Wed, March 2, 2005

Coastside Livability Series covers sustainable investing Thursday night

By Barry Parr on Wed, March 2, 2005

The Coastside Livability Series is holding a seminar and workshop on "Investing for Sustainability at a Personal and Community Level".

Christopher Peck is the principal and owner of Holistic Solutions, a socially-responsible investing advisory firm in Sebastopol, California. He will explore what we can do to make our dollars work for our values at a seminar Thursday March 3rd at 7:30 PM at the Ted Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly St. in downtown Half Moon Bay.

This will be followed by a workshop the following Sunday, March 6th at 1:00 at the Johnston House Depot Building, to plan community-based initiatives to put our money to work reshaping our community and increasing our ability to ride out economic disturbances in the national economy.

Click "read more" to see the complete press release.

Coastside Livability Series press release

The event happens Thursday March 3rd at 7:30 PM at the Ted Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly St. in downtown Half Moon Bay. Christopher Peck, an expert on socially responsible financial planning, will speak on Investing for Sustainability at a Personal and Community Level. Admission is $10 sliding scale, with a 20% discount for Livability Project members.

Christopher Peck is the principle and owner of Holistic Solutions, a socially-responsible investing advisory firm in Sebastopol, California. Christopher is a Certified Educator in Holistic Management™, and has devoted his life to developing and providing practical, holistic solutions to his client’s needs. Christopher has taught over 400 students in the last nine years, in more than 30 workshops, weeklong classes, and semester-long courses, and is known for his lively wit and sense of humor.

Come learn from an expert what you can do to make your dollars work for your values, and help navigate the economic upheavals of the falling dollar and the imminent oil production peak. Then join us on the following Sunday, March 6th at 1:00 at the Johnston House Depot Building (1/4 mile east of Highway one on Higgins Purisima Road) for a hands-on session where we will plan community-based initiatives to put our money to work reshaping our community and increasing our ability to ride out economic disturbances in the national economy.

Many of us wish to bring about positive change in the world, and use a variety of means to get our message across. But often we forget one of our most important ways of sending a message—voting with our dollars. Our investment and purchasing decisions are a very direct way to influence the direction of public and corporate policy.

How much investment power do we have here on the Coastside and Pacifica? Here are some statistics that may startle you (data from the 2000 Census):

Population: 67,402
Number of Households: 24,263
Average Household Income: $76,666
Total Coastside income: $1.86 billion
Cars owned on the Coastside: 43,005
Using these figures, we can infer some other statistics based on national averages:
Amount of credit card debt (avg $7500/household): $181 million
Credit card interest paid yearly (avg $950/household) $23 million
Total miles driven per year (avg 15000/car): 645 million
Gallons of gas burned per year (@ avg 18.7 MPG): 34 million
Amount spent on gasoline yearly (avg $2.20/gallon): $76 million
Total car expense yearly (includes car, fuel, maintenance, insurance, etc. @ avg $0.562/mile): $363 million

As you can see, we have a lot of financial power. We invite you to join join NeighborShare and The Livability Project in our next event to explore how we can use that power to strengthen our community and redirect our resources toward the future we choose.

Christopher Peck is the principle and owner of Holistic Solutions (http://holistic-solutions.net), a socially-responsible investing advisory firm in Sebastopol, California. Christopher is a Certified Educator in Holistic Management™, and has devoted his life to developing and providing practical, holistic solutions to his client’s needs. Christopher has taught over 400 students in the last nine years, in more than 30 workshops, weeklong classes, and semester-long courses, and is known for his lively wit and sense of humor.

About the Coastside Livability Series Livability refers to the environmental, economic and social qualities of a community and the ability for those qualities to be maintained over time. It includes responsible energy use, safe streets, clean air and water, healthy soil, diverse employment opportunities, rich social networks, sustainable agriculture and many other aspects. While global economic statistics have soared over the last half century, many feel that the livability of our communities has actually dropped.

NeighborShare and The Livability Project are seeking ways to reverse this downward spiral and to find ways to prepare for the even greater challenges to come. Our Coastside Livability Series explores where we stand and where we may be going regarding the livability of our community, and provides concrete, hands-on actions we can take to make Pacifica and the Coastside an even more wonderful place to live for generations to come.

About the sponsors: The Livability Project and Neighborshare work together to educate people on the impact of their choices. Their goal to bring environmentally & socially responsible practices into the mainstream by incubating ideas, programs and businesses that create sustainable, local solutions for human and planetary evolution. They are based in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay, CA. For more information, go to http://livabilityproject.org or http://neighborshare.org Dear Events editor, I would appreciate it if you could include the following in your calendar of events. I have also included a longer version that can be used as the basis for an article. If you have any additional questions, feel free to respond or call me at 650-888-4086.

Thanks for your support!

Jeff Gilmore [email protected] http://livabilityproject.org