This weekend is Mother’s Day in Australia and there is no better time to show Mum that you appreciate all her efforts and hard work. It’s a day for the whole family, when Mums and Grandmas are bought flowers, taken out to lunch and showered with gifts.
However with a bit of extra thought, you can help her enjoy the special day while also protecting the environment, maintaining a responsible attitude to your community and supporting ethically-sound and socially just business models.
Celebrating Mother’s Day in a socially responsible way is easy. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Plants instead of flowers
Consider buying Mum an organically-grown plant instead of a bunch of flowers. This is a more sustainable way of showing your appreciation. If purchased from a local business with excellent green credentials this will also reduce the carbon footprint associated with the production and distribution of your gift.
Unfortunately, the cut flower industry has a poor reputation for sustainability with the overuse of chemicals required to increase crop yields. There are also bulk flower producers which source material from areas with questionable labour and social policies, exploiting these policies rather than working to overcome them. With this in mind, wouldn’t Mum prefer an organic, ethically-produced, locally-grown plant over the traditional bunch of flowers?
Food wastage policies
Taking your Mum out for lunch or dinner is a traditional way to say thanks on Mother’s Day. However are you aware of the restaurant or cafe’s practice with regard to minimising food wastage? Do they destroy the excess food produced or have they a community-building policy in place to feed the homeless? Organisations such as OzHarvest collect perishable foods from contributing restaurants, cafes and supermarkets throughout Australia and deliver it to local charities.
If you’re in Sydney, consider restaurants such as Love Fish, Three Blue Ducks, Red Lantern or The Grounds of Alexandria and if you want to go all out and spoil Mum this mother’s day, a favourite located at the VFS head office is O Bar Dining. These restaurants, hotels and eating establishments have a policy of “putting back into the community” They only use wholefood, locally sourced, sustainable and organic produce and it is this kind of work for the social good that you can support with your choices. So before you book the table, ask about their policy in relation to wasted food.
Buy gifts from ethical companies
Whether overseas or local, a little research will help you find ethical companies from which you can buy sustainable gifts for Mum. A few examples are:
L’Oreal — The cosmetics company is a world leader in ESG (energy, sustainability and governance). The company is part of the VFS Group’s socially responsible investment portfolio (+1.43% vs ASX200 -4.43%) scoring an excellent 79/100 in a recent Sustainalytics report where it was listed as an outperformer. The company’s Body Shop branch has, for many years, been recognised as a world leader in the supply of ethical products.
Gorman — An Australian-owned fashion label with a strong ethical, environmental and social commitment.
Thankyou — An Australian social enterprise with an aim to end global poverty, the company is currently offering a Mother’s Day pack for sale. One hundred percent of profits go towards this worthy cause.
There is a growing awareness that issues like environmental and social good should be taken into account whenever we make a decision as a consumer or as an investor. Being socially responsible our investments has become a major industry as people balance social impact and financial return. Socially responsible investment (SRI) demands that fund managers place the investors’ money in ethically responsible companies, taking into account such factors as the impact these companies have on the environment and on society.
But effective social responsibility represents something of a lifestyle choice for an individual. Every day, we are faced with decisions as investors and consumers, and these decisions give us the opportunity to do some good for the environment and for the community. Why not start with deciding where to spend your money on a special day like Mother’s Day?
From the gifts, to the lunch, to the recycled wrapping paper, you can make a difference. After all, isn’t caring for others what being a Mum is all about?
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This Communication has been prepared by Vertical Capital Markets Pty Ltd (ABN 11 147 186 114 AFS Licence No. 418418) trading as VFS Group (VFS Group).
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