Paris Wanted an AC-Free Olympics. Visiting Nations Had Other Plans.
June 6th, 2024
Via The Washington Post, an article on Paris’s sustainable geothermal cooling system: For all the steps Paris organizers have taken to put on the greenest Olympics ever, their boldest measure — the one they’ve touted again and again — pertains to the dorms in the Athletes’ Village. The rooms don’t have air-conditioning. Because of other cooling measures, […]
Read more »The Electric Vehicle of Cement Making
June 3rd, 2024
Via The Cool Down, an article on one company’s major strides with game-changing low-carbon cement: ‘the electric vehicle of cement making’ Construction is a dirty business, but some companies are working to help clean up its act. One such company is Sublime Systems, which recently announced, along with WS Development, the first commercial application of low-carbon Sublime Cement in One Boston Wharf […]
Read more »Your Building’s HVAC Is Slowly Killing Us
June 2nd, 2024
Via Medium, a look at how urban buildings could be polluting our cities just as much as traffic: Oh, summertime! Longer days, dining in patios, weekends by the pool, and… wait! A sore throat?! Again? Damnit, I have to work from the office today, and I missed my jacket at home. My knuckles are freezing, […]
Read more »New Research Shows How More Trees Could Cut ER Visits During Heatwaves
May 22nd, 2024
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a report on a team of heat experts known as Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative who calculated exactly how much of a difference low-tech solutions like trees and white paint could make in an overheating world: Talk of tackling climate change often seems to involve high-tech gadgets—electric cars, giant wind turbines, machines […]
Read more »Are Floating Cities the Solution to Rising Seas?
May 18th, 2024
Via The New York Times, a look at whether living on the water our future? Floating developments, including a project in progress in South Korea, suggest that it’s more than a pipe dream. Worldwide, rising sea levels and increasing urbanization represent a formula for disaster, with more and more people seeking to live on land […]
Read more »Tokyo: Leader In Urban Sustainability
May 18th, 2024
Courtesy of Illuminem, a look at Tokyo’s leadership in urban sustainability initiatives: Cities are increasingly expected to bear the onus of global sustainable development objectives. After all, 75% of global emissions and about 50% of global waste derive from cities. 56% of the world’s population live in cities, and by 2050 almost 70% of the world will live in cities. In this context, […]
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.