Recent events remind us of 1968, when we pointed our TV antennas to the south and watched history unfold. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were two cathartic voices silenced that year, but their words echo loudly through the generations.
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
Robert F. Kennedy
At EthicInvest, we long ago decided that change is to be encouraged and welcomed and we will do what we can to participate, encourage and instigate. We want to “send forth a tiny ripple of hope”. We imagine a world that does not measure its wealth by the rate of return on money or accumulate wealth without regard for social or environmental necessities.
Directing our clients’ capital in a socially responsible manner means anticipating change and steering towards it, cleansing portfolios of businesses that do not benefit broader societal needs. The current health crisis illuminates the belief that old, wasteful, linear ways of economic growth are simply not sustainable.
We are not willing to support a “take, make, waste” economic model that tramples human rights and pillages the ecosystems that support us. A focus on circular growth models will become the change we seek, and this is already understood in other more ancient cultures, including our own indigenous nations.
There are many and profound ways in which the world economy is going to evolve over the next 20 or 30 years, and we strive through our investment approach to facilitate the best of what can be achieved.
“Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product…if we should judge the United States of America by that – counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”
Robert F. Kennedy
The comments and opinions expressed herein reflect the personal views of Tony Edwards and Joss Biggins. They may differ from the opinions of Leede Jones Gable Inc. and should not be considered representative of the research beliefs, opinions or recommendations of Leede Jones Gable Inc.
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