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Using the fictional Fizzy Cola Company, we walk you through a shareholder proxy ballot. If you'd prefer to view this image as a PDF, click here to open.

Karen Bearden compares greening her money to a waterfall: one act of socially responsible investing (SRI) was like a drop of water that led to a cascade.  

She became a Green America member back in 2005. After reading about SRI in our publications, she and her husband Joe moved some of their investments into a Pax World socially responsible mutual fund that year.  
That one act led to another and yet another. They found a socially responsible financial advisor and started screening their investments with his help. In 2010, the Beardens broke up with Bank of America in favor of a local credit union, and cut up their mega-bank credit cards, choosing a card from their credit union and the Green America VISA instead. 

Today, the Beardens are still invested in Pax World Funds, along with Green Century Funds and Domini Social Funds. Karen screens their individual stock holdings, with her advisor’s help, to ensure that they don’t include fossil fuels or firearms. She also pays special attention to including renewable energy companies. 
The investments, she says, have paid off: “Many of our SRIs perform equal to conventional investments,” she says, noting that those that don’t are close. Plus, she says, “we know we’re investing in and supporting better companies. Those investments will pay off more in the future as we move toward more sustainable ways in the world.” 

When the Beardens receive shareholder proxy ballots, for companies in which they own stock, they always vote in favor of social and environmental shareholder proposals. Karen says she’s also brought Green America publications to her financial advisor to explain to him their values of social responsibility. 

In addition, Karen has been active in the fossil-fuel divestment movement. In 2009, she started volunteering with 350.org. After seeing the hardships that the Standing Rock Sioux faced in fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline, she helped 350.org organize activists in her area to persuade the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill to divest from Wells Fargo, a bank that has loans supporting the pipeline.  

“It’s important to me to not be investing in corporations that are destroying the Earth and hurting people and hurting our food system,” says Karen. “Everything is connected.”
 

You know by now that socially responsible investing (SRI) does make a difference in the world, but perhaps you’re wondering what kind of difference it will make in your portfolio. Will you sacrifice financial returns if you align your investments with your values? 

The evidence, amassed through hundreds of studies, shows that historically, SRI investments have performed as well as or better than their conventional counterparts. 

A 2015 study from Harvard and University of Minnesota researchers found that consistently, “firms making investments on material ESG issues outperform their peers in the future in terms of risk-adjusted stock price performance, sales growth, and profitability margin growth.”

In addition, in a white paper published in 2014, TIAA-CREF selected five widely known US equity SRI indexes with track records of at least ten years—Calvert Social Index, Dow Jones Sustainability US Index (DJSI US), FTSE4Good US Index, MSCI KLD 400 Social Index, and MSCI USA IMI ESG Index—and compared their returns with two conventional US equity-based indexes, the Russell 3000 and the S&P 500. The analysis found that the SRI indexes performed competitively with the conventional indexes.

Likewise, a 2015 survey by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing found that, “Benchmark performance of the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index, which includes firms meeting high Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, has outperformed the S&P 500 on an annualized basis by 45 basis points since its inception” in 1990.

And a 2012 meta-analysis of over 100 academic studies, conducted by DB Climate Change Advisors, found that incorporating SRI results in “superior risk-adjusted returns for investors.”
Conclusion: You can do well by doing good with SRI.

This graph from the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing shows how the MSCI KLD 400, the world’s oldest socially responsible investment index, has outperformed the S&P 500 since its inception. Graphic by Zephyr Analytics

Wondering how you can make a real difference in the world? Move your money. 
People who bank and invest in a socially responsible manner arguably have never been more important to the health of humanity and the Earth. As Donald Trump’s administration doubles down on anti-environment, anti-science, and anti-immigrant policies, it’s clear that Congress and the Supreme Court aren’t able to provide the checks and balances they once did. Enter investors. 

Yes, investors, believe it or not. 

For instance, Trump has denied that the climate crisis is caused by humans, signing an executive order in March dismantling Obama’s Clean Power Plan. In early June, he officially started pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, which 195 countries are supporting. Meanwhile, Apple, Amazon, Walmart,  and several other companies pledged to stick by their Obama-era promises to meet Paris Agreement emissions targets—despite Trump. And 12 states and Puerto Rico have formed the US Climate Alliance to negotiate with the United Nations to have their climate-reduction pledges counted as American participation in the Paris climate deal. As of June 14, ten more states and hundreds of US cities had pledged support for the Paris Agreement as well. 

“Strong clean energy and climate policies ... can make renewable energy supplies more robust and address the serious threat of climate change while also supporting American competitiveness, innovation, and job growth,” Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon said in a joint statement to Bloomberg. 
Why would these companies and leaders stand for the environment in spite of getting carte blanche to pollute from the Trump administration? In part because their customers have demanded they do so. And their shareholders have the loudest voices of all. 

While the administration—particularly vice-president Mike Pence—hints it may try to roll back LGBTQ legal rights, some corporations are fine-tuning LGBTQ anti-discrimination policies. Many of these policies have been in place for years, and the credit for them lies largely with concerned shareholders who put pressure on companies to do the right thing.

And when Trump signed an executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim countries, 127 companies filed an amicus brief in support of a federal court challenge to the ban. (Green America’s Green Business Network® members also signed a statement against the ban.) Why? They knew their customers and shareholders—the latter of whom have been pushing for greater board and management diversity and anti-discrimination policies for decades—wouldn’t want them to be silent. 
You don’t have to be rich to be a social investor. All you need is the will to use your money to support your values—and the kind of world you want to see for the future. In spite of Washington.   

Pick an issue:

Climate Change:

As the Trump administration pulls the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, investors are pressuring companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy. They’re also reinvesting that money in green energy and energy-efficiency technologies.  

The Environment:  

While Trump puts people with ties to the fossil-fuel industry in charge of the EPA and rolls back environmental protections, shareholders and people with bank accounts  are pressing companies to do better for the planet —and moving their money into companies that go the extra mile to care for the Earth. 

LGBTQ Rights:  

Many Fortune 500 companies have LGBTQ policies in place, thanks to investor pressure. Investors are still working on laggards to improve—and they’re taking on entire states with discriminatory laws.

Indigenous Rights:  

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and its encroachment on the lands and rights of the Standing Rock Sioux galvanized a new crop of shareholder activists, fossil-fuel divestors, and people willing to break up with their mega-banks—and move their money into community investing banks and credit unions.

Diversity:  

Too many white men in the White House? Definitely. And while we can’t do much about it until the next election, we can push Corporate America to put more women and people of color on boards and in upper management—and invest in companies with a commitment to fostering diversity.

The Border Wall, Prisons, And More: 

The fossil-fuel divestment movement is sending a message to the market that oil and gas aren’t sustainable—financially or environmentally. Divestment is also being used to pull assets out of companies tied to Trump’s border wall between the US and Mexico, and out of private prison companies, letting both groups know that our money won’t fund these harmful efforts.
 

In the 1990s, socially responsible investors played a key role in bringing down South Africa’s brutal and racist apartheid regime. Since then, they’ve made a difference on a wide range of issues, pressing companies around the world to move in a more socially and environmentally responsible direction. 

Thanks to engaged shareholders:

• In January of 2017, ExxonMobil appointed an atmospheric scientist and climate-change expert, Susan Avery, to its board of directors. 
• In recent years, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts agreed to phase out styrofoam cups. And Dell and Ikea have begun phasing out foam packaging. 
• In 2016, nine tech companies, including Apple, Intel, Expedia, Amazon, Adobe, Microsoft, and eBay, agreed to publicly disclose and close their gender pay gaps. 

