Keeping Stormwater at Bay: A Brooklyn Green Roof Offers a Look at a Climate Resilient Future
June 15th, 2024 Via Inside Climate News, an article on how green infrastructure mitigates the impacts of stormwater on New York City’s sewer systems, limiting the flow of sewage to local waterways: Every Friday [...]
America’s Largest Renewable Energy-Powered Transit Depot
June 14th, 2024 Via AlphaStruxure, a look at the U.S.’s largest renewable energy-powered transit depot: Welcome to the Equipment Maintenance & Transit Operation Center microgrid   Fast facts  [...]
‘We need to make old buildings cooler’, says Bangladesh’s Chief Heat Officer
June 14th, 2024 Via Dialogue Earth, an article on efforts in Bangladesh to make old buildings cooler: In May 2023, Bangladeshi social welfare executive Bushra Afreen was appointed north Dhaka’s ‘chief heat [...]
Researchers Are Reinventing Glass For A Warmer World
June 13th, 2024 Via Anthropocene Magazine, a look at how scientists have devised a window coating that looks like frosted glass but is brighter, provides cooling to reduce reliance on air-conditioning, and does not [...]
How Battery-Swap Networks Are Preventing Emergency Blackouts
June 11th, 2024 Via MIT Technology Review, a look at how Taiwan’s Gogoro’s 12,500 green-and-white battery-swap stations – built to allow users of electric scooters to drop off an empty battery and get [...]
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 [...]

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.