The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to issue new rules this week on how companies disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. This is part of a broader movement for more environmentally and socially conscious financial options, known as ESG investing. Today on the show, what the proposed climate disclosure rule says, why it's so controversial, and if it passes, what that'll mean for investors and the stock market.
Related episodes: The OG of ESGs (Apple / Spotify)
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Since humans began to adopt writing systems, they also created systems for passing along written messages.
For thousands of years, it would have been possible to get messages to distant parts of whatever empire or kingdom you happened to live in, provided you found the right courier and had enough money.
Today, the entire globe is integrated into a connected postal system, allowing physical messages to be sent between almost any two people.
Learn more about postal deliveries and how our modern system has ancient roots on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Lucy Sante says it was a smartphone app that ultimately pushed her to come out to herself — and the world — as trans in her mid 60s. In her new memoir, I Heard Her Call My Name, the writer and professor chronicles how using the gender swap function on FaceApp ultimately opened a brand new life to her. And she tells NPR's Don Gonyea that though there are a lot of complexities to having that kind of realization later in life, there are also a lot of positive outcomes.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
One estimate says 2.4 million people die in the U.S. each year, and burying them is expensive: a typical burial can cost about $10,000. That's a lot of money, caskets, and plots filling up cemeteries. But ... what if there was a cost-effective option to bury people, one that was good for the Earth and your pocket book? Today, we look at the prices and features of sustainable burials.
Early in today's episode, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly asks Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Steve Coll why he felt the need to write The Achilles Trap about the Iraq War amidst so many ongoing world conflicts. Coll explains that he hoped enough time had passed to try to answer a lingering question: Why did Saddam Hussein allow the world to believe he harbored weapons of mass destruction when he didn't? Coll's reporting – which includes Hussein's own audio recordings – unravels decades of tension and miscommunication between the U.S. and Iraq, which ultimately cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
In 1804, one of the most significant individuals of the 19th century placed a crown upon his head in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and declared himself Emperor of the French.
He went on to revolutionize France and French society, which profoundly affected all of Europe.
His influence was so great the era and the wars of the period were all named after him.
Learn more about Napoleon Bonaparte, his life, and his accomplishments on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Approximately 700 years ago, something happened to the Earth’s climate.
The world started to cool down. It wasn’t dramatic enough to cause another ice age and cause ice caps to cover the poles of the Earth, but it did result in significant changes.
In fact, many historians think for a period of about 500 years, this shift in the climate dramatically influenced human history.
Learn more about the Little Ice Age and how it changed humanity on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Several centuries ago, many places celebrated the start of the new year in March, not January.
March was originally the first month of the year, according to the Romans, which is why the Latin numbers for seven, eight, nine, and ten all appear in the months of September, October, November, and December.
That, however, is no longer the case. Now March is the third month and it means the end of the first fiscal quarter, the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, and of course questions and answers.
So join me today as I march into your questions on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
It's Indicators of the Week, our weekly look under the hood of the global economy! Today on the show: Tyler Perry halts his film studio expansion plans because of AI, Wendy's communications about a new pricing board goes haywire and a key inflation measure falls.
Related episodes: Listener Questions: the 30-year fixed mortgage, upgrade auctions, PCE inflation (Apple / Spotify) AI creates, transforms and destroys... jobs (Apple / Spotify) The secret entrance that sidesteps Hollywood picket lines (Apple / Spotify) The Birth And Death Of The Price Tag
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Some of the most important battles in history, the ones that changed the course of civilizations, are often very small battles.
In 1532, a battle, really just a skirmish, took place, which completely changed the future paths of Peru, Spain, and the entire continent of South America.
Despite the importance of this battle, few people have ever even heard of it.
Learn more about the Battle of Cajamarca and how it changed the shape of the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.