How a Children’s Playground Is Helping With Flood Mitigation in a Small, Historic New Jersey City
September 28th, 2024
Courtesy of Inside Climate News, a look at how flood-prone Hoboken, New Jersey, has opened a play area for its youngest residents that also doubles as storage for stormwater runoff. For a city that’s almost small enough to fit inside Manhattan’s Central Park just a few miles away, Hoboken, New Jersey, has seen a lot […]
Read more »Baltimore Is Investing in Wetlands Restoration, a Climate Line of Defense
September 28th, 2024
Via Inside Climate News, a report on wetlands restoration and shoreline rehabilitation efforts in South Baltimore which promise to make communities resilient against climate change and severe weather while spawning new green spaces. Scientists say it’s a new science that needs careful and closer scrutiny. Brad Rogers and Brett Berkley stepped carefully on the gravel […]
Read more »Climate Change Can Cause Bridges to ‘Fall Apart Like Tinkertoys,’ Experts Say
September 5th, 2024
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how extreme heat and flooding are accelerating the deterioration of bridges, engineers say, posing a quiet but growing threat: On a 95-degree day this summer, New York City’s Third Avenue Bridge, connecting the Bronx and Manhattan, got stuck in the open position for hours. As heat […]
Read more »New Solution for Flood-Prone Cities: Concrete Made From Shellfish Waste
August 29th, 2024
Via Grist, a report on a new type of concrete that uses discarded shells to trap water. It’s now combating floods and food waste in urban gardens and along cycling paths. This time of year, bushels of rhubarb, potatoes, and lettuce can be harvested in abundance at The People’s Pantry, a community garden that doubles […]
Read more »Turning Cities Into ‘Sponges’ Could Help Fight Flooding
August 14th, 2024
Via CNN.com, a report on the growing ‘sponge city’ movement: Most architects look to control nature; Kongjian Yu wants it to take over. Intense storms are on the rise and cities across the world are finding it difficult to cope with deluges of floodwater. But instead of using high-tech, concrete-based engineering solutions to defend against […]
Read more »Banks Are Finally Realizing What Climate Change Will Do to Housing
June 17th, 2024
Via Wired, a report on how extreme weather threatens the investment value of many properties, but financing for climate mitigation efforts are only just getting going: Rising sea levels, biodiversity collapse, extreme weather—these are the grisly horsemen of climate apocalypse. But don’t forget the fretting loan officers. A study published earlier this year found that US mortgage […]
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.