ESG initiatives suddenly find themselves in the political crosshairs. Laws have been passed in several states – and others are pending – requiring legal action against companies not considered supportive enough of fossil fuels. There is even pressure on firms who refuse to support certain cable or wish to make greener investments. Occasionally, a company resists being pulled down by this type of political pressure, but it isn't easy: the gravity well surrounding today's business climate is both deep and wide. Resistance requires courage and by no means all such companies have that. The example of one company that did have the courage to resist and, by so doing, caused important change far beyond their own walls, is instructive for today's browbeaten executives, who are mustering the courage to do the right thing.

Goldilocks happened on a beautiful property but in those days the criteria for such a purchase were simple and few: too big or too small? Too hot or too cold? And so on. Today’s buyers must beware of an entirely new set of parameters when deciding where to live: too many hurricanes, or too little water? Is there an atmospheric river in the forecast, or a 20-year drought? Climate change is about to render large swathes of what has been the cradle of civilization uninhabitable, while other areas, previously covered in ice, are being prepped for cultivation. Let’s face it, compared to today’s buyers, Goldilocks had it easy!

Corals and other marine dwellers are already crushed by so many pressures that adding sunblock to the list is simply piling on. Yet thousands of tons of the stuff is piled onto coral reefs annually, and though some brands call themselves ‘coral safe’ and various governments are banning specific ingredients, the science of the sunscreen-coral relationship is by no means clear. There are, however, simple alternatives – hats, clothes, and umbrellas, for example – that humans, with our penchant for the new and modern, have largely abandoned.