Protecting Coasts Without Cooking The Planet
January 7th, 2026
Via the Salata Institute, an interesting look at how low-carbon, low-cost coastal resilience is possible if designers, builders, and policymakers work together: In the 2010s, when New York City decided to fortify the East River Promenade in the Lower East Side, it turned to a typical solution: emissions-intensive concrete and steel. Around the same time, […]
Read more »EVs Aren’t Just Cars Anymore. They Can Power Your Home Slashing Emissions — and Bills.
December 24th, 2025
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a report on a first-of-its-kind national study finds that vehicle-to-home charging can turn electric cars into grid-smart assets, reducing both energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions: Tapping into electric vehicle (EV) batteries as a source of household power could save car owners thousands of dollars and slash carbon dioxide emissions, according to […]
Read more »India’s Buildings Could Be a Big Part of Its Climate Solution
December 8th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, an interesting look at how integrating solar directly into India’s buildings could turn homes and offices into decentralized power plants and cut emissions right where they begin: By 2060, the total floor area of buildings worldwide is expected to double. Most of the expansion will take place in emerging economies in Asia, Africa, […]
Read more »Concrete Could Turn Your House Into A Battery
November 19th, 2025
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a look at how the amount of concrete that goes into an average American home’s basement wall could hold enough energy to meet the daily needs of the household: After water, concrete is the most-used material in the world. And now, researchers have given this ubiquitous building material super powers. A Massachusetts […]
Read more »How Cities Can Combat Extreme Heat Using Nature-Based Solutions
November 17th, 2025
Via Development Asia, a look at how cities can combat extreme heat using nature-based solutions: Extreme heat is an invisible but increasingly tangible climate risk. It varies by time and place and has wide-reaching but unequal impacts, particularly to women and vulnerable people. As global temperatures rise, extreme heat events (heat waves) are becoming more […]
Read more »Photoluminescent Radiative Cooling for Aesthetic and Urban Comfort
October 26th, 2025
Via Nature, a new article examining the potential of passive radiative cooling to reduce carbon emissions in space cooling by simultaneously reflecting sunlight and emitting thermal radiation: Passive radiative cooling offers a sustainable solution to reduce carbon emissions in space cooling by simultaneously reflecting sunlight and emitting thermal radiation. However, the super-white property of conventional […]
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.