Can Cities Eliminate Heat-Related Deaths? Phoenix Is Trying.
June 20th, 2023
Via NextCity, a look at how Phoenix hopes a new Office of Heat Response can move fast enough to counter the impacts of deadly heat: Regional Carrillo could walk to his last job in five minutes. In most places, it would be a pleasant commute. But in Phoenix, where summer days routinely top 110 degrees Fahrenheit […]
Read more »Heat Insurance Offers Climate Change Lifeline To Poor Workers
June 20th, 2023
Via Reuters, an article on some innovative insurance schemes launched for heat, cyclones, and drought: A bright sun beat down on the sprawling Indian market where Kamlaben Ashokbhai Patni sat worrying about the brass jewellery on display in her wooden stall. When the heat rises, the metal blackens. Plastic pearls become unglued. “The colour of […]
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 »Air Conditioning Can’t Stop Climate Migration
June 19th, 2023
Via Bloomberg, commentary on how humans are being pushed out of our temperature comfort zone. It’s a good time to be in the air-conditioning business. As my colleagues at Bloomberg News write, an additional 1 billion cooling units are expected to be installed by the end of the decade. It’s one of the main ways in which […]
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.