Wal-Mart Set to Create New Sustainability Index
Recently, US retail giant Wal-Mart made a big announcement relating to its plans to create a database which would reveal how “green” its suppliers, manufacturers, and their products are. According to Wal-Mart they would create what is called a sustainability index that would be implemented over a series of three phases. This would include analyzing over 100,000 of its suppliers and understanding how they operate, where a product is made, and its environmental policies (such as greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and solid waste disposal).
This is a huge step in what ultimately may influence how people shop and what brands and products they support. Over the past few years, I have been a huge advocate of knowing what you own in your portfolio as well as the products and services you buy.
Every day you vote with your wallet. Where you work, where you spend, donate and even invest is a reflection of your values. With this comes a huge moral responsibility. Just because you turn a blind eye to where your money is going doesn’t mean you are not supporting companies that contradict your value system. Hosea 4:6 reads, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (NIV). It is often are lack of knowledge that destroys our ability to create change in our society.
Who is the Owner?
What we possess is not ours. The Bible tells us God created everything between heaven and earth. He owns everything. We are responsible for managing our lives, our money, and our possessions on God’s behalf. Because everything we possess is ultimately His, we are essentially God’s managers. Many believe that only the first 10 percent belongs to God (a tithe), but in reality, He owns the other 90 percent as well. He graciously loans us resources based on our ability to manage. Will you become a faithful manager? Will you seek to better understand where your money is going and what your money is voting for?
The parable of the talents illustrates the power of being a faithful manager. With each level of responsibility, the amounts given to the servants differed, but each was entrusted with something. The rewards were not based on the amounts given, but rather on the increase that resulted from the amount given. God gives you responsibility based on what you can handle. You have been given something that is important to God; you can please Him through being faithful with what He has provided and called you to do.
Being a faithful manager encompasses more than money. It involves management of every single area of our daily lives. Do you believe you or God is the owner of everything? Your belief is illustrated each time you make a decision. Are you in control or is God? Either we attempt to take God out of the picture (the reason for the fall of Adam in the garden), or we seek to move closer to God (the triumph of Jesus).
It goes Beyond Spending…
There are many companies that produce products and services that blatantly oppose what you believe in. You may be knowingly or unknowingly investing in companies that are fighting against moral issues, social issues and causes dear to you. You may not even realize that you have a choice as to where you invest and that you can avoid investing in companies that contradict your belief system.
The following is a list of causes and concerns that may affect your moral decisions. These hot buttons are the most common examples of issues that generate strong emotional responses. If any of these issues are of concern to you, I strongly advise that you begin to consider the implications of investing in companies that violate your internal moral compass. There are tools and research available to help you eliminate or minimize your involvement in these hot buttons.
Moral Issues
- Abortion, Homosexuality, Pornography, Human Rights of the Poor, Embryonic Stem-Cell Research
Social Issues
- Alcohol, Antifamily Entertainment, Gambling, Poor Environmental Record, Tobacco
Here is a question to ponder…
Would you purposely invest money in companies involved in any of the areas listed above? After taking some time to examine this list, what issues, if any, most resonated with you? Are there any areas in which you wish to avoid investing in your financial life? If any of these issues ignite strong emotional responses, is your passion strong enough that you want to do something about it?
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I’m glad companies like Walmart are making a move to become more green, but in all honesty the only reason large corporations are doing so is to cut costs and receive a tax break. But I guess it’s better that they are doing it than not.
I think the only reason they’re doing it is to capitalize on the hot new trend of “green”. Everybody’s going green, that’s the new fashion DO. What does that even mean, and when you’re the worlds largest retailer, building new stores in every community in the civilized world, how green is it to be plowing over all of that real estate? Or using all of that energy to heat and cool your growing chain of stores?
This isn’t a rap against WalMart, but I’ve learned over time that when a person or a company decide it’s time to shout about what they’re doing, the warning lights should be flashing. Back in the 70s it was alternative energy. All of the oil companies were searching the globe for tiny projects that would generate energy to replace oil, but it was always “barely enough to keep the lights on in Canton, Ohio for 20 minutes”. 30 years later, we’re even deeper in the energy hole than we were.
My friends and I have been going around on the topic of a Christian living, working and finding purpose in a world filled with sin and Godless behavior. I’m not saying this is for everyone, but our conclusion is that we’re like fish living in a polluted pond, from which there is no escape. There is no where in the pond to hide, and no matter what we do we can’t avoid breathing the toxic water into our bodies.
The best thing then (again not for everybody) is to live in the world as it is, accept the fact that we’re in this place for a reason, and focus more on demonstrating and witnessing our faith than on fighting against the evil in the world. God didn’t put us here to vanquish evil, but to spread the Gospel into that evil.
Also, from a worldly perspective, with everything in the world being integrated through systems and it all being so complex and convoluted, how do you find the “pure” companies out there to do business with? It’s easy to say I’m not going to buy a Playboy magazine, but what do you do with the conglomerate that makes life saving drugs and conducts embrionic stem cell research? Few companies are pure plays.
Whoa lot to digest this morning.