$830 Million To Fix Broken U.S. Infrastructure
April 16th, 2024
Courtesy of Wired, a discussion withUS transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg about recent grants to fix ancient roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure before it’s too late: There’s one word that will get any American fuming, regardless of their political inclination: infrastructure. Pothole-pocked roads, creaky bridges, and half-baked public transportation bind us nationally like little else […]
Read more »How To Stop A State From Sinking
April 15th, 2024
Via MIT Technology Review, a look at how Louisiana’s southwestern coastline faces some of the most severe climate predictions in the US. Can a government-led project build the area up and out of crisis? Many of the mobile homes, Creole cottages, and other dwellings that have been flagged for flood risk along Louisiana’s low-lying coastline […]
Read more »Adaptation: World’s Unheralded Tool to Deal With Climate Change
April 14th, 2024
Via Bloomberg, a report on adaptation: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a cut-and-dry way to stop climate change. But how the world responds to the impacts already taking place is a whole other can of worms — a large can, and one that can seem incomprehensible. Dubbed climate adaptation, the field doesn’t rely on a […]
Read more »Homeowners Face $25T Bill from Climate Change
April 14th, 2024
Via The Economist, a report on the risk that climate change poses to property owners: The residents of northern Italy had never seen anything like the thunderstorm that mauled their region last summer. Hailstones as big as 19cm across pummelled Milan, Parma, Turin and Venice. Windows were broken, solar panels smashed, tiles cracked and cars dented. […]
Read more »Why Heat Pumps Are the Future, and How Your Home Could Use One
April 14th, 2024
Via the New York Times, a report on heat pumps, highly efficient devices considered by many to be powerful tools in combating climate change: Heat pumps, which both warm and cool buildings and are powered by electricity, have been touted as the answer to curbing greenhouse gas emissions produced by homes, businesses and office buildings, […]
Read more »Toronto Wants to Manage Storms and Floods—With a Rain Tax
April 14th, 2024
Via Canada’s National Observer, an article on the outcry in Toronto that reached such a crescendo last week that the city canceled public hearings on the tax, which is intended to help offset the hundreds of millions spent managing stormwater and basement flooding: A plan to charge Toronto homeowners and businesses for paved surfaces on […]
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.