June 2018 Newsletter
Socially Responsible Investing
One of the most effective ways to bring about social change is through our finances. Even those who do not share a moral point of view often respond to financial reasons. For most people, their largest accounts are their retirement investment accounts. What's in your portfolio?
Socially Responsible Investment: A Multi-Criteria Decision Making Approach
Edited by Enrique Ballestero, Blanca Perez-Gladish and Ana Garcia-Bernabeu. Integrates socially responsible investment into modern portfolio theory from a multi-criteria perspective. Shows how to combine financial criteria such as profitability and risk with non-financial criteria such as the protection of the ecosystem, responsible consumption of energy, and healthcare campaigns. Learn more.
For more resources on Socially Responsible Investing , click here .
Domini Social Investments
A registered investment adviser that specializes exclusively in socially responsible investing. They serve individual and institutional investors who wish to create positive social and environmental outcomes while seeking competitive financial returns. Learn more. For more resources on Socially Responsible Investing, click here .
Green Century Funds
Helps people invest in sustainable companies, saving for the future without compromising the planet. Learn more . For more resources on Socially Responsible Investing , click here .
Green Money Journal
A monthly newsletter that covers a wide variety sustainable business and impact investing areas such as energy, climate, food & farming. Learn more. 
For more resources on Socially Responsible Investing , click here .
Parnassus Investments
Invests responsibly to build wealth for their clients. They select businesses they believe have increasingly relevant products or services, sustainable competitive advantages and quality management teams for their high conviction portfolios. Every investment they make must meet rigorous fundamental and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Learn more. For more resources on Socially Responsible Investing ,
Pax World Investments
Integrates environmental, social and governance factors (ESG) into investment analysis and portfolio construction. Learn more.
For more resources on Socially Responsible Investing , click here .

US SIF
A forum for sustainable and responsible investments that offers resources such as programs, an education center and conferences. Learn more.
For more resources on Socially Responsible Investing , click here .
Environment
Environmental Defense Fund

Suggests 6 ways to cut waste in the energy system:

Switch to Renewable Energy

The price of large-scale solar (the kind you see in huge arrays in the desert) has fallen 85% in the last seve n years, and electricity from wind is already cheaper than coal and gas in many places.

Reduce Methane Leaks
There are cost-effective methods available that could reduce leaks by 40% ā€“ a $100 million yearly savings to the U.S. economy and consumers.

Choose Power Sources That Use Less Water
To power a home for a month, it takes:
687 gallons of water using coal
198 gallons of water using gas
26 gallons using solar
0 gallons using wind

Minimize Energy Loss Along Wires

When electricity travels shorter distances, there is less potential for loss. Homes and businesses near their energy sources ā€“ like with rooftop solar ā€“ donā€™t need to draw from faraway power plants.

Provide Only the Voltage Needed

Electric utilities can install technology, including sensors, to help match customersā€™ precise energy needs and adjust accordingly, to provide ā€œvoltage optimization.ā€

Boost Energy-Saving Tools for Homes

ā€œSmartā€ appliances and fixtures are using technology to put more energy data ā€“ and control ā€“ in consumer hands. Smartphone and tablet apps can manage a host of energy-saving household products, such as washers, dryers, refrigerators, lighting fixtures and more.
For more information about these, click here .
For more on the Environment , click here .
They Will Inherit the Earth: 
Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change
By John Dear. Drawing on personal stories of his life in the desert of New Mexico, his time as a chaplain at Yosemite, his friendship with indigenous and environmental leaders, his experience at the Standing Rock protests, as well as his work with the Vatican on a new stance on nonviolence, John Dear invites us to return to nonviolence as a way of life and a living solidarity with Mother Earth and her creatures. Read more.
For more on the Environment , click here .

Creation Care:
A Biblical Theology of the Natural World (Biblical Theology for Life)
By Douglas Moo and Jonathan Moo. Part of the Biblical Theology for Life series, this father and son team explore the place of the natural world within Godā€™s purposes and to celebrate Godā€™s love as displayed in creation and new creation.
For more on the Environment , click here .

One Percent for the Planet
A nonprofit organization that brings together a global network of more than 1,200 businesses, nonprofits and individuals in more than 40 countries who give at least 1% of their annual sales, annual salary or net worth for a healthy planet. Members give directly to approved environmental nonprofits and One Percent guides and supports this giving by providing credible third party certification. Learn more.
For more on the Environment , click here .
U.S. Department of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
The mission of EERE is to create and sustain American leadership in the transition to a global clean energy economy. Its vision is a strong and prosperous America powered by clean, affordable, and secure energy. Learn more. 
For more on the Environment , click here .
The Years Project
A multimedia storytelling and education effort designed to inform, empower & unite the world in the face of climate change. Watch now.
For more on the Environment , click here .
The Violence of Climate Change: Lessons of Resistance from Nonviolent Activists
By Kevin O'Brien. Argues that we should respond to climate change as a case of systematic and structural violence. Since global warming is largely caused by the carbon emissions of the affluent, emissions harm the poor first and worst. Climate change is violence because it divides human beings from one another and from the earth. Offers a constructive and creative response to this violence through practical examples of activism and nonviolent peacemaking, providing brief biographies of five Christians in the United States ā€• John Woolman, Jane Addams, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez. These activists' idealism, social commitment, and political savvy offer lessons of resistance applicable to the struggle against climate change and for social justice.
For more on the Environment , click here .
Decoding the Weather Machine
A two hour NOVA documentary from PBS, that cuts through the confusion around climate change and explains why scientists overwhelmingly agree that the climate is changing, and that human activity is causing it. Also looks at how and when this dynamic might affect us through the weather we experience and what will it take to bend the trajectory of planetary warming toward more benign outcomes. Watch the trailer .
For more on the Environment , click here .
Other Resources
Reclaiming Jesus:
ļ»æA Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis

