October 2004 | From the Editor
Allocating Dollars
Where and how we spend our money is a political act. If we care about health and want to support local farmers, we may shop at a farmers’ market; if we’re concerned about trees, we recycle our newspapers; and if we have money to invest, we seek out companies that represent our values. Lacking the time or knowledge to thoroughly investigate corporate policies, we may rely on Socially Responsible Investment Funds (SRIs) to handle our savings.
But wait! What kind of standards are the SRIs using to make their determinations? Can we trust them? This issue of WLT includes an exclusive preview written by Paul Hawken, director of the Natural Capital Institute, on their soon-to-be-released, likely controversial report on the SRI mutual fund industry. You may be shocked to see some of the companies included in various SRI portfolios!
WLT applauds any attempt to be socially responsible and we greatly value the SRI movement, but we also believe it is the job of independent media to ask hard questions and provide a forum for constructive debate in order to strengthen best practices. In other words, we have to hold our own feet to the fire.
In the interest of fairness, we will also be publishing commentary on the report from people in the SRI mutual fund industry in the coming months.
Although their products may include life-saving drugs, pharmaceutical companies generally are not priority investments for most WLT readers. Just as we tend to prefer alternative modalities to potentially toxic chemicals in healing our ills, we would rather not invest our financial and energetic support in pharmaceutical corporations that demand enormous profits. So when we suggested to others in our company that we run editorial in alignment with October’s designation as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we were met with the indignant response that the concept of Breast Cancer Awareness was created by pharmaceutical companies capitalizing on women’s fears. If it’s a worthy subject, like breast cancer awareness, does it really matter how it came to our attention? Do we boycott Christmas because it’s promoted by Macy’s? Do we ignore Mothers’ Day because it was popularized by Hallmark? This time around, we didn’t run any editorial on breast cancer since we’d published an important piece on the subject in our September issue. But as you know, we care what you think. Will you please share your thoughts about this with us?
Back in 1875, the English poet William Wordsworth wrote a still-apt poem entitled, “The world is too much with us.” We’re all getting a bit overloaded in this highly-charged pre-election period, and if you’re a spiritual person, you may feel tempted to retreat and “not get involved in politics.” Deepak Chopra has written an original story for WLT readers addressing the issue of spirituality and how we can “bring the light” into the voting booth. We are spiritual beings, but participating in the world is an important part of human experience.
One of our most important teachers on the transition between the physical and spiritual planes has gone on without us. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is surely in heaven guiding souls back to their next reincarnations. We will miss her powerful, embracing presence.
Kübler-Ross was a great proponent of meditation, an excellent tool for softening life’s rougher edges. On a recent vacation, I discovered another enjoyable means for combating stress. On the south shore of Kauai, big, lovely waves roll over the reef without breaking on shore, giving wusses like me the opportunity to swim without fear of getting smashed in the break. It’s quite liberating! I was able to snorkel in the warm, healing water with my face below the surface, communing with the fish, aware of—but undisturbed by—the swells above.
What a great analogy for life! Like the fabulously hued and patterned tropical fish enjoying their world beneath the ocean’s surface, if we stay focused on the present and allow ourselves to flow gently with life’s swells and eddies, we won’t get knocked off course.
From my heart, Abigail
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