Three new signs have recently been greeting boaters arriving in Cortes Bay.
They say:
Whether or not we acknowledge it or not, we are all participants in the Climate Olympics. And we’re not doing so well because we’re not trying hard enough. We have the capabilities, but we lack the effort and the focus.
The original purpose of the Olympic games, founded in Greece some 2,800 years ago, was to pay homage to humanity, and thereby to celebrate and honour the remarkable capabilities and achievements of a being that the Greeks believed to be the embodiment of nature’s perfection. The motto brought forward from those idealistic days of self-congratulations was “Swifter. Higher. Stronger.”
Continue reading The Quadra Project: The Climate OlympicsSeveral years ago the editors of The Guardian Weekly, an independent British news magazine noted for its objective credibility, decided that the global warming subject was serious enough to warrant special coverage—not to understate the seriousness of the situation, their preference has been to call it “global heating”. They have not disappointed. In their May 17, 2024, edition they reported on a survey they undertook to sample the opinion of hundreds of climate scientists about their personal assessment of our situation. Their assessment is sobering.
Continue reading The Quadra Project: TemperatureLast week, I sat down on zoom with television showrunner and independent film maker Jon Cooksey to talk about his 2010 film, “How to Boil a Frog”. The film, which also features Rex Weyler, is being screened at Manson’s Hall on Tuesday, July 9, at 7PM. Jon and Rex will be there to participate in discussion after the film.
In the interview, we talked about the events that led to his interest in climate change and ecological overshoot, his long friendship with Rex, and how his thoughts about impacting the future have evolved since making this film.
Continue reading On Climate Change, Peak Oil, Overshoot, and the Importance of Relationships: An Interview with Jon CookseyWe 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.
Continue reading Quadra Project: Home Sweet Home
