Where The Most U.S. Residents Bake Because of Concrete and Lack of Trees
July 28th, 2023
Courtesy of The Washington Post, an article on the nearly 41 million urban residents who experience higher temperatures because of the ‘heat island effect,’ according to an analysis: All U.S. cities experience some level of “heat island effect,” in which heat reflects off hard surfaces, intensifying the impact of the hottest days. But as climate […]
Read more »Cold Take: Why Air-Conditioning Is Key In Fight Against Climate Change
July 28th, 2023
Via MIT Technology Review, an article on how – as extreme heat is making cooling a necessity – the result will be sky-high energy demand: As record-breaking heat waves baked Californians last month, the collective strain of millions of air conditioners forced the state’s grid operators to plunge hundreds of thousands of households into darkness. […]
Read more »Paris When It Sizzles: The City of Light Aims to Get Smart on Heat
July 26th, 2023
Via Yale e360, a report on how Paris – with its zinc roofs and minimal tree cover – was not built to handle the new era of extreme heat, but is now looking at ways to adapt to rising temperatures — planting rooftop terraces, rethinking its pavements, and greening its boulevards: There’s a long tradition […]
Read more »The Moisture-Sucking Materials That Could Transform Air Conditioning
July 26th, 2023
Via MIT Technology Review, a look at how desiccants that pull water out of the air could help cool buildings more efficiently: A surprising set of materials could soon help make more efficient air conditioners that don’t overtax the electrical grid on hot days. As extreme heat continues to shatter records around the globe, electricity […]
Read more »New York City Has America’s Worst Heat Islands
July 26th, 2023
Via Gothamist, an article on New York city’s heat island effects: When it comes to blistering metropolitan temperatures, New York has the worst existing conditions — known as urban heat island effects — relative to any other major U.S. city. That’s the takeaway from a new analysis by the research nonprofit Climate Central, which looked […]
Read more »Extreme Heat Shows the Need for Another Kind of Climate Investment
July 25th, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, an article on the need to shift climate finance from mitigating climate change to helping people adapt to the effects of global warming: As heat waves gripped three continents this week, venturing outside for even a few minutes in Phoenix, Rome or a town in northwest China at times meant risking heatstroke or […]
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.