These Electric School Buses Are on Their Way to Save the Grid
May 17th, 2024
Via Wired, a report on a new kind of magic school bus—one that can both charge and give power back: The big yellow school bus is a US icon, but perhaps not one that future Americans will remember fondly. Chugging through neighborhoods, idling in front of kids’ houses, the vehicles spew both noise and fossil-fuel […]
Read more »Radical Adaptation: Transforming Cities for a Climate Changed World
May 7th, 2024
Via Noema, commentary on society’s tendency to keep rebuilding (and subsidizing) areas that are all but certain to flood again, to burn again, to fall into the ocean? It’s time to rethink climate adaptation, with retreat as the first step: In the months after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans proposed a flood control program unlike any […]
Read more »The One Thing That’s Holding Back the Heat Pump
May 6th, 2024
Via Wired, a look at the impact of a shortage of trained workers to install heat pumps for full-tilt decarbonization: If billionaires actually cared about saving the planet, they’d pool their vast wealth and buy everyone a heat pump. Instead of burning planet-warming fossil fuels, these appliances extract warmth from even freezing outdoor air and transfer […]
Read more »Getting Cooling Right
May 5th, 2024
Via the IKEA Foundation, commentary on the importance of finding solutions to the coming heat crisis which can be summarized by three (3) important numbers: 1?? There will be three billion more air conditioners in use around the world by 2050; 2?? Over a billion people today don’t have access to the cooling that they need […]
Read more »Massive Water Savings From Modern Building Standards
May 4th, 2024
Via the Arizona Capitol Times, a report on the water savings benefits through the implementation of modern building standards: Over the next 50 years, nearly half of America’s freshwater basins may not be able to meet the monthly water demand, with shortages anticipated in the central and southern Great Plains, the Southwest, and central Rocky […]
Read more »Results of Los Angeles’ Cool Pavement Experiment
April 26th, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a report on the results of a recent cool pavement experience in Los Angeles in which the covered neighborhood saw cooling benefits, but some researchers contend shade is king when it comes to protecting people from heat: Reflective pavement coating helped cool down one of Los Angeles’ hottest neighborhoods over a year-long […]
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.