What do disasters reveal about human nature? Katie Mears + Autumn Brown cover art

What do disasters reveal about human nature? Katie Mears + Autumn Brown

What do disasters reveal about human nature? Katie Mears + Autumn Brown

Listen for free

View show details
Autumn Brown speaks with Katie Mears, Senior Technical Specialist for U.S. Disaster and Climate Risk at Episcopal Relief & Development. Katie has spent nearly 20 years working with communities as they prepare for, respond to, recover from, and adapt to disasters. Together, Autumn and Katie explore what faithful disaster response looks like in a climate-changed world. They discuss climate mobility, housing justice, land grief, queer and immigrant vulnerability, and the need for faith communities to move beyond climate mitigation alone. Katie invites us to see disaster work not only as logistics, but as a spiritual practice rooted in dignity, welcome, agency, and love. Grounding Practice This episode begins with a reading from Rebecca Solnit’s book A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster. Solnit writes about the courage, mutual aid, generosity, and imagination that often emerge in the aftermath of catastrophe. The Practice: As you listen, notice what rises in you when you hear the idea that “the possibility of paradise is already within us as a default setting.” Where have you seen people become more open-hearted, resourceful, or generous in a time of crisis? Key Themes and Conversations Climate Mobility and the Language of Displacement: Katie explains why people who move after climate-related disasters may not call themselves “climate refugees,” even when they understand that climate change shaped the conditions that forced them to move. Safe, Sanitary, Secure — and Chosen: Disaster recovery often focuses on stable housing, but Katie adds an essential fourth word: chosen. True recovery must include agency and the ability to make meaningful decisions about one’s future. Adaptation as Faithful Practice: Katie notes that many faith communities focus on mitigation — solar panels, electric vehicle chargers, insulation — but fewer talk about adaptation. Even if emissions stopped tomorrow, the world has already changed, and communities need to adjust to that reality. Housing as Climate Ministry: Katie argues that affordable housing is one of the most important climate actions faith communities can take. As people move away from higher-risk areas, housing pressure can increase in the places receiving them, creating cycles of climate gentrification and displacement. Welcome Without Control: Katie invites faith communities to offer real welcome while respecting the choices displaced people make. The goal is not to persuade someone to stay, return, or move on, but to expand the menu of choices available to them. Queer, Immigrant, and Othered Communities in Disaster Response: Katie and Autumn discuss how official disaster systems often assume a straight, married, property-owning household model. Disasters can “turn up the volume” on existing exclusion, but they can also create openings for new forms of solidarity. Next Steps Autumn and Nicole remind listeners that the next steps help us bring imagination into practical reality. The change we need cannot happen alone. It has to grow in the community. Notice the actual hazards in your place. Katie Mears invites listeners to begin close to home. What are the things that cause harm to people’s living and working conditions where you are? They may not be the dramatic disasters that make national news. They might be flooding, extreme heat, apartment fires, unsafe housing, power outages, food insecurity, wildfire smoke, or rising housing costs. Then ask: What gifts do you, and the communities you are part of, already have that could be brought to bear in that situation? Disaster response is not only about who has a generator or who fits an official emergency checklist. It can include people who cook, organize, drive, translate, make phone calls, offer space, know the neighbors, care for children, repair things, pray, listen, or help people feel less alone. Explore your community’s disaster preparedness. If you belong to a faith community, ask what disaster preparedness efforts are already in place. Does your congregation have a plan? A phone tree? A communication strategy? A way to check on vulnerable members? Nicole points listeners toward the United Church of Christ’s Disaster Preparedness Guide for Local Churches: A Workbook, and encourages people to look for similar resources from their own denomination or tradition. Resource: United Church of Christ Preparedness Resources https://www.ucc.org/disaster_index/disaster_resources/ Listen to stories of displacement. Autumn invites listeners, especially those who offer spiritual care, to speak with someone who has experienced uprooting. This might be someone displaced by weather, housing costs, evacuation, or the loss of stable housing. Listen without trying to fix the story or the conditions. The act of witnessing can be the beginning of rebuilding community. Invite stories in your wider network. If you are active on social media, consider asking people to ...
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet