AC: Keeping Us Cool, But Heating Up the Planet
August 21st, 2024
Via China Water Risk, a look at the hidden costs of air conditioning: It’s not just us, lots of things need cooling – medicines, textiles, data centers etc.; Plus extreme weather & warming = more indoor-grown food & refrigeration facilities needed More Cooling = more power = more emissions = hotter climate; By 2050, cooling […]
Read more »Conserving & restoring waterways can mitigate extreme urban heat in Bangladesh
August 21st, 2024
Via Mongabay, a look at how conserving & restoring waterways can mitigate extreme urban heat in Bangladesh: Conserving existing wetlands and restoring urban waterways can be an effective way for urban planners to protect city residents from extreme heat. In Dhaka, as in other large cities, paved urban landscapes absorb heat and intensify the risk […]
Read more »The Mirror Roofs Cooling Homes In Freetown
August 18th, 2024
Via The Guardian, a look at initial results showing homes in Sierra Leone’s capital fitted with heat-reflective roofing sheets can be up to 6C cooler: Mohamed Koroma has lived in the Kroo Bay waterfront community in Freetown for more than 50 years but cannot remember a time when the weather has been as hot as […]
Read more »Parks for Tomorrow: Harnessing Nature To Cool Cities
August 17th, 2024
Via Harvard Magazine, a look at one landscape architects efforts to use nature to cool cities: In 2009, Bas Smets walked across an old industrial plaza in Arles, France. Entirely concrete, the space posed a problem. The area was being transformed into a large art complex, but in the intense summer sun, the ground reflected […]
Read more »A Trip to One of the Hottest Cities on the Planet
August 13th, 2024
Via The Atlantic, a look at one of the hottest cities on the planet, where almost no one has air-conditioning: One broiling Friday last month, I visited the emergency room of Mayo Hospital, the largest hospital in Pakistan. For more than 150 years, it has stood just outside the Old City of Lahore, not far from […]
Read more »Will Global Warming Turn L.A. Into San Bernardino? Map Models Climate Change In 60 Years
August 13th, 2024
Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times, a look at how climate change may impact California cities in the next 60 years: Imagine it’s a Saturday morning in Santa Monica in the year 2080. You brew your coffee, open your front door and breathe in the hot, dry air of … San Bernardino? That’s the potential […]
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.