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  • From: "Michael Kramer" <MKramer@hawaii.rr.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Investing
  • Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 17:39:40 -1000

Yes, William, there is a new index, it's called Wilderhill Clean Energy Index (ticker PBW) and it's an index of the leading renewable energy companies (wind, solar, hydrogen, biomass). It's very exciting to see such a thing.

New Alternatives is a mutual fund that's been around a while, and while we all love it's focus, its performance has been erratic. That could change. My theory is that the reason it doesn't do well is that it's primarily in renewable energy, and any sector-based fund has major highs and lows because of the "domino effect" that often occurs when one company has a bad quarter or a great earnings report. This is why diversification is the general rule of investing and why good funds offer companies is a wide range of sectors. There are other socially conscious mutual funds which hold renewable energy (and many other good sectors such as organic food, recycled and biodegradable products, natural health care products).

As far as water, it's not something I'm excited about - turning water into a commodity - especially when people speak of it as the next "oil" in terms of short supply and high demand. I'm in favor of local control of water because it usually comes from a local source and can therefore be controlled by locals; some energy supplies do not, however, so they are perhaps worthy of "outside" investment (every community can't make solar panels, for example - or could they?). I think ultimately what will happen is that groundwater mining will destroy so many aquifers that desalination will become the next big infrastructure movement (obviously primarily for coastal cities), and, believe it or not, there's talk of a Canadian water pipeline down to the Southwest. Talk about bizarre. One strategy we must deal with is getting rainwater catchment to be legal, because it's not in many desert communities, as that water is "reserved" for other uses and jurisdictions. That being said, bottled water as an investment is a boom industry, and there are also bond issues for municipalities which are making infrastructure improvements to their water systems and utilities, which seem to be appropriate investments.

Michael

-----
Michael Kramer, M.Ed., AIF (Accredited Investment Fiduciary)
Natural Investment Services
P.O. Box 390595
Keauhou, HI 96739

Michael@NaturalInvesting.com
www.NaturalInvesting.com
808-331-0910
Toll-free: 888-779-1500

Socially Conscious Portfolio Management & Hourly Consulting
Sustainability Strategic Planning and Education

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
------------------------------------------------------------------------

----- Original Message ----- From: "William Genest" <genest@pivot.net>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 4:32 PM
Subject: [permaculture] Investing


Michael,

I heard there is a new index available to investors that is focused
on alternative energy et.al - Do you know what it's called and how
one gets in on it ?

Also, I would love your opinion on the only (?) mutual fund ( that I
can find) dedicated to alternative energy - it's called the New
Alternatives fund and I have been tracking it for some time. it's
returns are mediocre and I wonder if you would comment on whether
that's a reflection of the industry as a whole or of the fund's
decison making abilities ?

Finally, and this one is sure to get a strong reaction from others -
I wonder if you would comment on the ethics of investing in
companies that are focused on water. I know the horror stories of
privately owned water companies gouging locals, but I also know that
virtually every N.American city has water infrastructure that is in
dire need of replacement and that this will inevitably be farmed out
to industry and I don't see an ethical dilemma with that -

Thanks in advance for your comments,


William


On Sep 22, 2005, at 9:55 PM, Michael Kramer wrote:

I'm please that Ali is wishing to focus on green economics at the
next IPC,
as it's been something I've been focused in recent years. The
failings of
the World Bank have been noted by the leaders of that institution
now, and
we in the social investment community have been meeting with them
to examine
ways to fund microcredit and community development financial
institutions
rather than governments (which have obviously mismanaged many loan
programs). In addition, there is a new global currency beginning to be
developed by Bernard Litaer (who invented the Euro) - it's called
the Terra,
and it will be a global parallel currency tied to specific hard
assets,
which means it's a long-term currency which people would desire to
hold
long-term rather than trade against other artificial (and essentially
valueless) currencies. Currency is one thing which pits nations
against one
another and has led to tremendous inequities and exploitive
practices. While
the social investment movement attempts to hold corporations
accountable, it
is critical that the banks, credit unions, loan funds, and such be
empowered
to put real cash in the hands of real local people so they may
build local
economies from the inside out. It's fine for outsiders to support
these
institutions financially by loaning them money (something one can
do through
the stock market now), but ultimately what's happening (amazingly
enough) is
that the IMF and World Bank are realizing the poor return on their
investments, and with so much foreigh debt recently being forgiven
by the
G8, they are essentially starting over and looking for good local
economic
initiatives to support. I agree with Ali that the ethical
imperatives of
permaculture are slowly inflitrating the mainstream, and this is
something
I've been actively involved in. Last year at the annual Social
Responsible
Investment conference in Keystone, Gil Friend of the Natural Step
brought up
permaculture and even showed some slides of Vint Lawrence's Apache
Creek
Ranch outside Santa Fe (Vint, if you're reading, I wonder if you knew
this!). It was an amazing experience for Christopher Peck, Jonathan
Scharfman, and myself (3 longtime permaculture teachers from the
Southwest)
to witness 500 financial professionals from around the world
getting excited
about permaculture, and I have followed up and tried to build on this
introduction. I have been plugging the Permaculture Credit Union
quite a lot
over the years to this group, despite my inability to persuade the
Permaculture Credit Union that they absolutely must be at these annual
events because it's a great way to get depositors, as this is a group
managing $2.3 trillion.

