Oakland’s New School Buses Don’t Just Reduce Pollution — They Double as Giant Batteries
August 29th, 2024
Courtesy of Grist, an updated report on Oakland’s new fleet of buses that can send power back to the grid, stabilizing it instead of straining it: Matt Simon The wheels on this bus do indeed go round and round. Its wipers swish. And its horn beeps. Hidden in its innards, though, is something special — […]
Read more »Hot Stuff: Cool Technologies That Can Protect Cities From Dangerous Heat
August 28th, 2024
Via Nature, a report on new technologies – from supercool materials that send heat into space to shape-shifting materials that can selectively fend it off – that can help to reduce urban temperatures: Hundreds of air conditioning units adorn an apartment building in Nanjing, China. Credit: Feng Botao/Visual China Group/Getty It’s time to brace for […]
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 »New Plan To Protect California’s Coast Against A Rising Ocean: Tidal Wetlands
August 16th, 2024
Via The Mercury News, a look at a new oceanfront wetland on California’s farmland to help reduce the risk of flooding during storms Recent raging winter storms have caved in streets, wrecked piers, collapsed homes and apartment buildings, and submerged property up and down California’s coastline. Now, as sea levels continue to rise from climate […]
Read more »Head Above the Water: Today’s Blueprints for Building Tomorrow’s Floating Cities
August 15th, 2024
Via Architizer, an article on structural and environmental techniques that prove floating structures are a real possibility in our world of rising sea levels, and not just a vision from a sci-fi future: With an estimated 2.5 billion people living within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of a coastline, rising sea levels pose a significant risk […]
Read more »Transforming Community Centers and Churches Into Energy-Resilient Hubs
August 13th, 2024
Via BBC, a report on how one city’s efforts to build a network of solar and storage resilience hubs: As Tropical Storm Debby drenches the south-eastern US causing widespread power outages, a solution developed in New Orleans could offer an essential lifeline when the lights go out. On a Sunday in the Broadmoor neighbourhood of […]
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.