This administration is trying to erase 200 words that form the basis of our work
[Image alt text: Clouds background. As You Sow® logo and text: Creating a safe, just, and sustainable world in which protecting the environment and human rights is central to corporate decision making. SEEDS of CHANGE Spring/Summer 2025] < [link removed] > Dear John,
For over 30 years, shareholder advocates have been helping corporations embrace equitable and sustainable practices as cornerstones of good business and long-term sustainable growth. Today, the federal administration is working overtime to erase this progress and give corporations free rein to pollute and profit from environmental harm and social injustice. They’re literally trying to erase from the nation’s vocabulary the words that define our goals and our work – words and concepts that spell out a just and sustainable future for all.
The relentless attacks are just strengthening our resolve. This proxy season, shareholders remain in near-complete solidarity behind corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, with two dozen 98%+ votes to maintain existing DEI programs at major corporations. Increasingly, investors are waking up to their individual influence, using our free tools to invest and vote in alignment with their values. We’re in this together, and we’re in it for the long run.
We can do this. Read on below to see how shareholder advocates are protecting the progress we’ve made, or read the full newsletter online at this link. < [link removed] >
For the future, [Image alt text: Photo of Andrew Behar] [Image alt text: Signature of Andrew Behar] Andrew Behar, CEO
[email protected]
Shareholder Advocates Are Protecting the Progress
The 200 words and phrases < [link removed] > the government is eliminating from its websites and documents include advocacy, clean energy, climate science, DEI, diversity, environmental quality, female, gender, inclusion, injustice, LGBTQ, mental health, minorities, oppression, pollution, and racism.
In this newsletter we have highlighted these words that are no longer allowed in red, to demonstrate their power and how they define our work.
Do they think that by eliminating these “radical” words, they can erase the concepts and the progress we’ve made? That is not going to happen.
[Image alt text: Banned with a strike through it] < [link removed] >
We will not allow these words, or the concepts behind them, to be disappeared. Shareholder advocates are ensuring basic ideas like climate and equity drive the conversations that determine corporate policy. No matter how loudly the administration works to erase these words, climate risk is still business risk, the clean energy transition still brings enormous opportunity, and workforce diversity still correlates to better financial results. Read more >> < [link removed] >
Shareholders standing up for DEI: Despite headlines, companies aren’t caving under pressure
Over 98% of shareholders at 24 companies including Disney, Costco, Visa, Apple, Deere, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Levi’s, American Express, Coca-Cola, Berkshire Hathaway, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, McDonalds, Amazon, Southern Co., Merck, Netflix, Walmart, Alphabet, American Airlines, Caterpillar, Best Buy, and Mastercard recently voted to continue management policies geared toward creating and maintaining a diverse workforce.
As You Sow analyzed 1,641 companies < [link removed] > over five years and found a statistically significant correlation < [link removed] > linking diverse management teams to financial outperformance on eight key metrics. Read more >> < [link removed] >
First Solar pledges not to use deep seabed mined minerals
[Image alt text: Mining rig] < [link removed] >
In response to As You Sow’s shareholder resolutions – the first ever filed on deep-sea mining – First Solar pledged to exclude minerals mined from the deep sea until and unless studies show it is safe.
While the current administration tries to open deep-sea mining through executive order, over 30 governments and 60 companies have signed a Global Moratorium on Deep-Sea Mining, including Apple, Google, and Samsung.
Building a circular economy for minerals can alleviate pressure for mineral extraction, rendering deep-sea mining unnecessary while laying the foundation for more sustainable clean energy systems. Read more >> < [link removed] >
Are your retirement savings fueling private prisons?
The current administration is furiously ratcheting up its mass deportation scheme, imprisoning immigrants in private prisons run by companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group. Is your retirement savings or 401(k) plan invested in the despair of brutal immigration crackdowns?
Your gift today < [link removed] > helps inform and empower action.
As You Sow’s free, intuitive Prison Free Funds < [link removed] > platform shows whether your retirement savings are invested in companies benefiting from today’s ruthless mass deportation and incarceration of immigrants.
< [link removed] >
With your gift < [link removed] > , you help make sure every investor – including you – can choose a prison-free mutual fund or ETF that avoids profiting from the cruelty.
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As You Sow < [link removed] > is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30+ year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity loss, racial injustice, and lack of workplace diversity. See As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker < [link removed] > . < [link removed] > < [link removed] >
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