[ggm]

Your retirement could include classes which only show a realized ROI on termination, and do not demonstrate profit across their life. Forestry for instance, is almost nothing but cost until 30 years later.

Profitability is inherent in anything which strives to increase value in the wider sense. You shouldn't invest in remediation of the environment directly as a retirement strategy, I agree. its solely cost. But you could chose to invest in a company which ethically contracts to perform the remediation. Now, you are both sides of the equation if (for instance) you live in Love canal, and its remediating the years of toxic waste, you benefit from the health outcome. So, what "cost" will you be prepared to pay in local taxes to fund the company you directly invest in, to earn profit to remediate?