Public demand for clean energy is growing rapidly, but because clean energy products typically require a large upfront cost, there is a growing need for affordable financing. That’s why a passionate group of volunteers started Clean Energy Credit Union, a new financial institution that focuses solely on providing loans that help people afford clean energy products and services such as solar electric systems, electric vehicles, geothermal heat pumps, electric bicycles, high efficiency HVAC systems, and other green home improvements.
The slow dissolution of one way of life has left many folks in rural places like Grayson County, Virginia feeling forgotten and displaced. Member Charlotte Hanes says we need to support some of the hardest working people our great country has ever produced: the people who feed us. And a good way to do this is to empower women.
The ecological and economic crises facing us are not an accident, nor are they inevitable, says Rachel’s Network Advisor L. Hunter Lovins. Her organization, Natural Capitalism Solutions, is convening an international team of business people, thought leaders, scholars, investors and activists to craft a new narrative and strategy for an economy that works for 100 percent of humanity.
Marissa Brown, Executive Director for the Democracy Initiative, joined members of Rachel’s Network to talk about her work to combat money’s influence on government. We asked Marissa to elaborate on the movement’s recent victories and how the environmental community and funders can get involved.
People’s thirst for alternatives to our current economic system has propelled Rachel’s Network & Ashoka Fellow Janelle Orsi into the spotlight. Through her nonprofit, the Sustainable Economies Law Center, Janelle’s developing legal infrastructure that supports this new economy. Here’s what she’s been up to over the last year.
