How would you feel when you find out that your money is destroying your love and your life?
It took my planet-caring soul years to forget that nightmare we encountered during our family holiday a few years back. Flying over the rainforest in East Malaysia , I was obliged to witness the brutal bulldozers turning entire regions of heavenly bliss under our feet into lifeless ugliness. The rivers were bleeding with muddy sediments. We could almost hear the creatures large and small crying and pleading….
How My Bank Makes Me a Murderer
As it turned out, the local bank I trusted with my pension is in the news these days. A green group accused it for being hypocritical: with all its green pledges, it is lending money to a consortium which chops down rainforests in East Malaysia .
If those were not the same forests I came to know and love, my anger may not have been so pathetic. I knew all along that corporations such as banks are sparing no effort to dress up green by saving energy, using recycled paper, and sponsoring green events. But when it comes to “business”, well, it is another cup of tea. Business is about profits, period. I would have assumed that whichever bank I put my money in, it cannot guarantee that its landing will never cause harm and misery. Among other things, I know (a) there is no way that a bank can check how its partners and clients are behaving as global citizens in their endeavors, (b) loans are re-lent to other corporations, while companies are merged or acquired-- in effect the global business world has become so complicated now that it is very difficult to track down where a sum of money has gone to and is doing what, and (c) it is almost impossible to assess how ‘green’ or ‘sinful’ in karmic terms a particular operations is, as the parameters, quantifications and computation involved are so mightily complex.
Is Your Money Doing Good for You?
Like it or not, our society has become a super casino, and no one can choose to be a non-gambler. As in my case, while steadfastly refusing to waste my energy to engage in mahjoh playing, horse-racing or buying stocks, my pension has to be deposited somewhere somehow. The charities I am chairing have to consult financial experts regularly to mind their investments. Not even the Vatican is spared of such money games. The Pope and the British Queen are perennially worried by the ethicality of their investments. It is comforting to know that I am in good company.
The good news, though, that there is now such a thing as ‘green funds’. Or at least we are told to believe that this is a happy way out.
”With XXX funds, you can use your investment dollars to help the environment. We seek competitive returns while we put your money to work for cleaner air, cleaner water and a healthier planet. We believe that, in the long run, companies that now seek to protect the environment may be more profitable than companies that pollute. And that means a better future for everyone”, according to one green fund statement.
“Changing the World, One Company At a Time-- Critical to our mission is our shareholder advocacy work -- our engagements with companies to urge them to improve their corporate environmental behavior,” claimed another.
"In the past, green investors have steered clear of resource intensive companies. Yet our world is driven by these companies, many of which are finding new ways of using cleaner fuels, shifting their energy use and changing their carbon-footprints. There is a surprising compatibility between companies making money and also dealing with their environmental impact," a famed financial expert reports.
And How Many Happy Returns?
As green funds shoot up like mushrooms and their alleged financial successes and promises flood the market, you are probably reaching for the phone.
Wait. It pays to listen to this first. Let your columnist speaks from his heart.
1. The bandwaon called Green Business is, as one would expect, full of genuine, semi-genuine as well as downright cranky stuffs. Not all that glisters is green. I would look very seriously before my money leaps.
2. The name of the game is returns as far as investing goes. Let’s make no bones about it. How good is the prospect of these green funds? If you were to point a gun at me, I can only say that (a) All projections are projections (and on the part of the folks who dearly like to store your money, for that matter), they can be realistic, and they can be wishful thinking; (b) Green companies and projects do have advantages in that most of them should achieve in saving resources in the long run, ecologically unsound products will be boycotted and fail, and the more money we chip into any particular fund, the better performance their shares will be.
3. It is exactly this last bit of naked truth that gave me enlightenment and fulfillment. If gambling is after all gambling and my investment will win or lose regardless, the green investor is blessed with the karmic bonus of knowing for sure that his money is doing good this minute instead of harming anybody. Even if I lose in financial returns, I gain on the ethical and moral level.
If you happen to be spiritually caring too, is this message not providential?
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