Archive for July, 2026

Cooling Murals to Reduce Surface Temperature
July 13th, 2026

Now this is a cool project! Students and volunteers from the Yale and New Haven communities recently painted a “cooling mural” on the basketball court at Kimberly Field in the city’s Hill neighborhood. Using a highly reflective paint, the mural reduces surface temperatures and offers some relief on steamy summer days. Enjoy the aerial footage! Led […]

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Posted in Extreme Heat, Green Design | Comments Off on Cooling Murals to Reduce Surface Temperature

A Home Battery Revolution Is Reshaping the Power Grid
July 2nd, 2026

Via Yale Environment 360, a look at how – as residential batteries have become more energy dense, cheaper, and smaller – more households are storing their excess solar power. Now, utilities and energy companies in dozens of countries are buying up those electrons, bundling them together, and using them to balance the grid: Home and […]

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Posted in Resilient Infrastructure | Comments Off on A Home Battery Revolution Is Reshaping the Power Grid

ABOUT
BLACK SWANS GREEN SHOOTS
Black Swans / Green Shoots examines the collision between urbanization and resource scarcity in a world affected by climate change, identifying opportunities to build sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure through the use of revolutionary capital, increased awareness, innovative technologies, and smart design to make a difference in the face of global and local climate perils.

'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.