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The Blue Way: How to Profit by Investing in a Better World by Daniel de Faro Adamson and Joe Andrew |
Using hard, peer-reviewed data, the authors have created the "Blue Index" of approximately 80 companies from the S&P 500. All have a demonstrated commitment to core progressive values--equal opportunity; protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms; environmental sustainability; and fair treatment of all employees, customers, and citizens regardless of race, gender, class, or sexual orientation. In addition, the companies have supported a progressive political agenda over the last five election cycles.
The authors then proceed to compare their index to the S&P 500 financial performance and as importantly (more importantly?), in terms of their "Six Pillars of Progressive Leadership." The pillars include values such as innovation, flexibility, eco-efficiency, employee well-being, constructive engagement with stakeholders, and long-term perspective.
It is plainly disclosed in the book that before publication, the authors started a mutual fund based on the principles. So the careful reader realizes that one is likely to come across some bias or self-promotion therein.
In any event, they come to some surprising conclusions that over turn yesterday's Wall Street, economic, and regulatory assumptions. Fascinating, hopeful, and positive.
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Socially
Responsible Investing : Making a Difference and Making Money by Amy L. Domini |
You feel great that your money is socially responsibly invested and you’ve been doing it for a number of years now. Your advisor has explained how it works several times to you and it always makes sense. But when the subject of investing comes up in a conversation, you feel you’re stumbling around trying to explain what SRI is. If that sounds familiar, you need to look at this book.
Even if you don’t have the time or patience to read the whole thing (268 pages including comprehensive index), at least you can go through it and prepare yourself for that next time when the dreaded topic, investing, comes up. Wouldn't it be great to be able to clearly explain to your brother, mother, or aunt what SRI is all about?
Amy Domini, one of the pioneers in the modern social investment movement, covers the three main strategies of SRI through true stories and lots of examples. The three main strategies are of course screening, shareholder activism, and community investing.
She starts you out with a solid foundation building the context of why we invest in the first place and applies that to the idea of how your investments can provide more than financial results. Then she takes you through a quick history of the SRI movement.
After the fascinating treatment of the three strategies mentioned above, the book also covers how this all fits into the global economy and how our application of SRI strategies is changing the world. So do it for your brother, mother, or aunt—take a look at this book!
"The sweatshop dialogue has led to the development of standards. Over time, a more sophisticated assessment of corporate adherence to these standards will develop, and the tools for deciding which companies are more responsible, and which are less, will evolve. At that point, real screening can take place, but to date only Nike (NKE) has become a boycott target and therefore a divestment target. Corporate responsibility for the existence of sweatshops is only just beginning to be understood. The evolution of socially responsible investing will be profoundly affected by this debate, which is perhaps the most complex issue the field has faced since South Africa..."
"Social screening is not very effective at dealing with issues that lie at the core of the for-profit system such as monopolistic tendencies, aggressive marketing practices, and the like. Such issues are probably better left in the hands of government and communities..."
"Shareholder activism is possible because as the owner of a stock you are part owner of a corporation. In the United States, this gives you certain rights and, arguable, responsibilities. These rights are largely the result of the same legislation that created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other shareholder protections mentioned in the last chapter. This legislation gives you, as an investor, the right to receive financial information quarterly in unaudited form, as well as an audited annual report, which we use as the basis for much of our social research."
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The Exception to the Rulers by Amy Goodman, David Goodman |
"She gets up every morning of every day — long before the rest of us! — to be the only daily voice of truth on the radio in the United States of America. How sad that I even have to write those words! A nation of 300 million, a written guarantee of a free press, and no one will do the job that Amy Goodman does so simply, so profoundly. This book puts the pedal to the metal of all the lies we're told, day in and day out. Amy Goodman is a national treasure, and if you are unable to pick up her signal on the dial, you can now pick up this book, shake your head in disbelief and disgust as you read it, and then put it down so you can go raise some hell!"
—Michael Moore, director, Bowling for Columbine,
and author, Stupid White Men and Dude, Where's My Country?
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Eco-Economy:
Building an Economy for the Earth by Lester R. Brown |
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The
Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the
Corporate Aristocracy by Marjorie Kelly, 2001 Barrett-Koehler |
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Investing With Your Values, Making Money and Making a Difference, Brill, Brill, Feigenbaum, 1999, Bloomberg Press. |
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Jews, Money & Social Responsibility: A "Torah of Money"..., Lawrence Bush, 1993, Shefa Fund. |
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Natural
Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial
Revolution, by Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins |
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Support your local bookseller. Or for convenience, order books from Amazon.com here. (Amazon.com is local to Seattle, sort of.) Amazon.com pays us a small fee for most purchases you make during this session but there is no extra charge to you. Amazon customer names are not disclosed to us. We do get a list of which items are selling. We donate the fees each year to non-profits and they thank you. |
If you have any corrections or additions, please contact us. We go through this list periodically and remove publications that are out of print or out of date. We would like to hear from authors when there is a new book on the subject! Permission to forward this page in whole (with credit for source) is hereby granted and encouraged.
"It is neither wealth nor splendor, but
tranquility and occupation which give happiness."
Thomas Jefferson
Community Investing Achiever in the Social Investment Forum 1% For Community investment campaign since 2002.
Calvert Foundation Advisor of the Year in 2004.
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