“The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits,” proclaimed Milton Friedman in a famous 1970 New York Times essay. On Thursday, Reason’s Zach Weissmueller lead a discussion on the topic of will ESG be replaced capitalism. The view that the primary aim of a business is to increase profits and […]
On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry raised the American flag to celebrate a victory over British forces during the War of 1812. As the story goes, the sight of those “broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became […]
Basin Electric Power Cooperative has released its first-ever sustainability report, describing the co-op’s commitment to environmental protection and responsible governance policies. Basin’s chief financial officer Todd Brickhouse said the cooperative has a good track record of environmental stewardship, sound cooperative governance, and being a good citizen through investments in the communities it […]
Projects the increase in public companies’ regulatory reporting costs from about $2 billion to $8.4 billion per year. Mark Uyeda, the SEC Commissioner, spoke at the Cato Summit, a conference of the libertarian Cato Institute, in Washington DC Thursday November 18. In short, the SEC commissioner said the increase in […]
Chord Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: CHRD) (“Chord”, “Chord Energy” or the “Company”) reported financial and operating results for the quarter ending September 30, 2022, declared base and variable dividends and provided an updated outlook for the business. The Company completed the merger of equals transaction between Oasis Petroleum Inc. (“Oasis”) and […]
Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN), a U.S. independent oil and gas producer, announced the release of its 2022 sustainability report which highlights the company’s efforts to deliver industry-leading results while being a responsible environmental steward, committed advocate for safety, reliable producer, valued and effective community partner, and supportive employer. “Devon’s […]
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent a letter to 51 law firms detailing the possible antitrust violations the law firms’ clients may commit if they pursue Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives. The letter advises the law […]
Since the COVID Shutdowns more and more workers are working remotely and online. This workplace freedom is creating all sorts of new cost and productivity issues in areas and departments they’ve traditionally only seen in sales and executive levels. Those departments were, and are, given a little bit of slack […]
I’d like to tell you a personal story about how and why I stopped posting pictures of my child on the Internet. It was about halfway through my son’s 7th grade year in middle school when he asked me to stop posting pictures of him online because “he wanted to […]
How your tax dollars and fear are used by Appointed Leaders and Elected Politicians to manipulate their information and your reality. By Jason Spiess, ESG University Who remembers Y2K? What do you remember about the global two-digit computer issue? Let’s take a minute and see how Y2K is vetted through […]
This past April, ESG University penned, and then typed an ESG Classroom Column predicting a European trend that would be coming to the United States soon. And it did. Here’s what I wrote in April titled “An ESG World Premiere! Coming Soon To A Regulation Near You”. New sales of […]
Is your Social Media Manager managing your media or just being social? A little over a decade ago, the role of a social media manager was probably not one of your job titles around the office. Today, however, nearly all companies have a page, nearly every employee is involved in […]
It is time to for all of us here to be adults and have an ESG Conversation about children. Currently children make up almost one-third of the world’s population and have major influence over the marketplace, legislation and corruption. Yes corruption. Believe it or not there are some people who […]
Part Two of Four covering the historical changes, issues, government intervention and solutions to America’s economy. Article originally appeared in ESG University We had to call an audible on Part Two of Four with this ESG University Classroom Column. Originally we were going to explain how the oil and gas […]
The Heritage Foundation launched a digital campaign this week, “ESG Hurts,” which is intended to “expose the agenda of the Environmental, Social, and Governance movement”. The campaign provides background information on the dangers of ESG, and also includes model state legislation for lawmakers looking to protect state pensions, investments and contracts. […]
Governments and non-profits have killed over 50% of the trees planted in the past 20 years, now corporations are killing them too. Originally published in at ESG University Did you know half the trees planted by non profits and city governments die within the first year? That’s billions of dollars […]
This ESG University Classroom column is a bit different this week. Rather than focus on the specifics within the ESG realm, we are going to take a step back and look at how culture clashes and ideological issues begin. Call it the prequel or origin story of ESG (Environmental Social […]
