For defined contribution plans:

Make sure co-workers know that your goal is not to take over the whole pension plan, but simply to offer an SRI alternative.

Order several SRI mutual fund prospectuses, and pass them around your workplace. Let people know that there are lots of options out there. To visit SRI websites, check out the Social Investment Forum or Socialfunds.com.

Make sure people know that you don't have to give up financial returns to invest responsibly; click here to view some studies and statistics.

Get the word out: put up a flyer in the lunchroom, bring it up at a staff meeting, talk with co-workers. Click here for a sample flyer.

Contact the Social Investment Forum for an SRI financial group in your area; have a local SRI fund or financial advisor from the First Affirmative Financial Network give a short brown-bag discussion at your work place.

Circulate a petition among co-workers, with their pledges to participate in an SRI option, if given the chance. It can be passed around with a profile of SRI mutual funds.

For defined benefits plans:

Stress that since workers contribute retirement money and bear the risks pension investments, they should have a say in investment policy. Click here for sample arguments and talking points.

How does your pension fund use its voting power in the companies you and your co-workers own? Consider approaching the trustees who oversee your pension fund to encourage and develop environmentally-friendly proxy voting policies (policies governing how the pension fund votes its on various shareholder resolutions, such as those having to do with environmental issues). Increasing employee participation and representation in pension policy is key to ensuring that your money works to build a safe and healthy future.

Tell your investment committee that other institutional investors, such as the California Public Employees Retirement System, the Colorado Public Employees Retirement System and the City of New York are involved in "economically targeted investing," financially competitive investments with an eye towards social benefit. Click here to find out about the Center for Policy Alternative's work on ETI and Community Investments.

If you are a member of a union, bring it up there. Many unions are using the power of their pension money to build a more equitable and sustainable world for future generations of workers and families. Click here to find out more.

Troubleshooting the "Fiduciary Responsibility argument": A fiduciary is any person who has been entrusted with the operation of an investment fund. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires fiduciaries to act ethically and responsibly to protect pensioners' money. The prudent investor rule requires them to act with the diligence, skill and prudence of a prudent investor facing similar circumstances. Sadly, this rule has often been used as a legal excuse to bar what the Department of Labor calls Economically Targeted Investing by people who mistakenly assume that socially responsible/ beneficial investing puts social/environmental concerns above financial ones. To address this issue, the Department of Labor published Interpretive Bulletin 94-1, which states that fiduciaries can make investments resulting in environmental/social good if they have expected rates of return commensurate with comparable investments having similar risks. Also, activists argue that fiduciary responsibility includes acting in the interest of future pensioners, which makes investing in responsible and sustainable enterprises imperative. Click here to find out about more about ETIs and fiduciary responsibility. Check out their Community Investment publications.