Wall Street vs. Green Street: Who is Doing Better?
Like every other American, I have been sitting in awe as our mighty financial institutions have vaporized before our eyes. So, I began to wonder: How have green financial groups been doing? I wondered because earlier this year I had interviewed leaders of Portland's "Salmon Nation" banking and investment alliance for my forthcoming book: "The Gort Cloud: The Invisible Force Powering Today's Most Visible Green Brands."
在这个金融企业加入的公司一直在思考。他们不仅试图建立自己的个人金融品牌，而且还建立了一个全新的保护型经济，延伸了一千英里的西北太平洋海岸。在太平洋鲑鱼跑的地区之后，他们已经标记了他们的社区鲑鱼国家。
参与建筑和品牌鲑鱼国家的三个金融组织是生态资源，是一个自我描述的保护组织，促进太平洋西北和鲑鱼国家概念的创造者的自然资本目标;投资组合21，一家与生态目标合作的投资公司;并由芝加哥夏班克公司之间的合作伙伴关系组成的全服务银行，所有这三个人在波特兰的生态公司的自然资本中心大楼邻居，以及所有在鲑鱼国的愿景中的邻居。
In contrast to Wall Street, where profits and investor returns trump all, Salmon Nation is modeled on a broader principal where profits aren't necessarily everything because protecting the health of the planet while ensuring social equality are just as important.
Ecotrust: Dedicated to Economy, Ecology and Social Equality
斯宾塞Beebe于1991年创立了非营利组织生态堡垒，以保护其西北地区的温带雨林，并将经济奖励从所有该地区公民中的可持续发展传播，包括美洲原住民。他是第四代波特兰德，以前花了14年的自然保护，作为该组织的西海岸总监。他还帮助找到了保护国际。
是sustainabi Ecotrust的基本原则lity is best achieved through the development of localized economies. To that end, it funds local and sustainable projects that fall roughly under the headings of food and farms, Native American, fisheries, and forestry.
On Wednesday, I sent Howard Silverman, a writer and analyst for Ecotrust, an email. "How are you guys doing amid this Wall Street mess? Are you singed, immune, engulfed? Please do tell."
Silverman立即回复Beebe的回复。特别是关于鲑鱼国家的总部，Beebe表示，“自然资本中心已满，已经从第一天开始。我们正在获得市场租金，近400万访客，并举办超过2,000人的会议。我们拒绝了一个潜在的租户每1-2周缺乏空间。“坐在波特兰珍珠区的中心地区，自然资本中心是绿色社区的Nexus。它举办农民的市场，零售商店，包括巴塔哥尼亚，会议空间和餐馆。
As mentioned, Ecotrust has focused on building a "conservation economy" based on the principles of economy, ecology and (social) equality -- what Beebe describes as the three Es. In addition to his efforts in the Pacific Northwest, "Ecotrust Australia was launched last week based on careful analysis of Ecotrust and Ecotrust Canada as models for addressing native, community, environmental and economic needs in Australia." Sighting Thomas Friedman's new book “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” Beebe describes the Ecotrust economic communities as "bioregional arks supporting hundreds of Noahs (local leaders) and trying to inspire innovation around a new system-wide approach to conservation and development."
In 2004 Beebe repurposed the phrase Salmon Nation from a book Ecotrust published in 1999. It became a goal-defining phrase linking Ecotrust to the conservation economy theme. The genius in this concept is that the founders created a brand around a goal in which everyone in the Northwest can take ownership. Even those who aren't investors or account holders can take pride in the vision. Try that with Citibank, Merrill Lynch or Oppenheimer Funds, or any other Wall Street firm.
Shorebank Pacific：支持可持续的地方业务
Shorebank Pacific是鲑鱼国家的实施手臂，零售银行提供当地存款人并向当地企业提供贷款。去年春天，我遇到了Shorebank的干手套，Dave Williams。“我的孩子记得我曾经说回收的时候是一个阴谋，将垃圾从垃圾填埋场移动到我们的车库中，”他说。现在想象威廉姆斯，这家财政保守党，在波特兰人民共和国运行绿色银行。
“我理解商业原因”为绿色，威廉姆斯继续。“这是正确的事情。其次，你不能拥有一件业务，你要去哪里，砍下所有的树木，然后自从你收获所有的树木以后关闭磨坊，现在必须等待40年来再开始。它不起作用，然后收获所有的鱼，然后关闭罐装。所以如果您正在寻找可持续性，并且您正在寻找可持续社区，您必须拥有可持续的业务，这意味着竞彩足球app怎么下载你必须以一种环保的方式做事。“
In 1997, Ecotrust and ShoreBank Corp. formed ShoreBank Pacific, opening its doors in a double-wide trailer as "the first commercial bank in the United States with a commitment to environmentally sustainable community development." It's a perfect example of what Ecotrust likes to do -- start and/or support unique businesses with a sustainable framework and spread the Salmon Nation mission.
