Create

A BETTER FUTURE

INVESTMENT

The guiding light to money investment should be the belief in competitive investment returns within a sustainable business investing philosophy. Screening criteria should eliminate ethically objectionable investments, and only focus upon stellar, sustainable business investments. Investment screening criteria should be based upon two issues: Humane and Environmental issues. Ethical investment means investing in ethical investments that contribute to a sustainable environment and society as well as giving investors a financial return.

Green Investment is a branch of Ethical Investment: using the money markets with a conscience. Traditionally, Ethical Investment has been concerned with aspects of capitalism that denigrate social welfare: for example, ethical investors avoid placing capital assets in the hands of companies that enslave poor people in manual labor. Recently, Ethical Investment has been a way for people to avoid placing funds in the hands of companies and corporations that harm our health or our security, such as tobacco companies, weapons manufacturers, badly managed meat producers.

But what about the health and security of the planet? The wealth generated by many companies has been as a result of an enormous production and consumption of energy. International, globalized trade requires energy for transportation as well as energy for production. The disparity of energy consumption between the industrialized countries and the developing world is what distinguishes the wealth of the industrialized world from the poverty of the developing countries. But to maintain this consumption of energy, which sustains this wealth, the industrialized world is using up all the non-renewable resources and polluting the entire planet.

The current production and consumption of energy causes environmental harm, such as: burning fossil fuels, radioactive waste, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions. And in the end the oil, gas and uranium will be used up. Without an energy supply, industrial and social development is finished. There will be no future for anyone, neither rich countries nor poor countries, if things continue as they are. Those who produce and use the most energy, garner the most money. And so it is the responsibility of the rich world to pay for the energy revolution. The rich countries must implement massive changes in the production and consumption of energy in order to protect the Earth's resources and thereby protect their own future prosperity. The North World must support the development of the South World, and encourage them to go green with energy production.

Since energy production is the key to the future of human development, this is becoming the new focus for ethical investment. Governments are doing treaties. Companies are doing energy audits. But what can ordinary people do? Individuals have pensions, savings and maybe market investments. We the people lend our money to the corporations to do business and return us a little profit. We have money that is working in the international money markets. We have bought a few stocks or shares, or we have made payments into an investment fund. We have influence. It comes down to a question of financial integrity: is your money being used by energy wasteful companies? Is your money being lent to create pollution? Do your investments add to the destruction of natural resources? Or, are you actively investing in companies that have a green energy policy? Companies that produce energy from renewable sources? Enterprises that have environmentally sound production?

Social Investment Forum - The Social Investment Forum site offers comprehensive information, contacts, and resources on socially responsible investing. You will find lots of resources to help you take the next step!

Community-Based Social Marketing Information - Numerous initiatives to reduce waste and pollution, increase water and energy efficiency, and alter transportation patterns are first footholds in the transition to sustainability. This site was developed for the people who design these and other programs to foster sustainable behavior. Its purpose is simple: to provide information that can enhance the success of their efforts.

Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility - As You Sow is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility. The organization’s mission is to: Promote progressive social and environmental policies at companies through the Corporate Social Responsibility Program. At CSRP, we represent the interests of socially concerned investors in dialogue with some of the largest and most prominent U.S. corporations.

Investing for Positive Change - Pax World Funds enables investors to align their financial goals with their personal values through a selection of professionally managed socially responsible mutual funds. By screening companies not only by their investment potential but also by standards of social responsibility, Pax World challenges companies to reach for a higher "bottom line" and offers investors the opportunity to do good while doing well.

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility - For over thirty years the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) has been a leader of the corporate social responsibility movement. ICCR's membership is an association of 275 faith- based institutional investors, including national denominations, religious communities, pension funds, endowments, hospital corporations, economic development funds and publishing companies. ICCR and its members press companies to be socially and environmentally responsible. Each year ICCR- member religious institutional investors sponsor over 100 shareholder resolutions on major social and environmental issues.

Chittenden Bank - The goal of Chittenden Bank's Socially Responsible Banking Program is to facilitate and initiate positive change in our local communities. To achieve this goal, we are building on the premise that your financial goals and social concerns can be combined effectively through a caring financial service provider like Chittenden Bank. For close to 100 years, we have invested in our local communities and now we are asking for your participation, too. Some of our deposit accounts ask you to dedicate some of your interest earned to specialized lending programs. We, in turn, will match your contribution with an interest rate subsidy for the borrower. The results down the road will pay back many times over to our communities and help those who really need assistance.

Shore Bank Pacific - ShoreBank Pacific, a Washington State chartered, FDIC insured bank, is the first commercial bank in the United States with a commitment to environmentally sustainable community development. We believe that long-term community prosperity goes hand-in-hand with a healthy environment. Through our lending programs, we support individual and community efforts to bring together conservation and economic development. With each loan, we provide information on conservation improvements that can increase the value of the borrower's business.

Environmental Protection and Jobs - A coalition of labor and environmental advocates are hailing the findings of this new report that clearly demonstrates how smarter environmental policies can lead to significant job creation. The report Smarter, Cleaner, Stronger: Secure Jobs, Clean Environment, and Less Foreign Oil details for the first time on a national and a state-by-state basis, the economic benefits that will result from energy policies that stimulate the development of clean energy technologies.