During Spring Break, my son and I spent some time catching up on each other’s personal pop cultures and streaming selections of du jour. “The Good Place is pretty much my favorite show right now,” my 16-year-old son said. I was familiar with the name of the show and couple […]
I saw a movie trailer in my mind this past Friday the 13th as I ended up pondering if the movie “Jason Meets The Muppets” would get the green light. It’s really not as crazy as you think considering we are living in a “Sequel Economy” with an ESG driven […]
In 2018, I began using a football metaphor to describe ESG to industry professionals, financial groups and random people who would ask any follow up questions regarding the trendy acronym ESG. First off, ESG stands for “Environmental, Social and Governance” and it is a new scoring system to indicate a […]
Ever since Elon Musk tweeted about ESG more and more people are checking into the acronym to find out why the billionaire is paying attention to it. This week the ESG Express it made it’s way to Utah, and the Beehive State does not like ESG. In fact they are […]
This past week I had a long conversation with a group of random gentlemen at the local diner. All five of us were belly up to the counter drinking coffee, eating omelets and talking turkey. Well, not so much turkey as Environmental Social Governance (ESG) and how it is impacting […]
When I saw the recent news about NFL Quarterback Dwayne Haskins death, I immediately thought of Matthew Nelson, brother of Gunner Nelson, son of Ricky Nelson and grandson to Ozzie and Harriet. Then I thought of the late Sarge Summers and how old his children were. The reason I thought […]
This past week the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inched closer to regulating the Environmental Social Governance (ESG) as part of a company’s new world. This is significant for several reasons and something every company who is part of a supply chain should understand. Specifically, this is something every public […]
This week I am traveling again so I am writing this quick ESG University Classroom Column for several reasons. One is to keep the weekly frequency of the Classroom Column while another is to see what others in the world of politics, media and industry are talking about in regards […]
The first four days of March Madness is the single greatest four-day-weekend in modern times. It has everything a reporter, casual fan, extreme fanatic, gambler, player and college could ask for. In sports and life. This year, however, brought us an extra reminder how easily we humans engage in Herd […]
It’s movie night here at ESG University and today it’s one of the Ocean’s franchises. Now some believe the real heist in that movie is George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Steven Soderbergh stealing our hard earned money in the end with a lazy contrived story, but not me. I love […]
This past week I spoke at a luncheon for the Natural Gas Energy Association of Oklahoma regarding ESG topics and issues. After the luncheon, I presented a three hour class on ESG along with a 12 Question ESG Internal Audit for companies. The acronym ESG stands for Environmental Social Governance, […]
I received one of the best news tips in years this week, and at the same time it was one of the most bone-chilling signs of our new reality. I should point out that in 2009, I hosted a Night Show in Fargo which had a live video stream in-studio […]
Over the weekend week I was catching up on my reading with a couple of hippie do-goodery publications like “Peas On Earth” and “New Jack Hippie”, and came across an interesting news brief (from last year) about the European city of Brussels creating a world where deisel and gasoline cars […]
Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of the canine. I have personally adopted ten dogs in my adult life and honestly prefer the company of dogs to most humans. Since these ESG University Classroom Columns are all about transparency, I figured a disclaimer about my favoritism towards dogs should be […]
Many of you in the industry may not know that I am a wordsmith by education. This particular education at North Dakota State was a bit different than others for sure. One of the main reasons it was different was Tim and Deanna Sellnow. This husband and wife team of […]
I took a call this week from someone who had been shunning and shaming my attempts for an ESG conversation for nearly five years now. “OK what’s all this ESG stuff,” he grumbled. “My banker tells me I need it, so what’s this all about?” First off, this is an […]
The first three columns of ESG University have followed a basic storytelling method. Each week we highlighted a different letter in the acronym. The first week was an Environmental overview, followed by Social and then Governance. As we enter our fourth week and column, it’s time to combine all three […]
For the fossil fuel worker, they are living in the days when the grocery store took out the farmer in the eyes of public perception, only this time it’s the lightswitch. A lightswitch magically powered by renewable, sustainable energy and any fossil fuels powering the grid are just holding back […]
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