I don’t intend to get all preachy on you, so please take the following as my personal views. Nothing more, I’m just putting a peg in the sand and respect that many of you will have different views.

Feel free to leave a comment to share your views.

Sustainability 

I just posted the following comment on a Seeking Alpha article.

Timbear wrote that “Global warming, to sum up, is a lie fed to foolish children”
While this has nothing to do with this excellent contrarian article (‘cos it’s optimistic when pessimism rules the day) I can’t let such a comment slip by unanswered.
Global warming may or may not exist, but those still arguing against it are simply looking at a detail and missing the big picture of SUSTAINABILITY and ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION. We can not continue to consume and trash Earth’s resources at our current rate. We need to find ways of generating sustainable energy and we need to adopt a cradle to cradle philosophy to preserve our resources. While the Earth may be fine and most resources still plentiful for our lives, think about our children and their children. Think about China and India consuming at half the rate of the USA and I guarantee you’ll need to change your underwear!

If you still have doubts then invert your thinking. Is our current model of polluting our atmosphere, our rivers, our oceans and our land a good model? Or could we do better?

Global warming may be wrong, but look around you, our polluted environment and dwindling resources are not.

Ethical Investing

Posting that made me think about ethical investing. I know many investors believe ethics and morals should be kept separate from investing, but I’ve never been able to do that. My morals aren’t like a hat that can I toss on the hall-stand when I come inside out of the sun to invest. When I invest I believe I am buying part of a company and am providing my company with part of the funds they require to carry on their business. I don’t wish to fund companies and profit when their activites are contrary to my ethics.

We all have different ethics so while I choose not to invest in tobacco companies I can understand that some people do not have a moral issue with tobacco. What I find harder to swallow is the argument that I normally hear; “Ethics and morals have no place in investing.”

It reminds me of the Springbok (white South African rugby team) tours of New Zealand when I was a kid. Those pro the tours chanted the age old mantra of politics should be kept out of sport. The ignorance and inherit contradiction of that statement always baffled me. Due to the politics of apartheid only white South African were allowed to play in their sporting teams. The South African government had made politics part of sport. Protesters were objecting to that and the many other appalling ramifications of apartheid.

I take my earlier comment back. Ethics and morals should play a part in investing decisions. It’s not like there is a shortage of investment opportunities out there. Ethical investing means different things to everyone and I certainly am no saint, far from it, but I try to both think about the companies I’m supporting and make a tidy profit along the way.

Related posts:

1. Don’t Talk Ethics or Sustainability
2. What the top end of town recommends.