To press for this kind of change, anyone with a bank account and retirement savings can engage in a practice called socially responsible investing (SRI). Though SRI is known by many names—impact investing; natural investing; sustainable and responsible investment; and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing—it all means banking and investing in ways that make large corporations more accountable to people and the environment, as well as supporting companies with forward-thinking practices and products.

“The single greatest impact you can have is how you invest your savings, yet this is one area where most investors do not realize they have any power. ” says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a nonprofit that promotes corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy. “It is not only a right that you have but a responsibility to manifest your values in the real world. That is why the shareholder movement is growing stronger by the day, and corporations are realizing that it is in their best interest to listen closely.” 

Socially responsible investors use a four-pronged approach to put their money to work for change: screening, shareholder activism, community investing, and divestment. It’s a powerful way to “vote with your dollars.”

Investors have put $8.72 trillion into SRI, according to the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment’s (US SIF) 2016 trends report. That’s a lot of financial might working for a better world, and it’s growing exponentially. SRI has grown 14-fold since 1995, states US SIF. Today, one out of every five dollars under professional management in the US is involved in SRI.  

If Washington won’t work for a better world, you and your money can. 

If you want to:

• Get problematic industries like tobacco, fossil fuels, weapons, and others out of your portfolio 
• Invest in forward-thinking companies on the cutting edge of green technologies, like renewable energy, water purification, and responsible waste management

Try: Screening

What is it? 

• Screening is making the choice to include or exclude investments in your portfolio based on social and environmental criteria. 
• Avoidance screens keep investments that violate your social and environmental criteria out of your portfolio. 
• Affirmative screens seek out investments that support business practices in which you believe. 

Scale

Investors have put $8.05 trillion into vehicles where environmental, social, and governance concerns were integrated into investment decision-making, according to US SIF. 

Impact 

“The very act of buying a portfolio that’s more consistent with goals of universal human dignity and ecological sustainability changes the conversation. It expands the mission of companies. You now have over 6,000 companies filing corporate responsibility reports. You now have around 17 countries that will not allow a company to trade stock unless it files a corporate social responsibility report.  Those things never would have happened had only straight Wall Street been their shareholders.”
                      —Amy Domini, Domini Social Investments

Get Started

Do research and screen your own investments, or hire a socially responsible financial advisor to help you. Find one at GreenPages.org. 

If  you want to:

Use your investor power to pressure irresponsible corporations to clean up their acts

Try: Shareholder Activism

What is it:

• Shareholder activism/advocacy describes the actions many investors take to press corporations to improve their social and environmental practices—using their status as part-owners of companies as leverage. 
• Shareholders, generally in coalition, may start out by dialoguing behind the scenes with corporate management to ask for change.
• If dialogues don’t work, they may introduce a shareholder resolution, which is a formal request to corporate management to change company policies or procedures. All shareholders vote on shareholder resolutions via a proxy ballot mailed to them each spring, or in person at a company’s annual meeting. 

Scale

Investors have $2.56 trillion invested in support of shareholder resolutions, according to the US SIF 2016 trends report. For the 2017 shareholder season, activists have introduced over 430 environmental, social, and governance resolutions, according to As You Sow.

Impact 

“Publicly traded companies can benefit from the unique insights offered by their shareholders. Shareholders’ specific view on the marketplace, society, resource constraints, and policy provide us with a clear, powerful, and persuasive voice that can be compelling for corporate directors and management. Through dialogue, shareholder proposals, and other channels of communication, investors serve as an important catalyst for improved ESG policies, practices, and performance.”
               —Jonas Kron, Trillium Asset Management

Get Started

If you own stock, look for a shareholder ballot to arrive in the mail in the spring, and vote in favor of social and environmental proposals. See p. 20, and visit Green America’s annual shareholder roundup on our key issues.

If you want to:

• Put your money to work helping low- and middle-income people lift themselves up economically
• Move your money away from predatory mega-banks tied to the foreclosure crisis, and toward institutions that are doing good

Try: Community Investing

What is it? 

• Community-investing vehicles maximize the social impact of your investments, providing capital to low-and middle-income people in the US and abroad who are underserved by conventional banks. 
• The simplest method is to open accounts in a community investing bank/credit union. 
• Other options include CDs and money-market accounts in a community-investing bank or credit union, community-investing loan funds and venture capital, and mutual funds with community investments in their portfolios. 

Scale

Thanks in part to Green America and US SIF’s publicity campaigns, the community investing field has grown from $5 billion in 1999 to $122 billion currently, according to the US SIF 2016 trends report.

Impact 

“[Community development financial institutions like] HOPE [offer] a tremendous return on investment. A credit union is a powerful resource that empowers 
individuals and communities to help themselves. For more than two decades, HOPE has generated more than $2.5 billion in financing that has improved conditions for more than 1 million people in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. In collaboration with a strong network of partners, ... we equip members to drive positive change. When these kinds of communities have access to the right tools, they thrive. That benefits not only the region, but ultimately the nation.”
               —Bill Bynum, Hope Credit Union 

Get Started

Find a community investing bank/credit union at GreenPages.org. 

Charis serves as Coordinator and Program Manager for both the Center and the Sustainable Food Supply Chain Innovation Network, where she facilitates operations, research, special events, and stakeholder engagement.

Previous to Green America, Charis served as Sustainability Coordinator and Partnership Manager for the corporate office of a growing organic grocery chain based in the Mid-Atlantic region before moving to her home state of Ohio. She specializes in benchmarking sustainability, sustainability reporting, training, and communications.

Charis has a passion for sustainability and social justice, particularly as it relates to food. While living in Maryland, Charis was nominated and elected as Councilmember for the Montgomery County Food Council in Maryland, where she served as the co-chair of the Food Economy Working Group. Through her volunteer work, she is exploring opportunities to sustainably grow the local food economy and increase food literacy and access throughout Northeast Ohio with the Summit County Food Coalition and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition.

Charis holds a M.A. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut and B.A. in Political Science from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, OH. 

If you ask multiple financial advisors for generalized advice on money matters, they’ll likely tell you that every person’s finances are different and ever-changing based on goals and plans. If they’re advisors who specialize in socially responsible investing (SRI), they’ll also agree that no matter how much money you have, you can use your money to support sustainable business practices and local economies. 
That said, Green America pinned a few of them down on general financial and SRI advice for every decade of our lives, based on where the average person is at each stage. Use it as a rough guide to maximizing the power of your investments as you go through life. 

In Your 20s

People in their 20s tend to have: 

• Some debt, including student loans. 
• An entry-level salary in their field. 
• Few expenses (may have no kids, rent instead of own a home, etc.). 
• They are also often just starting out with investments. 

Start saving early: People in their 20s may feel that the need to save for retirement is less urgent, since it’s 40-plus years away. However, Kathleen McQuiggan, senior vice president of Global Women’s Strategies at Pax World, stresses that the money you put away today will compound over time, so the earlier you start saving, the more you’ll have when you need it most. 

Steve Dixon, principal and investment manager at Birchwood Financial Partners, says it’s critical for young people to start saving: “My parents, the Baby Boom generation, didn’t need to figure this stuff out like younger generations will need to. Pensions were more prevalent and Social Security was more secure. Nowadays, [no one can count on these]. It’s much more critical that young people save for retirement. The nice part is that there are lots of ways to do it.” 

Save as much as you can: Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Senator and bankruptcy expert, coined the “50/30/20” rule of budgeting, which suggests you should keep your necessary costs to 50 percent of your after-tax income, spend up to 30 percent on “wants,” and sock 20 percent into savings. When you’re just starting out in the working world, 50/30/20 might be more of a goal than a reality, but make a point to save as much as you can until you can reach 20 percent.  

Make saving routine: Steve Dixon says your financial plan in your 20s should emphasize making saving for retirement part of your routine.  

