Barcelona Is Turning Subway Trains Into Power Stations
September 24th, 2024
Via Grist, an article on how Barcelona is using the regenerative braking of its subways to power trains, stations, and neighborhood EV chargers. Could New York do it too? Most of the passengers emerging from the station in Bellvitge, a working-class neighborhood outside Barcelona, have no idea just how innovative the city’s subway system is. […]
Read more »Colorful Paints Could Slash Heating and Cooling Energy Use
September 23rd, 2024
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a look at new paints that – by reflecting infrared heat – could could keep buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter without using energy: In parts of the world with hot, sunny climates, it is common to see houses painted white to reflect sunlight and stay cool during […]
Read more »Los Angeles Confronts Its Shady Divide
September 23rd, 2024
Courtesy of National Geographic, a look at how a lack of tree cover in low-income areas has left many residents especially vulnerable to rising heat. It’s a legacy of the city’s design—and its history of racist policies. Miguel Vargas vividly remembers when he first understood the power of shade. He was in middle school, sprinting up […]
Read more »Sponge Cities: The Flood-Proof Architecture Of The Future?
September 21st, 2024
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on how – as climate change puts more of the world at risk of flooding, landscape architects are looking beyond disaster response, to future-facing “sponge tactics”. The concept is epic, but a street-by-street approach is galvanizing local groups: Two years ago, floods devastated large swaths of Pakistan. Architect […]
Read more »Personal Cooling Device Overcomes AC’s Flaws
September 18th, 2024
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a look at a low-cost gadget that absorbs heat radiating from skin could be an energy-efficient, quiet way to keep cool with windows open for fresh air: In a world facing increasingly hot summers, cooling technologies can be life-savers. But cranking up air-conditioning only adds more planet-warming gases to the atmosphere. Researchers […]
Read more »Roots of Resilience: How Trees Can Help Fight Rising Heat In Arid Cities
September 14th, 2024
Via The Nature Conservancy, a report on new science that shows increasing greening programs in arid cities could reduce air temperatures near people’s homes by an average of 0.5 degrees C: As the world grapples with increasingly common and devastating heat waves, new science shows that nature-based solutions—like tree planting and water conservation—are important and […]
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.