Sporrans are no longer a moral place to keep your money.For most people the concept of an ethical bank is one that is beyond their imagination. A bank exists to look after your money and make more money for them with your money. Right? Ethics has nothing to do with banking – other than the way in which a bank operates with its customers and everyone else who may be involved with it.
An alternative viewpoint is provided by Britain’s Co-operative Bank. The Guardian reports that it declined about $15 million worth of business for a variety of ethical reasons, including to a company that makes “sporrans from fox pelts and a shoe firm that trims high-heeled boots with sable.” Additional moral issues include poor labor practices and global warming.
Kim Stallwood is an independent scholar and author on animal rights. His forthcoming book, Animal Dharma, explores what it means to care deeply about animals. Starting in 1976, he has held leadership positions with some of the world’s foremost organisations in the UK and US, including CIWF, BUAV, PETA, The Animals’ Agenda, Animals and Society Institute and Minding Animals International. A vegetarian since 1974 when as a student he worked in a chicken slaughterhouse. A vegan since 1976. His evil twin is the Grumpy Vegan.
New Book!
Kim Stallwood's forthcoming book explores what it means to care deeply about animals and discovers how we can live peacefully with ourselves and others by proposing four key values: truth, compassion, nonviolence and interbeing.
