Almost three years ago, I met Randy Kapashesit, Chief of the MoCreebec people.  We grabbed a coffee in Toronto near UofT.  We got to talking, and ended up spending a couple of hours chatting about the idea of a sustainable local economy.  Randy loved it when I told him that economics and ecology share the same greek root - oikos - meaning ‘household’.  Economics means the management of the household (ensuring food, budgeting, etc.) while ecology means the study of the household (this land, our home).  We laughed at the absurdity of separating economics from environment, especially here in Canada where the environment IS the economy.  He loved the idea of biomimcy and hoped that the MoCreebec could mimic a thriving ecosystem, teeming with beauty and life.

Size = Up to 12 GW; Cost = ??

Completion Date: ??

Size: 1GW; ¥18.8 billion (US$ 200 Million)

Completion Date: 2015

Size: 1 Gigawatt; 105 billion Rupees (US$ 2.3 Billion)

Completion Date: December, 2013

Size: 700 hectars; 40,000 residents; US$ 22 Billion

Completion Date: 2025

Size: More than 125 Gigawatts; €400 Billion

Completion Date: 2050

Investing comes with risk. This article is a general discussion of the merits and risks associated with these ETFs, not a specific recommendation. Speak to an investment professional and make sure your portfolio is diversified. Tim Nash owns shares of PZD. Tim does not own shares of the other ETF mentioned in this article.

An article in today’s Globe & Mail describes the recent woes of oil sands investors.  High labour costs, regional markets, and pipeline protests are all spelling trouble for companies that have been expanding at rates that are hardly sustainable (by any definition of the word). And the article doesn’t even mention China’s new carbon tax that could change the geopolitical game on climate change.

Investing comes with risk. This article is a general discussion of the merits and risks associated with these ETFs, not a specific recommendation. Speak to an investment professional and make sure your portfolio is diversified. Tim Nash owns shares of PZD and a SolarShare bond. Tim does not own shares of the other ETFs mentioned in this article.

This portfolio is simple, with a positive environmental impact.  It is very diversified, yet places a strong bet on the emergence of a low-carbon economy.  The total annual cost of this portfolio is 0.45%.

I’m getting ready for my first class of Introduction to Economics, and coming up with creative ways to teach the fundamental concept of ‘opportunity cost’.  For those of you needing an Econ101 refresher, opportunity cost is defined as 'the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action'.  For example, right now I’m spending an hour writing this blog.  If I wasn’t writing this blog, I’d be building a financial plan or doing some research for a client.  Since my fee amounts to $150 per hour, the opportunity cost for me to write this blog is $150.