Systemic Cooling Poverty: A New Facet of Deprivation Emerging In A Warming World
October 11th, 2023
Via Phys.org, a new study underscoring the rising “cooling gap” and an increase in cooling poverty, highlighting growing equity issues arising as the climate warms. The study showed that “The poorest and most disadvantaged people, who contributed the least to global warming, are the ones bearing the most severe consequences of extreme heat because of […]
Read more »Singapore Is Fighting Rising Seas to Save $50 Billion in Real Estate
October 11th, 2023
Via Bloomberg, a look at Singapore’s efforts to prepare for – and battle – rising seas: During a half-century of independence, Singapore has fought to expand its territory, inch by hard-won inch. On the tip of the Malaysian peninsula, the island city-state piled up sand to expand its coastline and reclaim land from the sea. […]
Read more »These Places Could Become ‘Unlivable’ As Earth Warms
October 11th, 2023
Courtesy of The Washington Post, an article on the hottest parts of the world where high temperatures and humidity will, for longer stretches, surpass a threshold that even young and healthy people could struggle to survive as the planet warms: Heat waves can already be deadly for the most vulnerable people — but in a […]
Read more »Come Hell or High Water: Building Community Resilience to Floods, Droughts and Water Contamination
October 11th, 2023
Courtesy of ImpactAlpha, a look at building community resilience to floods, droughts and water contamination: Water — too little, too much or too dirty — isn’t simply emerging as a climate consideration. It’s forcing its way into the conversation. Water professionals say it’s high time. “This is water’s moment,” Radhika Fox, the Environmental Protection Agency’s […]
Read more »Boston Skyscraper Named World’s Biggest ‘Passive House’ Office
October 11th, 2023
Via Canary Media, an article on a Boston building, which will use far less energy than a conventional design, as the latest example of the efficiency standard’s growing popularity: A new Boston skyscraper has a climate-friendly claim to fame. Last week, it became the largest office space in the world certified to the extremely energy-efficient ?“Passive House” […]
Read more »Vermont Utility Plans to End Outages by Giving Customers Batteries
October 10th, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on one utility’s plans to buy batteries it will install at customers’ homes instead of putting up more power lines: Many electric utilities are putting up lots of new power lines as they rely more on renewable energy and try to make grids more resilient in bad weather. […]
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.