Category Archives: Good Fact

Fossil Fuel Divestment Continues to be Profitable

The ongoing process of investment firms divesting from fossil fuels continues to be a good idea for the planet and for profits. It’s worth noting that the big push behind this was a student-led movement to get universities to divest their giant pools of money from unethical investments.

Let’s hope that this continues for many years to come!

* When SRI investment professionals divest of fossil fuel companies, the three places they are most likely to reallocate those investments are: renewable energy companies (59 percent); “proportionately across the remaining portfolio (56 percent); and clean technology companies (52 percent). (Respondents were allowed to provide multiple answers to this survey question.)

* Many more survey respondents (61 percent) are concerned about “stranded asset” risks to investors created by climate change than those who are not (15 percent). Only one in four respondents either don’t know about or are unsure about this “carbon bubble” risk.

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Seoul Starts Vertical Farming

Vertical farming is a possible food production solution as suburban sprawl consumes arable land. The new style of farming essentially is a farm in a skyscraper; they have yet to demonstrate commercial value but it’s inevitable that these farms will be normal fixtures in urban centres; Korea wants to be on the leading edge of this.

The farms would be three stories high, with vegetables and crops grown on the second and third floors, while the first floor would serve as a classroom for teaching agriculture, city officials said Tuesday.

The farms will be computer controlled to provide the right light, temperature and humidity, and check carbon dioxide levels.

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Young Investors Care More About Using Money for Good

It turns out that people born after 1980 care more about investing in companies that make the world better than investing in companies that don’t. Traditionally investors were told to only care about one thing: profit. Younger investors have seen that way of thinking not work out given the ongoing lame economic performance of that attitude and the environmental destruction it wrought.

It’s good to see money going to places that can make the world a better place.

Another reason why it’s anticipated that Millennials could increase demand for impact investing is they indicate less interest in traditional style equity investing. A study by U.S. Trust found that 51% of Millennials feel that investing in equities is overrated, and are also hesitant about investing in the stock market due to fears of losing money. However, they are still interested in investing, as 81% believe that buying investments and holding them over the long term is the best way to grow money over time.

One way that Millennials are putting fears aside and putting their money to work is investing in good causes. As seen below, they are more willing than older generations to take on higher risk and lower returns in order to invest in companies that positively affect society or the environment.

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Tiger Population Recovering in India

The Indian tiger population suffered great losses in the last 100 years. Tigers were killed for the bizarre perception that their body parts could help people have sex. This caused a major population collapse for tigers.

Now it looks like the tigers are making a come back!

The number of tigers in India has seen a sharp rise to 2,226 tigers from 1,411 seven years ago, the environment ministry has said.

“India is now home to 70 per cent of the world’s tigers,” Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Tuesday.

Karnataka has the most number of tigers at 406. Uttarakhand has 340 tigers, Tamil Nadu has 229, Madhya Pradesh has 208, Maharashtra has 190 and the Sundarbans in Bengal has 76 tigers.

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A Veggie Diet Could Prolong Your Life

There are tons of benefits from having a vegetarian diet from improved individual health to having less of an impact on the environment. Now there’s one more reason to have a vegetarian diet, or at least something close to one, it’ll help you live longer.

Scientists have long believed that an ultra low calorie diet – aproximately 60 per cent of normal levels – can lead to greater longevity.

But now a team of British researchers have discovered that the key to the effect is a reduction in a specific protein and not the total number of calories.

That means that by reducing foods that contain the protein – such as meat, fish and certain nuts – people should live longer wiuthout the need to cut down on meals.

Dr Matthew Piper, from the Institute of Healthy Ageing at University College London, said that a vegetarian diet could be one way to achieve the effect.

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