Patricia Weir is intent on being a good neighbour, even if the people “next door” are halfway around the world. Weir, a financial advi-sor with Prince Albert, Sask.-based Patricia Weir Financial Services, has raised $20,000 over the past couple of years to help orphaned Burmese children who have taken refuge in Thailand.

Initially, Weir’s efforts went into building an orphanage and a daycare for the 200 children. But when she and her fellow participants in Global Neighbours, a Prince Albert-based charity, realized the children’s health was at risk because they had no access to fresh water, GN redoubled its efforts and raised funds for a water well and a purification system.

Such initiatives are emblematic of a growing trend in the environmental movement — sustainable economies. This term refers to the growing emphasis on change that improves living standards and the economy without long-term depletion of resources and degradation of the environment. The transition to green economies is happening in a range of sectors, such as clean technologies, renewable energies, water services, green transportation, waste management, green buildings and sustainable agriculture and forests.

“[The orphanage] is right on a river, but it wasn’t healthy to drink the water out of the river,” says Weir. “We had to purify it. The well and water-purification system will sustain roughly 500 children [including 300 at an adjoining school]. Otherwise, you have sick kids, and sick kids don’t learn.

“We take fresh water for granted [in Canada],” she points out. “Any time you go to a Third World country, you’re brushing your teeth with bottled water. Poor people can’t afford it. They get their water from other places, places from which you and I wouldn’t drink, which isn’t good for them.”

In the past two Novembers, Weir has travelled to Thailand to monitor the progress of GN’s sustainable development endeavours — and she intends to make it an annual pilgrimage. The timing is ideal, she says, because it’s not a super-busy time at her firm; plus, although the weather in Thailand is hot in November, it is not as unbearable as it can be in other months.

Weir keeps her overseas projects separate from her business as much as possible, she says, but she does let her clients know what she’s doing. She tells them that if they’re interested in getting involved, they can get more information on the charity from her. Thus far, more than 50 clients among her 300 client families (in a book that’s worth about $65 million in assets) have climbed on board, either with contributions or by coming to fundraising events.

Whether the work with GN is good for Weir’s business is the least of her concerns, she says: “That’s not the reason I do it. One hundred cents of every dollar that it gives actually gets used, so it makes you feel like you’re making a difference.”

But it’s not just financial services veterans who are getting involved in sustainable development work. Timothy Jack Nash has taken his passion for sustainable living to an altogether different level. After completing the Canadian securities course a couple of years ago, the 27-year-old went into business for himself and launched Strategic Sustainable Investments. The Toronto-based firm works with institutional investors to help them make investment choices that support transitions to sustainable economies.

Nash says there is a long way to go, as very few institutional investors have any money in “clean tech, green tech or renewable energy.” Nash recently began approaching foundations about what he calls his “1% green portfolio” concept; he says the initial feedback he has received has been positive.

“I’m really trying to get a critical mass of 1% of institutional portfolios moving in this direction,” he says. “I think they just haven’t thought of it. Institutional inves-tors tend to be not as innovative as we’d like them to be. They tend to be a little behind on some of the trends.”

Nash, who went to Sweden to get a degree in strategic leadership toward sustainability, practises what he preaches. He admits that his work/life balance — seven years after diving into the sustainability movement — is a “little bit blurry.”

For example, he does his utmost to avoid flying. If he has to go to New York, Ottawa, Montreal or Florida, he’ll take the train or the bus, or go on a road trip in a car with a few others. He says the issue isn’t about how much fuel is burned; it’s where the carbon dioxide is deposited: “When you’re driving your car, part of it is absorbed by the earth and trees. But when you’re on a plane, it’s deposited 100% into the atmosphere.”

@page_break@Nash isn’t big on philanthropy because he has found a more sustainable way to make a difference through microlending. Through www.Kiva.org, he has lent amounts as low as $25 to help would-be entrepreneurs in Africa.

“The idea is: instead of giving them money to buy a fish, you loan them money to buy a fishing pole, so they can earn a living and pay you back,” he says. “They have ownership; it’s their fishing pole. It’s very empowering.”

Nash says the biggest influence he is able to make is on his friends and family, who hear about what he’s doing to save money and reduce his environmental footprint and then begin to consider those same actions for themselves.

“We all talk about a tipping point. It’s a big world, [and people think] it’s hard to have an impact,” Nash says. “But it’s individual people doing small things every day, making them part of their habits, that is really going to change the behaviour and our social customs.”

John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, an Ottawa-based group that helps people protect, restore and enjoy a healthy and safe planet, says that although the majority of sustainability efforts may be international in scope, it all starts at home. He says Canadians can help underprivileged countries begin to stand on their own by building and testing new technologies, developing related expertise and then selling the entire package.

“Developing countries buy an incredible amount of consulting work,” he says. “We need to develop that knowledge so we can export it.”

Bennett says the long-term goal is to help developing countries become a part of modern society and continue to move forward once experts from prosperous nations have packed up and gone home.

People have to go further than simply donating their money and time — as admirable as those efforts are, he adds. They have to pass on their knowledge through training to make a lasting difference.

“You can’t just go in there and make a gift and hope that will solve a problem. You have to give them skills and education. You can help them build to the next step,” he says, noting Canada trails Europe and the U.S. in sustainable development work.

The environmental area of sustainable development is receiving increasing attention. The splash made by the recently published book, The Value of Nothing, by economist Raj Patel, for instance, signals that this area is likely to grow substantially in importance in the years ahead. Although those people with financial expertise are taking note, Weir says, she recommends everyone get involved with sustainable development because it will open their eyes to the fact we’re all part of a much bigger picture.

“I came back [from Thailand],” she says, “kissed the ground and said, ‘Thank God I was born a Cana-dian, there’s a roof over my head, food on my table and nobody is trying to kill me. Am I ever lucky’.” IE