Thinking

If the current rate of decline continues unchecked, the medium male sperm count is on track to hit zero by 2045. That means the median couple is not going to have children without a lot of help. It means half the male population will have zero viable sperm and the remaining half will be right on the edge of functional infertility.

Written with his former colleague, the bestselling financial historian Edward Chancellor, The Making of a Permabear is replete with investment insights and provides a compellingly candid and witty insider's tour of the booms and busts of the past half century.

Of the challenges facing humanity this century toxicity is the most under recognized. "Toxicity" means the cumulative negative health effects from some of the hundreds of thousands of new chemicals invented since World War 2. Almost none of these new chemicals were tested for long-term safety for humans and nature.

We believe the secular growth tailwinds in the climate change sector will provide investors with strong investment opportunities for decades to come. In our opinion, a well-designed climate change strategy can provide investors with a variety of benefits, including diversification, protection from climate risk, inflation protection, and the ability to invest in growth-oriented companies at a discount

It was always going to be difficult for us – Homo sapiens – to deal with the long-term, slow-burning problems that threaten us today: climate change, population growth, increasing environmental toxicity, and the impact of all these three on the future ability to feed the 10 billion people projected for 2100. Ten thousand years ago, or even a hundred years ago, these problems were either mild or non-existent. Today they are accelerating to a crisis.

Our global economy, reckless in its use of all resources and natural systems, shows many of the indicators of potential failure that brought down so many civilizations before ours. By sheer luck, though, ours has two features that might just save our bacon: declining fertility rates and progress in alternative energy. Our survival might well depend on doing everything we can to encourage their progress. Vested interests, though, defend the status quo effectively and the majority much prefers optimistic propaganda to uncomfortable truth and wishful thinking rather than tough action. It is likely to be a close race.

A resource crisis exacerbated by global warming is looming, argues financier Jeremy Grantham. More scientists must speak out.

The world is using up its natural resources at an alarming rate... Many other civilizations, despite being armed with the same brains as we have, bit the dust or just faded away after the misuse of their resources.