Reforesting the Elm City
April 21st, 2025
Via Yale Alumni Magazine, a report on the Urban Resources Initiative is planting thousands of trees to make New Haven a cooler city: At first, planting street trees in New Haven was nothing more than a job for William “The Muscle” Tisdale. “I never paid too much attention to trees,” he says. He appreciated steady work […]
Read more »In 15 Years, 80,000 Homes in the New York Area May Be Lost to Flooding
April 7th, 2025
Via the New York Times, a report on how – by 2040 – dozens of neighborhoods and suburbs are likely to have lost thousands of homes to floods: More than 80,000 homes on Staten Island, in southeast Queens and in the suburbs east of New York City could be lost to floods over the next […]
Read more »How Do You Stop A Megacity From Going Under Water?
April 1st, 2025
Via BBC, a report on Bangkok, a megacity going under water: Bangkok is a mega city of more than 10 million people, the economic powerhouse of Southeast Asia and one of the world’s most visited cities. Billions of dollars worth of new luxury real estate is planned as huge skyscrapers pierce the sky and become […]
Read more »The History of Heat Waves Reveals the Urgency of Adaptation
March 21st, 2025
Via Harvard’s Salata Institute, a report on the relationship between humans and heat continues to change. Heat waves, once simply a natural phenomenon, are now a symptom of urbanization and global warming. As the equinox approaches and the sun rises higher in the sky, people throughout the northern hemisphere wonder: How hot will it get? […]
Read more »Flood and Drought Risk Increasing In Cities
March 18th, 2025
Via BBC, a look at the growing water-related risks facing cities: The world’s 100 most populated cities are becoming increasingly exposed to flooding and drought, according to new research. Charity WaterAid worked with the University of Bristol and Cardiff University on a study using data on climate hazards. The research found that 17% of the […]
Read more »Why Sizzling Cities Are Mapping Hot Spots Street-By-Street
March 6th, 2025
Via Knowable, a report on how – in metros like Reno, Nevada – citizen scientists hit the road to collect detailed temperature data — key to taming urban heat, saving lives and designing for a cooler future: The city of Reno, Nevada, is breaking records in ways it doesn’t like: A 2024 analysis of 241 […]
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.