World Water Day

A number of investors sat with a management team from Coke regarding this issue on the 18^th of March. This dialogue is part of an SRI process which serves the mutual interest of religious investors and the long term and sustainable goals of our companies. The process serves the interest of religious stakeholders by creating a venue where we can offer our moral position and share the social concerns that we have either from our own missionary experiences or from the public concern that catches our attention. In this way we engaged with our corporate partners in developing a strategy for sustainable and just business practices that relate to the moral concerns that we have.

In representing a Catholic religious community our moral perspective is informed by the social teachings and position of our Catholic Church. There are a number of Catholic social principles involved here and certainly one of them is the “Universal Destination of Goods” which I elaborated in a previous blog post, “Revisiting trade and introducing the ‘Universal Destination of Goods.’” However in a 2003 message prepared by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace to the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto the Catholic moral concern on access to water was primarily addressed through the “Right to Life” principle. Presenting the message Cardinal Martino stated:

Many people living in poverty, particularly in the developing countries, daily face enormous hardship because water supplies are neither sufficient nor safe. Women bear a disproportionate hardship. For water users living in poverty this is rapidly becoming an issue crucial for life and, in the broad sense of the concept, a right to life issue. …

Respect for life and the dignity of the human person must be the ultimate guiding norm for all development policy, including environmental policy. While never overlooking the need to protect our eco-systems, it is the critical or basic needs of humanity that must be operative in an appropriate prioritisation of water access. Powerful international interests, public and private, must adapt their agendas to serve human needs rather than dominate them.

“Right to Life” is usually associated with the issue of abortion but in the recent social teachings of Pope Benedict XVI I have noticed a broadening use of this principle. The “Right to Life” principle is used to defend all social issues that essentially impact human life. In this case the Vatican is concerned with water access because without access to potable drinking water a struggling community is essentially facing extermination.

Our social interest as investors of a company like Coke is that their product requires the steady use of a water supply. In certain water scarce regions the use of this supply may further deplete potable water to a community that is already struggling. This shareholder dialogue began in response to a 2004 concern that was raised when Coca-Cola lost the use of its water license in the water scarce area of Kerala, India. Our own Passionist community has a missionaries and ministries in Kerala and our concern was with the potential negative impact that a company which we invest in may have to a suffering community that we minister to.  

While Coke has defended what they consider their responsible use of water this issue did serve as a wakeup call for Coke to become a corporate leader in sustainable water usage. This incident demonstrates the potential business loss due to water concerns. The loss was felt immediately with the loss of the water license to a plant in India but it was also felt with the negative public relations stemming from this incident.  The purpose of these shareholder dialogues is to further commit our company to demonstrate corporate leadership in this crucial issue which other companies especially in the agro-business sector are causing even greater water scarcity issues. Coke’s leadership here may provide a standard process for measuring its water footprint and achieving a ‘water neutrality’ impact on the local communities where they do business.

We are impressed with Coke’s current involvement with this issue and we are excited about emerging developments in water risk management. Coke is also moving ahead with addressing the water needs of other local communities that it operates in with a number of water recycling technologies. Recently Coke announced its Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) where Coke will invest 30 Million dollars for water projects in Africa with the goal of offering potable water to 2 million people in Africa by 2015. Coke’s stated goal on this overall issue is to “safely return to nature and to communities an amount of water equivalent to what we used in all our beverages and their production by 2020.” This is quite a challenge. Our job as a responsible investor is to annually evaluate this goal with Coke while raising any further social considerations.

• Exodus 17:3-7. When the Israelites grumbled about their difficult times in the desert the Lord instructed Moses to strike a rock that water flow from it for the people to drink.
• Romans 5:1-2, 5-8. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us . This hope will not disappoint us.
• John 4:5-42. Jesus converses with the Samaritan woman at the well, declaring that people will worship the Father neither at Jerusalem nor at Mt. Gerizim, but “in Spirit and Truth.”

Thoughts for your Consideration:

In the first reading and in the gospel passage water becomes the catalyst for the teachable moment that God has with the people. Water is a very sacred symbol within our faith tradition. Water is a basic necessity of life and in both readings the physical importance of water is raised. As a sacrament water is used as our initiation into our faith community. Water is a powerful symbol for us. We have recently seen the devastating power of water with the tsunami in Japan and we can recall the equally devastating tsunami in Indonesia and the impacts of hurricanes on our own nation. And yet water is also a life-giving resource for us. In a recent study on the development of liturgical space I was excited to learn about the prominent resurgence of the baptismal font as a central symbol of our liturgical experience. As a symbol of our life journey the baptismal font are now being placed at the entrance of the Church and facing the Altar. It is also suggested that the fonts offer a sense of flowing water that again is aimed towards the Altar where the Eucharist is celebrated. In this way water will have the effect of reminding us of our life journey initiated with baptism, processing to Christ, and ending with a promise of eternal life.     

It is not surprising that God uses water as the context to provide an amazing lesson on justice and discipleship. In the first reading God is dealing with a disgruntled and ungrateful liberated community. They curse their new found freedom and threaten Moses for having brought them into the desert. God responds patiently to their need and uses the opportunity to demonstrate that he indeed is the source of life. God’s action in this event is reversed in the Gospel passage where a thirsty Jesus confronts some difficult social challenges.  

