No City Is an Island: Urban Water Security, Infrastructure, and Resilience
June 5th, 2024
Cities are thirsty places: by their very nature, ctheyconcentrate the water needs of large populations into small areas. Yet increasing water needs and escalating environmental pressures are imposing mounting strains on urban water systems and infrastructure. Since the start of the 21st century, more than 80 large metropolitan areas around the globe have already experienced […]
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 »EVs Will Power Buildings In Colorado City’s Transformative Pilot
May 31st, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a report on an innovative pilot project which will inform how vehicle-to-everything charging technology can be used in areas at high risk of prolonged outages due to natural disaster or emergency events: Xcel Energy and Fermata Energy — working with the city of Boulder, the nonprofit Colorado CarShare and Boulder Housing Partners […]
Read more »Hot Idea: Meet The Swedish Firm Trying To Shake Up Heat Pumps
May 27th, 2024
Via The Economist, a look at one company’s view on a big opportunity with an old technology: Heat pumps, a type of reverse-refrigerator used for warming homes, are not the type of tech that gets most investors hot and bothered. They were, after all, invented in 1856. Harald Mix and Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, two Swedish financiers, […]
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 »'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.