All posts by Ray Grigg

Cost of Climate Change

The Quadra Project: Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis is a new word for our vocabulary. It has been used before to describe a health condition created by an imbalance in the gut bacteria, which causes a wide range of gastrointestinal problems. Now dysbiosis is being used to describe a variety of our environmental problems.

It’s a timely word formed from two Greek roots. The prefix “dys” denotes difficulties, abnormalities, or anything that is uneasy, unfavourable or unfortunate. The suffix, “biosis”, denotes a state of living or a mode of life. Put the two together and we have a word that describes the malfunctioning of a biological system caused by some profound imbalance.

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Uncategorized

The Quadra Project: Climate Karma

Karma, from the Sanskrit word “karman” is an amalgamation of “action, effect, and fate”. In the popular sense of the word, it has come to mean that actions have consequences, and that our individual human behaviour exists in a cause-effect relationship with a vague sense of a moral cosmos. Often described as the Principle of Karma, it means that personal acts motivated by “good” intentions are eventually rewarded in kind, and that “bad” acts are also rewarded in kind.

Although karma usually applies to the cause-effect relationship of our individual actions, it might also apply to our collective actions, a more expansive understanding that is worth considering, given the consequence of the unfolding havoc we are causing on our planet.

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Community, History

Quadra Project: The Authoritarian Reflex

German social scientists who had fled from the Nazi domination of their country were, by the late 1940s, trying to understand the causes of the political events that had resulted in the rise of such an authoritarian regime. Theodor W. Odorno, who by then had become an American philosopher and psychologist, led a number of research projects into this intriguing subject. Why would people be so subject to Nazi propaganda and to the power of centralized control, hierarchy, compliance and loyalty?

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Rivers & Oceans

The Quadra Project: Salmon Farming in Perspective

The salmon farming industry in BC is once again challenging the authority of the Minister of Fisheries to make decisions about whether or not its feedlots should continue to be located in open ocean settings. Their first successful court challenge overturned Minister Bernadette Jordan’s 2020 decision to close down open-net operations. Now, in 2023, Minister Joyce Murray’s similar decision is also being challenged. For perspective, this challenge invites a review of the history of salmon farming in BC’s waters.

When corporate salmon farming arrived in a relatively pristine British Columbia, the marine wilderness was already occupied by many native species. The farms were totally incongruous with this ecology, and immediately found themselves in conflict with the seals, sea lions, orcas, whales, eagles, osprey, mink, otters and kingfishers. The result was carnage to wildlife as the farmers tried to defend their salmon from a traditional food that had always been available to the natural predators.

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Cost of Climate Change

The Quadra Project: Defending Identity

An obvious question has haunted environmentalists for decades. It is echoed in various forms, one of which is implicit in the powerful statement by Tanya Steele, the Chief Executive Officer of the United Kingdom’s World Wildlife Fund: “We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it.”

Since we know our collective and individual behaviour is initiating a global climate crisis, why, then, are we so slow to take the corrective action?

An insightful answer comes from Per Espen Stoknes, a Norwegian psychologist who has recently written a book called What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming, has given a TED Talk, and is one of 100 authoritative contributor’s to Greta Thunberg’s new publication, The Climate Book.

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