough to work and they will be the important hook to draw people in. But soooo much care of course has to be taken in finding the right one. ;-)