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Al Gore launches an investment firm focused on sustainability

After the whole endorsing-Howard-Dean thing didn't work out, Al Gore is hoping his new venture is more successful: It's an investment firm called Generation Investment Management that will focus on socially and environmentally conscious companies. The firm's approach "is designed to serve people who want to integrate sustainable returns with traditional equity analysis," said the former VP with his typical fiery charisma. David Blood, formerly CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, will serve as managing partner of the firm, while Gore will act as chair, shaping its overall strategy but not choosing investments. "I'm not a stock picker," he emphasized (again, see: Howard Dean). He said the firm will meet a rising demand for long-term analysis that takes into account the "carbon intensity" of companies' profits.

Topic of Cancer

Scientists seek environmental causes of breast cancer Scientists currently know enough about breast cancer “to explain about half the causes,” says Aaron Blair of the National Cancer Institute. To fill in the gaps, researchers are increasingly focusing on possible environmental causes like exposure to radiation or toxic chemicals in air, water, and food. Traditionally, studies […]

Undercooked Marburger

Study finds effects of global warming across America Despite alarming studies about the consequences of climate change across the globe — the latest, just last week, documents massive changes in Arctic geography and wildlife — U.S. citizens remain curiously unconcerned about the issue. Perhaps a new report from the Pew Center for Global Climate Change […]

Blood and Gore

Al Gore launches an investment firm focused on sustainability After the whole endorsing-Howard-Dean thing didn’t work out, Al Gore is hoping his new venture is more successful: It’s an investment firm called Generation Investment Management that will focus on socially and environmentally conscious companies. The firm’s approach “is designed to serve people who want to […]

Exx the Foul

ExxonMobil’s greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, supported President Bush’s decision to keep the U.S. from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. In a wacky coincidence, the company’s greenhouse-gas emissions have been increasing, last year rising 2 percent to almost 150 million tons — more than twice the emissions of the entire […]

The energy bill is alive — alive! — and that could be bad news for ANWR

A day after winning the presidential election last week, George W. Bush made this now-legendary — and, to some, menacing — statement: “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” Without dwelling on the notion that conservatives are supposed to protect and grow capital, not fritter it away, […]

Pandas versus people?

In the current issue of World Watch Magazine, Mac Chapin throws down the gauntlet to the biggest of the bigs in the conservation world -- The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the World Wildlife Fund. This piece is bound to stir up a heated debate about conservation organizations taking private sector and government funding and about how they are using it. The abstract reads:

As corporate and government money flow into the big three international organizations that dominate the world's conservation agenda, their programs have been marked by growing conflicts of interest--and by a disturbing neglect of the indigenous people whose land they are in the business to protect.

Terry on, My Wayward Son

Schwarzenegger promotes environmental advocate to Cabinet secretary California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) will elevate self-described tree hugger Terry Tamminen from his current position as environmental protection secretary to the more powerful position of Cabinet secretary, where he’ll serve as a liaison between the governor and department and agency heads. While Tamminen made decisions opposed at […]

Fat Accompli

Overweight passengers lead to higher airplane CO2 emissions Everybody knows the U.S. is in the grips of an obesity epidemic. And many folks know that airplanes are major sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which exacerbates global warming. But did you know that the former is contributing in a significant way to the latter? Neither did […]

Where There’s Heat, There’s Fire

Massive forest fires may be caused by global warming The massive forest fires that have ravaged the American West in recent years may be caused by global warming, according to a new study in the journal Nature. The Bush administration has argued that the fires are unnatural, caused by overgrown forest ground cover, and more […]