How Can Buildings Beat the Heat in a Desert City? Blend Ancient and Modern.
December 10th, 2023
Via the New York Times, a report on how more architects in the United Arab Emirates, the host of this year’s U.N. climate summit, are moving past glass skyscrapers and focusing on sustainability: Dubai is full of futuristic, glazed skyscrapers. That’s problematic, from a sustainability perspective, in a city where temperatures regularly climb past 100 […]
Read more »‘A Matter of Survival’: India’s Unstoppable Need for Air Conditioners
December 10th, 2023
Courtesy of The Guardian, an article on India’s growing need for air conditioners: For Muskan, the arrival of summer in Delhi is the “beginning of hell”. As temperatures in her cramped, densely populated east Delhi neighbourhood often soar above 45C (113F), she dreams of only one thing: air conditioning. During the day, in the tiny, […]
Read more »From Tree Planting to ‘Sponge Cities’: Why Nature-Based Solutions Are Crucial to Fighting the Climate Crisis
December 7th, 2023
Courtesy of The Guardian, a look at the role that nature-based solutions can play in fighting the climate crisis: The natural world underpins human civilisation on every corner of the planet. From oceans to rainforests, grasslands to mangrove swamps, ecosystems feed billions of humans, produce clean water and provide materials for shelter. As the planet […]
Read more »Wireless EV Charging: The Dream of Charging Your Car As You Drive
December 5th, 2023
Via Heat Map, a report on an upcoming test of wireless EV charging: One block of Detroit’s hip Corktown neighborhood is now the home to the nation’s first inductive charging roadway, allowing specially-equipped vehicles to charge while on the move. The electric road system is being deployed two years after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the […]
Read more »Cooling the Capital: How Athens is Designing a Cooler Future
December 5th, 2023
Via Arsht-Rockefeller Center, a look at how Athens is designing a cooler future: Amid rising temperatures, Athens, Greece has taken bold steps to combat extreme heat. The city’s Chief Heat Officers have worked to raise awareness, increase preparedness, and redesign the city for a cooler, safer future. Even before the summer of 2023—when Greece faced […]
Read more »An Old-School Building Material Could Take Over City Skylines
December 5th, 2023
Via The Washington Post, a report on how architects are in a proof-of-concept race to construct sustainable wood high-rises: It is right to say that the construction of one of the tallest timber buildings in the world — the Sara Cultural Center here — began when a pine seedling was planted in a nearby commercial […]
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.