Extreme Heat Driving Innovation In Municipal Heat Resilience
June 17th, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a report on how extreme heat is driving innovation in municipal heat resilience: As 2024 sets record highs for early summertime temperatures, city leaders once again find themselves at the frontline, grappling with the impacts of extreme heat on their communities. Historically, local governments have been behind the curve in implementing comprehensive strategies […]
Read more »How to Cool Down Parks in Hot Cities
June 17th, 2024
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a look at how researchers at Princeton University are devising ways to transform green spaces into outdoor cooling centers: The drive to be outside, even in hot weather, is hard to overcome. People without air conditioning would be more likely to seek relief at their local park, according to Elie Bou-Zeid, a […]
Read more »‘We need to make old buildings cooler’, says Bangladesh’s Chief Heat Officer
June 14th, 2024
Via Dialogue Earth, an article on efforts in Bangladesh to make old buildings cooler: In May 2023, Bangladeshi social welfare executive Bushra Afreen was appointed north Dhaka’s ‘chief heat officer’ as part of a programme by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center that builds resilience in the face of climate impacts. Afreen is one of the […]
Read more »Researchers Are Reinventing Glass For A Warmer World
June 13th, 2024
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a look at how scientists have devised a window coating that looks like frosted glass but is brighter, provides cooling to reduce reliance on air-conditioning, and does not require cleaning: Glass walls are great for letting in natural light and brightening up living rooms and offices. But they are not the best […]
Read more »Chief Heat Officers Are Developing a Global Playbook for Deadly Temperatures
June 5th, 2024
Via Bloomberg, a report on how Chief Heat Officers in five (5) cities worldwide are developing solutions to keep people cool: Cities are on the frontlines of unrelenting high temperatures that are shattering records in 2024. In recent months, heat waves have forced school closures from Delhi to Manila. In Thailand, more people have already died from heat this year than […]
Read more »How a Heat Wave Could Become a Catastrophe
June 3rd, 2024
Courtesy of the New York Times, commentary on how a heat wave could become a catastrophe: On a recent Thursday evening, a freakish windstorm called a derecho (Spanish for “straight ahead”) hit Houston, a city of more than two million people that also happens to be the epicenter of the fossil fuel industry in America. […]
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.