Economist Paul Krugman, while referencing an upcoming carbon pricing piece by David Roberts (@drvox) writes that: Econ 101 tells us that if you want to reduce emissions of a pollutant, the most efficient way to do that is to put a price on emissions, so that all possible routes to …
From the article titled “Climate-Related Death of Coral Around World Alarms Scientists” that appeared in the April 9th Edition of the New York Times: This is a huge, looming planetary crisis, and we are sticking our heads in the sand about it,” said Justin Marshall, the director of CoralWatch at …
Fund Balance has covered the damage done to the world’s ocean’s by discarded plastic at great length. Based on World Economic Forum projections more pieces of plastic will contaminate the world’s ocean than there are fish within it by 2050. Only about 5% of plastic is recycled. There is no …
By Walter Borden Astrophysicist Adam Frank recently commented on NPR that climate change really is not really humanity’s fault. The crux of his argument is that while the science is settled that human activity has caused climate change, we really could not have known better. Clearly there is some real …
By Walter Borden Evidence continues to mount. The time for a rapid transformation away from Industrial Agriculture methods towards Sustainable ones is now. The size of an hypoxic ‘dead zone’ that disrupts and destroys marine life and fishing lifeways in the Gulf far exceeds this year’s forecast, NOAA scientists report. …
By Walter Borden Recently the standard taking point for climate science deniers regarding manmade climate disruption has been ‘I can’t say, I am not a scientist’. This no doubt thoroughly focus-grouped response is the equivalent of saying ‘I can’t say if smoking causes cancer, because I am not a scientist’. …
Robert F. Kennedy presents a strong case that King Coal is by and large criminal given the massive amounts of regulatory violations and thus damage to local water, air, and geologic resources it wrecks. To this all one must add coal mining concerns’ repeated and ongoing attempts to mislead and …
By Walter Borden Here at the midpoint of 2014, solar power technology continues its advance while its marketplace momentum builds. Economic policy and commercial efforts designed to induce commercial innovation must keep apace. And there are pockets of progress in the political economics of deploying solar. Take for example this …
We honor the sacrifice and dedication of the women and men of the United States Military. The Fund Balance team takes great reassurance from their collective recognition of the realities and risks for our shared peace, security, and prosperity posed by climate change. The US Military’s determination indicates the urgency for …
By Walter Borden Solar power stocks have shone over the past year. After four years of decline the industry experienced vigorous growth in 2013. The first growth spurt in the early 2010’s was propelled in large part by European incentives which induced component and material shortage in 2007-2008. This pushed solar …
Note: This is the final excerpt from our 2013 Review/2014 Outlook Section V: LED Market Overview The LED lighting market is hot and very competitive. From relative newcomers like Cree, Acuity Brands, and OSRAM, to well-known brands Koninklijke Philips and GE Lighting, the fight for market share is intense. Growth potential is …
Note: This is an Excerpt from the Fund Balance 2013 Review/2014 Outlook — Section III: Solar Stocks 2014. By Walter Borden Fund Balance Here Comes The Sun ETF Performance for 2013: One of the most widely held ETFs, the Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN in the chart above), returned 131.3% YTD and …
Section II: 2013 Asset Market Overview — US Markets Finish Strong, Asian and EU Weaknesses Persisted In 2014, higher economic growth rates with inequality effects via persistent constrained spending power of the US consumer will exact a noticeable fiscal drag in the US, while positive developments from 2013 in US …
Sustainable Economics and Ecologics At The Outset of 2014 Section I: Impact Investing 2013 Overview/2014 Outlook THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in September 2013 that it is “extremely likely” that human activity was the dominant cause of global warming or about 95 percent certain — typically the standard of …
Sustainable Economics and Ecologics At The Outset of 2014 Section I: Impact Investing 2013 Overview/2014 Outlook The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in September 2013 that it is “extremely likely” that human activity was the dominant cause of global warming or about 95 percent certain — typically the standard of …
By Walter Borden “Everything… is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult… things do not turn out as we expect. Nearby they do not appear as they did from a distance” — Karl von Clausewitz ONE hears little talk of a potential carbon bubble in financial media and the …
October 21 2013 FUND BALANCE Quarterly Report Overview: AT the close of 2012, some analysts saw the mix of retrenchment of regulatory programs in the EU and lack of a co-ordinated clean energy strategy in the US combined with China’s burgeoning carbon footprint as a gun to the head of …
By Walter Borden ON the way to closing out 2013, renewable energy sectors quietly outperform the broader market. Notably, solar power and LED systems have entered prime-time in a big way. Wal Mart has deployed, and is profiting on, the largest portfolio of solar panels of any retailer in the …
By Walter Borden MANY US cities like Detroit face pension and general service funding shortfalls. Yet for over 5 years the corporate sector has recorded historic profits as a share of GDP. In none of these years however, did they choose to undertake the simple, incremental steps that would have …
By Walter Borden Does it make sense to tell someone that doesn’t have health insurance to go to the doctor? Does it make sense to expect jobless and underemployed citizens to save more? Many of the most profitable corporations across the US perennially underfund their pensions while simultaneously funding campaigns for …