Archive for October, 2026

No Shade: An Old Solution to Heat Is New Again
October 8th, 2026

Via the Los Angeles Times’ Boiling Point series, a look at role that shade may play in urban heat adaptation: A bicyclist makes his way through the Hoover Recreation Center in Los Angeles, where the playground is draped with canopies for shade, on Oct. 7, 2026. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) It didn’t look […]

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Posted in Extreme Heat, Green Design, Resilient Infrastructure | Comments Off on No Shade: An Old Solution to Heat Is New Again

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.

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