The Cement That Could Turn Buildings Into Giant Batteries
June 11th, 2024 Via BBC, a look at how an innovative cement could turn buildings into giant batteries: Concrete is perhaps the most commonly used building material in the world. With a bit of tweaking, it could help [...]
Beyond the Yuck Factor: Cities Turn to ‘Extreme’ Water Recycling
June 10th, 2024 Via Yale e360, a look at 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 [...]
Mexico City’s Thirst Is Causing It To Sink
June 9th, 2024 Via The Washington Post, a look at how the demand for water in Mexico’s capital is draining its underground aquifers — and fueling some of the fastest subsidence rates in the world: On a recent [...]
How Electric Car Batteries Might Aid the Grid (and Win Over Drivers)
June 9th, 2024 Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how automakers are exploring energy storage as a way to help utilities and save customers money, turning an expensive component into an industry asset: [...]
The Uninsurable World: How The Insurance Industry Fell Behind On Climate Change
June 8th, 2024 Courtesy of the Financial Times, a report on how the insurance industry fell behind on climate change : Half a century ago, one of the world’s leading reinsurers published a paper on floods, [...]
As Water Shortages Plague Bogotá and Other Cities, Nature-Based Solutions Can Help
June 7th, 2024 Via WRI, a look at how cities can take advantage of nature-based solutions to help combat drought: Bogotá, Colombia is in the throes of a water crisis. After several months of dry weather caused by [...]

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.