Socially Responsible Investing

SRI, or socially responsible investing, discourages investors from buying stocks in publicly-held or private enterprises which manufacture or promote products or services that endanger human or animal rights or the environment. According to the history, the rudiments of SRI, were first enacted by religious groups, such as the Quakers, in the early 1800s. The first religious sect to object to investing money into the slave trade, the Quakers viewed slavery as a violation of human rights. The Civil War of the 1860s was actually a fight between wealthy southern slave owners, who depended on African immigrants to tend the cotton fields, and northern abolitionists who abhorred the practice of enslaving human beings for monetary gain.

As society developed, other socially-conscious and religiously motivated groups banned the financially support of manufacturers of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, products which encouraged vice. Perhaps, most notable were the days of Prohibition during what was termed, "the Roaring 20s," when federal agents waged war against organized crime moguls who threatened to derail the moral fiber of America with illegal alcohol, drugs, gambling, and prostitution, which enslaved men and women in immorality. Socially responsible investing meant taking a stance against vice and the lords who ruled the underworld of organized crime. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Corinthians 6:9-11).

Over eight decades after the Quakers publicly renounced slavery, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s brought social consciousness to the forefront of the American public, as minorities and human rights advocates conducted sit-ins at lunch counters and boycotted businesses in Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At the same time, advocates for socially responsible investing not only supported civil rights for racial minorities, but also for women and workers who were treated unfairly. As a result of such consciousness, labor unions, pension funds, and public housing projects became key projects for corporate investors who wanted to put money into enhancing the lives of working Americans all over the nation.

Over the years, proponents of SRI have taken to the streets to protest buying shares of stock in South Africa diamond mines, which practiced modern-day slavery by employing poor Black South Africans in deplorable working conditions for paltry wages. Companies around the world began to pull financial backing from South African enterprises which practiced apartheid, an inequitable separation of people based solely on race. The pressure applied to these businesses contributed toward ending apartheid and freeing an oppressed indigenous people. Other positive outcomes have resulted from individuals and corporations around the world joining together to promote socially responsible investing and to condemn the violation of human rights, especially in underprivileged countries. SRI proponents have worked incessantly to address product and job safety issues, fight for reasonable wages, and improve the conditions under which indigenous people must work.

In the last decade, the focus for socially responsible investing has shifted somewhat from human rights to protecting and preserving the environment. A concern about global warming and its effects on the integrity of the ecosystem around the world have caused corporations and conglomerates to invest in green industries, new biotechnologies, and alternative fuels which can help offset the devastating effects of green gas emissions on the world's glaciers, wetlands, oceans, and rain forests. SRI advocates have succeeded in convincing corporate investors internationally to buy stocks in new and emerging green industries whose mission is to slow the process of global warming and develop alternative fuels to preserve the earth's rapidly depleting natural resources. As a result of their efforts, socially responsible investing has boosted corporate portfolios in the United States and overseas to over $2.7 trillion in SRI assets.

Investments have been made in industries which are developing ways to decrease American independence on foreign oil. Most notable are emerging technologies which utilize wind energy and natural gas as alternatives to electrical power and imported oil. Green industries also advocate using building construction materials which prevent the overuse of natural forests. Reforestation and the use of fast-growing bamboo instead of spruce and pine as building materials ensures that forests will not be depleted for future generations. As researchers, biotechnologists, and environmentalists race the clock to find solutions to the world's climatic and natural resources problems, socially responsible investing should take center stage and investments could exceed the $3 trillion mark within the next five years.

While the focus for socially responsible investing is moving toward the sustainability of the earth for the good of all humankind, proponents and financial investors are paving the way for future generations to become good stewards over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and every creeping things of the land -- all of which will provide a better habitat for humans and animals. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:27-28).