Prior to Ian Bremmer’s powerful keynote and Dave Nadig’s mind-bending Future of Finance panel, roughly two dozen Exchange participants joined in a beach clean up with Surfrider. Armed with grabbers and buckets, the volunteers combed through the beach to extract plastics and other trash.
Surfrider volunteer Tanja Morariu explained the importance of the organization and its many programs around water testing and Rise above Plastics program. She noted that Miami doesn’t even have a composting program and emphasized the importance of donations and volunteer work in keeping the beaches clean.
Asked why Roundhill partnered with VettaFi and Visual Capitalist to support Surfrider, Roundhill’s founder and Chief Investment Officer Tim Maloney said, “I love going to the beach, and I found it a really nice way to give back to a beach that’s outside of my backyard.”
Maloney’s newest colleague Dave Mazza agreed, “I’m pleased to see that events like the Exchange conference are adding opportunities to give back to the community.”
VettaFi’s Jon Fee, collecting plastics from the dunes, spotted a plastic Coca-Cola bottle cap. Coca-Cola is a firm that often ends up in ESG portfolios, but refuse from its products can sometimes be ubiquitous. “I think it’s a great chance for everyone to peel back the onion a little bit more and find a deeper solution. I don’t think anyone’s the villain here,” Fee said, noting that Coca-Cola does a lot of good charity work as an organization. “Whether it’s cleaning up a beach or innovating a new product, I think the approach we all need to take is ‘better, better, never done.’ The work is never going to be done, and that’s okay, as long as we keep trying to do better. ‘Better, better, never done.’”
Alpha Architect’s Jess Bost added that charity events such as the beach clean up create a deeper, more rounded conference experience. “I think you extend your community beyond what you might normally see at a social event. Whenever you add a layer to what you offer, it’s not just additive — it’s multiplicative.”
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