So how is the bank doing? I asked this as I read that Washington Mutual has just been taken over by federal overseers.
"We, like many community banks, have avoided the mortgage mess, thinking that there are a lot of folks in the mortgage business and we don't need to go there,” Williams says. “Further, since we are privately held and therefore immune from the quarterly forces of tomorrow's earnings, we avoided the developer loans that so many community banks went after to bolster earnings. And we have always felt that buying the securities of the agencies is a mistake that would cause us to incur their risk when it isn't something that we want to incur ourselves. (Nevertheless we) are very concerned about the tariff that we will need to pay to the FDIC to rebuild the reserve fund for the folks who did play these games.
"As a result, we are very strong from a capital and liquidity perspective and are being approached by banks that are in a little worse shape to acquire them."
Beebe sums up the bank's performance: "ShoreBank Corporation has taken in almost $30 million in new capital investors recently verses bailouts on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley converted to bank holding companies last weekend. That is what ShoreBank invested in almost 40 years ago -- using a bank holding company to coordinate the activities of multiple for-profit and nonprofit subsidiaries, with various diverse sources of capital and revenue, all towards the three E mission. ShoreBank is a ‘permanent development institution,’ self funded, growing and profitable: now at $2.5 billion."
因此，避免了东部银行业机构的问题，威廉姆斯在华尔街模特中提供了一个问题，“我们认为将投资银行与商业银行结合起来是一个错误（因为废除了玻璃静止行为而成为可能在克林顿管理局期间）因为该组合允许组合的银行减少借款，因为投资收益涵盖商业成本，“他说。”这为合并的银行提供了仅仅商业银行的重要优势。
“我刚刚指出，如果这些机构举行了一项对社区最适合的标准而不是自己的怀表，那么这都不会是可以过滤的。这些不是可持续的做法，因为我们随后知道和事件已经知道和事件确认的。”
Portfolio 21: Toward Smarter Dinosaurs and Sustainable Local Economies
Portfolio 21 Investments is an investment firm founded by Carsten Henningsen on the principle of socially and environmentally responsible investing. The company's website describes its Portfolio 21 fund as "a global equity mutual fund investing in companies designing ecologically superior products, using renewable energy, and developing efficient production methods." Its goal is to prosper in the twenty-first century by recognizing environmental sustainability as a fundamental human challenge and a tremendous business opportunity.
Portfolio 21 Investments divides its holdings into three categories, what Henningsen describes as dinosaurs, smarter dinosaurs, and those companies that are building themselves on a local-economy model.
Henningsen说，丹麦的Vestas风系统是甜甜圈恐龙的一个例子。“随着资源漏斗狭窄，他们将对其产品进行更多的需求，事情变得更不稳定，油价上涨。
"We used to say, 'How much do you want in bonds, how much do you want in stocks, how much do you want in real estate, how much do you want in gold and precious metals?' Now it's 'what do you want in dinosaurs, how much do you want in smarter dinosaurs, and how much do you want in sustainable local economies?' The folks who optimize are going to do the best."
长期的,更高的回报将来自the local-economy models, according to Henningsen. "The pendulum is swinging from Wall Street to Main Street. Main Street will have a competitive advantage because of local distribution, local marketing, local manufacturing, less transportation costs.
So, again, the question I put to Henningsen this week was, "How are you doing?"
"Even green companies are not immune to the volatility of the world stock markets. As of this writing, so far this year through September 22, 2008, Portfolio 21 is on par with (or as negative as) the MSCI World Equity Index (the fund's global benchmark) and the S&P 500 Index. Fortunately, Portfolio 21's exposure to the financial services sector is only 7 percent compared to the MSCI with 20 percent in financial stocks. The other good news is that Portfolio 21's cash position is 16 percent, which provides the fund with the opportunity to purchase new stocks at lower prices."
从长远来看,Henningsen阐述:“在the end of September 2008, the fund celebrates its ninth birthday. From inception on September 30, 1999 to date, the fund has outperformed both the MSCI and S&P 500 indices. Perhaps there is a green competitive advantage; however, it is not clear yet. As the ecological crisis worsens and biocapacity constraints become more obvious, we believe companies that are more resource efficient will continue their competitive advantage."
