Flood and Drought Risk Increasing In Cities
March 18th, 2025 Via BBC, a look at the growing water-related risks facing cities: The world’s 100 most populated cities are becoming increasingly exposed to flooding and drought, according to new research. [...]
Why Sizzling Cities Are Mapping Hot Spots Street-By-Street
March 6th, 2025 Via Knowable, a report on how – in metros like Reno, Nevada – citizen scientists hit the road to collect detailed temperature data — key to taming urban heat, saving lives and designing [...]
El Paso Is Going to Turn Wastewater Into Drinking Water. Other Cities Will Soon Follow
March 3rd, 2025 Via Inside Climate News, a report on El Paso breaking ground on the first U.S. facility that will treat wastewater for direct re-use in a city water supply, using a four-step process to transform [...]
The Sea Is Swallowing An African Island
March 3rd, 2025 Via The Economist, a look at how Sierra Leone is finding that adjusting to a warmer climate is getting harder: Standing on the shores of Nyangai, a small island off the coast of Sierra Leone, Melvin [...]
Reforesting the Elm City
March 3rd, 2025 Via Yale Alumni Magazine, an article on an initiative planting thousands of trees to make New Haven a cooler city: At first, planting street trees in New Haven was nothing more than a job for William [...]
Rehydrating the Los Angeles Heat Island
March 3rd, 2025 Via Californians for Energy and Water Abundance, commentary on the need to find ways to cool Los Angeles: Along with the fairly recent popularization of terms such as atmospheric river and bomb [...]

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.