Climate Change Could Submerge The Gambia’s Capital
January 30th, 2025
Via Dialogue Earth, a look at how climate change could submerge The Gambia’s capital and some natural solutions to help hold back the tide: The existence of Gambia’s capital, Banjul, is under threat from rising sea levels and flash flooding. Many people, including residents and fishers, have been displaced, while businesses and offices have moved […]
Read more »The Cities of 2121: Changemakers Envision The Future They’re Working Toward
January 29th, 2025
Via Grist, a look at six (6) experts who are using innovations such as electron-based currency to micro-transport to change the way you think about climate solutions: As the climate changes, cities must change with it. Fix is exploring how our urban centers are being reimagined and what green, equitable, and resilient communities could look […]
Read more »A New Life For Empty Offices: Growing Kale and Cucumbers
January 29th, 2025
Via BBC, a look at how empty office spaces are being use for indoor farming: In some cities, as many as one in four office spaces are vacant. Some start-ups are giving them a second life – as indoor farms growing crops as varied as kale, cucumber and herbs. Since its 1967 construction, Canada’s “Calgary […]
Read more »Power Sharing: Connecting The World’s Grids
January 26th, 2025
Via The Economist, a look at why don’t more countries import their electricity: The waters off Singapore teem with tankers, container ships, freighters and smacks, importing everything from oil to electronics. Yet there is one commodity none of these vessels carries, and which the city-state wants: electricity. The tiny, rich island powers itself mostly by burning […]
Read more »The World’s Next Tallest Building Could Be a 3,000 Feet High Battery
January 26th, 2025
Via CNN, an article on – while the buildings and construction sector is responsible for almost 40% of global emissions – designers and engineers are coming up with creative ways to make skyscrapers better for the environment. This render shows SOM and Energy Vault’s proposed superstructure tower, a skyscraper which integrates gravity energy storage. Humans […]
Read more »Cooling People, Not Spaces: Surmounting the Risks of Air-Conditioning Over-Reliance
January 24th, 2025
Via UPENN’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, a look at ways to overcome the risks of air conditioning over-reliance: At A Glance Key Challenge Overreliance on AC worsens climate change through energy use and refrigerant leaks, also harming health in low-income homes. Sustainable cooling solutions like passive design and hybrids exist but face adoption barriers—both […]
Read more »'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.