The Tiny Solar Panel That Could Change America
June 14th, 2026
Courtesy of the New York Times, commentary on plug-in, balcony or garden solar: It’s not so easy to harvest the sunshine if you live in America. Homeowners can hire someone to install solar on their rooftops, but it can take many years for it to pay for itself. You might be able to buy a […]
Read more »No Shade, but Cities Aren’t Planting Enough Trees
June 7th, 2026
Via Grist, a look at how the solution to urban heat could be much, much simpler than many people think: Johnny Appleseed was ahead of his time. Not because he fed so many people by planting apple trees (really, he got them drunk instead, as his real goal was encouraging the production of cider), but because […]
Read more »Trees and Greenery Can Cool Cities by as Much as 18°C – but Only If It’s the Right Type
May 31st, 2026
Via The Conversation, a report on the potential for trees and greenery to cool cities: Cities around the world are planting more trees to cope with rising urban heat. But our research shows trees alone are often not enough. In some cases, the wrong kind of greening can even make streets feel less comfortable on a hot […]
Read more »Come for the Biking, Stay for the Otters
May 23rd, 2026
Via Bloomberg, a look at how – with tight budgets and political pushback – policymakers are pitching bike lanes that serve other green purposes like flood and habitat protection: Cardiff’s new cycle paths are designed to function as rain gardens, helping to prevent flooding and providing habitats for wildlife. The multi-purpose design of the bike […]
Read more »Taking On Water: Can Sponge Cities Save Us from the Coming Floods?
April 25th, 2026
Courtesy of The New Yorker, a look at how – as the planet gets warmer and the rains fall harder – the future of flood control is looking less like a wall and something more like a park: On October 29, 2025, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority released an update to its Climate Resilience Roadmap. In […]
Read more »Tennis Courts Serve Up An Unexpected Climate Solution
April 1st, 2026
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a look at how researchers have found that green clay tennis courts are able to absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide via enhanced rock weathering: It’s probably not what most tennis players are thinking about as they focus on the ball whizzing over the net towards them, but the court they are […]
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.