Green Shares: A Compilation of Moral Investments

According to the liberal theories of Adam Smith, in order to maximize efficiency in the production process, a commodity must be produced in the cheapest manner possible. Because of this theorem, industrial giants have often put economic efficiency before personal ecological responsibility. As a direct result, investment money, which is always geared by efficiency and profits, often makes its way into the hands of immorally wasteful companies.

Thanks to advances in both ecological awareness and in technology, however, today there are alternatives for the green-wise investor. The companies that will be discussed in this paper have found a way to efficiently produce goods while still remaining ecologically responsible. Green companies, as they are called, give investors an opportunity to invest not only in their own economic futures, but also in the future of their planet².

British Petroleum (BP)

In 1954, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) became the British Petroleum company as an American coup d'état removed then Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadeq from office. Before the coup, oil industry in Iran was shared between the British and Iranians. After attempts to nationalize the oil industry in 1950 and 1953 by the Iranians, however, the British needed a way to preserve their seat in Iranian oil politics. In order to achieve this, the British enlisted the help of the United States. By planting bogus evidence of communist activity on Mossadeq, the British engineered the removal of Mossadeq from Iranian office by the United States. He was replaced with the pro-Western Iranian general Fazlollah Khomeini, who would allow Britain to remain at the summit of the world's oil industry.