Surviving the Phoenix Heat
August 20th, 2023
Via The New Yorker, a report on how researchers at Arizona State University are bringing relief to the residents who need it most: For thirty-one days in a row, the temperature in Phoenix hit at least a hundred and ten degrees. It was one-nineteen on one day, one-eighteen on another, and one-seventeen on a couple […]
Read more »China’s ‘Sponge Cities’ Aim To Re-Use 70% of Rainwater
August 15th, 2023
Via The Conversation, an article on Chinese ‘sponge cities’: Asian cities are struggling to accommodate rapid urban migration, and development is encroaching on flood-prone areas. Recent flooding in Mumbai was blamed in part on unregulated developmentof wetlands, while hastily built urban areas are being affected by flooding across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. This is not a trend only in developing […]
Read more »Stormwater Reform Won’t Be Enough – We Need ‘Sponge Cities’ To Avoid Future Disasters
August 15th, 2023
Via The Conversation, a look at how – during the 2023 Auckland floods – people recognized that even stormwater reform won’t be enough and there is a need for ‘sponge cities’ to avoid future disasters: We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather events such as the one we […]
Read more »Cool It On City Playgrounds: Swings and Slides Get Hot Enough to Burn
August 14th, 2023
Courtesy of The Washington Post, a report on the impact of urban heat on playgrounds and some green solutions to help cool things down: In a child’s imagination, a climbing frame can become a pirate ship or a princess’s castle. But during this summer’s heat waves, the Sahara desert and the surface of Venus might […]
Read more »America’s Hottest City Is Nearly Unlivable in Summer. Can Cooling Technologies Save It?
August 13th, 2023
Via The Guardian, a look at how Phoenix’s new ‘heat tsar’ is betting on less asphalt, more green canopy and reflective surfaces to cool the sprawling heat island: A surge in heat-related deaths amid record-breaking summer temperatures offers a “glimpse into the future” and a stark warning that one of America’s largest cities is already […]
Read more »RainReady: Helping Communities Find Solutions to The Problem of Urban Flooding
August 12th, 2023
The RainReady program in Chicago aims to enlist residents in creating green infrastructure like permeable pavement and rain gardens that can reduce flooding in hard-hit neighborhoods, including by revamping vacant lots. The RainReady program has two facets that are inadequate in many other local-level flood mitigation efforts: community leadership and serious funding.
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.