According to George Monbiot (in Heat), among others, the one technology for which there’s no fix for its effects on global warming is jet air travel.

So, take a look at the new British Airways ad campaign for the controversial Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport. The print ad, (e.g. Atlantic, Nov. 2008, p. 27) with manta rays swimming through the new terminal’s automatic check-in stands, is pretty funny. But the website is hysterical.

On October 17, 2008, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), an agency within the US Department of Labor, issued two Interpretive Bulletins dealing with the application of considerations other than investment return by ERISA fiduciaries.

This note places one of the two Bulletins in context and suggests what the boundaries on its application may be.

This note does not discuss the policy choices EBSA has made, nor does it suggest alternatives a different administration might consider.

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Two recent articles suggest that one palliative for the global financial crisis may be close at hand. As global banking giants stumble, attentive, community-focused banks may offer relief for both borrowers and investors.

Slate’s Daniel Gross has written a much-needed corrective to an ugly bit of conventional wisdom: that America’s subprime borrowers are to blame for the worldwide economic crisis. “Nobody forced Bear Stearns to borrow $33 for every $1 of assets it had,” he says.

Mr. Gross’ story is not about Wall Street, however. “The Subprime Good Guys” is about for-profit banks on Main Street who’ve taken a responsible approach to subprime lending. Community development financial institutions (CDFI) make subprime loans, but their deals come complete with financial counseling and a long-term commitment to the borrower. It’s the old-fashioned sort of creditor-debtor relationship associated with Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s a Wonderful Life”:

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I’ve come across two articles on the credit crisis I found worth printing and reading slowly – twice.

The first is by Donald MacKenzie: “End-of-the-World Trade,” London Review of Books, May 8, 2008.

A number of articles I’ve seen have called attention to the origins of our word ”credit.” It comes from the Latin for to entrust or believe.

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Yesterday afternoon at a Ceres gathering I saw a video of President-elect Obama’s remarks to the Governors’ Global Climate Summit on Tuesday. He stated his commitments forcefully, unconditionally, in about four minutes.

As the clip ran, Joan Bavaria was on the minds of everyone in the room.

I thought, as I listened, of how hard she had worked to craft and then to forge a consensus around the Valdez Principles, the forerunner of the Ceres Principles. How thrilled she would have been with Obama’s substance, style and brevity!

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Many environmentally conscious consumers, including a number of us at KLD, have signed up for “green power” programs. These typically charge ratepayers a small premium on each electric bill, which the sponsoring utility then directs towards the purchase of energy from wind, solar, biomass, or other renewable sources.

Or does it? BusinessWeek has reported that some green energy programs have directed more funds towards marketing costs than for alternative energy purchases.

The article describes how Florida regulators recently shut down a green power program that served almost 40,000 subscribers:

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The global economy depends on effective risk management by consumers, businesses and governments, which has helped make insurance the world’s largest industry. Insurance companies generate $3.4 trillion in premium revenue, plus another $1 trillion in investment income. Still, this vast accumulation of wealth – larger than the GDP of every nation except the US, China and Japan– may not be enough to hedge against the risks of climate change.

In 2007, the sustainability-focused investors coalition Ceres released From Risk to Opportunity: How Insurers Can Proactively and Profitably Manage Climate Change. The report explained that climate change could lead to losses for every sector of the industry:

• Property insurers could face massive damages from rising sea levels and increased incidence of Katrina-like storms.
• Health and life insurers could face claims due to climate change-caused famine, drought, or disease.
• Liability insurers would have to pay if companies are held liable for their greenhouse gas emissions.
• Insurance companies’ portfolios would lose value if climate change lowers investment returns, threatening the stability of those insurers and reinsurers, as well.

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Last week, the annual “SRI in the Rockies” (SRIR) conference brought together leaders from around the sustainable/SRI world. The October 26-29 conference was co-produced by the First Affirmative Action Network and the Social Investment Forum, who have organized SRIR since 1989.

The SRIR website offers free audio and PowerPoint files from the event’s forums and presentations, including:

- Where in the World is the World Headed?” Keynote speech from Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World and Canada’s former Ambassador to the United Nations.

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