Global Issues Archives - Natural Investments

Preserving Earth’s Lungs: Learning from the Guardians Protecting the Amazon Rainforest

Advocacy & Policy, Global Issues / By Keahi Kaheiki

The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world and has often been called the “lungs of the Earth,” because of the billions of trees that absorb carbon dioxide, produce 20 percent of Earth’s oxygen, and slow climate change. Research conducted by the Brazilian Research Scientist Dr. Antônio Donato Nobre, and sponsored by several […]

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One Acre Fund: Putting Farmers First for Lasting Impact

Community Investing, Global Issues, Resilient Living / By Kulu Maphalala

One Acre Fund (1AF) is an innovative, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa improve their yield, increase their income, and build sustainable food supply and livelihoods. In 2024, Natural Investments finalized its due diligence of 1AF and added its Notes Fund as our newest investment open to clients looking to make

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Standing Rock: Forging the Way into a Native-led Energy Future

Community Investing, General, Global Issues / By Kulu Maphalala

In 2016, the power of Indigenous People was spotlighted by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe-led #NODAPL movement, a protest against the building of the Dakota Access pipeline that would cut through Tribal lands and waters. Though the #NODAPL movement was not able to overcome the power and pressure to build the pipeline, it proved to

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The Most Important Tasks for Cybersecurity

General, Global Issues / By Christopher Peck

Imagine we’re out camping. It’s dark and cold, and we’re huddled around a dwindling campfire. With a look over my shoulder, I ask you to lean in close. I have a ghost story to tell you, but this one is real. Really real, like, scary real—happened to a friend of mine. According to Statista, the

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How to Consider Climate Change Risk on Real Estate

General, Global Issues / By Christopher Peck

When I wrote “Location. Now More Than Ever” in 2016, the cliché about “location, location, location” still referred to issues like good schools, close to work, and near family. Clearly these are still important criteria in real estate, but now add to the list: is it a region with high or low climate change risk?

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Electric cars charging at a charging station. 3d rendering

Navigating the Rise of Electric Vehicles and Demand for Critical Minerals

General, Global Issues / By Ryan Jones-Casey

In the last issue of “Investing With Intent,” Brady Quirk-Garvan and James Frazier wrote about cryptocurrency for socially responsible investors. In this article, Ryan Jones-Casey articulates the myriad considerations associated with the rise in demand for electric vehicles, and the parallel rise in demand for the minerals required in current battery technology. While the mining

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Wall Street Wakes Up to SRI

General, Global Issues / By James Frazier

Socially responsible investing (SRI) isn’t the quietly progressive corner of the financial industry that it once was. For decades, SRI has been practiced primarily by small, independent boutique investment firms. For better or worse, the old landscape has dramatically changed in recent years with record inflows of investor cash and large Wall Street firms looking

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In the News – Summer 2021

General, Global Issues / By Natural Investments

1: The Securities and Exchange Commission will look at climate, as well as other ESG-related issues, in determining misconduct or mislabeling of information at fund companies. The federal agency’s move is meant to address possible greenwashing. Investment News: SEC establishes task force on ESG issues 2: The oil giant Exxon lost a historic proxy battle

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Turning Back the Tide of Inequity

General, Global Issues / By Sylvia Panek

Federal monetary and fiscal policies buoyed the stock market during the pandemic, but they did not keep millions of American families from sliding below the poverty line. Yet daily news commentaries tracking quarterly earnings and shareholder profits have painted a rosy picture of the 2021 economic recovery. The latest plan by the Biden Administration to

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A Promise of Socially Responsible Investing – Realized

General, Global Issues / By Scott Secrest

Investment advisors who have practiced socially responsible investing (SRI) going back decades as some on our team at Natural Investments have, remember well the doubters’ refrains of our means for social and environmental change: using investment capital does not advance social progress and environmental preservation. There is now evidence to refute them. One way socially

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