$830 Million To Fix Broken U.S. Infrastructure
April 16th, 2024
Courtesy of Wired, a discussion withUS transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg about recent grants to fix ancient roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure before it’s too late: There’s one word that will get any American fuming, regardless of their political inclination: infrastructure. Pothole-pocked roads, creaky bridges, and half-baked public transportation bind us nationally like little else […]
Read more »Slow Water: Can We Tame Urban Floods By Going With The Flow?
April 12th, 2024
Via The Guardian, a look at urban flooding: After epic floods in India, South Africa, Germany, New York and Canada killed hundreds in the past year, droughts are now parching landscapes and wilting crops across the western US, the Horn of Africa and Iraq. The responses have included calls for higher levees, bigger drains and longer aqueducts. But these concrete interventions aimed at controlling water are […]
Read more »Global Warming Is Coming For Your Home
April 12th, 2024
Via The Economist, a report on climate change’s impact on housing: Think about the places vulnerable to climate change, and you might picture rice paddies in Bangladesh or low-lying islands in the Pacific. But another, more surprising answer ought to be your own house. About a tenth of the world’s residential property by value is under threat from global […]
Read more »Mass Timber Construction Approved For More Builds In B.C.
April 11th, 2024
Via Global News, a report on the approval of mass timber for more builds in British Columbia where the province is making building-code changes allowing for use of mass timber in buildings up to 18 storeys, an increase from the previous 12-storey limit: The use of mass timber in British Columbia is moving up and expanding to schools, libraries and other construction. The […]
Read more »To Slash Building Emissions, Biomaterials Are Our Friends
April 10th, 2024
Via Anthropocene Magazine, an article on new research that indicates swapping conventional insulation with straw or hemp, and firing up wood pellets or a heat pump for warmth could slash Swiss building emissions by almost 90 percent: Buildings should be front and center in efforts to tackle climate change. Buildings account for 40 percent of global energy […]
Read more »Investors Tap Into Demand For Electric Buses With New Funding Model
April 10th, 2024
Courtesy of The Financial Times, an article on a fund that will help finance the electrification of London’s iconic red buses: A group of investors has launched a £100mn fund to help finance the electrification of London’s iconic red buses. Insurer Aviva and Rock Rail, a UK-based owner and asset manager of rolling stock, have […]
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.