WEBVTT - Mutual Aid Disaster Relief During Hurricane Ian 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.440 Hello, and welcome to It Could Happen. Here's a podcast 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:11.120 about the world falling apart and people who are putting 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.440 it back together. Today we're joined by Jimmy and Rain 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.640 from mutual A Disaster Relief. They are helping to put 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.479 back together some of the parts of the world that 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:23.439 are acutely falling apart right now. My colleague Gare is 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.360 here as well. I guess, and yeah, we're gonna we're 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.080 gonna get into it. We're gonna talk about the response 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.800 that mutual A Disaster Relief have made too hurricane Ian. 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.720 We're going to talk about how we can solve these 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.559 things without necessarily giving a bunch of money to the 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.600 wrong people, and people can help people in a way 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.880 that is natural, organic and good for everyone. So Jimmy 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.680 and Rain say hi everybody. Hello, Hey, and can you 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:50.840 explain to us a little bit first of all, about 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.840 what mutual Aid Disaster Relief is and how it operates 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:59.840 in these natural disasters. Sure, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:03.360 a people power disaster relief network based on the principles 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:08.200 of solidarity, mutual aid and autonomous direct action. And we 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.640 act as a Swiss army knife for the larger autonomous 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.280 disaster response and mutual aid movements UH and work with 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:20.440 UH affinity groups, local mutual aid groups UH and other 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:26.080 disaster survivors to help form and foster a communal recovery. 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.479 That sounds great, that's very inspiring. Can you explain, maybe 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.480 for listeners who aren't familiar, exactly what mutual aid means 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:38.560 in this context? Sure, mutual aid is a voluntary, reciprocal, 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:44.319 participatory exchange among equals. It's about sharing resources, but it's 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.520 also about sharing power. I'll spend a lot of my 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.120 life in poverty, and I know that many people in 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:56.800 the same experiences would rather not receive something than receive something. 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:00.000 To the downward gaze if if something costs us our dignity, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.760 the it's not worth it um. And so mutual aid 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.280 is a way to share with each other UH, where 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.400 we're UM sharing as equals UM instead of a powerful 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.320 giver of aid a powerless receiver of aid. And it 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:16.160 also has the dynamic of addressing the root causes of 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.720 the need in the in the first place. Okay, that's yeah, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:22.760 that's really that's a good description, Thank you very much. 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.520 What what you've done recently, right is responded to Hurricane Ian, 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.240 which most people I think will know hit Florida and 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.320 I think the Carolinas after that. Can you take us 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.480 through some of the work that you've been doing down there? Sure. 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.200 A lot of what I've been involved in it supplies distribution. Uh. 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.600 So we're um every day loading up vehicles and going 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:52.799 doing mobile distribution to trailer parks, to public housing apartments, uh, 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.480 and other communities that are hit and historically you know, 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:01.920 left out of top down uh really models, um, and 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:09.919 providing tarps, water, food, other essentials that people need. Yeah, sure, 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.320 that's very important. What's the situation like where now what 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:15.840 like a with ten days out something like that from 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:21.760 when the hurricane first made landfall? Is that right? I'm 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:24.800 not sure exactly right? Do you know? Yeah? No, time, 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.560 time is not a thing when this is happening. It's 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.320 just kind of like all of the days go together, 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:36.480 or nights or both. Yeah. Yeah, that's yeah, that's totally fine. 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.520 So what's it? You know? Um, in some places power 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.640 is starting to get turned back on. Gas is easier 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.440 to find than it was you know, several days ago. Um, 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.880 but there's still, um, you know, like a lot of 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:57.680 need for solidarity based relief. There's uh just like every disaster, 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.640 there's uh many communities that are left behind, um and 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.520 it's the same communities that are left behind by the 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:09.600 disaster of capitalism and colonialism and white supremacy, and so 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.600 you know, even though power is starting to get turned 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.279 back on in some places, it's gonna be months or years, 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:20.080 you know before people recover from this. Yeah, there's a 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.320 lot of folks that are not UM like to me 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.240 he's talking about, there's folks that are renters who you know, 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.760 don't don't know what they're supposed to do with their 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.719 with the apartment that they're in, the roof is caving in, 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.560 and if the landlord is not responding, then what are 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.200 they supposed to do. So if there's folks on the ground, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:37.920 they go in and they'll try to like help get 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:39.800 the tarp up, you know, on the roof and things 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.320 like that. So that's usually the kind of stuff I'm 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.640 involved with when I'm when it's happening more in my area. 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:47.760 But there's a lot of us that are working like 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.480 remote as well to help support on the ground, like 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:54.360 doing colms and organizing supply lines through the Autonomous Supply 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:56.760 line chain that we have and just kind of trying 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.400 to mobilize more affinity groups in the local areas like 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:03.480 food not um sitting bombs came down and helped out 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.680 and did a food chair, and so just trying to 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.839 get everybody who's close by to be able to address 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.280 the immediate needs and start planning for the long term 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:16.800 because Jimmy is right, it's gonna take years. Yeah, that's 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.919 really fascinating. I think you're right that often like and 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.520 I think we should contrast actually that like that they 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:26.080 sort of don the large global nonprofit model or the 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.599 service provider model that they contrast with this, right, which 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.359 often kind of floods an area with resources whether or 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.159 not it needs them, and then withdrawals kind of once 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.080 attention is going to when people are left to rebuild 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:42.080 their lives kind of on their own. Right. