Creating ‘Sponge Cities’ Needn’t Cost Billions
August 14th, 2023
Via The Conversation, an article on the urgent need for sponge cities in New Zealand: Tune into news from about any part of the planet, and there will likely be a headline about extreme weather. While these stories will be specific to the location, they all tend to include the amplifying effects of climate change. […]
Read more »America’s Hottest City Is Nearly Unlivable in Summer. Can Cooling Technologies Save It?
August 13th, 2023
Via The Guardian, a look at how Phoenix’s new ‘heat tsar’ is betting on less asphalt, more green canopy and reflective surfaces to cool the sprawling heat island: A surge in heat-related deaths amid record-breaking summer temperatures offers a “glimpse into the future” and a stark warning that one of America’s largest cities is already […]
Read more »RainReady: Helping Communities Find Solutions to The Problem of Urban Flooding
August 12th, 2023
The RainReady program in Chicago aims to enlist residents in creating green infrastructure like permeable pavement and rain gardens that can reduce flooding in hard-hit neighborhoods, including by revamping vacant lots. The RainReady program has two facets that are inadequate in many other local-level flood mitigation efforts: community leadership and serious funding.
Read more »A Tree Grows in Birmingham
August 12th, 2023
Via Inside Climate News, a report on how one Southern community aims to plant its way into the Alabama shade: Sometimes Thomasine Jackson can’t get to work. Jackson, 65, said if there’s been a hard rain, water covers her entire street, leaving her no choice but to call her supervisor at Drummond Coal and tell […]
Read more »On the Highway to Climate Hell
August 11th, 2023
Via Foreign Policy, a look at how the world’s infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists: Countries have spent decades building critical infrastructure that is now buckling under extreme heat, wildfires, and floods, laying bare just how unprepared the world’s energy and transportation systems are to withstand the volatility of climate change. […]
Read more »How to Upgrade and Electrify Millions of US Homes and Buildings
August 11th, 2023
Via RMI, a look at three ways that states can scale the impact of the IRA’s historic $8.5 billion home energy rebates investment: The White House and Department of Energy (DOE) recently laid the foundation for two monumental home energy upgrade initiatives: the Home Efficiency Rebates program, which offers up to $8,000 to households, and the Home […]
Read more »'Black Swans' are highly improbable events that come as a surprise, have major disruptive effects, and that are often rationalized after the fact as if they had been predictable to begin with. In our rapidly warming world, such events are occurring ever more frequently and include wildfires, floods, extreme heat, and drought.
'Green Shoots' is a term used to describe signs of economic recovery or positive data during a downturn. It references a period of growth and recovery, when plants start to show signs of health and life, and, therefore, has been employed as a metaphor for a recovering economy.
It is my hope that Black Swans / Green Shoots will help readers understand both climate-activated risk and opportunity so that you may invest in, advise, or lead organizations in the context of increasing pressures of global urbanization, resource scarcity, and perils relating to climate change. I believe that the tools of business and finance can help individuals, businesses, and global society make informed choices about who and what to protect, and I hope that this blog provides some insight into the policy and private sector tools used to assess investments in resilient reinforcement, response, or recovery.