The Response

Can we navigate a Just Transition through COVID-19 and the climate crisis? Today, we'll dig into that question and more with Michelle Mascarenhas-Swan from Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project. Michelle was a founding co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance and recently published an article outlining the 10 reasons why the time for Permanently Organized Communities is now. Learn more about Michelle (and her work) at www.movementgeneration.org This is the first episode of a special series documenting the People's COVID-19 Response; the rapidly growing wave of volunteering, mutual aid, and resource sharing that's sweeping the globe. While you may not see it, countless thousands are rising to the occasion at the speed and scale that's needed right now – and building lasting power at the same time.

While you may not see it, a large and rapidly growing wave of volunteering, mutual aid, and resource sharing is sweeping the globe. Instead of panicking, many people are defining this moment through their warmth, bravery, diligence, generosity, and creativity. This is the #PeoplesCOVID19Response! We're in an 'all hands on deck' moment. There's not a second to lose. Working together, we can continue to help save lives and reduce suffering. On the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, Shareable and Free Speech TV (FSTV) will host a special online simulcast of the film which will immediately be followed by a panel discussion about community-led disaster response, collective resilience, and mutual aid. Register for this free event to secure your spot at the screening and panel discussion. The panel after the film will be hosted by The Response producer Tom Llewellyn and will feature Susan Silber (NorCal Resilience Network), Tré Vasquez (Movement Generation), Juan C. Dávila ("The Response" film director), and Christine Nieves (co-founder of Proyecto Apoyo Mutuo Mariana). Where to watch on TV: The special will air on Free Speech TV (DISH 9415, DIRECTV 348, and stream on Roku, Apple TV, Sling TV, and at freespeech.org).

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EBPREC), facilitates black, indigenous, people of color, and allied communities to cooperatively organize, finance, purchase, occupy, and steward properties. We spoke with Noni Session, the organization's executive director, about what they're doing to achieve systemic solutions to the Bay Area's affordable housing crisis.

Announcing that our new book, The Response: Building Collective Resilience in the Wake of Disasters, is available now. Visit theresponsepodcast.org to get a free eBook! This collection of interviews, case studies, guides, and personal stories is designed to deepen the understanding of community led disaster response and support deeper engagement between neighbors, family, and friends In preparation for a future together.

In this age of climate disruption and record shattering mega-fires, hurricanes, and the many other disasters wrecking havoc around the world, how do you rebuild from scratch? Allen Myers grew up in the town of Paradise, CA and like thousands of others, lost his childhood home to the Camp Fire when it burned through 153,336 acres of the Sierra Foothills on November 8th, 2018. Despite its name, Paradise had been afflicted by deep poverty and opioid addiction for years before the fire — it is also located in a very high danger area that regularly experiences wildfires. So, perhaps a more relevant rebuilding question is, how do you rebuild a town better than it was before? Not just recreating the old systems and structures that weren't working for most people in the first place, but rebuilding with more resilience, equity, and humanity? After the initial fire recovery was completed, Allen set out to find answers to those questions; visiting the small town of Onagawa on Japan's Tōhoku coast. Seven years earlier, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake sent a 45-foot high tsunami crashing into the eastern coast of Japan, washing away several towns in the process, including Onagawa. While many of the surrounding towns have been slow to rebuild and have had a difficult time getting residents to move back, Onagawa has taken a unique path through a participatory process which has been incredibly successful. In the final episode of season two of The Response, we follow Allen's journey and explore the lessons he brought home from Onagawa and the rebuilding efforts in Paradise. It serves as a unique window into how residents are working together to build a new vision for what comes next, while fighting against the forces pulling them back towards the status quo.

Every element of a city's design, from a neighborhood's street lighting to a sidewalk's drainage to the shape of the skyline, has politics behind it. It's not always clear what those politics are, or who the decision-makers behind them were, but it's there. You just have to look closely and you'll see it. This week we're bringing you an extended interview with author Barbara Brown Wilson, an assistant professor of Urban and Environmental Planning and the Director of Inclusion and Equity in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia. Her current research projects include understanding how grassroots community networks re-frame public infrastructure in more climate and culturally appropriate ways across the U.S. In her latest book, "Resilience for All," she uncovers the politics behind our urban landscapes and lays out an alternative to business-as-usual urban design and planning.

The Response revisits a disaster that has its roots in inequality, austerity, and institutional racism. On June 14, 2017, a fire started in a 24-story public housing apartment building in West London called Grenfell Tower. The fire raged all night and reduced the building to a shell. Seventy-two people lost their lives, making the Grenfell Fire the United Kingdom's deadliest disaster since World War II. Through the voices of survivors, their families, and others who were impacted, the episode examines the events that led up to the Grenfell Tower fire and explores how the community has responded. What has the healing process looked like for survivors and the bereaved? How has the community come together to increase its resilience while simultaneously fighting for justice and accountability? And what is being done to ensure that something like this never, ever happens again?

When discussing climate change these days, it's no longer suitable to simply imagine its impacts on "future generations." It's also not exactly appropriate to imagine the result of climate change as being some kind of apocalyptic, end-of-the-world scenario. Climate change is happening right now, and its impacts are going to absolutely devastate some communities while leaving others relatively intact. In this extended interview, Series Producer Robert Raymond spoke with Dr. Samantha Montano, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Management & Disaster Science at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Dr. Montano's research focuses on a wide scope of topics within the field of emergency management, including community organizing, emergent groups (particularly during recovery), preparedness for recovery, and disaster volunteerism.

An in depth interview with Paris's Chief Resilience Officer, Sebastian Maire, about what that city has been doing in order to build resilience in the face of the climate crisis. The conversation covers the six main resilience challenges in Paris, their three-tiered approach to meeting those challenges, and how they are empowering the residents to directly participate — and in many cases, lead the process. Along the way, we discuss the 100 Resilient Cities program, community fridges, the role of social cohesion, and his views on the inextricable link between climate change and economic inequality.

In the first episode of our second season, The Response travels to Mexico City and puts the focus on the 2017 Puebla Earthquake — a magnitude 7.1 quake that toppled over forty buildings, caused over 350 deaths, and injured thousands. Specifically, we explore the significance of information flows by telling the story of a very unique initiative that arose in the wake of the earthquake. In the aftermath of a disaster, information can mean the difference between life and death. After the earthquake hit in Mexico City, it wasn't just buildings that collapsed, the normal lines of communication that connect the city did as well. It was in this dangerous state of confusion and chaos that a group of friends using WhatsApp to share information ended up creating what later became known as Verificado19s, a spontaneous, grassroots initiative that consisted of a vast network of volunteers that traveled throughout the city to gather and verify information.