New York City’s $52B Plan To Save Itself From The Sea
September 20th, 2023
Courtesy of The Guardian, an article on New York City’s plan to protect the region from rising waters: The retired FDNY firefighter Patrick Kilgallen remembers the night well. In late October 2012, the approach of Hurricane Sandy up the US Eastern Seaboard coincided with a spring tide, propelling a surge of storm water that crashed into New […]
Read more »China’s ‘Sponge Cities’ Aim To Re-Use 70% of Rainwater
August 15th, 2023
Via The Conversation, an article on Chinese ‘sponge cities’: Asian cities are struggling to accommodate rapid urban migration, and development is encroaching on flood-prone areas. Recent flooding in Mumbai was blamed in part on unregulated developmentof wetlands, while hastily built urban areas are being affected by flooding across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. This is not a trend only in developing […]
Read more »Stormwater Reform Won’t Be Enough – We Need ‘Sponge Cities’ To Avoid Future Disasters
August 15th, 2023
Via The Conversation, a look at how – during the 2023 Auckland floods – people recognized that even stormwater reform won’t be enough and there is a need for ‘sponge cities’ to avoid future disasters: We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather events such as the one we […]
Read more »RainReady: Helping Communities Find Solutions to The Problem of Urban Flooding
August 12th, 2023
The RainReady program in Chicago aims to enlist residents in creating green infrastructure like permeable pavement and rain gardens that can reduce flooding in hard-hit neighborhoods, including by revamping vacant lots. The RainReady program has two facets that are inadequate in many other local-level flood mitigation efforts: community leadership and serious funding.
Read more »Why Insurance Companies Are Fleeing Florida
July 12th, 2023
Via HeatMap, commentary on why insurance companies are fleeing Florida – it’s not just the hurricanes: The Florida insurance market took another hit this week when Farmers announced it would pull out of the state, leaving around 100,000 customers unable to renew their policies. While the news garnered headlines, it was exceptional not so much […]
Read more »Farmers Insurance Has Lost Its Appetite For Business in Extreme Weather Hotspots
July 12th, 2023
Via Quartz, an article on Farmers Insurance decision to restrict its offerings in Florida and California: Farmers Insurance is dropping home, auto, and umbrella coverage in Florida, it announced yesterday (July 11). The state, infamous for its hurricane seasons, has seen several insurers drop out just ahead of peak hurricane season, which tends to be […]
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.