High-Rise Forests: ‘A Home For Trees and Birds, and Also Humans”
June 10th, 2025 Via BBC, a look at how high-rise forests can transform city life: It’s been 10 years since the creation of the first vertical forest, Milan’s Bosco Verticale. How has it inspired other [...]
Can India Be Cool?
June 10th, 2025 Via The Economist, a report on how India must both promote and prepare for a surge in air-conditioners: MORE EXTREME, less liveable heat is inevitable for India. Last year was the hottest ever [...]
The Jakarta Parable: Reimagining Urban Areas In A Warming Planet
June 3rd, 2025 Via Forbes, a look at how urban areas will have to be reimagined in a warming world: As climate risks intensify — rising seas, extreme heat, and ever-more-frequent storms—cities are being forced [...]
India: Overlooking Climate Drag On Its Economic Growth
May 31st, 2025 Courtesy of The Financial Times, commentary on how India is overlooking the climate drag on its economic growth: The November COP29 summit ended predictably: a last-minute, watered-down commitment to [...]
Power-Hungry Data Centers Are Warming Homes in the Nordics
May 15th, 2025 Via Bloomberg, a look at how – by pairing computer processing facilities with district heating systems – countries like Finland and Sweden are trying to limit their environmental [...]
The Wealthy California Town That Can’t Get Rid of Water Fast Enough
May 15th, 2025 Via SFGate, a report on a city slipping into the ocean: Every day, Rancho Palos Verdes inches closer to destruction. The beleaguered Southern California city, which is southwest of downtown Los [...]

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.