Socially responsible investing.

Over the last few decades the movement of Socially Responsibly Investing (SRI) has been afoot that started almost as an anti-establishment reaction, but has morphed into mainstream consciousness and focus. It has become clear that one can go beyond the subjective implications of engaging in enterprises that produce dangerous, unhealthy or immoral products. There are many processes that optimize business value over the long term that are renewable, self-sustaining or empowering to users, consumers and employees. For example, the company that manufactures components for a water purification system, may itself have a negative carbon footprint, or may inadvertently support unethical behavior from a raw material provider. Then, as concerned investors, do we consider the individual parts or the net effect of the enterprise? How do we do this in a dynamic business model? As our awareness and understanding of our world has grown, the question of consequences and impact have become much more complex.