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Most businesses provide a product or service for which the client exchanges some form of payment. You hand over your money and receive something in return. You also empower the business owner and his or her business practices. You are holding a copy of a publication that costs more than $25,000 to prepare, print, and distribute each month. Subscribers cover about 2% of our costs (mailing costs and a pro rata share of printing costs), and our advertisers pay the rest. This publication simply would not be possible were it not for the advertising — and for reader support of our advertisers. One profound way to express your gratitude for our work and, in fact, empower the decisions we make (if you are so inclined) is to consider patronizing our advertisers and letting them know that you found them in The New Times. In this issue, we introduce a series on socially responsible investing (SRI) and conscious business practices. In our 2000 reader survey, two-thirds of you told me that you were interested in this topic. The timing on this seems particularly relevant given the current state of affairs in the corporate world, where short-term profitability for a few has disenfranchised many others. Corporations are driven by profit, and that means they can be very responsive to consumer and investor demands. My vision for this series goes well beyond the SRI topic. I intend that this series will become a catalyst for new articles that help our readers empower their values every time they exchange their time or money. I believe that simply reading about the issues and discovering people and companies that are making a positive difference will help you make more intentional choices while conducting everyday business (at the grocery store, gas station, or home improvement store, for instance). To get the series started I contacted Cliff Feigenheim, co-author of Investing with your Values and publisher of The Green Money Journal. He suggested one of his top writers, Sheri Wallace, who is now helping us develop an editorial calendar on this topic and will be writing several of the articles. Sheri will be putting a human face on social responsibility as it relates to your money. You’ll learn what goes on behind the scenes at SRI mutual funds. The articles will highlight new investment choices and direct you to relevant information sources. My intent is not to tell you what to do with your money, but to empower you to use your money in ways that align with your values, whatever those values are. The front end of socially responsible investing is a process called screening. That is distinguishing the "good" businesses from the "bad" businesses and then avoiding the bad ones and/or selecting the good ones. Here’s the part where you have to be clear. What issues are you most concerned about? You may want to seek out businesses that are industry leaders in areas that you’d like to empower. If you are concerned, for example about a corporation’s policies toward women, one quick way to check that out is to look at the names of the board of directors. If you see a reasonable number of women on the board that’s a pretty good indicator that women are treated fairly in the normal course of business. The flip side of this is identifying businesses you want to avoid. For example, businesses that have a poor track record with the environment, or have unfair policies regarding minorities, or have questionable corporate practices. You may not want to do business with a company that contributes heavily to a political party with values you oppose (corporations are having a huge influence on the selection of political candidates). Professional screeners really do their homework. For example, you may feel you’re making a good choice when you buy paper with a high percentage of recycled content. But where does the rest of the content come from? The Wall St. Journal recently reported that ForestEthics, a San Francisco environmental group, alleges that Staples, Inc. is selling recycled paper products partly manufactured from old growth trees from Indonesia and Canada. So the recycled paper you use may be contributing to the destruction of old growth forests. I recently learned that Shared Vision magazine in British Columbia is now printing on 100% recycled paper. As one who believes in walking my talk, I plan to take a closer look at where the paper for my printing is coming from and evaluating choices for our future. Please e-mail (or write) me with your comments and suggestions as we move in this new direction. Or, if you have a story you think our readers would enjoy, check out our writers’ guidelines at www.newtimes.org and send us an article submission. I believe that The New Times can serve as a community forum, helping us all develop powerful tools for advocacy and create positive changes. I believe that our individual decisions make a big difference. Join me as we discover new ways to empower our values. |
