Designed with Stuart Williams of Endobility, Ethical Markets® Media hosted the Finding Ethical Alpha Conference in St. Augustine, FL, May 12-13, 2014, focused on guiding the world’s significant asset allocators to use environmental and humanitarian risk/return metrics and screens across 100% of their portfolios. Co-chaired by sustainability pioneers Hazel Henderson, president of Ethical Markets®, and Lawrence Bloom, co-founder and chairman of B.e Energy, the conference gathered leading experts across sustainability stakeholder groups.
The highlight was Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist for NASA, presenting “Green and Renewable Energy: An Embarrassment of Riches.” Bushnell listed a myriad of opportunities using renewable energy to meet global needs many times over and focused on halophytes, salt-loving plants, as a renewable resource for energy and food, using the globe’s abundance of salt water, “wasteland” and Sun.
The spotlight included Henderson’s presentation on the Green Transition Scoreboard® and Bloom’s experience with Peru as an emerging market case study. Hank Patton introduced Intergenerational Finance™. Katherine Collins, author of The Nature of Investing, presented an illuminating view of finance using Nature’s guiding principles. Garvin Jabusch of Green Alpha Advisors, fund manager for the Sierra Club, presented the language he finds resonates with asset managers.
The conference lived up to the promise of providing leading edge solutions. Edgar Cahn presented Time Banking as a way to restore how we value labor. Martin Ping, executive director of Hawthorne Valley, and Pearl Johnson, founder of The Willow School, presented creative innovations in education to reach the next generation of investors.
Emerging Markets ESG was a media partner of the event.