From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Socially responsible investing describes an investment strategy which combines the intentions to maximize both financial return and social good. In general, socially responsible investors favor corporate practices which are environmentally responsible, support workplace diversity, and increase product safety and quality. Some (not all) also avoid businesses involved in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons and other military industries, and/or abortion.
The beginning of socially responsible investing could be attributed to many people and many places. Many believe social investing began with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). In 1758, the Quaker Philadelphia Yearly Meeting prohibited members from participating in the business of buying or selling humans. Religious institutions have been at the forefront of social investing ever since. One of the most articulate early adopters of SRI was John Wesley (1703-1791), one of the founders of the Methodist Church. A sermon of his, entitled “The Use of Money,” outlined his basic tenets of social investing – i.e. not to harm your neighbor through your business practices and to avoid industries like tanning and chemical production that pollute rivers and streams.
Modern SRI movement began during the Vietnam War. Many people living during the era remember a picture in June of 1972 of a naked nine year-old girl, Phan Thị Kim Phúc, running towards a photographer screaming, her back burning from the napalm dropped on her village. That photograph channelled outrage against Dow Chemical, the manufacturer of napalm, and prompted protests across the country against Dow Chemical and other companies profiting from the Vietnam War. In the late 1970s, SRI activism turned its attention to nuclear power and automobile emissions control.
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