Do you agree or disagree that…
…nuclear power may help solve the climate crisis.
…we need weapons to prevent humanitarian disasters like the Darfur genocide.
…Wal-Mart’s sustainability efforts are making the world better.
…A cold beer at a summer ballgame is a wonderful thing.
Reasonable people will differ about those assertions (except, perhaps, for the one about beer, which is inarguable). But until recently, most socially responsible mutual funds—funds designed to appeal to people who want their portfolio to reflect their mostly liberal values—screened out companies that provided nuclear energy, manufactured weapons or brewed beer. As for Wal-Mart, forget about it.
That’s changing, and it’s about time. Calvert Investments, a leader in social responsibility investing (SRI), has introduced new funds that—are you sitting down?—own shares in oil and mining companies, in a utility that sells nuclear power and in Wal-Mart. [click to continue…]
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