Urban Heat Stress Is Another Disparity in the World’s Most Unequal Nation
October 11th, 2024
Via Bloomberg, a look at how South African shantytowns are far hotter than wealthy city suburbs: Noluthando Geja isn’t looking forward to summer. The unemployed 44-year-old dreads the fast-approaching hottest months of the year, when the blistering sun beats down on the steel-sheet roof of the two-room house she shares with three children in Itireleng, […]
Read more »Too Hot By Day, Dubai’s Floodlit Beaches Are Packed At Night
October 6th, 2024
Via Al Monitor, a report on one way in which Dubai is adapting to extreme heat: Roasted by summer temperatures too hot for the beach, Dubai has turned to an innovative solution: opening them at night, complete with floodlights and lifeguards carrying night-vision binoculars. The idea, in one of the world’s hottest regions, with temperatures […]
Read more »How To Build An AC That Will Get The World Through Hotter Summers
October 6th, 2024
Via The Washington Post, a look at how – in order to combat stickier weather – air conditioners need to go from cooling machines to humidity gulpers: In this tropical city, where humidity levels oscillate between muggy and oppressive for most of the year, Santosh Naykar’s only defense against the stickiness is a 14-year-old window […]
Read more »The People Fleeing Climate Disasters Are Going to Transform the American South
October 6th, 2024
Via the New York Times, a look at how people will move to avoid future climate disasters: When Hurricane Helene, the 420-mile-wide, slow-spinning conveyor belt of wind and water drowned part of Florida’s coastline and then barged its path northward through North Carolina last week, it destroyed more than homes and bridges. It shook people’s […]
Read more »Air Conditioning: A Moral Imperative
October 5th, 2024
Via The Washington Post, commentary on how – despite its contribution to climate change – the demand for AC will soar and must be met: Air conditioning transformed the world. Cities such as Singapore and Dubai would not have risen without it. In the United States, artificial cooling enabled the blockbuster growth of the Sun Belt. All over […]
Read more »Climate Migration Is Here. The U.S. Must Invest Accordingly
September 30th, 2024
Via The Washington Post, commentary on the need for the U.S. to realistically assess which geographies are becoming unlivable and which are well suited to larger population settlement. It should then offer incentives for migration toward the latter and away from the former — and direct infrastructure spending accordingly. This week, parts of the Pacific […]
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.