The White Roofs Cooling Women’s Homes in Indian Slums
July 22nd, 2023 Courtesy of BBC’s Future Planet, a report on the white roofs cooling women’s homes in Indian slums: The roof in Pinky’s home in western India glistens in the bright sunlight. [...]
Hot Cities Are Experimenting with Ways to Keep Cool
July 22nd, 2023 Via The Economist, a look at the sizzling US sunbelt and how – to stay liveable – hot cities are experimenting with ways to keep cool Amy Schwabenlender has a front-row seat to suffering. [...]
How Ancient ‘Skywells’ are Keeping Chinese Homes Cool
July 22nd, 2023 Via BBC Futures, a look at how – in the eras before air-conditioning – southern China’s skywells played a key role in keeping people’s homes cool. Could they do it again [...]
How Texas is Racing to Thwart the Heat
July 22nd, 2023 Via BBC Future Planet, a look at how Texas is racing to thwart the heat: This summer, Texans have endured scorching temperatures as hot as 48C (119F), making the state one of the hottest places on [...]
Green Parking Lots: Mitigating Climate Change and the Urban Heat Island
July 22nd, 2023 Via Penn State, a look at how designing green parking lots with large canopy trees can reduce urban heat loads, air and water pollution, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on our [...]
Beyond the Yuck Factor: Cities Turn to ‘Extreme’ Water Recycling
July 22nd, 2023 Via Yale e360, a report on how San Francisco is at the forefront of a movement to recycle wastewater from commercial buildings, homes, and neighborhoods and use it for toilets and landscaping. This [...]

ABOUT
BLACK SWANS GREEN SHOOTS
Black Swans / Green Shoots examines the collision between urbanization and resource scarcity in a world affected by climate change, identifying opportunities to build sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure through the use of revolutionary capital, increased awareness, innovative technologies, and smart design to make a difference in the face of global and local climate perils.

'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.