Google Vet Wants To Turn Your Hot Water Heater Into A “Virtual Power Plant”
September 7th, 2023
Via Axios, a look at one company’s efforts to turn hot water heaters into ‘virtual power plants’: Rick Klau spent nine years as a partner with Google Ventures, before leaving in 2020 to become California’s chief technology innovation officer. Now he’s back in the private sector with a startup that wants to revolutionize the humble […]
Read more »One City’s Fight To Solve Its Sewage Problem With Sensors
September 7th, 2023
Via MIT Technology Review, an article on one city’s plans to make its aging sewers smarter: In the city of South Bend, Indiana, wastewater from people’s kitchens, sinks, washing machines, and toilets flows through 35 neighborhood sewer lines. On good days, just before each line ends, a vertical throttle pipe diverts the sewage into an […]
Read more »Urbanization, Climate Change, and The Need for Sponge Cities
September 6th, 2023
Via Monthly Review, commentary on urbanization, climate change, and the need for sponge cities: Introduction According to the United Nations Population Fund’s 2009 report, 2008 was the first time in history that over 50 percent of the world’s population resided in cities instead of rural areas. Because of the different ways countries define cities, others […]
Read more »Becoming a ‘Sponge City’ at Shenzhen Speed
September 6th, 2023
Via The Diplomat, a look at how Shenzhen is a prime example of China’s Sponge City Program, which aims to both prevent flooding and increase water supply in urban areas: In 2017, the city of Shenzhen, China invited foreign teachers like me to visit Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve, on the coast of Shenzhen Bay overlooking […]
Read more »Paris Aims To Expand Urban Cooling System That Uses Seine River Water
September 6th, 2023
Via Reuters, a report on Paris’ growing use of river water for urban cooling: The city of Paris plans to expand an urban cooling system that draws on water from the Seine river as it seeks to meet rising demand for air conditioning while curbing carbon emissions, its secretary general Raphaelle Nayral said. Europe’s largest […]
Read more »Making Cities More Absorbent: The Porous City Network
September 6th, 2023
Via Bloomberg, a look at efforts to make cities more absorbent: Kotchakorn Voraakhom is the founder and CEO of Landprocess, a landscape architecture company in Bangkok whose designs incorporate nature-inspired parks and gardens that absorb and direct rain. As flood-prone coastal nations such as her native Thailand peer into a much wetter future, Voraakhom says softer, more […]
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.