Of all the topics that the show has received requests to cover over the years, Socially Responsible Investing, or SRI, tops the list.  Finally, this week's show brings together an extraordinary list of the top mutual fund firms practicing this form of investment, where investees are rated on social issues (such as environmental management, labor relations, and others) as well as more traditional financial measures.  Representatives from Pax World, Portfolio 21, and Domini Social Investments join Leo to discuss the state of the SRI industry, its basic principles, and what socially conscious investors can expect from them. [Production:Wilkerson/Rightman]

READ: Leo's editorial Journeys and Destinations

LISTEN: New Capital Show (March 15, 2007)

Natalie Marquis, general manager of Austin's Habitat Suites, discusses their little hotel's efforts to create a green hospitality business. [Production:Lokey(lead)/Mendenhall]

LISTEN: New Capital Show (February 22, 2007)

In this show, we take up the issue of General Motors and its risk management practices, focusing on two areas: its pension/healthcare obligation problems, and its fuel efficiency problems.  No doubt the people who run, and who ran, GM claim to be capitalists.  But a competent capitalist must be aware of the risks to their capital, as well as the potential returns.  We'll first focus on a superb new article in The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell (of The Tipping Point fame) to get our discussion going.  And as always, we'll touch on these other items in the news:

• In Terror War news, Don Rumsfeld not only disagrees with his opposition's solutions to the problems he has caused, but he thinks we don't even have a clue about the realities of the world, and Keith Olbermann's forceful response.
• In environmental news, California sets the pace in GhG regulations, and a big emissions deal gets done in China.
• And in economic news, even though US real wages stagnate poverty doesn't rise above its current sad level, Ben Bernanke (uh, the new Fed Chief folks) sees the downside of globalization.

LISTEN: New Capital Show (August 31, 2006)

A Walmart green makeover has been in the news lately.  I was frankly unaware of the depth of the commitment the company is making until I sat down with some articles appearing this week.  Apparently, CEO Lee Scott has taken green to heart and intends to drive it throughout the company.  Is this for real?  You decide: here are documents for July 27 NCS.

• Green Machine
• How Walmart Went Organic
• Can Walmart Save Seafood?

Other items of interest, time permitting, are the booming private equity business, Texas now leading the nation in wind energy produced, mercury levels in songbirds, the Texas utility TXU and how it wants to build more coal plants in our state - a LOT more, one man's argument in favor of nuclear power, a new book on the Iraq Fiasco, men and their foolish investment decisions, and a Harvard psychologist on why we humans engage in tit-for-tat.

LISTEN: New Capital Show (July 27, 2006)

William Ginn is an executive at The Nature Conservancy and the author of Investing in Nature, an excellent survey of advanced financial techniques used in modern "environmental investment banking." 

LISTEN: New Capital Show (June 29, 2006)