Well, today I'm attending the West Coast Green expo here in San Jose where keynote speaker Hunter Lovins has just downloaded a list of statistics supporting the positive performance of 'smarter dinosaur' companies. “Venture firms poured a full $2.6 billion into 158 clean tech companies globally during the third quarter of 2008,” TreeHugger reported. “That's a 37 percent increase from last year, and 17 percent increase over last quarter."
Henningsen sums up: "The other good news is that Portfolio 21 started 2008 with $270 million in assets and today, even with market declines of 17 percent, assets are at $260 million. This is because new investor money keeps coming into the fund everyday showing increased demand for Portfolio 21's approach to green investing."
Clearly, Green Street is in Better Shape
So, while Wall Street has suffered a meltdown that threatens credit flow around the world, Green Street has been hit, but not badly hurt. It's in far better shape to survive today's financial problems.
Green lenders, like Shorebank Pacific, are generally focused on local and sustainable businesses, not home mortgages. While some business clients have been hurting, green bank liquidity is generally better than those on Wall Street.
The green investment funds, like Portfolio 21, are generally down this year, but performing at or just above the world and U.S. fund averages. Their 1-, 3-, 5- and 9-year averages are still outperforming the norm.
绿色投资目标公司，即出现资源短缺，并制定了关键的供应和分配改变以处理它。这使得它们更容易受到资源价格冲击的影响，就像最近的石油和所有使用石油燃料发货的尖峰一样。更智能的恐龙正在发展和交易，而非那么聪明的恐龙正在努力生存。
An emphasis on local economies in the Salmon Nation model has also limited exposure as Portland and the Northwest are feeling less pain than, say, Michigan or Ohio. Nevertheless, their investment portfolios also contain an international component that acts as a cushion.
Lastly, the Salmon Nation model places emphasis on its citizen's common good, rather than on just balance sheet performance. That means they run lean by definition. These guys cannot be compared to the excessively compensated executives of Wall Street who chase stock prices. We don't see the greed component that might otherwise push them to make irresponsible decisions.
Richard Seireeni is president ofThe Brand Architect Group, Los Angeles, a strategic brand consultancy with affiliated offices in Tokyo and Shanghai. Richard is the author of a forthcoming book on the marketing experiences of more than two-dozen U.S. green companies to be published by Chelsea Green Publishing in February 2009. The book is titled "The Gort Cloud" and describes the invisible network that is powering today's most successful green brands.
在这个金融企业加入的公司一直在思考。他们不仅试图建立自己的个人金融品牌，而且还建立了一个全新的保护型经济，延伸了一千英里的西北太平洋海岸。在太平洋鲑鱼跑的地区之后，他们已经标记了他们的社区鲑鱼国家。
参与建筑和品牌鲑鱼国家的三个金融组织是生态资源，是一个自我描述的保护组织，促进太平洋西北和鲑鱼国家概念的创造者的自然资本目标;投资组合21，一家与生态目标合作的投资公司;并由芝加哥夏班克公司之间的合作伙伴关系组成的全服务银行，所有这三个人在波特兰的生态公司的自然资本中心大楼邻居，以及所有在鲑鱼国的愿景中的邻居。
In contrast to Wall Street, where profits and investor returns trump all, Salmon Nation is modeled on a broader principal where profits aren't necessarily everything because protecting the health of the planet while ensuring social equality are just as important.
Ecotrust: Dedicated to Economy, Ecology and Social Equality
斯宾塞Beebe于1991年创立了非营利组织生态堡垒，以保护其西北地区的温带雨林，并将经济奖励从所有该地区公民中的可持续发展传播，包括美洲原住民。他是第四代波特兰德，以前花了14年的自然保护，作为该组织的西海岸总监。他还帮助找到了保护国际。
是sustainabi Ecotrust的基本原则lity is best achieved through the development of localized economies. To that end, it funds local and sustainable projects that fall roughly under the headings of food and farms, Native American, fisheries, and forestry.
On Wednesday, I sent Howard Silverman, a writer and analyst for Ecotrust, an email. "How are you guys doing amid this Wall Street mess? Are you singed, immune, engulfed? Please do tell."
