My investment management professor shared to class of this interesting thing called pollution futures. It turns out that in some places, there’s a limit on the amount of pollution you can spew into the air, water, and land. Companies can buy rights to certain amounts, but some may need to pollute more than projected and some may need more. What they do is to buy rights from those who don’t need it. In effect the right to pollute becomes a commodity which can be traded and speculated on. If that can be done with pollution, it can be done with just about anything. It’s almost like gambling where you can bet on anything, and in some ways it probably is. Aren’t financial markets great? :)