Heat-Proofing India
October 3rd, 2023
Via Science.org, a report on how cities in India are testing measures that could help urban populations worldwide cope with rising temperatures: In Lal Matti, an informal settlement of tin-roofed homes in this coastal city, summer can be unbearable. Before the monsoon rains arrive, temperatures can top 37°C, with humidity at a sweltering 95%. The […]
Read more »How to Cool Down a City
September 22nd, 2023
Courtesy of the New York Times, an article looking at Singapore’s efforts to tackle urban heat: Singapore is rethinking its sweltering urban areas to dampen the effects of climate change. Can it be a model? Singapore’s prime minister has described climate change as “life and death.” He has reason to worry: Stifling temperatures and humidity […]
Read more »Which Cities Will Still Be Livable In A World Altered By Climate Change?
September 22nd, 2023
Courtesy of National Geographic, an article on how northern U.S. communities may not be completely immune to a warming world, but they are well-placed to meet the needs of an influx of climate migrants: Before September 2017, Dianiz Roman and Wilfredo Gonzalez had never given a moment’s thought to leaving Aguadilla, the couple’s hometown in […]
Read more »Heat Action Platform
September 19th, 2023
Useful to see Arsht-Rock’s newly launched Heat Action Platform which people can use to assess their city’s heat resilience and find the solutions that work for their community. Reflecting input from cities, community-serving organizations, extreme heat risk and resilience experts, the platform has nine heat resilience modules filled with the data-informed and tested solutions, materials, […]
Read more »In Miami, It’s No Coincidence Marginalized Neighborhoods Are Hotter
September 18th, 2023
Via Inside Climate News, a report on new research that suggests the problem traces to a historical federal program that was turned against those who needed it most, through a practice known as redlining. On another hot September day here, Bereatha Howard sat sipping water in the dappled shade of a leafy tree. The high […]
Read more »Outfitting School Buildings For Extreme Heat ‘Not That Hard,’ Says Expert
September 14th, 2023
Via Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, commentary on the need to retrofit schools for extreme heat: Near-triple-digit temperatures during the first week of the new school year led some districts in the U.S. to ether close or dismiss students early. According to healthy buildings expert Joseph Allen, the extreme heat was “entirely predictable”—and fixing the […]
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.