Head Above the Water: Today’s Blueprints for Building Tomorrow’s Floating Cities
August 15th, 2024
Via Architizer, an article on structural and environmental techniques that prove floating structures are a real possibility in our world of rising sea levels, and not just a vision from a sci-fi future: With an estimated 2.5 billion people living within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of a coastline, rising sea levels pose a significant risk […]
Read more »Turning Cities Into ‘Sponges’ Could Help Fight Flooding
August 14th, 2024
Via CNN.com, a report on the growing ‘sponge city’ movement: Most architects look to control nature; Kongjian Yu wants it to take over. Intense storms are on the rise and cities across the world are finding it difficult to cope with deluges of floodwater. But instead of using high-tech, concrete-based engineering solutions to defend against […]
Read more »Transforming Community Centers and Churches Into Energy-Resilient Hubs
August 13th, 2024
Via BBC, a report on how one city’s efforts to build a network of solar and storage resilience hubs: As Tropical Storm Debby drenches the south-eastern US causing widespread power outages, a solution developed in New Orleans could offer an essential lifeline when the lights go out. On a Sunday in the Broadmoor neighbourhood of […]
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 »California: Home To Millions of Urban Trees That Can Be Repurposed When They Die
August 13th, 2024
Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times, a report on the reuse of dead urban trees: To stop California’s 6 million urban trees from knocking out power lines, crashing through houses, or lying across streets when they die, humans have to intervene. This week, a handful of arborists and Conservation Corps of Long Beach members gathered at a scrappy plot […]
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.