It’s supposed to be 109F in Austin, Texas tomorrow. It’s hot.
Everyone knows that humans are jacking with the environment. However, political alignments have forced us to pick which side of the debate we’re on. Trump and the far right are rolling back many laws implemented by Obama that protect the environment. This is appalling to the far left. The Democrats had this coming – the “global warming” message was not tangible enough for our distracted masses. “It’s snowing outside. How can there be global warming?”
Sure, we’re destroying our environment and warming the planet outside of normal global cycles. In other words, we actually can overheat our planet and it’s not out of our control. But, that’s the wrong message. If the Democrats would have replaced the phrase “global warming” with “environmental impact,” there would have been more buy-in to protect our planet. It’s a lot easier to sell the idea of keeping things clean than try to prove the world is hotter. There are just too many special interests groups and corporations who love the status quo. They, still today, consistently put out their own narrative (ignoring majority of scientists) that environmentalists are bad and there is nothing humans can do to hurt or help the overall climate. LOL if you believe that. Read more here.
Interesting Read
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Isn’t What You Think it Is .There has been a lot of talk lately about Starbucks’ move to replace straws with new sippy cup lids. This in an effort to reduce the number of straws making their way into the ocean and our landfills. Great! Fantastic! Wait. That’s not the real problem with the garbage patch. We can’t just eliminate straws and forget the issue. Ugg, we’re so short sighted… So, is Starbucks really trying to help or just score some PR points? Unclear.
Environmentally Focused ETFs
The largest ESG ETF is the iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF (DSI), which is nearly indistinguishable from your average large-cap fund. That’s intentional: iShares made the KLD 400 Social ETF so investors with a conscience can use it as a substitute for other large cap funds.
iShares also has a smaller ESG investing fund, the iShares MSCI USA ESG Select Social ETF (SUSA), which is more aggressively responsible than DSI, as it holds a smaller number of companies (112 to DSI’s 400). Companies that have positive ESG scores relative to their peers and the broad market are more heavily weighted.
Unrelated Factoid of the day
Top 1% of Americans own 40% of all available equity stocks.
