Feature: SEE What You Are Buying Into - And Make The World A Better Place

Michael Solomon tells Ctrl.Alt.Shift all about SEE What You Are Buying Into; a project set up to create financial transparency across the board of the big boy corporations...

Too many companies lie and cheat in the pursuit of profit - and people and planet suffer when they get away with it.

And by and large, they are getting away with it – on a massive scale. 'Greenwashing' organisations are those that claim to be green or ethical or responsible without offering evidence or proof. Think big oil companies, think big banks, think global brands. Something demonstrably new and different - indeed something revolutionary - is needed to put an end to this destructive practice.

SEE What You Are Buying Into offers a unique, powerful and inspiring solution. It proves that there are companies out there that do really care about Social, Environmental and Ethical (SEE) issues, and that seek to make the world a better place.

The SEE Logo identifies open, honest businesses. In order to list on www.SEEWhatYouAreBuyingInto.com [1] and carry the SEE Logo, a company must answer 25 questions on a range of SEE issues (questions developed with experts like Christian Aid, ActionAid, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and more here [2]. Their answers are published on the SEE website for public scrutiny, comment and rating...

SEE looks inside the company, not just at individual products or processes. What a business believes and values, and how it behaves in the round, are much more important in determining its overall impact on the world. SEE does not seek to stipulate any unattainable and thus impossible measure of perfection. Instead the test is simply this: can your business show people what they are buying into? Can it publicly justify all the things that is does? 

'SEE means that anyone – everyone – can make a difference simply by refusing to buy from companies that aren't open and honest'

SEE means that anyone – everyone – can make a difference simply by refusing to buy from companies that aren't open and honest. It is 2010, the big global problems are getting bigger, why shouldn't people expect businesses to be straight talking and explain what it is doing and why? Use your voice. Ask businesses about the policies and practices. Together, by spending our money with open, responsible companies, we can put huge pressure on the liars and dissemblers.

SEE is pro-people and pro-planet AND also pro-business and pro-profit. It uses people-power to drive change across business and it is a way for companies to do business better.

It already has 65 Founder Members signed up, and opening up, and leading from the front. They are helping to build something genuinely world-changing. Go on line to learn more about the SEE movement [3], to nominate a business [4], to ask questions [5],  and to read about companies that genuinely strive to do good [6]!

Words: Michael Solomon
Photos: Of Michael and Claire (directors of SEE), courtesy of www.charlottetolhurst.com [7]