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:47.960 time and time again, Um, from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Maria. 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:52.640 You know, a rain you know, uh In in Louisiana 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.960 has experienced a number of hurricanes, you know, in recent years. Um, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.760 you know, time and time again, we we we had 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.640 we learn over and over again that the state is 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.520 not coming to save us. The market is not going 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.960 to save us. The nonprofit industrial complex, it's not going 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:12.919 to save us. We have to save each other. We 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:17.440 have to take care of each other from below. Yeah, 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:21.039 I think it's very true. I remember in Suppose eighteen, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.040 when the last seven mid terms came, there was a 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.880 large migrant caravan that came to Tijuana, which is just 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.880 south of where I live, and there are a number 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.440 of these big international nonprofits, but they weren't actually allowed 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.680 to enter the area where these people were. So you 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:39.320 had these people in a football stadium and you had 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.320 large nonprofits outside, and they cut off the water to 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:44.120 the place where these people work. They wanted them to 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.200 go somewhere else, And it was this bizarre scene where 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.120 you had tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars of 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.800 resources sitting outside, and then you had little children who 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.920 hadn't had a drink of water that day sitting inside. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.680 And it was really illustrative to me of how these 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.080 massive nonprofits can raise a ship ton of money and 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.520 still completely failed people when they need help the most. 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.080 So it's great that you guys are out there doing that. 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.160 Can you take us through some of you You mentioned 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.440 Hurricane Katrina, You mentioned being in New Orleans, like, can 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.120 you take us through some of the other natural disasters 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:23.920 and how you've helped. UM well, UH in when we 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.960 first kind of got our paperwork, UM official or whatever, 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.360 we had the flood in Plant Rouge and Louisiana, and 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.560 it was one of the most historic floods since like 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.120 the early nineteen and it barely made the news. And 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.720 there were several of the major floods that happened the 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.840 climate caused floods in the Midwest that UM summer that 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:45.880 barely made the news. And now people are starting to 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:47.880 talk about it, right, starting to talk about climate change 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.720 because it's inevitable. Every single disaster is you know, more 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.240 just more and more frequency or higher intensity storm, more 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.400 rainfall in a shorter amount of time. And so we 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.920 had that flood and we hit the ground pretty much running, 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.240 just doing lots of bucking and gutting and organizing a 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.880 lot of folks coming up from UH Texas and south 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.520 in like New Orleans area and you know east from 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.880 Florida all the way over Mississippi. UM. And then, like 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.080 Jimmy said, we just kept getting hit and hit. I 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.880 can't even remember everything after that. I knew there was IRMA, 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:28.080 and we responded to IRMA. We had national colms running UM, 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.360 which was really cool. People were signing up for workships 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.920 and helping out on the ground while people were running 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.920 around and UM getting transportation and getting people out of places, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.040 delivering supplies, helping you know, again with tarping or like 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.200 things that might have happened homes UM. And then we've 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.880 had Maria. I went down to Puerto Rico for that 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.280 UM and helped out with some of the solar and 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.840 water issues there. And then we have Laura and Harvey 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.400 and I cannot even remember all of them at this 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.440 point in Fiona, they just all they're all gonna keep 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.880 coming either into the Gulf or they're going to head 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.360 along the East coast because of the way that the 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:11.400 climate has affected the current and the surface water temperatures 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.679 in the Gulf and the Atlantic. Yeah, and like you say, 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:16.840 they're going to have a disportionate impact on people who 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.480 are already marginalized. What is it you're talking about people 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.680 signing up for work? That's interesting? So do you seems 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.960 like you're mostly a volunteer organization to people who have 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.480 special skills. Just got up to a website and say Hey, 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.599 I'd like to help, or how does that work? It 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:33.800 happens in a lot of ways. Sometimes folks will reach 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.880 out via the email on the website, um, or they'll 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.240 reach out on one of the social media or they'll 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:42.800 know somebody and be like, hey, I want to get involved. 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.200 Um that's really grassroots. Some people are in the ground. 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:48.440 There's a lot of folks that have gotten involved more 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.559 long term because um, you know, there was a response 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.360 on the ground in their area. They kind of got 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.280 into it just because that's you know, what ends up 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.320 happening when there's no one else around, you rely on 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.240 each other and you old that community. It's kind of 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:07.240 it's kind of just what happens. Yeah, that makes sense. 