Get together ✌️☮️
Climate Solutions // ISSUE # 91 // HOTHOUSE 2.0
Hey there,
Today’s dispatch is sure to be a page you’ll want to bookmark for future reference.
Last issue, our reporter Colleen Hagerty introduced us to the growing wave of individuals taking community resilience against climate disasters into their own hands.
As Hagerty highlighted, one of the most important—and oftentimes overlooked—ingredients to disaster resilience is to build and strengthen your sense of community in the first place, before disaster strikes.
Today’s dispatch will offer concrete guidance to do just that. The organization of this information will waterfall first from what steps you can take to get ready at home, to what you can do preparation-wise in your neighborhood, to, finally, what broader actions you can take within your community.
Of course, community building isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing. It will take more than one neighborhood block party or backyard barbecue to reacquaint yourself with your neighbors or, for that matter, to change local municipal disaster response policy.
So I urge you to take this as an opportunity to reinsert a little bit of joy and intentionality back into your neighborly exchanges. The richer the one-on-one relationships in your community, the stronger you collectively all will be when the moment to count on that strength comes to count the most.
For further reading to build off the latter half of today’s blueprint, for community-building strategies and tips on how to make those organizing efforts sustainable, I’d recommend checking out Get Together by Stripe Press.
As the authors of Get Together put it:
Spark a flame,
Stoke the fire,
And pass the torch.
Addressing the climate crisis especially will take a collective effort that only robust and healthy communities can nurture and sustain. It won’t be the lone billionaire or an individual philanthropist. Resiliency and solutions will come in the ways they so reliably have in the past—from communities of people working together towards a common goal.
There is tremendous urgency to solving the climate crisis, yes. But, these days, I’m apt to concern myself just as much with where I’m headed, as who’s traveling by my side.
With that, I hope you will follow and read more of the talented Colleen Hagerty’s work via her newsletter here, and below enjoy her second and final installment on community disaster preparedness for Hothouse.
Sincerely,
Cadence Bambenek
P.S. Thank you for the generosity of those who supported Hothouse this Giving Tuesday! If you have not had a chance to contribute yet and would still like to, you may do so here:
The Solutions Blueprint: How to foster community disaster preparedness
Disaster preparedness advice often focuses on stuff, offering lists of material items to stock in your house or car. And while this is certainly important, there are a number of ways that you can up your readiness and resiliency through relationships rather than adding something to your cart. In the last edition, I reported on how two communities responded to extreme weather-related disasters. This week, I’m sharing practical ways you can connect with people in your neighborhood and start having conversations about how you can be there for each other during tough times.
This guide is a choose-your-own adventure, with options for going hard or staying home; for starting your own initiative, or finding an existing group in your area.
It’s also a great edition to bookmark and revisit regularly since disaster preparedness is an ever-evolving exercise. If your living situation changes, if you get glasses or new medical prescriptions, if you get a pet—really, after any significant life changes—you’ll want to reevaluate and update your plans (more on those below). Even if you’re operating at the status quo, as climate change amplifies hazards like extreme heat and wildfires, you’ll want to keep revisiting your risk profile regularly.
Think of it as a marathon, not a sprint. So, don’t burn yourself out trying to “be prepared.” Instead, recognize the power in each action, knowing that it could one day not only help you but also your loved ones and neighbors.
Small steps to get started: Understand your risks and resources
Identify the hazards in your area. Different disasters require different methods of preparation, so your first step should be understanding the hazards most likely to impact you. Think about the “go bag” Doris Brown has in Houston, Texas. Since her main concern is flooding, her emergency items are in a waterproof bag placed up high to minimize the chances of water damage. But if you live in rural Northern California, your top concern during the hot, dry summer and fall months is likely wildfires, so you might place your bag by the front door where it’s easily accessible for evacuations.
How to do this: This site is a great place to start for U.S. residents—just select your state, and you’ll be sent to the corresponding state emergency management website. Depending on the size of your community, your area might already have a dedicated office of emergency management or local first responders in charge of emergency planning for your specific city or county.
Then, start making plans today for tomorrow’s emergency. Ready.gov offers hazard-specific advice and basic plans to get you started. If you are interested in really getting specific about the needs based on your area, you can send an email to the local emergency management officials identified in the step above.
While you’re on those websites, see what options are available for receiving weather and evacuation warnings on your cell phone as well as any specific warnings-delivery tech in your town. For example, if your area has sirens, make sure you understand what it signifies when they sound and what protective action officials recommend you take. There also might be a recommended app, like the early earthquake warning offerings available to West Coast residents.
Your phone automatically receives certain Wireless Emergency Alerts, which are an additional tool officials might use to warn you of dangers. These look like text messages, and you might have received one during a recent test of the national system. You do not need to opt into these alerts unless you’ve unsubscribed in the past. Here’s how to check on Apple and Android phones to make sure you still receive them. These are location-based, so they will be helpful while traveling throughout the United States, too—anyone in the area being alerted receives them, even out-of-towners.
Establishing multiple options for getting alerts is always a good idea because, while this type of tech can be lifesaving, it is far from infallible. Human error and connectivity challenges can be common during disasters, particularly when it comes to fast-moving fires or storms. So, if you do live in a particularly vulnerable spot, it’s worth looking into other resources or outlets that could give you an extra alert. You don’t have to get super high-tech: if you have access to a radio in your home or car, that’s one source of information that is likely to keep operating even if you lose power.
