New Solution for Flood-Prone Cities: Concrete Made From Shellfish Waste
August 29th, 2024 Via Grist, a report on a new type of concrete that uses discarded shells to trap water. It’s now combating floods and food waste in urban gardens and along cycling paths. This time of year, [...]
Resilient Urban Forests: How Tipuana Trees Could Revolutionize City Planning
August 29th, 2024 Via Energy & Environment Leader, a look at how cities could utilize a specific tree species to revolutionize urban planning in an era of climate change: As cities across the globe grapple with [...]
Learning To Live With 50C Temperatures
August 28th, 2024 Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on how – from Dubai to Mumbai – cities are having to adapt to hotter summers, often exacerbating economic inequality in the process: Sitting [...]
Hot Stuff: Cool Technologies That Can Protect Cities From Dangerous Heat
August 28th, 2024 Via Nature, a report on new technologies – from supercool materials that send heat into space to shape-shifting materials that can selectively fend it off – that can help to reduce urban [...]
How To Make Climate Risk Good Business
August 28th, 2024 An interesting TEDx talk examining h0w – by leveraging massive data stores that can be parsed and used predictively in the same way investors rely on these insights for stocks and interest [...]
Coating Clothes With This Material Could Cool Your Body By Up To 8 Degrees
August 26th, 2024 Via CNN, an article on a new coating which can be added to fabric to help reduce temperatures underneath clothing: Spending time outside during a heat wave can be sweaty, uncomfortable, even [...]

ABOUT
BLACK SWANS GREEN SHOOTS
Black Swans / Green Shoots examines the collision between urbanization and resource scarcity in a world affected by climate change, identifying opportunities to build sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure through the use of revolutionary capital, increased awareness, innovative technologies, and smart design to make a difference in the face of global and local climate perils.

'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.