Silverman立即回复Beebe的回复。特别是关于鲑鱼国家的总部，Beebe表示，“自然资本中心已满，已经从第一天开始。我们正在获得市场租金，近400万访客，并举办超过2,000人的会议。我们拒绝了一个潜在的租户每1-2周缺乏空间。“坐在波特兰珍珠区的中心地区，自然资本中心是绿色社区的Nexus。它举办农民的市场，零售商店，包括巴塔哥尼亚，会议空间和餐馆。
As mentioned, Ecotrust has focused on building a "conservation economy" based on the principles of economy, ecology and (social) equality -- what Beebe describes as the three Es. In addition to his efforts in the Pacific Northwest, "Ecotrust Australia was launched last week based on careful analysis of Ecotrust and Ecotrust Canada as models for addressing native, community, environmental and economic needs in Australia." Sighting Thomas Friedman's new book “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” Beebe describes the Ecotrust economic communities as "bioregional arks supporting hundreds of Noahs (local leaders) and trying to inspire innovation around a new system-wide approach to conservation and development."
In 2004 Beebe repurposed the phrase Salmon Nation from a book Ecotrust published in 1999. It became a goal-defining phrase linking Ecotrust to the conservation economy theme. The genius in this concept is that the founders created a brand around a goal in which everyone in the Northwest can take ownership. Even those who aren't investors or account holders can take pride in the vision. Try that with Citibank, Merrill Lynch or Oppenheimer Funds, or any other Wall Street firm.
Shorebank Pacific：支持可持续的地方业务
Shorebank Pacific是鲑鱼国家的实施手臂，零售银行提供当地存款人并向当地企业提供贷款。去年春天，我遇到了Shorebank的干手套，Dave Williams。“我的孩子记得我曾经说回收的时候是一个阴谋，将垃圾从垃圾填埋场移动到我们的车库中，”他说。现在想象威廉姆斯，这家财政保守党，在波特兰人民共和国运行绿色银行。
“我理解商业原因”为绿色，威廉姆斯继续。“这是正确的事情。其次，你不能拥有一件业务，你要去哪里，砍下所有的树木，然后自从你收获所有的树木以后关闭磨坊，现在必须等待40年来再开始。它不起作用，然后收获所有的鱼，然后关闭罐装。所以如果您正在寻找可持续性，并且您正在寻找可持续社区，您必须拥有可持续的业务，这意味着竞彩足球app怎么下载你必须以一种环保的方式做事。“
In 1997, Ecotrust and ShoreBank Corp. formed ShoreBank Pacific, opening its doors in a double-wide trailer as "the first commercial bank in the United States with a commitment to environmentally sustainable community development." It's a perfect example of what Ecotrust likes to do -- start and/or support unique businesses with a sustainable framework and spread the Salmon Nation mission.
So how is the bank doing? I asked this as I read that Washington Mutual has just been taken over by federal overseers.
"We, like many community banks, have avoided the mortgage mess, thinking that there are a lot of folks in the mortgage business and we don't need to go there,” Williams says. “Further, since we are privately held and therefore immune from the quarterly forces of tomorrow's earnings, we avoided the developer loans that so many community banks went after to bolster earnings. And we have always felt that buying the securities of the agencies is a mistake that would cause us to incur their risk when it isn't something that we want to incur ourselves. (Nevertheless we) are very concerned about the tariff that we will need to pay to the FDIC to rebuild the reserve fund for the folks who did play these games.
"As a result, we are very strong from a capital and liquidity perspective and are being approached by banks that are in a little worse shape to acquire them."
Beebe sums up the bank's performance: "ShoreBank Corporation has taken in almost $30 million in new capital investors recently verses bailouts on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley converted to bank holding companies last weekend. That is what ShoreBank invested in almost 40 years ago -- using a bank holding company to coordinate the activities of multiple for-profit and nonprofit subsidiaries, with various diverse sources of capital and revenue, all towards the three E mission. ShoreBank is a ‘permanent development institution,’ self funded, growing and profitable: now at $2.5 billion."
因此，避免了东部银行业机构的问题，威廉姆斯在华尔街模特中提供了一个问题，“我们认为将投资银行与商业银行结合起来是一个错误（因为废除了玻璃静止行为而成为可能在克林顿管理局期间）因为该组合允许组合的银行减少借款，因为投资收益涵盖商业成本，“他说。”这为合并的银行提供了仅仅商业银行的重要优势。
“我刚刚指出，如果这些机构举行了一项对社区最适合的标准而不是自己的怀表，那么这都不会是可以过滤的。这些不是可持续的做法，因为我们随后知道和事件已经知道和事件确认的。”
Portfolio 21: Toward Smarter Dinosaurs and Sustainable Local Economies
Portfolio 21 Investments is an investment firm founded by Carsten Henningsen on the principle of socially and environmentally responsible investing. The company's website describes its Portfolio 21 fund as "a global equity mutual fund investing in companies designing ecologically superior products, using renewable energy, and developing efficient production methods." Its goal is to prosper in the twenty-first century by recognizing environmental sustainability as a fundamental human challenge and a tremendous business opportunity.
