BERKELEY, Calif., -Sustainable Ventures today announced the winner of its $10,000 Prize Program, "Our Daily Bread" at SRI in the Rockies. Participants in the program examined the social, environmental, and financial integrated impacts of a loaf of bread - a product that most people eat every day. As this information is communicated to the marketplace, people can make more informed choices about the products they buy and services they use.

Out of 10 papers from five countries on four continents, 9 multi-sector jurors have selected Murray Rudd, Ph.D. of Newfoundland, Canada, as the Prize winner. Dr. Rudd is an Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair in Ecological Economics, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Sr. Wilfred Grenfell College, in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

"Of all the papers reviewed, Dr. Murray Rudd most nearly presented the issues that the ODB Prize Program wished to raise. His paper is a good reflection of the complexity of the subject matter," said Johann Klaassen, of First Affirmative Financial Network and the juror foreperson.

Klaassen suggested that "the author goes further than any other in considering the kind of evidence that would be required to address the social, environmental, and financial integrated impacts--or true costs--sought through the ODB challenge. In addition, he showcased Swedish national externality costs and comparative costs of various processes - the kind one wishes all nations would compile."

Relevant findings drawn from four finalist papers specific to the true costs of a loaf of bread included: transportation costs for flour, fertilizer, and pesticides; organic production costs; the importance of water costs; and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through organic production. Although there are existing studies that present social, environmental and financial impacts, this is the first civil society effort mounted to study the systemic analytics frameworks of these impacts on the true costs of a product - such as a loaf of bread.

As important as findings are to the Prize Program, the conclusions must also be communicated in ways that inform consumer's decision making practices and inspire action. Messages need to be communicated so that the public understands how this information is aligned with their values so that they can use these levers to exercise their marketplace purchase power. To accomplish this, SV will convene an Implementation Forum of marketing professionals from nine sectors to create an implementation strategy and effectively disseminate prize findings into the market place.

Theo Ferguson, the prize creator, Board Chair and Executive Director of Sustainable Ventures, noted that: "when we can access information that presents social, environmental, and financial impacts or true costs in a product or service, AND we are able to act on that information, we can make more informed decisions to help protect and restore our world."

About Sustainable Ventures

Sustainable Ventures is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and educating beneficial owners - the people who have pension and trust funds invested in their names - to take an active role in the management of their investments. The outcomes of "Our Daily Bread" will enable beneficial owners - as well as the general public - to have more influence in their financial affairs by enrolling fund managers to use integrated--environmental, social, and financial--performance criteria for a sustainable "bottom line."

Vital Systems

Vital Systems

The mission of Vital Systems is to grow collective knowledge related to the central, transformative issue of food and farming to catalyze the transition to a sustainable system that assures the availability of affordable and nutritious food. Our focus is to develop actionable information, based on rigorous and comprehensive true-cost pricing and accounting produced in clear, current, and accessible forms that can be communicated to a broad and diverse audience. By reforming food and farming practices, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, secure our food sources, change our eating habits (for both personal and planetary health), halt the extinction of many of the world's species, and grow economic justice through the visions, strategies, life goals, tools, and rewards we craft to communicate our new world story.

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