“It’s like working out or exercising or eating right; if you build it into a routine, it’s so much easier than if you put it off,” he says. “Don’t wait until you have money to put away, because invariably, we never feel like we have enough money to put away.”

Get involved in your workplace retirement account: The easiest place to start saving is at work: If your employer offers a retirement savings account and will match a portion of your savings, take advantage of that—it’s free money! Make sure to save at least the amount that earns you the maximum employer match amount. 

Save more if you’re a woman: McQuiggan warns young women to consider their savings and investments even more strategically than men: “Women live five to six years longer than men. Also, the wage gap exists—[white] women make 80 cents [for every dollar a man makes, and women of color make even less]. So when women retire, they have to have more money than men.” 

SRI in your 20s 

Break up with your mega-bank: The easiest way to use your money for good is to switch banks. Break up with your mega-bank, if you belong to one, and choose a community investing bank or credit union. (The federal government provides certification for some, which will be called “community development financial institutions.” Not all are certified.)

Community investing banks and credit unions are known for treating customers better and generally charging lower fees than mega-banks. Most allow the same convenience of online banking that a mega-bank would have.

Where does the socially responsible part come in? Community investing banks and credit unions have a mission to use their money to lift up low- and middle-income communities. For example, Wells Fargo lends its money to fossil-fuel projects, while many community investing banks make a point of avoiding fossil fuels, instead lending money to foster local businesses, support people trying to buy homes, and more. Community investing banks and credit unions are federally insured, which means they’re just as safe as a mega-bank or your local bank. 

Get SRI into your workplace retirement account: Ask your employer if socially responsible funds are included in your workplace retirement account. If they aren’t, ask your employer to consider adding them.

In Your 30s

People in their 30s tend to have: 

• Less debt. 
• A higher salary than in their 20s. 
• Growing expenses, from buying a home, growing a family, etc.  
• Some retirement savings. 

Set aside an emergency fund: The investment advice site Betterment recommends making sure you have an emergency fund by your early 30s. Most experts recommend setting aside at least six months’ worth of your salary in a savings account, in case of illness or job loss, for example. 

Don’t cash out retirement accounts: People with even a small amount of retirement savings shouldn’t cash it out early, an article from Money Magazine warns. When you cash out a 401(k), the government takes out extra taxes, so a $5,000 balance could turn into $3,500 cash. If you leave your retirement accounts alone, you keep the money growing. 

Reconsider your savings: As you age, make a point to divert as much as you can into retirement and other savings. Increase your contribution to your workplace retirement account, which you can have your employer automatically pull from your paycheck. And have your bank or credit union automatically divert money from your checking account into savings every paycheck, as well. 

Consider mutual funds: If you didn’t already start in your 20s, investing some of your savings in mutual funds may also be a good option in your 30s, because at a younger age, you can be more tolerant to risk since you have time to absorb any losses. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the risk, the more potential for greater returns.

SRI in your 30s 

Consider SRI mutual funds: Generally, socially responsible mutual funds do as well or outperform the general market (see the "Long Way to Go" section of Taking Stock of Divestment Movements), making them a great option for green-minded people in their 30s who want to get started investing outside of a retirement account.  

Look for socially responsible mutual funds, such as those listed in the “Mutual Funds” category at Green America’s GreenPages.org. Mutual funds offer automatic diversification, which can help minimize risk, and most types are actively managed. 

Consider a socially responsible financial advisor: Your life is likely to go through some big changes in your 30s. You may get married and/or start a family, and you may buy your first home. Consequently, your finances will go through some big changes as well. A financial advisor can help you navigate these changes. Look for a socially responsible financial advisor, who can offer general financial advice and help you invest your money in line with your values. 

Try out community investing: Your 30s may be a good time to maximize the social aspect of your portfolio and move some of your money into community investments that go beyond banking. These investments help finance community-building projects in the US or elsewhere in the world. They may help people build houses, install renewable energy, start small businesses, or otherwise help lift up local communities. The Calvert Foundation, for example, offers Community Investment Notes, which put your money into a pool of community development projects across the US and around the world—from loans for women-owned small businesses in Tanzania powered by solar to loans for affordable housing in Baltimore. 

“Community investing is an important part of every portfolio and can play a key role in diversification,” says Fran Teplitz, Green America’s executive co-director. 

In Your 40s

People in their 40s tend to have: 

• The highest wages of their careers. 
• Long-term loans from paying off big purchases.
• Established retirement savings. 
• A need to continue saving for big purchases/children’s needs, like college. 

Max out your retirement savings: Advisors at Bankrate recommend making the maximum annual contribution possible to your retirement savings in your 40s, if you aren’t already. For example, for the 2020 tax year, the maximum annual contribution to a 401(k) is $19,500. 

Consider individual stock investments: If you haven’t already decided to invest in individual stock, your 40s could be a good time to do so. Buying individual stock has more risk than investing in mutual funds, but the rewards can be greater if the company does well. 

SRI in your 40s 

Screen your stock investments: Research companies before buying stock in them to ensure they’re socially and environmentally responsible. And purge any companies from your portfolio that you find are being poor corporate citizens. A socially responsible financial advisor can screen your holdings for you.  

Become an active shareholder: If you hold stock, you’ll receive a shareholder proxy ballot every spring. Vote your proxy ballot in favor of social and environmental shareholder resolutions. (Mutual fund managers receive and vote the proxy ballots for their stock holdings, and they must disclose those votes on the fund website. If you disagree with how one of your mutual funds voted on a particular ballot, call the investor relations department and let them know.) 

In Your 50s

People in their 50s tend to have:

• Peak savings and investments.
• A short “time horizon” until retirement.  
• A continued need to help children with college, plus assist aging parents with health and other issues. 

Consider lessening your investment risk:  As you start to think about retirement in the next decade or so, it may be time to shift your investments to be more conservative. Holliday uses the term “time horizon” to talk about how much time people can keep their money in an investment before they need it back. 

“We don’t want to be forced to sell out of a volatile market when markets are down. If you have a short time horizon or don’t tolerate much risk, you want to have a good amount in fixed, stable investments,” he says. Consider your personal time horizon until retirement, and check with a financial advisor to see if lessening investment risk is right for your portfolio. 

SRI Close to Retirement 

Find lower-risk socially responsible investments: Just because your investments may be getting less risky doesn’t mean you have to compromise on your values. No matter what your risk tolerance and time horizon, you or a financial planner will still be able to find socially responsible alternatives that fit with your needs. 

Government bonds and certificates of deposit (CDs), for example, offer fixed returns and less risk for investors. Money market funds, or pools of CDs, bonds, and certain other investments offer automatic diversification and reduced risk.

SRI At Retirement (65+)

At 65, you might be setting the date for your retirement, or be retired, and you’re starting to withdraw from your savings and investment accounts. (Be sure to read up on the requirements for starting such withdrawals, to avoid fines or penalties.) 
Steve Dixon suggests reconsidering community investing, which generally has a low level of risk, when you retire. 

“If I know I’m going to need that money in 18 months, if I’m being prudent, I shouldn’t be willing to take a lot of risk,” he says. “I want it in something secure.” 

Community investments can deliver social impact while simultaneously being available for the near term. Many community investments allow you to choose an investment term of anywhere from one to 15 years.   

You don’t have to be rich to be a social investor. All you need is the will to use your money to support your values—and the kind of world you want to see for the future. People who bank and invest in a socially responsible manner arguably have never been more important to the health of humanity and the Earth.

Since 2012, investor activists and college students have been advocating for divestment from fossil fuels, to send a market signal to the industry that investors and the public want it to stop warming the climate and start putting its resources into clean energy and other sustainable sectors. 