Portfolio 21 Investments divides its holdings into three categories, what Henningsen describes as dinosaurs, smarter dinosaurs, and those companies that are building themselves on a local-economy model.
Henningsen说，丹麦的Vestas风系统是甜甜圈恐龙的一个例子。“随着资源漏斗狭窄，他们将对其产品进行更多的需求，事情变得更不稳定，油价上涨。
"We used to say, 'How much do you want in bonds, how much do you want in stocks, how much do you want in real estate, how much do you want in gold and precious metals?' Now it's 'what do you want in dinosaurs, how much do you want in smarter dinosaurs, and how much do you want in sustainable local economies?' The folks who optimize are going to do the best."
长期的,更高的回报将来自the local-economy models, according to Henningsen. "The pendulum is swinging from Wall Street to Main Street. Main Street will have a competitive advantage because of local distribution, local marketing, local manufacturing, less transportation costs.
So, again, the question I put to Henningsen this week was, "How are you doing?"
"Even green companies are not immune to the volatility of the world stock markets. As of this writing, so far this year through September 22, 2008, Portfolio 21 is on par with (or as negative as) the MSCI World Equity Index (the fund's global benchmark) and the S&P 500 Index. Fortunately, Portfolio 21's exposure to the financial services sector is only 7 percent compared to the MSCI with 20 percent in financial stocks. The other good news is that Portfolio 21's cash position is 16 percent, which provides the fund with the opportunity to purchase new stocks at lower prices."
从长远来看,Henningsen阐述:“在the end of September 2008, the fund celebrates its ninth birthday. From inception on September 30, 1999 to date, the fund has outperformed both the MSCI and S&P 500 indices. Perhaps there is a green competitive advantage; however, it is not clear yet. As the ecological crisis worsens and biocapacity constraints become more obvious, we believe companies that are more resource efficient will continue their competitive advantage."
Well, today I'm attending the West Coast Green expo here in San Jose where keynote speaker Hunter Lovins has just downloaded a list of statistics supporting the positive performance of 'smarter dinosaur' companies. “Venture firms poured a full $2.6 billion into 158 clean tech companies globally during the third quarter of 2008,” TreeHugger reported. “That's a 37 percent increase from last year, and 17 percent increase over last quarter."
Henningsen sums up: "The other good news is that Portfolio 21 started 2008 with $270 million in assets and today, even with market declines of 17 percent, assets are at $260 million. This is because new investor money keeps coming into the fund everyday showing increased demand for Portfolio 21's approach to green investing."
Clearly, Green Street is in Better Shape
So, while Wall Street has suffered a meltdown that threatens credit flow around the world, Green Street has been hit, but not badly hurt. It's in far better shape to survive today's financial problems.
Green lenders, like Shorebank Pacific, are generally focused on local and sustainable businesses, not home mortgages. While some business clients have been hurting, green bank liquidity is generally better than those on Wall Street.
The green investment funds, like Portfolio 21, are generally down this year, but performing at or just above the world and U.S. fund averages. Their 1-, 3-, 5- and 9-year averages are still outperforming the norm.
绿色投资目标公司，即出现资源短缺，并制定了关键的供应和分配改变以处理它。这使得它们更容易受到资源价格冲击的影响，就像最近的石油和所有使用石油燃料发货的尖峰一样。更智能的恐龙正在发展和交易，而非那么聪明的恐龙正在努力生存。
An emphasis on local economies in the Salmon Nation model has also limited exposure as Portland and the Northwest are feeling less pain than, say, Michigan or Ohio. Nevertheless, their investment portfolios also contain an international component that acts as a cushion.
Lastly, the Salmon Nation model places emphasis on its citizen's common good, rather than on just balance sheet performance. That means they run lean by definition. These guys cannot be compared to the excessively compensated executives of Wall Street who chase stock prices. We don't see the greed component that might otherwise push them to make irresponsible decisions.
Richard Seireeni is president ofThe Brand Architect Group, Los Angeles, a strategic brand consultancy with affiliated offices in Tokyo and Shanghai. Richard is the author of a forthcoming book on the marketing experiences of more than two-dozen U.S. green companies to be published by Chelsea Green Publishing in February 2009. The book is titled "The Gort Cloud" and describes the invisible network that is powering today's most successful green brands.
