Green Lights Aug. 25: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story: The best from Callaway Climate Insights






. . . . Welcome to Green Lights, our weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week, the heat is on: David Callaway takes a close look at the pressure building around nuclear energy, Mark Hulbert says sustainable investors have a long road ahead of them, and Michael Molinski outlines why Latin American companies face hard choices between sustainability and economic stability. Here are the highlights in a simple and convenient format that makes it easy for our readers. It’s also easy to subscribe.
. . . . While the Japanese government has taken every precaution in detailing how its plan to release treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is safe for surrounding waters and sea life, the memories of the disaster and the subsequent distaste for anything nuclear are still strong in the region and elsewhere. David Callaway writes that investors in new nuclear energy technology should heed the reaction to the Fukushima release. Like nuclear waste, the controversy over the safety of nuclear energy could last a long time.
. . . . Think all sustainable funds are the same? Think again. Mark Hulbert shows how the incredible diversity in sustainable strategies, definitions and returns proves that the sustainability sector is not even an investment category by standard definitions. The differences shouldn’t be surprising, Hulbert contends, as even the definition of what is sustainable itself depends on who is defining it. For investors, this means that choosing to be a sustainable investor is just a first step, not a last one. It’s still a stock-pickers market, even for sustainable funds. . . .
. . . . If the health effects of wildfire smoke — shortness of breath, bronchial problems, etc., etc. — weren’t already bad enough, now comes news that it may cause brain problems. A new study shows that toxic materials in the smoke, such as the smoke that covered NYC earlier this year and much of Canada right now, can lead to more cases of dementia. . . .
. . . . The collapse in shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries last week and the bankruptcy of California’s PG&E almost five years ago after its downed wires sparked deadly wildfires are driving home a new dynamic to utility investors just as demands for a new grid infrastructure reach a frenzy. . . .
. . . . While the environmental, or ‘E’ in ESG strategies, component is difficult enough for companies and investors to agree on, the S, or social pillar, is becoming the most controversial, especially in Latin America, writes Michael Molinski. . . .
. . . . “Mother Nature is sending us a warning,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a recent climate briefing. According to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, July 2023 was hotter than any other month in the global temperature record. NASA data confirms what billions around the world literally felt: Temperatures in July 2023 made it the hottest month on record. . . .
More greenery . . . .
Is it global warming?: The iced pumpkin cream chai latte joins Starbucks PSL menu as customers opt for cold over hot (CNBC)
Disaster averted?: No, the world won't run out of chocolate by 2050 (USA Today)
Phew, chocolate’s OK: But now we’re worried about the future of the banana (Lithub)
Seriously, though: Emperor penguins face a cruel future due to loss of stable sea ice (Daily Beast)
Maui update: Fires renew longtime water rights conflict over sacred streams (The Independent)
Can you believe it?: Vivek Ramaswamy calls climate change agenda a ‘hoax’ during debate (Politico)