In the gospel Jesus confronts the ugliness of human prejudice with the indignant response of the Samaritan woman at the well who is ethnically horrified at being asked to serve “a Jew.” Notice the difference between how God responds to his ungratefully liberated people with compassion and mercy and compare that to the indignation of the Samaritan woman who responds with sarcasm to Jesus’ request for water. But instead of offering a human response by putting her in her place as a non-Jew Jesus takes this opportunity to break down the walls of religious discrimination and teaches her about the unifying truth of faith. The lesson here is that neither Jerusalem nor the Samaritan holy place of Mount Gerizim has a monopoly on faith. When religious institutions are narrowly defined so as to discriminate against others then that religious institution has become an idol that detracts from the true center of worship. “True worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth.”

The lesson continues when Jesus’ disciples arrive. This time it’s a lesson on discipleship. Being a product of their own Jewish culture they seem surprised and perhaps confused by the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. While the Samaritan woman is sharing her amazing experience with her local community Jesus offers the disciples a lesson on the patient endurance of ministry. Discipleship may not seem very socially rewarding. We preach the just word through our actions as well as our words and sometimes we may feel that our accomplishments are insignificant. But Christ reminds us that this is a long haul ministry and we all build on each other’s contributions.  

“’One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”

In the second reading Paul reminds us that this radical and just love that Christ exemplified “has been poured out into our hearts.” In reminding us the radical nature of God’s love he reminds us that Christ did not just die for good people but for all of us “while we were still sinners”. As disciples we are not allowed to place artificial boundaries on God’s love through our own social constructs. Following the example of Jesus we are called touch each and every person we encounter with the same expression of love, respect and patience that God showed the Israelites and Jesus exhibited on the Samaritan woman. We must persevere in this challenge with the gentle reminder that Paul give the Roman community, “hope does not disappoint.”

Catholic social teaching calls us take this economic responsibility seriously:    

Individual Christians who are shareholders and those responsible within church institutions that own stocks in U.S. corporations must see to it that the invested funds are used responsibly. Although it is a moral and legal fiduciary responsibility of the trustees to ensure an adequate return on investment for the support of the work of the church, their stewardship embraces broader moral concerns. As part owners, they must cooperate in shaping the policies of those companies through dialogue with management, through votes at corporate meetings, through the introduction of resolutions and through participation in investment decisions. (Economic Justice for All, 354)

The work of promoting corporate responsibility involves all the issues that are of social concern to our Catholic faith. However there was one issue that was raised at the ICCR sessions that I would like to profile here as an issue that calls us awareness and action. The issue involves the production of cotton in the country of Uzbekistan. The product is now called Uzbek cotton. Cotton is a prominent commodity in the world. It’s primary use is in textile goods and our clothing wear. Cotton is also a key ingredient in the food supply. Uzbekistan is a major producer of cotton. There are two major issues revolving around Uzbek cotton production and they both are critical issues of social injustice.

The first issue that needs to be raised is with regards to forced child labor. In this case we are not talking about individual private enterprises that engage in this practice. Instead we are referring to a government sanctioned program that forces children to work in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan forces children officially from the age of 10 (although children as young as 7 have been found working the fields) to pick cotton. There are approximately 2 million children that are sent to work for 2-3 months a year and they are given a specific quota that they must pick. Children are forced to work in the field unless they are able to buy their way out. The government of Uzbekistan owns all the cotton gins and this have a purchase monopoly of cotton through 3 state owned trade organizations. Uzbekistan pays their farmers $.03 per kilo of cotton. The basic dignity of these children are being violated on these grounds

The second issue that is no less troubling is the critical environmental degradation that is taking place with regards to water, the most basic necessity for all humans. The Aral Sea was once the 4^th largest inland sea in the world. Since 1960, when the Soviet Union diverted all their rivers in order to irrigate the cotton fields, the Sea began to decline steadily until now it is less than 10% of its original size. All native species of fish are gone. Because of the nature of the cotton industry the remnant of the Aral Sea and the diverted rivers have been horribly polluted, dyes have contaminated the fresh water rivers and because the sea has shrunk so dramatically what remains is a highly salinized. Ironically the area now has 70% unemployment (ironic in that the reason for the environmental degradation was for the promotion of a particular industry.) This unemployment has been particularly felt in the fishing industry which is practically non-existent.

Even with international pressure Uzbekistan is unwilling to seriously address this issue. As religious investors the Passionist and the other ICCR members are strategizing how to utilize our investment portfolio to organize on this issue. Investors can go to ICCR to take part of these strategies as Socially Responsible Investors (SRI) advocates. As consumers however everyone can take part of this issue. The Uzbek cotton campaign is a very popular movement and many companies are boycotting Uzbek cotton in their own products. Most recently LL Bean, Hanes and J. Crew are now part of this movement. However there are still a number of American garment companies that are using Uzbek cotton like Gymboree, Abercrombie & Fitch and Fred’s. Here are two organizations that offer updates on the boycott of Uzbek cotton.

The Cotton campaign: http://www.cottoncampaign.org/

Environmental Justice Foundation: http://www.ejfoundation.org/page141.html