The success of the fossil-fuel divestment movement (nearly $5.5. billion divested and counting) has spurred others to  launch additional divestment campaigns. Investors turn to divestment when companies fail to respond adequately to screening, dialogues, and shareholder resolutions, in the hopes of piling pressure on problematic industries so they’ll improve: 

• In the past year, the fossil-fuel divestors have specifically targeted banks helping to finance the Dakota Access Pipeline. 
• They’re moving money out of the private prison industry.
• And they’re poised to divest from any company signing contracts to help build Trump’s border wall between the US and Mexico. 

“Divestment is a powerful tool, as it generates ongoing bad publicity, communicates to companies that customers and shareholders want urgent change, and may even affect the financial bottom lines of laggards,”says Fran Teplitz, Green America’s executive co-director.  

Fossil Fuels

The fossil-fuel industry has five times more carbon in its coal, oil, and gas reserves than experts think would be safe to burn, says bestselling author and 350.org founder Bill McKibben. To prevent their burning and the ensuing exacerbation of climate change, McKibben launched a campaign to get investors around the world—starting with colleges and universities—to divest from the top 200 publicly traded fossil-fuel companies. 

Simultaneously, Green America’s Fossil-Free campaign is asking people to reinvest the money they pull out of fossil fuels into sustainable sectors like clean energy and more.

“If we divest and reinvest this way, there is indeed hope that we can create a clean-energy future,” says Teplitz. 

As of June 2017, 732 institutions representing over $5.45 trillion in assets, and more than 58,000 individuals with about $5.2 billion in assets have made some sort of divestment commitment. 

Notably, in 2015, Bank of America pledged to reduce its credit exposure over time to the coal-mining sector globally, citing pressure from universities and environmental groups as a key driver of its policy shift.

California passed a bill in late 2015 requiring its state public employees’ and state teachers’ retirement systems to divest from companies that get at least half of their revenue from coal. 

In March of 2017, Columbia University became the latest higher-education institution to divest from companies that derive 35 percent or more of revenue from coal production.

Even mainstream investment companies are getting in on the act. In April 2017, AXA Investment Managers divested over 99 percent of its €717 billion ($805 billion) assets from fossil fuels. 

“We strongly believe that divesting from coal can help to de-risk portfolios over the long term by decreasing exposure to assets that are likely to become stranded in the future as the world moves to be in line with the +2°C scenario,” CEO Andrea Rossi said in a statement, referring to the general agreement that the world cannot afford for global temperatures to rise 2°C above pre-industrial levels. 

[Editor’s note: Developing nations say that two degrees is a death sentence for them and have been pushing for carbon reductions that keep world temperatures from rising above 1.5°C. Green America supports this threshold.]

If you’re worried that divesting from fossil fuels might negatively impact your portfolio, consider studies from the past few years that indicate otherwise: “Investors who have dumped holdings in fossil-fuel companies have outperformed those that remain invested in coal, oil, and gas over the past five years,” trumpeted the Guardian in April 2015.

Citing figures from stock market index company MSCI, the Guardian noted that “investors who divested from fossil-fuel companies would have earned an average return of 13% a year since 2010, compared to the 11.8%-a-year return earned by conventional investors.”

More recently, a study conducted by Aperio Group in 2016 estimated that a portfolio excluding all fossil-fuel companies from 1988 through 2013, a 25-year period, would have very little impact on investment risk. The fossil-free portfolio outperformed its benchmark by a fraction of a percent (0.05). 

In other words, you don’t have to sacrifice performance to go fossil-free with your investments.

Visit greenamerica.org/fossilfree/ for a list of resources to help you divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in sustainability, including fossil-free mutual funds, CDs, and other vehicles, as well as financial advisors who can help clients construct fossil-free portfolios. 

Dakota Access Pipeline

Activists on site at the Standing Rock Sioux camp protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. Photo by Alex Hamer.

In July 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers approved construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a massive oil pipeline that would stretch 1,172 miles from North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa, to Illinois. A project of Energy Transfer Partners, Enbridge Energy, Partners and Marathon Petroleum, the DAPL would carry 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day. 

Nearly 40 mega-banks are providing financing for the DAPL, including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and others. Activists are calling on individuals around the world to break up with their DAPL-supporting mega-banks. To date, investors have committed to pulling more than $4.4 billion out of these banks over the pipeline.

In April, anti-DAPL activists celebrated a major victory when US Bank announced at its annual shareholder meeting that it was pulling out of financing all oil and gas pipelines. 

And in June, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Standing Rock Sioux, a federal judge ruled that the federal permits authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River violated the law because they did not “adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice, or the degree to which the pipeline’s effects are likely to be highly controversial,” according to EarthJustice. The court had requested additional information to consider whether to shut down the pipeline as this guide went to press. 

The DAPL is a bad deal on several fronts: It encourages extraction of dirty, climate-warming  fossil fuels. A spill could wreak havoc on local ecosystems and pollute the nearby Missouri River, which provides drinking water to 2.5 million people. And there’s a major environmental-justice component here, too: The Standing Rock Sioux reservation lies half a mile from the pipeline route, and the DAPL will run through traditional Sioux territory. 

Adding grievous insult to this long-standing injury, the pipeline is also slated be built over areas that are sacred to the Sioux, including burial sites.

“This is a major victory for the Tribe, and we commend the courts for upholding the law and doing the right thing,” said Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault II in a statement after the court victory. “The previous administration painstakingly considered the impacts of this pipeline, and President Trump hastily dismissed these careful environmental considerations in favor of political and personal interests. We applaud the courts for protecting our laws and regulations from undue political influence and will ask the Court to shut down pipeline operations immediately.” 

In early June, the Tribe won the inaugural Henry A. Wallace Award for their courage and leadership in fighting off the DAPL. In addition to a $250,000 prize, the Standing Rock Sioux will also get a $1 million investment to ramp up wind- and solar-energy projects in their communities. 

View the full list of DAPL-supporting banks here. 

For tools and resources to help you break up with your mega-bank, visit Green America’s BreakUpWithYourMegaBank.org. 
Green America is mobilizing our members with a campaign action targeting multiple banks. To add your voice, visit greenam.org/DAPLaction. 

Read our article by Indigenous economist Rebecca Adamson on other ways to invest to support Standing Rock.

Private Prisons

Investor activists from Enlace urge people to divest from private prisons.Photo courtesy of Enlace.

Private prisons profit from the separation of families, human-rights violations, and inhumane conditions, according to Enlace, a racial- and economic-justice nonprofit. As part of its work toward criminal-justice reform, Enlace is urging people to divest from private prisons. 

Rather than working on prevention or rehabilitation,  private prisons have a “profit incentive that makes them work very hard to increase the number of people in prison and increase the length of time those people serve,” says Jamie Trinkle, Enlace’s prison-divestment campaign coordinator.

For example, private prison companies have helped draft and promote legislation that increases sentencing, such as mandatory minimum sentences for certain offenses and truth-in-sentencing laws that abolish the ability to earn parole.

Plus, when incarceration is about profit, private companies cut corners to increase earnings, which results in a lack of prison staff training, poor medical and psychological attention to people in prison, human-rights abuses such as overcrowding and substandard conditions, and a lack of services that enable the integration of people who have been incarcerated back into society, according to Enlace.

In addition, says Trinkle, “numerous reports exist that show how horribly private prisons treat prisoners, treat their staff. But one of the biggest concerns is that private prisons are a significant drivers of mass incarceration that particularly targets communities of color and immigrants.” 

For example, communities of color suffer disproportionately from overly harsh penalties for drug and immigration offenses, which benefit private prisons. 

Also, the Trump administration’s increased focus on rounding up undocumented immigrants further benefits the prison industry. Even immigrants who were trying to follow past rules, like minors who had been allowed to reside in the US under the DREAM Act, have been arrested or deported under Trump. 