Anyway, I've been intrigued by the recent thread on money and am
aware of
how angry people are at how money has been used on this planet for
170 years
by Western societies. As a recovering anti-capitalist, however, I
can tell
you that things are slowly changing, and it's because eco-people
are getting
into mainstream institutions and movements and starting to build
awareness,
and they are being far more welcomed than ever before. It would be
nice if
we could direct investment towards the hybrid or solar divisions of
multinational companies in order to support only their regenerative
activities (but then, it would also be nice if we could decide
which part of
the budget our taxes could be directed to). Remember, money has no
value,
only that which we ascribe to it; it can be used for tremendously
positive
things, and we mustn't let our cynicism interfere with our capacity
to use
it wisely to reinvest surplus towards the permaculture ethics.

-----
Michael Kramer, M.Ed., AIF (Accredited Investment Fiduciary)
Natural Investment Services
P.O. Box 390595
Keauhou, HI 96739

Michael@NaturalInvesting.com
www.NaturalInvesting.com
808-331-0910
Toll-free: 888-779-1500

Socially Conscious Portfolio Management & Hourly Consulting
Sustainability Strategic Planning and Education

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
---------------------------------------------------------------------- --

----- Original Message -----
From: "William Genest" <genest@pivot.net>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] [permalearnersuk] IPC8


Yeah good point Graham but maybe it's like Bill says about using
heavy machinery - it is worth it if you will end up creating more
energy than you use although how you'd quantify that I have no
idea.... I'm getting a Prius - does that count ? :-)
On Sep 22, 2005, at 6:46 PM, Graham wrote:


How do we get there without using up our lifetimes supply of carbon
points????

Andy Langford wrote:



IPC 8 Invitation letter

Boa Vista do Ramos, Amazonas, Brazil
September 8th 2005

To the many members of the world Permaculture community

I would like to honor and thank the members of both the Danish and
Croatian Permaculture Associations and the larger European
Permaculture community that made IPC 7 such a wonderful
gathering. In
particular I would like to salute the venerable Tony Anderson whose
strength of purpose and generalship reincarnated the IPC event after
so many years of dormancy.

The traditional rotation between continents has positioned South
America as next in line for hosting IPC 8. During plenary vote in
Croatia in June 2005, Brazil was officially selected as its next
venue. The event, as decided, will be held in May of 2007.

As the international project coordinator for Permacultura America
Latina (PAL), which is the coordinating body for the Rede
Permacultura do Brazil (RPB), I will be assuming the role of IPC 8
coordinator. Permit me to confirm that this event will be held as
stated and I look to your help and experience for guidance.

During the last two months, and aside from the standard Convergence
program, various themes for the Conference have been bandied around
and one that has been consistently responded to has been the
issue of
Green Economics. With the condition of the world monetary system
increasingly uncertain the opportunity to devote several days to the
full array of topics represented by this theme, has, arguably,
arisen. In short, we have before us the opportunity to hoist the
banner of Permaculture on an International Economics Conference.

Green Economics also represents an opportunity to engage the Latin
American private sector, particularly in light of so much of the
planet’s remaining natural resources concentrated on this continent.
With so many sustainable development plans already being
assembled to
plunder these irreplaceable resources, it hardly needs explaining
the
urgency to clarify green economic misconceptions and clarify
inevitable possibilities. After all, at present, the bankers have
most of us by the balls.

Australian permaculturists have offered to set up an IPC website as
the technological mechanism for communications. The US Credit Union
has offered its service and even possible funding. Previous IPC
event
organizers have likewise confirmed promises to provide whatever
information and assistance may be available.

For my part I am poised to begin the proposal and fundraising
process
and other foundations have offered to participate. Specifically the
Swiss based Avina Foundation has offered to convene a pre conference
gathering in early 2006 to articulate the final Conference agenda.

Thus my friends I leave it to you to provide some feedback as
soon as
possible to justify both my personal and institutional resolve and
reach that point of no return.

I remain, as always, moist and tropically yours

Ali Sharif

ahmadalisharif@yahoo.com











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Best Regards,

William Genest

- Founder Green Mountain Permaculture Institute of Vermont
Solutions, Sustenance, Sustainability
www.greenmountainpermaculture.com

- Creator "Regeneration - The Art of Sustainable Living"
From "Something-Must-be-Done" to Something we can do !
www.regenerationshow.com

- Ecological Coordinator
Club St.Paul Ecological Golf Course

- Vice-President Green Party of Quebec "pour nous et nos enfants"
www.pvq.qc.ca

- National Spokesperson Green Party of Canada
"The Future is Now ! "
www.greenparty.ca



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permaculture mailing list
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http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture


_______________________________________________
permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture



Best Regards,

William Genest

- Founder Green Mountain Permaculture Institute of Vermont
Solutions, Sustenance, Sustainability
www.greenmountainpermaculture.com

- Creator "Regeneration - The Art of Sustainable Living"
From "Something-Must-be-Done" to Something we can do !
www.regenerationshow.com

- Ecological Coordinator
Club St.Paul Ecological Golf Course

- Vice-President Green Party of Quebec "pour nous et nos enfants"
www.pvq.qc.ca

- National Spokesperson Green Party of Canada
"The Future is Now ! "
www.greenparty.ca



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permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture






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