Ready to level up? Start knocking on some doors
Make a household plan. Whether you live with family, roommates, or on your own, carve some time out to establish basic first steps to take if disaster strikes. Consider questions like: Do you know how to turn on and off utilities? What sorts of needs are likely to arise most urgently, such as sufficient supply of and access to medications or clean water? What’s a good meet-up spot in case you get separated from your loved ones? Ready.gov offers some additional questions to consider, as well as cards you can fill out and print for each family member to hold onto with space to plug in important addresses and other identifying information.
Once you’ve figured out your household approach, it’s time to cast a wider net and chat with your neighbors. If the extent of your neighborly interactions at the moment is just a friendly nod or wave, try sparking up a casual conversation the next time you’re grabbing your mail. Don’t worry about directing the chat toward disasters right away—honestly, that will probably freak them out and is unlikely to earn you the kind of reputation on the block you’re probably going for. Instead, introduce yourself and see if they’re up for sharing a bit about themselves. How long have they lived in the area? Do they have a favorite local spot they’d recommend you check out? It might seem silly, but just establishing these connections can make a difference during tough times. And you might even get a new friend out of it!
Already on a first-name basis with your neighbors? Then it’s time to start adding disaster talk into the mix. Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones gave the Los Angeles Times a few recommendations on how to start these discussions, including hosting a dedicated neighborhood block party or happy hour. While everyone is socializing, you can circulate a list to gather people’s contact information, letting them know it’s in case of an emergency (to pick up from the first section, this contact list could be another option for sharing emergency alerts). You can also take it a step further by making a list of “needs and haves” related to disaster prep. From there, you can play matchmaker: maybe one neighbor has medication that has to stay cold and is worried about blackouts, and another neighbor with a generator would be willing to lend some fridge space to store spare doses.
If you and your neighbors are social media savvy, consider creating a virtual space where people can connect. That might be a Facebook or WhatsApp group or a Slack or Discord channel. As we all know by now, navigating social media spaces can be tricky, but setting clear rules about what’s allowed to be discussed in the group, who is allowed to join, and other moderation policies can help keep it a productive space. See if any of your neighbors would also be up for sharing moderation duties—depending on how large your community is, the role could be a big lift for one person to take on.
The next time you’re doing some shopping, introduce yourself to local business owners and employees. Small business owners are stakeholders in communities. They are often open to collaborating with residents on initiatives that can improve the neighborhood and make it safer like these auto shops in New York City did in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. These connections could be particularly helpful if you decide to advance to the next section…
If you’re all-in: Get organized
Check out opportunities to volunteer with your municipality. For example, the Community Emergency Response Team program provides free training in skills like CPR and general disaster preparedness so that citizens can assist in responding to disasters in their communities.
Not seeing any disaster-specific opportunities? See if any grassroots or mutual aid groups are operating in your area. Even if the group is not focused on disaster resiliency, they might be open to exploring how to integrate that into their existing efforts.
If the group says “yes,” you don’t have to go back to the drawing board to come up with effective ways to work disaster prep into their efforts. Instead, consider revisiting what worked for you and your neighbors, like putting together a directory and list of resources or starting a social media group about preparedness. This time, maybe you expand your outreach to include some of those local businesses or post in other neighborhood-frequented online groups to advertise your efforts. Mountain Provisions Cooperative, one of the groups I featured in my previous feature, is in the process of taking this step, building an online portal to provide vetted resources on disaster preparedness for their community. To compile it, they’ve been working with their local emergency department, school district, and an informal “elders council” of longtime residents so that they have broad perspectives on resources that are available and concerns different residents might have.
If you want to take the plunge into starting your own grassroots initiative, take the time to learn from other organizers. Texas’ West Street Recovery, which was one of the other groups featured in the previous Hothouse edition, recently shared five organizational pillars they believe have been essential to their group’s longevity and legislative success. Those include investing time in building trust, letting the most impacted community members set the goals, and finding ways to support members to speak out for themselves. You can read the rest here.
Remember, you don’t have to wait for a disaster to address existing issues. If you feel there are specific challenges in your community when it comes to, say, flooding during a regular rainstorm, consider taking proactive steps now. Structural change in general is not easy, and it can be particularly challenging when it comes to the sort of deep-rooted disparities that leave certain communities more vulnerable to natural hazards. But it is possible to start at the neighborhood level. For example, you can start attending community board meetings to become familiar with local officials and get your concerns on the record, much like Brown and the Northeast Action Collective did in Texas to begin their drainage campaign. Alternatively, another excellent place to begin, you might look at your municipality’s emergency management budget. Often, these figures are dwarfed by other publicly funded offices, which can leave your area strapped when it comes to preparing adequate plans or applying for federal grants for things like mitigation infrastructure. If that’s the case in your area, it could be a place to focus some of your initial organizing attention.
Here are more stories to get inspired about ways you can foster change in your neighborhood:
The California residents who make up the state’s first “smart, solar-powered residential microgrid community.” (The Verge) The Colorado residents burying their own power lines to mitigate wildfire risk. (Boulder Reporting Lab)The Oregon residents taking forest management plans into their own hands. (Inside Climate News)The Puerto Rico residents banking solar power from local businesses (Canary Media)Hothouse is a newsletter catalyzing climate action edited by Cadence Bambenek with additional editing contributed to this issue by Peter Guy Witzig and Peter Gelling. We rely on readers to support us, and everything we publish is free to read. Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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