Change your bank. Go with one that invests your money in a 'better for the world' kind of way. Investigate your bank about that at least. An idea from Kasper

Something we should all do, not only you Maarten.
We are all gonna have to deal with them: banks. The money system will stay with us for some time to come. We can go with a bank that will make the world a bit of a better place too.
Start your investigation here eg.: http://www.eerlijkebankwijzer.nl/
Short but good assignment I thought. :-)

Very good idea! I tried to find an international website where you can compare banks, but a lot of banks function nationwide. I did find a good article about ethical banking, with a list of banks that function based on ethics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_banking#List_of_ethical_banks

I changed some time ago to Triodos ( www.triodos.co.uk ) and I'm very happy with it. Good service and it feels nice to know your money is being used for purposes you support and for sure not for purposes you're against! Like child labor, guns, etc...

happy triodos costumer myself!! But had to keep my abnamro account cause otherwise I had to give up my creditcard : (

@Ingetje: I had the same problem. Now I have an ASN Bank creditcard without opening an additional account there.
http://www.asnbank.nl/index.asp?NID=10766

You can have a credit card from Bijenkorf, Anwb and a lot of other companies, and use it with any bank you want. I have recently moved from ABN Amro to Triodos as well. But however I agree with the idea I don't think it is enough for Maarten do to in one month (especially since he is already with a sustainable bank)

They don't tend to give creditcards to unemployed students. So I will be stuck with abn for a bit longer. Even Davide didn't manage to get a creditcard with his contract from Conny. It is crisis you know.... I was even looking in to prepaid creditcards, but they don't have that in NL. But thanks for all the tips guys!!

@kasper and voters: since maarten is already with a very sustainable bank, i have the feeling this isn't an idea for him to spend a whole month on.

Turned out to be true that he already is with a "better for the world" bank.
But do you want me to delete the idea so that others can't get inspired? Is this just a game to keep Maarten occupied a whole month and make the world a better place for us?
I didn't think Maarten would spend a whole month on this of course! I thought Maarten also took up some small ideas on the side.

Yes he does, he calls them 'aside ideas'. http://www.iwanttomaketheworldabetterplace.com/actions/aside

I know that Maarten is already with Triodos Bank (one of the good ones).
I just voted on it to give it more recognition. I think changing your bank to a more sustainable one is definitely a very important step in the good direction. One which is often underrated.
Too many people are still not aware that their money is used to produce weapons, exploit the environment on a massive scale and support injustice in the world.
I just like the idea of visitors getting inspired...

Yep, it's good that this kind of items are up here. Because having a 'better for the world' bank is actually very important! And if I wouldn't be with one already I would have done it as an 'aside idea' for sure. Maybe even more important, lot's of other people are reading these ideas as well and maybe get motivated to do so! Win win...

Love this, been intending to do so for years and finally got round to it last month - Cooperative in the UK are fab