Botanical Gardens ‘Most Effective’ Green Space at Cooling Streets in Heatwaves
February 26th, 2024
Courtesy of The Guardian, an article on new research that suggests that botanical gardens are the ‘most effective’ green space at cooling streets in heatwaves: Few things are as soothing on a hot summer’s day as a walk through a beautiful botanical garden, but they are not just oases of calm. As climate breakdown fuels […]
Read more »Freetown The Treetown
February 25th, 2024
Via Re-TV, a short video on ‘Freetown the Treetown,’ an ambitious and innovative ‘pay to grow’ scheme that is incentivising residents to plant and maintain indigenous trees and mangroves in the city to help address urban heat and urban flooding: Using technology to monitor Freetown’s tree-planting initiative In the Global South, urbanisation is driving an […]
Read more »Extreme Heat Inflames Stark Gender Inequalities
February 23rd, 2024
Via the Arsht-Rock Resilience Center, a detailed look atthe impact of climate-driven extreme heat on women’s unpaid domestic labor, paid employment, and health in India, Nigeria, and the United States: Extreme heat affects us all, but it does not affect us equally. It’s becoming painfully clear that some are more exposed to its devastating impacts […]
Read more »Extreme Heat: Which Cities Will Be Ready for Summer 2024?
February 3rd, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, an article on measures cities are undertaking to be ready for summer 2024: Asking what Miami-Dade County’s chief heat officer does in the winter is like asking what Santa Claus does in the summer. Immediate extreme heat response might not be needed, but numerous plans and preparations are in the works […]
Read more »UK Heatwave Plan Urgently Needed to Save Lives, say MPs
February 3rd, 2024
Courtesy of The Guardian, an article on the urgent need for nature-based solutions such as parks and ponds as part of Britain’s heatwave adaptation plan: The UK urgently needs a plan to prevent thousands of heatwave deaths a year as the climate continues to warm, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned. More than 4,500 […]
Read more »Climate Resolve Launches ‘Shine On’ Initiative to Combat Climate Change Through Cool Surface Solutions
February 3rd, 2024
Via Informed Infrastructure, a report on a new initiative to help scale up the adoption of cool surfaces as an essential strategy for combating climate change: Climate Resolve, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization, has launched Shine On, a new initiative funded by the Grantham Foundation and ClimateWorks Foundation’s Clean Cooling Collaborative (CCC). This innovative program […]
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.