“Trump’s rhetoric is all about criminalizing immigrants—throwing them out of country or throwing them in prison behind bars,” says Trinkle. “As a result, immigrants, especially Black and Brown immigrants, are ending up in prison without services [they require], so corporations can reap profits off of their exploitation. This process doesn’t improve quality of life for anyone besides a few extremely wealthy people. It just furthers a racist and xenophobic agenda.” 

In the US, approximately 75 percent of the private-prison market is controlled by two companies: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group. A report published in late 2016 by In the Public Interest found that six mega-banks are playing the largest role in financing the private prison industry: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP MorganChase, BNP Paribas, SunTrust, and US Bancorp. 

Enlace is calling on investors to divest from CCA, GEO Group, and the banks that fund them. In addition, the group is urging divestment from what it calls the “Million Shares Club,” or 32 companies that each own over 1 million shares in CCA and GEO Group, including American Century, Ameriprise, State Street Corp., and Vanguard Group. 

To date, more than $3.5 billion has been divested from private prisons and the companies that support them. The United Methodist Church Pension Fund, Columbia University, the University of California, New York City’s pension funds, and the cities of Seattle, Portland, Alameda, and Berkeley have divested from prisons since the campaigns launch. In addition, former Million Shares Club members Scopia, Hamlin Capital, and Makaira have fully divested from prisons following pressure from the campaign. 

For divestment toolkits and other resources, visit enlaceintl.org. Find the list of “Million Shares Club” companies. 

The Border Wall

Mexican and Muslim immigrants march in Detroit to protest Trump's immigration policies and plans for a US-Mexico border wall.

A cornerstone of Trump’s presidential campaign was his plan for a large wall sitting on the US-Mexico border, to keep undocumented immigrants from crossing into the US. As one of his first acts upon taking office, Trump signed an executive order calling for construction to begin on the border wall, which opponents say would be too expensive to be practical, in addition to promoting hate. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the wall will cost $21.6 billion, with other sources saying it could cost twice that much. And the Mexican government has said that, contrary to what Trump promised on the campaign trail, it is most definitely not going to foot the bill. 

While the federal government is still choosing among the more than 600 companies that bid on contracts to build the wall, lawmakers are already launching a movement to divest from those companies. 

In June, the California State Senate approved a bill put forth by State Rep. Ricardo Lara (D-CA), which would prevent businesses working on the US-Mexico border wall from entering into or renewing a contract with the state of California. 
“Senate Bill 30 sends a clear message that we want our businesses to stand with us and support our core values,” said Sen. Lara in a statement. “... President Trump’s wall will be a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle dragging down California’s economy, hurting our environment, and separating our communities—without making us any safer.”

The bill will now move to the State Assembly, where signs are promising for passage. 

The Assembly has introduced its own bill related to the wall. AB 946 would give the state’s public employee and teacher retirement systems one year to divest from companies working on the wall. 

Lawmakers in several states, including New York, Arizona, Illinois, and Rhode Island, are following in California’s footsteps, introducing similar bills that would penalize border-wall companies.

In addition, several cities are getting into the act. Oakland and Berkeley have passed laws forbidding companies working on the border wall from bidding on city contracts. In March, the San Francisco City Council introduced a measure that would do the same. 

And organizations working for social and environmental responsibility, including Green America, stand ready to call for divestment from and a boycott of all companies with ties to the border wall.

“Institutional and individual investors have used divestment before to get companies to change their practices on human rights issues,” says Todd Larsen, Green America’s executive co-director. “Any companies involved in building a border wall with Mexico will face a rising chorus of investors calling for those companies to walk away from this human rights and environmental disaster.”

Find a credit card that works for people and the planet instead of supporting the negative practices of the Big Banks. The Take Charge of Your Card Campaign lists cards you can obtain from community development banks and credit unions. With every transaction, your card can support local communities and the environment. There’s even a Green America credit card.

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Ready to break-up with your Big Bank and start a new, healthy banking relationship with a community development bank or credit union? Then this site is for you! You'll find step-by-step information on how to close your mega-bank accounts and how to find and open the accounts you need at financial institutions that support people and the planet.

Green America harnesses economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Individual members receive the National Green Pages®, the Guide to Socially Responsible Investing, and the Green American—with tips on how to save, spend, and invest your money in ways that create a more sustainable world.

Outdoor decks can be perfect for al fresco meals, neighborly get-togethers, and stargazing. However, depending how they’re constructed and cared for, they can also take a toll on the environment and may even pose risks to those using them. If you’ve got a deck in need of refurbishing, or plans to add one to your home this spring or summer, there are steps you can take to make it as healthy as possible for your family and the Earth.

Deck Materials Matter

Decks need to be constructed of materials that can withstand being exposed to weather, insects, and other threats. Cedar and redwood have been popular choices because they’re strong and naturally rot-resistant, but these trees are often logged from endangered forests. Deck builders who want to minimize their harmful impacts on forests have two choices: recycled-plastic lumber and forest-friendly wood.

Plastic lumber is a low-maintenance deck material, because it doesn’t require sealing, staining, painting, waterproofing, or insect-proofing. The most environmentally friendly plastic lumber is made from post-consumer recycled plastic, and buying it can help keep plastic grocery bags, beverage containers, and other items out of landfills.

The Healthy Building Network (HBN) has produced a “Guide to Plastic Lumber” that offers guidelines for plastic-lumber purchases based on environmental, public-health, and recycling considerations. It suggests selecting plastic lumber that has a high percentage of post-consumer recycled content and is made of high-density and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE), because these are recyclable and made with fewer chemical hazards and impacts than other plastics. HBN recommends avoiding fiberglass-reinforced, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polystyrene plastic lumbers because they are associated with more chemical hazards throughout their life cycles.

If you think natural wood is the best option for your deck, look for a forest-friendly source of strong, rot-resistant wood, such as redwood or tropical hardwood. Wood bearing the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo is guaranteed to have come from a forest that’s managed for long-term sustainability. (Such wood may also bear the name of Smartwood or Scientific Certification Systems, which certify wood products meeting FSC standards.) Metafore’s certifiedwood.org Web site has a database you can search for certified-wood retailers in your area. Following pressure from forest advocates, the national chains Home Depot and Lowe’s now carry FSC-certified wood. You can also ask your local lumber supplier if they stock certified wood; if they don’t, let them know you’d like to buy it from them and direct them to the FSC.

Salvaged wood from trees felled during storms can also be a forest-friendly option, although you may have to search to find the quantity and type of wood suitable for a deck.

Some “composite” deck materials made of a blend of wood and recycled plastic are available, and these look more like natural wood than plastic lumber does. The wood used may be reclaimed or scrap wood, reducing its impact on forests. However, HBN recommends avoiding these composites because, being a blend of wood and plastic, they can’t be recycled once their useful lives have ended. Composite supporters counter that because the lumber is made of recycled or reclaimed materials and is long-lasting, it’s still a good environmental choice.

The Arsenic Angle

In 2001, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and HBN released a report entitled “Poisoned Playgrounds” that drew attention to the problem of pressure-treated wood, which was widely used in playgrounds, decks, and outdoor furniture. To kill insects and prevent rot, this wood was treated with chromium copper arsenate (CCA)—or, in plainer terms, arsenic, a known carcinogen. EWG estimated that a 40-pound child playing daily on CCA-treated wood could be exposed to five times the arsenic allowed under EPA drinking water standards. The group cites studies showing that arsenic sticks to children’s hands when they play on treated wood, and is absorbed through the skin and ingested when they put their hands in their mouths.