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:09.960 So what's your sort of national Do you have a 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:11.880 sense of how many people, how many volunteers you have 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.319 on a nationals I'm guessing your national or international scale? 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.840 Now it varies, you know, like in in times of 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.280 you know, when you know, between disasters, uh, you know 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:27.440 there's you know, dozens of people involved or you know, 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.240 like a hundred or two hundred, um. But then we're 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:36.120 very you know, participatory and UM, so when a disaster happens, 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.360 you know there's a lot more people involved, hundreds and 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.080 thousands of people that participate in one way or another. 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.840 Like in Louisiana, we've had um a lot of different 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.400 like ds A groups or s r A groups come 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.320 out and help out, like mobilies on the ground and 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.440 kind of come out as infinity groups and do different jobs, 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.040 help out with different homes, and so really it's just 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.440 like it's an network of facilitating anyone who's interested in 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.320 ensuring that all of us have what we need when 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:12.560 we know the response is going to be slow from 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:17.200 those that are supposed to be handling that quote unquote right, 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.800 And then you guys can connect people with skills or 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:24.240 people with time to people who need help. Yeah, there 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.560 really anybody who had skill of any kind or is welcome. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.520 That's great. Yeah, where can they find that people do 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:37.320 want to sign up? I guess the easiest way would 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.719 be yet, I don't know, Jimmy money. I'm on the 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.160 ground a lot. Check out our website mutual A Disaster 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.839 Relief dot org and our emails mutual A Disaster Relief 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.080 at gmail dot com. We're on all the social media's 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.680 as well, and yeah, we we love it when folks 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:54.920 UH reach out to us and tell us how they 0:11:54.920 --> 0:12:07.439 want to be involved. I wanted to ask you there 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.400 are obviously some other organizations who, like maybe I would 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.320 name it, you can if you want to, who have 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:17.200 received a lot of national press for doing helping people 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.480 in times of disaster, and maybe you can explain a while, 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:25.480 like some folks wouldn't necessarily be comfortable asking them for 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:30.880 help or going to them if they needed help. Yeah, UM, 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:38.079 so oftentimes, uh, you know, you know, like organizations you know, UM, 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:42.160 you know, top down organizations. You know, they partner with 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:48.600 you know, police or homeland security or carcetoral institutions like that. 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:54.080 There's um a shelter after um uh, when Hurricane Michael 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:58.720 hit the Panhandle. UM, you know, people who had warrants 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.199 you know, we're we're signed into the shelter and then 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.679 police came and scoop them up and brought them to um, 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.280 you know, to jails, into prisons and you know, so 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.760 you know, UM and also you know, even with with 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.480 you know, with those you know, extreme situations aside. UM. 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:23.599 You know, the the top down approach is patronizing, it's stigmatizing. It. 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:30.400 UM can um at sometimes provide the water, the food 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.959 that that people need but oftentimes comes at a too 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.079 high of a cost. Uh, and people long for a 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.280 communal recovery. That's how we heal from disasters like this, 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:44.800 from crises events is being part of, you know, a 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.480 communal recovery. We're all able to pitch in and receive 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.960 what we need and and give what we can. Yeah, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:52.679 can you tell us can you give U an example 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.040 of a communal recovery, like that's something that's happened somewhere. Well, 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.079 you guys have been able to assist a community or 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.000 a community be able to assist a family or into 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:06.400 Julian recovering. Yeah. Um. One one example that I think 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:13.120 it's really representative of of our approach is UM there 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.640 there there's a family who who was evicted you know, 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:22.440 the um illegally you know, after after a disaster, and 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:26.640 uh that you know, single mom was looking after the 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.920 other single moms, making sure they had you know, uh 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:35.000 fuel for you know, their generators to um you know, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.160 to power their their phone in different different devices, and 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:40.680 that they had diapers, and that they had you know 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.680 what what they needed to get by even though you know, 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.840 they no longer had a roof over their head and 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.360 so when mutual a disaster relief comes across people like this, 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:55.080 our resources are their resources, you know. So so when 0:14:55.120 --> 0:15:00.120 we both local mutual aid groups, just the matriarchal the 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.440 block who's taken care of of of the other folks 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:09.920 on the block, mutually disastually exists to uh to share 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.640 you know, um this this network of supplies and labor 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:19.400 and you know, back up and support with with efforts 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:25.120 like that that are spontaneous that arise after every crisis. Okay, 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.680 that makes sense. The LA's the thing I really wanted 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.240 to get to here was like, as you mentioned climate 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.560 changes causing these natural disasters and the worst that things 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:38.480 get than the worst that things get, and like you 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.960 guys have started this organization that helps people to help people, 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:46.000 and I'm wondering, like what a like, how can people 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.960 organize to help and be How can people in communities 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.640 organize to be more resilient and in the time when 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:59.320 natural