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 »Schools That Never Needed AC Are Now Overheating. Fixes Will Cost Billions.
May 24th, 2024
Via The Washington Post, a report on the growing need for air conditioning as heat waves creep north, baking schools that previously did not need air conditioning: Nearly 40 percent of schools in the United States were built before the 1970s, when temperatures were cooler and fewer buildings needed air conditioning. That has changed. In […]
Read more »Extreme Heat In 2050: New Report Outlines Worrisome Future
May 23rd, 2024
Via the Los Angeles Times, an article on a new report examining the impact of extreme heat on disadvantaged communities by 2050: The next quarter of a century will bring considerable climate danger to millions of Americans living in disadvantaged communities, who will not only experience increased exposure to life-threatening extreme heat but also greater […]
Read more »New Research Shows How More Trees Could Cut ER Visits During Heatwaves
May 22nd, 2024
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a report on a team of heat experts known as Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative who calculated exactly how much of a difference low-tech solutions like trees and white paint could make in an overheating world: Talk of tackling climate change often seems to involve high-tech gadgets—electric cars, giant wind turbines, machines […]
Read more »How Cool Pavement, Heat Risk Data are Helping a Texas City Prep for Summer
May 20th, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a report on how cool pavement, heat risk data are helping a Texas city prep for summer: Dive Brief: To target its heat mitigation efforts, San Antonio plans to use the findings from heat-related research projects it launched last year and shared in a May 9 news release. The city partnered with the University […]
Read more »Are Floating Cities the Solution to Rising Seas?
May 18th, 2024
Via The New York Times, a look at whether living on the water our future? Floating developments, including a project in progress in South Korea, suggest that it’s more than a pipe dream. Worldwide, rising sea levels and increasing urbanization represent a formula for disaster, with more and more people seeking to live on land […]
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.