EWG and HBN petitioned the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban arsenic-treated wood in playground equipment and review its safety for use in other consumer items; at the same time, Clean Water Action coordinated a consumer campaign asking Home Depot and Lowes to stop selling arsenic-treated wood. The CPSC and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studied the issue, and in 2002, the EPA announced a voluntary agreement with the wood-treatment industry to cease sales of CCA-treated wood for most residential uses by the end of 2004.

If you have a wooden deck that was built before 2005, you can get a test kit from EWG or HBN to see if it contains arsenic. If it does, the organizations advise replacing it, or at least replacing the parts such as steps and handrails that are heavily used and thus have more potential for exposing users to arsenic. EWG also offers several recommendations for minimizing arsenic exposure from CCA-treated wood, including:

• Seal the wood at least every six months with standard penetrating deck treatments.
• Wash your hands and your children’s hands after every exposure to arsenic-treated wood.
• Keep children and pets away from soil beneath and immediately surrounding an arsenic-treated deck, and don’t store tools or toys underneath it.
• Don’t pressure wash or sand arsenic-treated wood—both will release arsenic-contaminated particles. Use soap and water instead. (If your deck has become too rough, keep children from playing there, because arsenic-treated-wood splinters can be dangerous.)
• Don’t use commercial “deck washing” solutions. These can convert chemicals on the wood to a more toxic form.

If you decide to remove a CCA-treated wood deck, contact your local waste disposal authority and find out how to deal with it properly—it will generates toxic fumes and ash if incinerated, and the CCA can leach from unlined landfills. Also, test the soil near the deck to see if it’s contaminated; EWG has test kits available.

Finishing Safely

If you have a wooden deck—or deck furniture made of wood—you’ll probably want to treat it with a wood finish, such as stain or varnish, for protection against the elements. (Many home-owners do this every year or two.) It’s best to avoid finishes that contain high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can cause health problems from dizziness to lung and kidney damage and are infamous for polluting both indoor and outdoor air. The nonprofit Green Seal has published a “Choose Green Report” on wood finishes, which notes that finishes can also contain other problematic substances—including phthlates, fungicides, and the aromatic solvents toluene and xylene—that could harm human health.

Green Seal reports that most US companies are formulating finishes that comply with California’s regulations on VOC content, which set maximums of 350 grams/liter of VOCs in varnish and 250 grams/liter in stains. Their “Choose Green Report” lists several wood finishes that exceed these VOC standards and also do not contain carcinogens, aromatic solvents, phthalates, heavy metals, reproductive toxins, or ozone-depleting chemicals. When shopping for stains, look for ingredient lists free of these substances, and seek out low- or no-VOC finishes, such as those listed in the box below.

Advice on the community-based Web site GreenHomeGuide recommends water-based sealers for their low environmental and health impacts, ease of handling and cleanup, and durability. It suggests avoiding water-based sealers that contain glycol ethers, which are toxic and sometimes used as solvents in these sealers—though if you find them unavoidable, propylene glycol and ethylene glycol are less-toxic types.

The site also features a Clear Coatings Directory reviewed by green-building professionals. Once you’re done sealing or staining your deck or your outdoor furniture, be sure to dispose of leftover sealant or stain responsibly. Store it safely for touch-ups, donate it to a local school or community group that can use it, or call your local waste authority to determine the proper disposal method. Then sit back and enjoy your deck.

While many American companies have chosen to take the easy route and exploit workers from vulnerable populations, such as immigrants, the deep green companies in the Green Business Network® protect workers across their supply chains.

A few have even gone out of their way to employ a business model that empowers traditionally disenfranchised populations.

Rivanna Designs.

Jobs For Refugees

Crystal Mario, founder and CEO of Rivanna Designs, served as an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) tutor while in college, and she often played squash with her ESL students, including Raul, a former attorney and one of 7,000 Chilean refugees who resettled in Canada after the violent overthrow of the government and installation of a military dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet. One day while the two were having a game, Mario’s racquet slipped out of her hands and flew across the court, almost hitting him at a blistering speed.

“I was young, genuinely shaken, and near tears, and I said, ‘Raul, I’m so sorry. I almost killed you!’” she recalls. Raul responded with a laugh. He pulled up his shirt and pointed to a large scar on his chest, near his heart. “You see here? This almost killed me.” He pointed to another scar. “And you see here? This almost killed me. You must understand, I have been shot. I have been tortured. You did not almost kill me. I have never been better.”

“Then he handed my racquet back to me and said, ‘Now, let’s keep going,’” Mario says.

The incident, and Raul’s memorable advice, “let’s keep going,” stayed with her for years. When she founded Rivanna Designs—which sells awards, plaques, and promotional items made of recycled glass and sustainable wood—she partnered with International Rescue Committee Charlottesville (IRC) to hire IRC clients. IRC helps provide international refugees like Raul with the means to survive, recover, and restore their dignity.

Today, Rivanna continues to hire newly arrived refugees, providing them with the kind of job whose features are important in meeting their needs as they recover from trauma and resettlement: flexible hours, a living wage, on-site training for those who speak English and those who do not, and a workplace accessible by public transportation.

Rivanna’s care in reaching out to this vulnerable population has been a benefit to both the employees and the company, says Mario. She speaks of workers like Admir Hasanovic, “who never missed a work assignment or deadline in 12 years.” With his wife Binasa, Hasanovic saved money, bought a car, bought a house, and sent their daughter Melisa to college. “Their generosity and hospitality is such that no one ever leaves their home without a full belly and a full heart,” she adds.

“And with the contributions and collective determination of Admir and other IRC clients, we’ve built a successful business that has created new jobs in our community not only for more recently arrived refugees, but for that other group in Charlottesville in dire need of employment, recent University of Virginia graduates,” she says. “I have come to depend on IRC clients not simply because of their solid work ethic, but because they bring with them unique and valuable strengths, experiences, perspectives, and skills.”

Beans for a Better Life

Women's Bean Project.

Crystal Mario is not the only green business owner to use her company to lift up vulnerable populations. While volunteering at a women’s shelter in Denver, CO, Jossy Eyre observed that while the shelter worked to fix a particular symptom of poverty—homelessness—it did little to address its cause, which she perceived to be a lack of employable skills.

Noticing that a lot of her friends ate soup, Eyre bought $500 worth of beans with her own money and taught two women how to assemble pre-made soup mixes. That holiday season, Eyre sold the mixes and saw a 600 percent return on her $500 investment.

Fast-forward 25 years, and the company that started from those humble beginnings, the Women’s Bean Project (WBP), now has an operating budget of $2.1 million and employs over 70 women. In a six-month process, the gourmet food and jewelry company moves its employees, mostly chronically unemployed women, through all aspects of the business to help them create diversified skill sets. It also trains participants in how to find a job once the program is over.

That attention to detail seems to pay off. According to WBP CEO Tamra Ryan, 100 percent of WBP graduates are able to keep their next job after the first six months of employment, and 85 percent retain employment after a full year.

“We employ women who need someone to believe in them,who have already had some hard chapters in their lives and work to create a safe and accepting environment to make the rest of [the chapters] better,” she says.

Fair Wages for Farmers

TS Designs.

And after watching farmers in his native state of North Carolina take a hit during the ongoing economic downturn, TS Designs president Eric Henry decided he could use his eco-friendly textile printing and dyeing company to do something about it. He brought together farmers and business leaders to launch the Cotton of the Carolinas initiative, which officially marked its second year in 2013 making organic cotton T-shirts grown, woven, and sewn entirely in the Carolinas.

The result is a batch of organic cotton shirts made in the US entirely within a 750-mile radius. In comparison, a globally sourced shirt can travel more than 16,000 miles before being sold, according to Henry. It also empowered the state’s cotton farmers, paying them rather than paying them bottom dollar and shipping the cotton overseas for production, as conventional T-shirt production often does.

