As the saying goes, Money makes the world go round. It must be recognised that the current western way of life continues to evolve around the constant economic cycle of speculation leading to  boom and bust and the constant search for economic growth, often to the detriment of our environment and the world at large. By taking part of the movement towards ethical investment, people are making a choice towards securing not just their financial future but that of the planet and their wider society.  Ethical investing is about balancing personal wealth with respect for wider social and environment issues.

Recent events such as the financial downturn are symptomatic of the problems with the financial world we have adopted and more and more people are beginning to question its validity in our modern society.

It’s easy to think that individually socially conscious individuals cannot have a bearing on the financial world but as the concept of ethical investing grows in popularity, the faster that wholesale change can be made to our financial systems to alleviate it’s damaging effects on our society, environment and the planet as a whole. Pressure will be put on banks and other financial institutions to conform to the growing social norms for environmental and social responsibility and this will ultimately trickle down to our commercial practices.

The rapidly increasing concern amongst the public over the treatment of animals, people and the environment is finally making companies involved in these areas less viable as a long term investment.  With this in mind, the economics of Socially Responsible Investments are now recognised as a sound long term investment strategy. The combination of consumer and investment pressure can bring about lasting change.