The Dead Zone: What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
December 9th, 2025
Via The Atlantic, a look at how many places in the U.S. may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own. Earlier this year, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, a graveyard was spared by the fire that sent thousands of Los Angeles residents fleeing into the coal-black night. Here, in Mountain […]
Read more »Drought is Quietly Pushing American Cities Toward a Fiscal Cliff
November 3rd, 2025
Via Grist, a look at how drought is set to pose a greater risk to the $4 trillion municipal bond market than floods, hurricanes, and wildfires combined: The city of Clyde sits about two hours west of Fort Worth on the plains of north Texas. It gets its water from a lake by the same […]
Read more »The Wealthy California Town That Can’t Get Rid of Water Fast Enough
May 15th, 2025
Via SFGate, a report on a city slipping into the ocean: Every day, Rancho Palos Verdes inches closer to destruction. The beleaguered Southern California city, which is southwest of downtown Los Angeles and hugs the waterline between Redondo Beach and San Pedro, is quite literally sliding into the ocean, sometimes at a rate of 4 inches per week. […]
Read more »Flood and Drought Risk Increasing In Cities
March 18th, 2025
Via BBC, a look at the growing water-related risks facing cities: The world’s 100 most populated cities are becoming increasingly exposed to flooding and drought, according to new research. Charity WaterAid worked with the University of Bristol and Cardiff University on a study using data on climate hazards. The research found that 17% of the […]
Read more »El Paso Is Going to Turn Wastewater Into Drinking Water. Other Cities Will Soon Follow
March 3rd, 2025
Via Inside Climate News, a report on El Paso breaking ground on the first U.S. facility that will treat wastewater for direct re-use in a city water supply, using a four-step process to transform wastewater into clean, potable drinking water. This desert city gets less than nine inches of rain a year and experienced the two […]
Read more »How 1.4B Indians Are Adapting To Climate Change
January 6th, 2025
Via The Economist, a look at how Indians are adapting to climate change: The flood waters were rising and Sukanya Ashin realised she had to get out of her house. Her husband tried to open the back door, but it was blocked by shifting mud. So they wrapped their two-year-old in a blanket and waded through […]
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.