The Architect Making Friends With Flooding
January 2nd, 2024
Via MIT’s Technology Review, a report on one Chinese landscape designer who has pioneered a new approach—working with water instead of trying to bend it to our will: For years, Beijing landscape architect Yu Kongjian was ridiculed by his fellow citizens as a backward thinker. Some even called him an American spy—a nod to his […]
Read more »Embracing a Wetter Future, the Dutch Turn to Floating Homes
December 29th, 2023
Via Yale e360, an article on how – faced with worsening floods and a shortage of housing – the Netherlands is seeing growing interest in floating homes: When a heavy storm hit in October, residents of the floating community of Schoonschip in Amsterdam had little doubt they could ride it out. They tied up their […]
Read more »After a Decade of Planning, New York City Is Raising Its Shoreline
December 29th, 2023
Courtesy of Yale e360, a look at how – inspired by the Dutch model of living with water – New York’s coastal defenses are on the rise via a combination of infrastructure like floodwalls with nature-based features, as it moves ahead with the largest resiliency project in the US: On a recent morning in Asser […]
Read more »‘Green Roads’ Are Plowing Ahead, Buffering Drought and Floods
December 20th, 2023
Via Yale e360, a look at the ‘green road’ movement, in which – using embankments, channels, and dikes – road infrastructure can help control floods, harvest excess water for use in irrigation, and slash maintenance costs: Makueni County, a corner of southern Kenya that’s home to nearly a million people, is a land of extremes. […]
Read more »3 Cities: To Build or Not To Build In Risky Places
December 10th, 2023
Via NPR, an article on 3 cities facing a climate dilemma: to build or not to build homes in risky places. With climate-fueled disasters killing hundreds of Americans annually and costing communities billions of dollars, a growing number of local governments are asking a basic question: Are there some places where people shouldn’t build homes? […]
Read more »An Architect Has Found a Way to Build Flood-Proof Homes
December 3rd, 2023
Via The Washington Post, a report on one architect’s efforts to build swaths of flood-resistant homes out of bamboo: Yasmeen Lari spent a four-decade career designing award-winning structures out of concrete, glass and steel before stumbling into her ideal material. It was at a camp for refugees from military conflict in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat Valley. […]
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.