A video from Sojourners of a diverse group of religious leaders from around the country reading a statement that reaffirms these 6 key tenets Christianity:


  • Each human being is made in God's image and likeness.
  • We are one body.
  • How we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner is how we treat Christ.
  • Truth is morally central to our personal and public lives.
  • Our churches and our nations are part of an international community, whose interest always surpass national boundaries.
  • Christ's way of leadership is servanthood, not domination.

In addition there are related resources including a Bible Study, & Civil Discourse Curriculum.
For more Justice resources, click here .

We the Taxpayers

A Network Education Program, featuring 5 videos that focus on:

Faith, Justice and... Taxes?
What Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have to say about taxes and how faith can inform our reflections on a just tax system.

The Taxes We Pay 
The different kinds of taxes and how different types of income are taxed at different rates.

The Taxes We Don't Pay
What are tax loopholes? Highlights how tax breaks can benefit different groups of people or incentivize particular activities or behaviors.

What Taxes Can Do
What do our tax dollars pay for? Highlights how communities can benefit from the many important programs and services funded by a just tax system.

Values to Tax By
What does a just tax system look like? Highlights the essential features of a tax system for the common good, inspired by a faith justice tradition.

A printed companion Facilitator Guide is also available.


For more on the US Budget , click here .
Crispina and Her Sisters:
Women and Authority in Early Christianity
By Christine Schenk C.S.J. Explores visual imagery found on burial artifacts of prominent early Christian women and carefully situates the tomb art within the cultural context of customary Roman commemorations of the dead. Gives significant attention to recent scholarship about Roman portrait sarcophagi and the interpretation of early Christian art and an in-depth review of women's history in the first four centuries of Christianity provides important context. A picture emerges of women's authority in the early church, a picture either not available or distorted in the written history. The portrait tombs of fourth-century Christian women suggest that they viewed themselves and/or their loved ones viewed them as persons of authority with religious influence. Read more .
For more on Gender Inequality , click here .
Homily Aids
A resource from the Catholic Health Association, connects the healing mission of the church with parishes and other faith communities. Written by prominent theologians and preachers, brings together important issues about healing and care of the poor in the context of the Gospel and church teachings. Learn more .
For more Justice resources, click here .
How to Ignite Social Change
This video provides an introduction to a class taught by Robert Reich regarding wealth distribution in the United States and the three elements that are necessary to effect social change. Watch now .
For more on Economic Justice , click here .
Plough
An independent publisher of books on faith, society, and spiritual life. Publishes Plough Quarterly , a magazine of stories, ideas, and culture to inspire faith and action. Also provides views and insights daily online. Learn more.
For more on Justice , click here.
U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
Leads the national effort to prevent and end homelessness in America. The Council drives action among 19 federal member agencies and foster partnerships at every level of government and with the private sector. Solutions involve education, jobs, health care and the criminal justice system.
For more on Housing , click here .

Goods of Conscience
A nonprofit sustainable fashion company, that creates handmade goods. Their mission is to humanize globalization: to translate Guatemala's Mayan textile heritage to New Yorkā€™s Garment industry.
For more on Fair Trade , click here .
A Booklet of Uncommon Prayer
By Kenji Kuramitsu. A collection of prayers on a wide spectrum of social issues including domestic abuse, mental health, mass incarceration, and environmental destruction. Read more.
 
Important Dates This Month

Individuals Honored This Month
June 1st
In my empty cell, I experience a growing awareness of the communion of saints -- and of the possibility of a world where the vast chasm of violence and injustice enforced by torture and war is bridged and transformed.
June 4th
Health care should be a human right and not a commodity for sale.
In the Bible, poverty is a scandalous condition inimical to human dignity and therefore contrary to the will of God.
June 12th
  How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
 
June 28th
Once poverty is gone, we'll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They'll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society -- how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.
June 30th
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25 Issues
2,000+ Resources:
Films, Publications, Websites
Facts & Figures, Prayers, Quotes
Social Justice Resource Center Newsletter
Each month we email our newsletter to over 3,900 contacts around the country. Each issue focuses on a social justice topic and has resources that have been recently added to our website. If you know of other s who might be interested in receiving it, please forward this email on to them or let us know and we'll add them to our mailing list. For our past Newsletters, click here .