Tracing the Roots of the Climate Crisis

Ron Reed and Kari Marie Norgaard discuss the deep social and ecological violence and transformations imposed on Karuk land and people within the last century and a half of colonialism. We also explore the deep anti-colonial work of healing land and people. Ron Reed is a Karuk Tribal Member. He’s a cultural biologist for the Karuk Tribe, a traditional dipnet fisherman, co-founder of the Karuk - UC Berkeley Collaborative and leader within Karuk Climate Change Projects. His work centers on efforts to restore traditional ecological and social practices as a way to fix the world. Dr Kari Marie Norgaard is the non-native author of Salmon and Acorns Feed Our People: Colonialism, Nature and Social Action. She’s a Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon. Her previous publications include the excellent 2011 book Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life.

In this chapter, we reflect on our dreams. As a society, what kinds of dreams have we inherited? What are their consequences? And what kinds of dreams do we need, in order to survive the future, and heal?

In Chapter 2, we explore a pretty unnerving question: Is the climate crisis, and the ecological crisis more broadly, the predictable outcome of a certain economic order?