Doing Good Are socially responsible investments much ado about nothing?

Even if you were born on a lily pad, it isn't always easybeing green. Recycling soda cans, detergent bottles and newspapersis simple stuff compared to preserving the wetlands or saving thewhales. When it comes to socially relevant issues, it's wise toremember that the evil men do lives after them, and saving theplanet is everyone's job. Some investors choose to take theirpersonal vision into the realm of their investment portfolios.

Ethical or socially responsible investing (SRI) began as farback as the 1920s, when some church endowments avoided investing in"sin stocks," including liquor, tobacco and gamblingcompanies. Social activism reached new heights during the VietnamWar, and this translated into increased vigilance on the part ofinvestors in the 1960s. For the first time, many investors realizedthat the comfortable companies that provided them with washingmachines and TV sets also made warheads and tanks.

With the birth of the Council on Economic Priorities in 1969,public companies were rated on the essential issues of the period,including military contracts, environmental pollution and minorityhiring practices.