What If Buildings Were Designed Like Trees?
August 6th, 2024
What if we designed buildings like trees? To emit oxygen, sequester carbon, fix nitrogen, create food, and distill water. Here is a recent presentation at the 15th Real Estate Development Summit—Europe which explored just that. Let’s use nature as a model and a tool so that our structures are as nurturing to the planet as […]
Read more »How Four Cities Are Cooling Down Creatively
August 2nd, 2024
Via Reasons To Be Cheerful, a look at how cities around the world are trying everything from reflective paint to underground water channels to manage the hotter days ahead: In the middle of a summer of record-breaking heat, just stepping outside is enough to remind us that the world is experiencing rising temperatures due to […]
Read more »Brown to Green: In NE Ohio, Hello to Solar and Storage; Goodbye to Coal
July 26th, 2024
Via Inside Climate News, a look at how IRA funding will help a city shut down a very old power plant in favor of something cleaner: A coal-fired power plant that started running more than a century ago is about to get a long-overdue retirement, and its electricity will be replaced by a solar farm and […]
Read more »Green Building Pioneers Chart Persuasive Paths To Profit
July 25th, 2024
Via National Observer, a report on a new generation of Canadian developers and architects are designing a future for the building sector that is less polluting and profitable: Decarbonizing Canada’s construction and building sector presents a wealth of opportunity for developers, architects, suppliers and workers in the emerging clean economy, the federal government said in […]
Read more »How Battery-Powered Trailers Could Transform Trucking
July 24th, 2024
Truckers have to transport massive loads long distances, every single day, under intense time pressure—and they rely on the semi-trucks they drive to get the job done. Their diesel engines spew not only greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, but also nitrogen oxide, which can be extremely harmful for human health. Cleaning up trucking, […]
Read more »New York Wants Tall Commercial, Multifamily Buildings To Test Low-Carbon Heating Retrofits
July 22nd, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, an article on seven finalists in a $10 million competition will develop heating and distribution systems that can be installed without displacing occupants: Dive Brief: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul named seven finalists Wednesday for the $10 million Empire Technology Prize, launched last October to advance technologies for low-carbon heating system retrofits in […]
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.