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Investing with your Values: from socially responsible to socially responsive
“May you live in interesting times,” goes the Chinese Curse. Well indeed the times are
interesting. The election, a lower stock market, higher energy costs, genetically modified food,
another damaging oil spill, more drilling in Alaska. These are calls to action.
Certainly
the SRI news is not all bad. The mainstream press has grasped the concept of responsible investing.
Big companies like Ford, Hewlett-Packard and the states of California and Alaska are adding SRI
retirement options. Even your local Rotary Club members are reading about SRI in their February
magazine as did the passengers on Delta Airlines last December.
Is Socially Responsible
Investing (SRI) everywhere? Not yet, but the more we accomplish the more we want to accomplish. We
are affecting positive change for the world’s health, and it has moved beyond sustainability
to a restorative future.
Activism is called for this decade, – activism on the
outside, like the WTO and Bush inauguration protests, and activism on the inside with shareholders
challenging destructive business policies and socially responsible investors holding corporations
accountable for their behavior. We must insist on disclosure and transparency to avoid leaving our
environmental and social messes to future generations.
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