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 »Los Angeles Just Proved How Spongy a City Can Be
February 20th, 2024
Via Wired, a look at how – as relentless rains pounded LA – the city’s “sponge” infrastructure helped gather 8.6 billion gallons of water—enough to sustain over 100,000 households for a year: Earlier this month, the future fell on Los Angeles. A long band of moisture in the sky, known as an atmospheric river, dumped 9 […]
Read more »Underwater: Exploring the Map of the World in 2100
February 15th, 2024
Courtesy of Hasan Jasim, an interesting set of maps that anticipates – and graphically shows – the impact of sea level rise in decades ahead: Alright, not of the entire world, but a large part of it. In this alarming future scenario drawn up by Jay Simons, the sea level has risen drastically and is […]
Read more »The Unloved L.A. River Just Prevented A Flood Disaster. Can More Of Its Water Be Saved?
February 14th, 2024
Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times, a look at the Los Angeles River and possibilities for more stormwater capture: As intense atmospheric rivers become more common in a warming world, so too do questions about stormwater capture in Los Angeles. Each year, when rain pours down and the L.A. River roars back to life, Angelenos want […]
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.