“Every summit is uncertain when a climb begins. Saving the world is no different,” James Lumberg, mountain climber and co-founder, EVP of Envestnet, profiled on Investment News.
***
The time I’ve spent on and around the world’s biggest mountains has convinced me that directing some of the world’s wealth at making a positive impact is one of the best levers we have to solve our world’s biggest problems.
On the biggest and most dangerous mountains, you are literally tied to your fellows, an act known as the brotherhood of the rope. It always reminds me of just how reliant and interdependent we are with our fellow human beings and of the responsibility that we share for the world’s well-being. On and around these mountains, I’ve seen too just how fragile our globe’s diverse natural and cultural environments are.
I’ve seen how dramatically Kilimanjaro’s iconic glaciers are receding, and how African children will devote an entire day to securing and bringing home a five-gallon pail of water only slightly less tainted than what’s available closer to home. I’ve seen the residents of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, wearing masks to ward off the effects of their polluted air, as environmental degradation touches even remote corners of the world. I’ve seen the indigenous people of Russia’s Caucasus region displaced by the Russian-Chechen conflict, and the viability of the centuries-old way of life of the Sherpa of the Himalaya region pressured by an increasing flood of visitors.
Solutions are at work, too. Targeted micro-finance projects in the Khumbu Valley, the Sherpa’s traditional home, are revitalizing that region’s indigenous clothing design, manufacturing and export operations, helping the Sherpa to better sustain their mercantile culture. Fair trade initiatives are empowering a growing export market in Tanzania for coffee and cocoa, boosting that region’s economic prospects. Investment approaches encouraging divestiture of global arms manufacturers are signaling the world’s growing rejection of armed conflict in the Caucasus and elsewhere.
And, preparing for my Antarctica climb, I’ve been reminded of just how beneficial an impact investment in alternative energy sources — and reduced carbon emissions — will have in safeguarding that continent’s unique landscape.
Be Inspired Some More -> Investment News
