The Best Roofs to Keep London Cool in Summer May Not Be Green
July 16th, 2024
Via Bloomberg, a look at new research showing that white roofs are most effective at cooling the city down on the hottest summer days: Increasingly hot summer days in London have city dwellers seeking relief. And a new study shows the best bet might not be green roofs but white ones. Conventional wisdom has long held […]
Read more »We Built Our World For A Climate That No Longer Exists
July 13th, 2024
Via CNN, commentary on the growing tension between climate change and existing urban infrastructure: Earlier this week, the Third Avenue Bridge in Manhattan had to be shut down because the bridge – which pivots to allow ships to pass – wouldn’t close correctly. Why? Because it was so hot in New York City that day the […]
Read more »Rising Seas, Subsidence, and Our Crumbling Shores
July 10th, 2024
Via Earth Island, a report on rising seas, subsidence, and our crumbling shores: THIS SPRING, I found myself on a nature run in Junipero Serra Park, in San Bruno, a small town on the peninsula south of San Francisco. The park is a leafy-green oasis amid a crowded, affluent part of the Bay Area: shaded […]
Read more »Ancient Technology That Is Helping Millions Stay Cool
July 10th, 2024
Via Wired, an article on cheap low-energy evaporative cooling devices are keeping water, food, people, and even whole buildings cool across India. This summer, India has endured possibly its worst ever heatwave. The capital, Delhi, logged a record high of 52.9 degrees Celsius (127 degrees Fahrenheit) on May 29, while India’s northern states have baked at sustained […]
Read more »Climate Havens: Can Some Cities Provide A Refuge From Extreme Weather?
July 1st, 2024
Via BBC, a report on whether those cities which are advertising themselves as ‘climate havens’ actually protect residents from extreme weather: Over the past few years, the city of Buffalo, New York, has been all over the headlines. But instead of US media focusing only on the city’s occasional epic snowstorm, Buffalo is making news […]
Read more »Rising Sea Levels Will Disrupt Millions of Americans’ Lives by 2050
June 26th, 2024
Via The Guardian, an article on how floods could leave coastal communities in states like Florida and California unlivable in two decades: Sea level rise driven by global heating will disrupt the daily life of millions of Americans, as hundreds of homes, schools and government buildings face frequent and repeated flooding by 2050, a new study has found. Almost 1,100 […]
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.