Earthville’s core values aspire toward a “highest common denominator” reflecting the most compassionate values of a broad spectrum of humanity, combining the best of all worlds to inspire all of us to live more compassionately and to play our humble part in creating a society based on sustainable thriving.
In brief, these core values are:
- Social, environmental and financial sustainability: end-to-end, top-to-bottom, start-to-finish, conception-to-production-to-distribution-to-decomposition.
- A corporate culture emphasizing love, compassion, creativity, honesty, health and balance; especially, we seek effectiveness and prosperity without compromising our commitment to loving kindness, and vice versa.
- Products and practices that are non-harming to humans, animals and the environment (which includes no toxic chemicals, animal products or animal testing) .
- Responsible purchasing and partnering: choose vendors and partners with the most compassionate, socially beneficial and ecologically sound products and practices.
- Progressive, responsible business structures, policies and practices designed to recognize employees as whole people and to reward them well for their contributions to the growth and prosperity of Earthville and its partners and community stakeholders.
- Meaningful support of activities to improve our communities and our world, putting people and the planet before profit.
- Giving back.
Aspiration & Commitment
Earthville LLC is committed to supporting our local and global communities, not just in words, but in all of our actions. In fact, Earthville LLC was founded primarily to help enable the Earthville team and Earthville partners (including the Earthville Network, our principal nonprofit partner) to build sustainable, compassionate community more effectively and powerfully.
We strive to conduct business in such a way that every link in the chain makes a positive contribution. Earthville LLC actively develops products and services that by their very nature make a contribution to improving our world by enabling compassionate and sustainable living. And from day one, Earthville LLC adopted a tithing policy, whereby it donates at least 10% of its net profits to the Earthville Network, and also shares other resources to support charitable community development and peacemaking work locally and globally.
The “No” List
Earthville, as a rule, does not produce or cause to be produced, nor does it consume or cause to be consumed any products which are (or are reasonably suspected to be):
- Produced under inhumane labor conditions (including less than livable wages)
- Toxic or otherwise harmful to people, animals, and/or the environment*
- Derived from animals (such as meat, dairy, eggs, honey, leather, etc.)
- Tested on animals (such as is the case with many soaps, detergents, and so on)
- Genetically engineered or genetically modified
- Made and/or packaged with certain ecologically damaging materials (such as plastics and harmful chemicals), unless the use of such materials is deemed truly necessary to the vital functions of Earthville and no more ecologically sustainable alternatives are available*
- Made with and/or regularly dependent upon resources which are not rapidly renewable, such as petroleum products and tree-based products (unless such resource usage is reasonably deemed necessary for meeting the basic needs of people, animals or the planet and suitable renewable alternatives are not available)
- Contributing to hatred, violence, or other forms of aggression or injustice
* Practical considerations: In cases when something harmful to the environment is necessary in order to conduct our business (such as the use of an automobile), for example, Earthville will make all reasonable efforts to use the least harmful such product available (i.e. the most eco-friendly car).
Accordingly, Earthville prioritizes relationships with partners who share some or all of these values and aspirations, and avoids business relationships that might likely compromise these principles in a significant or ongoing way. This would, for example, preclude investment of money in places where it might likely be used in ways that might contravene these principles. It also means that, as much as possible, Earthville makes its purchases from vendors that are the most compliant with Earthville’s principles.
Consulting for Responsible Businesses
If your business or nonprofit organization is interested in adopting policies and practices that are more sensitive to people, animals and the environment, Earthville can help. Our consulting services can help you builder a greener, more compassionate business, often with positive instead of negative impact on your bottom line. For details, see this page.