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Environment – Have We Reached a Critical Threshold?

October 9th, 2006

I believe 20 years from now we will look back and see 2006-2007 as the period during which a critical threshold was reached in the environmental and clean energy movement.  A critical mass seems to have been achieved amongst influential people who control a significant portion of the political and financial leverage in our society, including the likes of Bill Clinton, Sir Richard Branson (Virgin), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Soros, Al Gore, and Elon Musk (PayPal founder) amongst many others.  And unlike the ‘jumping on the green bandwagon in the 1970s that led pretty much led nowhere’, this movement should be much more successful due to the improvement in technology and the heightened belief that we do face an environmental crisis also at a critical threshold. 

The key idea humans need to understand about environmental change is that it is not a linear progression but a quickly escalating (potentially exponential) problem once key thresholds are met.  Such thresholds may include small increases in ocean temperature causing a massive release of carbon dioxide stored in the ocean or a change in the course of the ocean heat transfer conveyor belt inducing significant melting of the polar ice caps and a subsequent increase in ocean levels thus threatening entire coastlines and all those beautiful beach houses.  Once these events occur, the ability to restore the balance in the system will be much more difficult than if we act now. 

Strangely, most American’s believe in the concept of taking out financial insurance to protect their family from potential calamity.  The need for better environmental advocacy is the same concept – we should embrace the opportunity to take out insurance against drastic environmental change and as a result protect the future of our family and our planet. 

For investing opportunities in the clean energy sector, take a look at: www.RenewableEnergyStocks.com (TM) (RES) and www.EnvironmentStocks.com.

Various stock indexes that follow green energy include: “WilderHill Clean Energy Index” and “WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index.”

Some clean energy funds include:

1.)    Calvert Large Cap Growth Fund (CLGAX) – Invests in eco-savvy large caps

2.)    New Alternatives Fund (NALFX) – Invests in foreign and domestic alternative energy companies

3.)    Portfolio 21 (PORTX) – Invests in small-cap clean-techs and large-cap companies with sustainability programs

4.)    PowerShares Wilderhill Clean Energy Porftolio (PBW) – Invests in small-cap clean-techs; follows the index mentioned above

5.)    Winslow Green Growth Fund (WGGFX) – Invests in clean-tech and eco-savvy small-cap companies

Entry Filed under: The Environment