Resilient Urban Forests: How Tipuana Trees Could Revolutionize City Planning
August 29th, 2024
Via Energy & Environment Leader, a look at how cities could utilize a specific tree species to revolutionize urban planning in an era of climate change: As cities across the globe grapple with climate challenges, innovative approaches to urban planning are becoming increasingly crucial. With projections indicating that 68% of the world’s population will reside […]
Read more »Coating Clothes With This Material Could Cool Your Body By Up To 8 Degrees
August 26th, 2024
Via CNN, an article on a new coating which can be added to fabric to help reduce temperatures underneath clothing: Spending time outside during a heat wave can be sweaty, uncomfortable, even health-endangering, but scientists have come up with an innovation they say could provide relief: clothes that physically cool down the body. Researchers at the University […]
Read more »Urban Forests: ‘Critical but Underfunded’
August 21st, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a look at urban forests and the potential offered by carbon credit programs, revolving funds and partnerships with conservancies to provide some of the money needed to prevent these green spaces from degrading: Cities need to diversify the funding sources used to care for forested natural areas, which are “a critical but […]
Read more »Conserving & restoring waterways can mitigate extreme urban heat in Bangladesh
August 21st, 2024
Via Mongabay, a look at how conserving & restoring waterways can mitigate extreme urban heat in Bangladesh: Conserving existing wetlands and restoring urban waterways can be an effective way for urban planners to protect city residents from extreme heat. In Dhaka, as in other large cities, paved urban landscapes absorb heat and intensify the risk […]
Read more »The Mirror Roofs Cooling Homes In Freetown
August 18th, 2024
Via The Guardian, a look at initial results showing homes in Sierra Leone’s capital fitted with heat-reflective roofing sheets can be up to 6C cooler: Mohamed Koroma has lived in the Kroo Bay waterfront community in Freetown for more than 50 years but cannot remember a time when the weather has been as hot as […]
Read more »Milwaukee Wants To Build The World’s Largest Timber Skyscraper (Again)
August 18th, 2024
Via Popular Science, a report on Milwaukee’s plans to build the world’s tallest timber skyscraper (again): The new skyscraper could be feature as many as 55 floors. Credit: Michael Green Architecture Milwaukee has been home to the world’s tallest timber skyscraper for barely two years, but the city is already aiming to more than double that height. Last month, […]
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.