Balcony Solar Took Off in Germany. Why Not the US?
April 25th, 2025
Via Grist, commentary on how – from breaker-masking to voltage mismatches – America’s grid isn’t ready for balcony solar — yet: Raymond Ward wants to see solar panels draped over every balcony in the United States and doesn’t understand why that isn’t happening. The technology couldn’t be easier to use — simply hang one or […]
Read more »Reforesting the Elm City
April 21st, 2025
Via Yale Alumni Magazine, a report on the Urban Resources Initiative is planting thousands of trees to make New Haven a cooler city: At first, planting street trees in New Haven was nothing more than a job for William “The Muscle” Tisdale. “I never paid too much attention to trees,” he says. He appreciated steady work […]
Read more »Boston Installing Curbside EV Chargers in Neighborhoods, Property Owners Make Profit
April 3rd, 2025
Via CBS News, a look at an innovative effort in Boston to install curbside EV chargers in neighborhoods, and allow property owners to profit: One of the biggest challenges for electric vehicle owners in Boston is finding convenient and accessible charging stations. However, the city is taking strides to solve the issue by installing curbside […]
Read more »How Do You Stop A Megacity From Going Under Water?
April 1st, 2025
Via BBC, a report on Bangkok, a megacity going under water: Bangkok is a mega city of more than 10 million people, the economic powerhouse of Southeast Asia and one of the world’s most visited cities. Billions of dollars worth of new luxury real estate is planned as huge skyscrapers pierce the sky and become […]
Read more »This Muggy City Keeps Cool with Minimal AC. Here’s How.
March 26th, 2025
Via The Washington Post, an article on India’s Palava City, a 5,000-acre experimental community northeast of Mumbai, which hopes to provide a model for adapting to a climate-transformed world: The wind ruffled Aun Abdullah’s hair as he strolled along a path paved through lush grasses circled by apartments more than 20 stories high. Large gaps […]
Read more »El Paso Is Going to Turn Wastewater Into Drinking Water. Other Cities Will Soon Follow
March 3rd, 2025
Via Inside Climate News, a report on El Paso breaking ground on the first U.S. facility that will treat wastewater for direct re-use in a city water supply, using a four-step process to transform wastewater into clean, potable drinking water. This desert city gets less than nine inches of rain a year and experienced the two […]
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.