The first batch of Cotton of the Carolinas shirts opened up more than 700 local, green jobs for the state. As a result, the initiative has created a model green business that is good for the planet and good for workers. The entire supply chain “from dirt to shirt” is completely transparent. Customers can track their shirt’s journey via the
initiative’s Web site by entering a code on the shirt’s label.


Baked Goods that Do Good

Greyston Bakery.

Greyston Bakery, a solar-powered company specializing in premium-quality brownies and other baked goods, hires and trains the ex convicts, ex-addicts, other “hard to employ” populations of Yonkers, NY. Greyston provides a comprehensive training program, fair wages, and benefits, so its employees can attain the skills and financial stability necessary to achieve self-sufficiency.

Greyston keeps working for its employees long after they leave work. The bakery is owned by and donates all of its profits to the Greyston Foundation, a network of for-profit and not-for-profit entities working on a wide range of community-development initiatives, including affordable housing, child care, and HIV/AIDS-friendly housing and care.

As the Greyston motto says, “We don’t hire people to bake brownies. We bake brownies to hire people.”

Milan Polk is a sophomore in college, studying Journalism at Northwestern University. When at school, Milan works on her college's web and print publication North By Northwestern.

Currently Milan is working on Green America's National Green Pages, and writing articles for Green America's website.

Alexis is a senior at Indiana University Bloomington. Studying journalism, she is passionate about storytelling and the role it plays in our democracy. During the school year, she contributes to her local college newspaper -- the Indiana Daily Student. 

In her spare time, you could find her in Bloomington or in her hometown of San Diego, reading a Rainbow Rowell book or cross stitching.  

She currently proofreads and fact-checks the National Green Pages directory, and assists with writing and researching stories at Green America.

She hopes to have a career where she can write, edit, and tell stories.

Rising use of glyphosate, the world’s most heavily applied herbicide, is putting the population at risk of significant health problems, according to a report recently released by As You Sow. Glyphosate is applied frequently to the most widely grown crops in the U.S., including corn, soybeans, and wheat, and has been found in many common food products including “all-natural” Quaker Oats. The report raises concerns about the health and environmental impacts of current glyphosate use, gaps in the regulation of pesticides, and how large chemical companies are promoting the use of glyphosate.

New Report: Glyphosate in Our Food System

Available online at asyousow.org, the new report, titled Roundup Revealed: Glyphosate in Our Food System, consolidates years of research, cutting through to the heart of the controversy over glyphosate. One key finding: glyphosate is increasingly being sprayed on crops just before harvest to dry out (“desiccate”) the plants to speed up harvest operations; this practice results in greater residues of glyphosate in foods. The report’s analysis finds that in 2015, nearly a third of U.S. wheat was treated with glyphosate, likely through pre-harvest use in most cases. A recent biomonitoring study revealed that 93% of Americans tested had glyphosate in their bodies.

In 2015, glyphosate was classified as a probable carcinogen by the world’s leading cancer authority. Recent research suggests that glyphosate is likely to cause other chronic health impacts, including disruption of the body’s endocrine system.

American regulators are dismissing key scientific data and continuing to raise the allowable limits for glyphosate residue in food, leaving the population at risk of health harms. The widespread use of glyphosate is also creating environmental problems, including herbicide-resistant weeds and reduced biodiversity. For too long, pesticides have been the foundation of agriculture, with glyphosate as the cornerstone; the cracks in this system run deep.

As You Sow has brought this issue to the attention of major companies, including Kellogg, a leader in sustainable agriculture who responded by agreeing to survey its supply chain about the pre-harvest use of glyphosate.

Experts, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, agree that pesticides are not necessary or helpful to feed the world. Investors would be prudent to analyze their exposure to pesticide-intensive agriculture and prioritize sustainable solutions.

While the legal and political battles over glyphosate continue to emerge and develop, pesticide companies are staking their future on increased use of toxic pesticides. Monsanto and Dow Chemical are betting that farmers will adopt a new generation of genetically engineered crops that can be treated with both glyphosate and the more toxic herbicides dicamba and 2,4-D, increasing sales of these pesticides ten-fold while keeping the use of glyphosate at current high levels.

Monsanto, which sells half of the world’s glyphosate, has proposed to merge with Bayer, a major seed and pesticide company; the merger has yet to clear regulatory approval. This consolidation in the already uncompetitive seed and agrochemical industry concerns farmers who fear that prices will continue to increase.

The pesticide industry mergers, including the Monsanto-Bayer merger, are likely to exacerbate the food systems’ greatest challenges. Investors, communities, and downstream companies should be opposing these mergers and advocating for more sustainable agriculture methods.

BY CHRISTOPHER COLLINS  |  Agroecology, Climate, Food Policy, Labeling
07.10.17

The soil at Adobe House Farm in Durango, Colorado, gets better each time the landscaping trucks, brimming with leaves from a nearby housing development, make a delivery. Linley Dixon, a farmer and soil scientist for the Cornucopia Institute, says that over the years the leaves have helped raise her soil’s organic matter from 2 percent to about 8 percent.

This is good for an obvious reason: Plants grow better in soil with high levels of organic matter. But soil fertility is a reliable indicator of something else, too: how much carbon dioxide the ground can absorb from the surrounding environment. Scientists have linked high atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide to a warming climate, so the more CO₂ the soil can sequester from the air, the better. Research has also indicated carbon sequestration can replenish depleted carbon networks in soil.

Dixon practices a farming method she calls “regenerative agriculture.” She uses compost, cover crops, and tills only minimally. These practices have been around since at least the 1970s, and have often been described as organic or agroecological. But Dixon says that regenerative agriculture goes further than most organic farming, and she hopes to help bring the approach to the mainstream.

Dixon and other members of the movement have used the growing threat of climate change as their rallying cry. “There’s so much doom and gloom around climate change, so if you can come up with a solution, it’s absolutely exciting,” Dixon said. At the Cornucopia Institute, regenerative agriculture is touted as a protection for farmers against the floods and droughts that are becoming more frequent in our rapidly warming world.

Dixon and the Cornucopia Institute aren’t alone. The people behind Holistic Management International, the Carbon Underground, Green America, and the Rodale Institute are all working to make inroads to bring regenerative ag to the mainstream. In some cases, these organizations are in conversations with suppliers, regulators, and manufacturers to begin using the term as a label on food. And while it’s not clear that the market has room for another eco-label, some regenerative ag advocates appear to be pushing that agenda forward.

Seizing an Opportune Moment

Because the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has oversight over the certified organic label, changes to existing rules have happened slowly. Case in point: The agency spent years working on an update to the animal welfare practices put forth in the current certification. Despite some momentum at the beginning of 2017, under the Trump administration it has been delayed several times. Similarly, while organic standards call for special attention to soil fertility, not all organic farms practice those techniques.

With a growing number of large producers transitioning some or all of their business to organic to capture the market, challenges to the label’s legitimacy have arisen, as evidenced by two scathing Washington Post investigative pieces spotlighting the USDA’s failure to regulate organic products.

Although organic sales are at a record high ($43.5 billion in 2015), the organic brand is struggling with a perception problem. A 2015 study by market research firm Mintel found that more than one-third of shoppers are skeptical that organic products are any better than conventionally grown food.

And even more are confused by alternative labels: A 2016 Consumer Reports survey found that 73 percent of consumers sought out products labeled “natural”—a label with no regulatory teeth—while only 58 percent look for organic products. This may be due in part to a 2012 Stanford meta-analysis study that found organic food is only slightly more nutritious than conventionally grown food, although the report’s methodology has drawn criticism.

