All posts by Ray Grigg

Cost of Climate Change, Fire

Quadra Project: Home Sweet Home

We are just beginning to register the full implications of climate change, and if we take a moment to think about them, they are sobering. A feature in The Economist (April 13, 2024) is particularly disquieting because of its assessment of the risk to our homes, the largest single investment that we have and the place where we go for peace, privacy and security.

But take note of the frequency and severity of miscellaneous weather events that are threatening, damaging or destroying homes. Storms, floods, wildfires and coastal erosion are just a sample of the catastrophes that can impact where we live. By The Economist’s estimate, “About a tenth of the world’s residential property by value is under threat, …and by one estimate, climate change and the fight against it could wipe out 9% of the value of the world’s housing by 2050—which amounts to $25 trillion.” As The Economist points out, “Property is the world’s most important asset class, accounting for an estimated two-thirds of global wealth. Homes are at the heart of many of the world’s most important financial markets… .” A wholesale threat to them threatens the entire financial system.

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Cost of Climate Change

The Quadra Project: Sea Level Rise

When we think of sea level rise, we probably have a fairly simple explanation for what happens. The glaciers and polar icecaps melt, the resulting water flows into the world’s oceans and they rise accordingly. But, in actuality, the process is far more complicated than that. Consider Antarctica as an example—usually neglected because of its remoteness and the incorrect assumption until recently about its relative stability.

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History

The Quadra Project: Edo Japan

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Maybe Edo Japan is an echo of our better past and can be a model for our better future. It was a period in Japanese history began with the consolidation of power by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 and lasted until 1867, an ending that came as a result of the destabilizing effects of American and European traders who forced an isolated and sustainable Japan into the world of 19th century commerce and values.

The beginning of the Edo Period, as the Tokugawa Shogunate is known, brought to an end a century of political and military struggle among feudal lords (daimyo) that had left Japan in economic, social and environmental chaos. Internal warfare had created massive poverty as well as social disorder, and badly managed resources in the past had so damaged the natural ecology that it was unable to support the population of 12 million Japanese. By the end of the Edo Period, however, wars were long gone, Japan was comfortably providing for a population of 30 million, employment had established a meaningful place for everyone in the Japanese society, and the environmental problems had been corrected. So, what happened during the 264 years of the Edo Period?

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Environment

Quadra Project: Habituation

When people tell lies infrequently, their bodies register a physiological response. Blood pressure rises and heart rates go up, as do stress hormones. Parts of the body exhibit increased perspiration. But tell lies frequently, and these symptoms begin to decrease. Something comparable happens to people who are the victims of lying. At first they are shocked and offended. But, if they are subjected to frequent lies, the reaction begins to subside.

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Cost of Climate Change, Transportation

Quadra Project: The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal and the Suez Canal are both magnificent feats of engineering that allow marine shipping to move east and west across the mid-latitudes without having to make the long journey around the continents of South America and Africa, respectively. The Suez is mostly a big ditch that was dredged in the sand to connect the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. No locks are required because the two seas are at the same elevation. Building the Panama Canal, however, was a much more complicated engineering problem, solved with remarkable ingenuity.

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