How Cities Are Trying To Stop Their Land From Sinking
June 20th, 2023
Courtesy of The Washington Post, a look at how some cities are putting water back into the ground, a process called managed aquifer recharge, to stabilize land subsidence: Groundwater has historically been a lifeline in California’s Coachella Valley. Water for farming, for your home and community? It came from under your feet, but the extractions […]
Read more »Milwaukee’s Green Infrastructure 2035 Vision
June 20th, 2023
Via Medium, an article on Milwaukee’s 2035 Vision aims to scale up green infrastructure using natural processes to improve water quality and manage water quantity by restoring the hydrologic function of the urban landscape: Urban development typically retains little or none of the original vegetation and landscape, with impervious surfaces, including buildings, roads, gardens and parks, […]
Read more »Slowing Water for Greener Neighborhoods
June 20th, 2023
Via Illuminem, a report on the potential benefits of resilient and absorptive infrastructure: Climate Change has brought fiercer storms with devastating floods and long-lasting droughts that stressed and killed plants and animals. Once we controlled water. These days, water is in control and is harming us. What if we changed our relationship with water to […]
Read more »New Storm-Resistant Street With ‘Porous Pavement’ In New York
June 20th, 2023
Via the Gothamist, a look at a new storm-resistant street with ‘porous pavement’ in Rockaway, just in time for hurricane season: The city unveiled a new storm-resistant street last week along an area of Rockaway that was flooded and destroyed in 2012 by Hurricane Sandy. A short strip of Beach 108th Street has now been […]
Read more »Biden Unveils Climate Resilience Investment Plan
June 20th, 2023
Via Environmental Leader, a report on a new plan to help coastal and Great Lakes communities in the United States become more resilient to extreme weather and climate catastrophes including through energy, building, and infrastructure improvements: The White House outlined plans for the $575 million Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, which will help coastal and Great […]
Read more »As We Build harder, Hotter Cities: It’s Vital To Protect and Grow Urban Green Spaces
June 19th, 2023
Via The Conversation, an article on the importance of urban green spaces: Recent extreme weather events have provided a foretaste of how supercharged storms might threaten our future. So the release today of a new report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) is very good timing. Titled “Are we building harder, hotter cities? The vital […]
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.