“The organic certification is struggling. There are people who feel like it’s been watered down,” said Ann Adams, executive director of Holistic Management International. She also points to the fact that while less than 1 percent of farmland in the U.S. is certified organic, organic sales account for closer to 4 percent of the market. “Because we can’t produce enough of these organic products in this country, we’re importing a lot and people are looking the other way.”

And while foods grown using regenerative practices may help fill the void left by inadequate organic regulation, Adams said, it would likely be an uphill battle to convince consumers to buy them. “The number one reason people buy organic is for the health of their children,” she said, pointing out that some regenerative tenets—soil health and farmworker rights, for example—may be too abstract to win over organic customers.

But Larry Kopald, president and co-founder of the Carbon Underground, sees the climate argument as an effective marketing pitch for regenerative farming. According to its website, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit specializes in “crafting campaigns that motivate people to act,” with past clients including Honda, American Express, PepsiCo, and McDonalds. “We’d like to get to a point where we can hang a sign above the apples at the co-op that says, ‘These apples helped reverse climate change.’ The pressure that would put on the apples next to them would be immense,” Kopald said.

Carbon Underground is in the early stages of discussions with “investment and development people” to bring regenerative ag to the public consciousness. Kopald declined to give details, but said that the organization has worked with California State University, Chico and the National Co-op Association on the project and he hopes to achieve “significant scale” within five years.

Avoiding ‘Label Burnout’

One key challenge facing Kopald and other proponents is the question of certification. Should such a certification fit within the confines of the existing National Organic Program, for instance? The answer depends on whom you ask.

“Most people feel there needs to be a certification or a label to let people know the food they’re buying is making the planet healthy and reversing climate change,” Kopald said. “But there is certification burnout out there.”

Kopald’s preliminary plan sees a regenerative label being used separately from the USDA-certified organic label. But he added that those who really want to eat healthy while ensuring the planet’s health would probably want to buy both regenerative and certified organic products.

Urvashi Rangan, former executive director of the Consumer Reports Food Safety and Sustainability Center and a current consultant on sustainable food systems, said a regenerative product label could legitimize the movement. She stressed, however, that products would need to be undergirded by a set of “meaningful” standards.

“You want to make sure it’s not being watered down,” she said. “What we need to avoid is a bunch of regenerative claims where consumers have to decide, ‘Is that one meaningful or not?’”

Rangan said a regenerative product label “probably” will crop up in the relatively near future, and that there may be more than one—at least at first.

Improving Organic vs. Competing with It

At the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania, executive director Jeff Moyer wants to use regenerative ag to help raise the standards of the National Organic Program. The Institute is uniquely positioned to make that happen, since founder J. I. Rodale popularized the term “organic” in the 1940s and Robert Rodale began using “regenerative” in the 1980s.

“We want to be very cautious and maintain ownership of the word regenerative and link it to organic as a baseline,” Moyer said. “We’re well aware of what happened to the word ‘sustainable’—it was a buzzword and it became so watered down it became meaningless. There’s going to be a battle for words and language expressed over the next few years.” That battle could manifest itself in the form of a trademark, he said.

Moyer said Rodale is also in discussions with “specific partners” in the marketing and food industries regarding regenerative, but gave few details. A Rodale spokeswoman said, “there will be some big announcements with really well-known brands and some products that are going to be on the market.”

Laura Batcha, CEO and executive director of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), said, “from our perspective, organic is regenerative.” Organic growing practices already facilitate carbon sequestration, she said; a forthcoming study by the OTA’s Organic Center and Northeastern University is expected to show higher levels of sequestration in organic soil than in conventional soil.

As far as the possibility of regenerative products competing for consumer dollars with organics, Batcha questioned the movement’s ability to mobilize an effective label, standards, and verification system. “Building up a private label and a standard and getting that in the marketplace in a way that breaks through with the shopper is no small task,” she said.

On a similar note, Adams of Holistic Management International doubts that federal certification for regenerative producers would be effective, and Linley Dixon of the Cornucopia Institute says that while a certification and label are feasible, she dreads the idea of a more complicated marketplace.

Before the movement can make a dent in the market, proponents need to agree on key points, said Anna Meyer, food campaigns director for Green America. “We’re all coming from a place of wanting to do things better, but if we can’t clearly specify what we’re asking for and if we’re asking for 10 different things, it really dilutes the messaging and it does more harm than good.”

For now, regenerative agriculture will be resigned to the liminal space of the agriculture world, and will remain essentially unenforceable in the marketplace until there is a meaningful standard with third-party certification. Consumers can still interact with farms directly and ask producers about their growing practices. And, regardless of the outcome, the dialogue is an important one.

“We’re starting to have these discussions,” Meyer said. “And that’s good, though those are also challenging conversations to have.”

Industry, labour, NGOs unite on zero toxic exposure of workers

29 June 2017 / Alternatives assessment & substitution, Electrical & electronics, United States

Several pilot projects are underway to test alternatives to solvents and bonding adhesives commonly used in electronics manufacturing, according to director of Clean Electronics Production Network (CEPN) Sarah O'Brien, less than a year after its first meeting. 

It is too early to break confidentiality by naming specific chemicals, Ms O'Brien said, "but you can guess what some of them are". She said they were chosen because they are some of the most dangerous and members believe alternatives are in reach.

"Over the past five years, there have been a lot of investigations of working conditions and toxic exposure, so we know what some of the big issues are," she told Chemical Watch. "These are also some of the chemicals most widely in use, so we can get a big bang for the buck."

The group was established in 2015 by Green America’s Center for Sustainability Solutions. The mission is to use stakeholder networks to "address sustainability problems in supply chains and complex systems".

It says workers in the industry are often exposed to toxic substances, such as n-hexane, especially in countries such as China, Mexico and Indonesia. Its members have agreed to move towards zero exposure in the electronics manufacturing process, and to develop four initiatives covering: safer substitutions; process chemical reporting; tracking and measuring exposure; and worker engagement and empowerment.

The network includes not only manufacturers - such as Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell - but also NGOs and labour advocates and the EPA.

"We may make some recommendations in terms of protective equipment, but what we are looking for is limited exposure and finding substitutions," said Ms O’Brien.

The idea is to "build a consensus" and allow suppliers and manufacturers of finished products to change their practices, with less fear of being at a competitive disadvantage.

"If we can show that [new] substances are workable and meet the performance needs the customer is looking for, the supplier can have some confidence in trying something new," Ms O'Brien said.

"It's a high-volume, high-throughput industry and anything that disrupts that is a cause of anxiety."

Also, she said, no one company can make a truly meaningful change.

"One customer might ask for a change in their production line, but if you are in a facility with ten production lines and you ask for a change in one, they will keep using the cheaper, easier chemical [elsewhere] and the exposure profile doesn't change that much."

Once solutions "mature" to the point of being deemed successful, O'Brien said, the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition will take on a key role in "scaling up sector-wide".

At that point, she said, "when we are advocating for wider adoption, then we would be more public about what the substances are and what the plans are in addressing specific chemicals."

While the network's broad base, particularly the inclusion of labour organisations, is unusual, some electronics companies had already started moving toward cleaner production. For example, Apple's progress report, released in April, ranks the company’s prioritisation of substances "it intends to phase out". And industry group the EICC, a network member, has a chemicals management taskforce that promotes the use of safer chemicals.

Members of the CEPN include:

• Apple;
• Dell;
• Fairphone;
• HP;
• Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition;
• Flex;
• Seagate Technologies;
• Inventec Performance Chemicals;
• CEREAL (El Centro de Reflexión y Acción Laboral);
• Good World Solutions/Labor Link;
• International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT);
• Social Accountability International;
• The Sustainability Consortium, Arizona State University;
• University of California, Irvine;
• University of Massachusetts Lowell;
• Clean Production Action;
• Green Electronics Council;
• TCO Certified; and
• US EPA.

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