To buy or not to buy...

I'm in the middle of a pretty tough decision.

Laura and I have been watching the History Channel a lot lately (consequently I've learned that they have shows about things other than war) and there was an episode of Modern Marvels about alternative fuels. I'm really interested in the advances in this area, I'd love to use vegetable oil or natural gas to run our car or paint that acts as a solar panel to power your house. In fact, there's a part of me that would like to cancel the cable and by some stock in one of these companies. Which brings me to my quandary.

The purpose of buying stock is to provide a company with the capital to do what they do. In turn, providing the money for a company entitles you to a portion of the profits. This is both my motivation and deterrent for wanting to buy stock in one of these "green" companies. The idea of providing just a little bit more cash to people who are trying to establish a sustainable society excites me. I want my son to grow up not realize at some point that he's caused a portion of the earth's destruction. But at the same time the mode of thinking that corporations were birthed in is one of unmitigated greed and endless acquisition. That too is something that I want my son to grow up with as little exposure to as is possible.

Maybe it seems a bit hippie of me to take such a seemingly self-righteous tone about buying stock, but every time I pass a news channel on TV talking about business they reiterate to me the cancerous nature of our economic system. There's only so far you can dig a hole before you run out of dirt. There is also only so much commerce that can be done with the limited resources when you want to make more simply to make more. I suppose I feel like I'd be grabbing my shovel and jumping farther down into the whole we're digging (I say farther because I'm already in there).

I suppose, for now, that the best course of action is to wait until I can afford to power my home, car or whatever with ecologically sound fuels. But when that times comes I hope to see the manufacturers of those products don't conduct themselves in the same slovenly and inhuman manner that characterizes the vast majority of people selling me things as though that's what I were put on earth to do.

Grace and Peace,
Jared