Here’s another cool shopping-based tool, this one for use at brick-and-mortar outlets.
The Interra Project is a Seattle-based nonprofit that aims to spur “a values-based economy” in which consumers “take back ownership of their communities” and help "speed the growth of environmentally and socially minded industry.” Its model is a community loyalty card, essentially an incentive program that rewards people for spending their money locally or at outlets that are committed to principles of sustainability. Along with a group called Boston Main Streets, Interra launched its first program, Boston Community Change, in November of 2006. It considers the initiative to be a template for future such programs across North America. Its website says it has identified more than 100 cities as probable markets over the next three to five years.
Say you’re a Boston Community Change cardholder. At the cash register of your local health-food store, you pay for your organic OJ and bread (using cash, debit, or credit) and then swipe your community card. A portion of the transaction will eventually come back to you in the form of a rebate. Another portion is donated to a community-based nonprofit of your choice, and the rest goes back into the program.
I just wonder—and I recently emailed Interra to ask—what mechanisms are in use to determine which businesses are really committed to sustainability?