disasters becoming more and more commonplace. So one of 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.120 the things that I think what Jimmy spoke to regarding 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.840 like a matriarch on the black building, that community in 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.720 advanced and after if it happens to just be after, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:09.600 which is kind of what happens a lot of times 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.480 is when it's that forced um, I don't want to 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:17.200 say forced, but out of necessity, right, Like necessity is 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:19.880 the mother of invention, right, And so there's these iterations 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.920 of what community can become. Every time there's a disaster, 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.360 there's like a clean slate and there's a vacuum in 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:31.240 which something can be created because there maybe nothing. And 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:33.560 so if you can see an opportunity and if you 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.840 if you have any kind of network on the ground, 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:41.480 or you it spontaneously rupts, then that can be the 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.360 new growth or the like or however you want to 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.400 phrase it. But I think for the resiliency to happen, 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:54.480 that solidarity in the long term is built from those 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.160 networks on the ground. There's people recognizing each other and 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.280 seeing each other. And I think COVID is so interesting 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:05.560 because people have become so nuclear and like isolated the 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.840 technology and then forced into these pods of technology and 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.040 that was the only way people existed, and then all 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:13.680 of a sudden there was this need to be around 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:15.960 people like people like no, no, no, I really want 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.479 like human contact. And so I think that kind of 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.760 speaks to the reality of what we need to survive 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.199 and that's going to be through disasters, through pandemics. So 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:30.359 building them, building a community garden, like saying hey to 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.879 your neighbor, finding out who on your street is like 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.880 an elder and maybe doesn't have anybody checking up on them, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.760 Like knowing what is in your what are the resources, 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.720 whether it's people, whether it's a food bank, whether it's 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:45.040 like a water fountain, Like, what are the resources in 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:50.440 your area? And where can you spontaneously take over areas 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:56.320 when something happens. There's so many empty lots, different places 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.560 that are you know, really on the verge of being 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.240 genderfed it and when something happens, if you can help 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:07.359 in the areas where you can maybe take over a building, 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.600 that would help maintain that building for the persons who 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.480 would otherwise be getting pushed out soon. Right, Like we've 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.959 worked with people that allow us to set up school libraries, 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.880 for example, in their areas while we're while we're doing 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:24.040 disaster response, and we helped build that house or that 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:29.520 community center for that school up while we're there and 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.399 creating a community space for people to then run with 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.000 that concept of what they wanted to build, like what 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.959 they wanted to put there. The best way you know 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:43.240 to prepare for disasters is ongoing mutual aid projects and 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.520 groups and efforts. You know, the more that we can 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:50.600 connect with each other, those relationships and those connections, they're 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:56.200 the groundwork for uh A vibrant people power disaster response. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.080 You gotta know who's who. You gotta know what we 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.679 are are able to be wanting to do. You know, 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.680 what are people's strengths. It really is about that resiliency. 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.000 Knowing who you can count on for something like who 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.320 knows about you know, wiring, who knows about plumbing, who 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:20.160 knows about you know the streets, who knows the area 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.199 the best? You know, certain members in the community that 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.639 are founders in the community that others will respond to 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:30.080 or navigate or gravitate too. I got you. Yeah, Yeah, 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.240 that makes a lot of sense that, Like, I think 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.879 it's really interesting to contrast this with the model of 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.280 like surviving natural disasters that we've seen portrayed so often, 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.879 especially on like TV shows like Preppers, right, which is 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.240 like I will sit on my own with a ship 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.280 ton of ammunition and shoot anyone who comes off to 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.399 my realm and noodle castle. But what are you gonna do? 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.760 With that when your supplies right now, then when you 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:54.119 who are you going to rely on? All we have 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.840 is each other? We're not, We're not. I mean more 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.480 power to the you know, outlier in the visual out 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:03.439 there that can literally do everything for themselves. But I 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:10.639 just don't think that's humanities function we have. We have 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:14.280 much more UM when we share with each other um 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:18.320 than we have individually. When we pull our resources together, 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:21.720 we have enough for everybody. Uh. We you know, we 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:25.120 take what is in our cabinets, you know, as far 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.399 as food or sup supplies, we take what's in our 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:32.320 medicine cabinets. We make it liberated communal uh space and 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:37.600 supplies and and very quickly thinks snowball and uh small 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.520 first aisation becomes a wellness center or a clinic. And 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.800 and and that's you know the power of of sharing 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:49.320 with each other and building building alternative infrastructure infrastructure together. 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:54.400 And the alternative infrastructure for me is really important to UM. 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.240 I think for us to be resilient, we we have 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.160 to teach each other the skills. We have to start 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:02.760 learning the ways in which we will be able to 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.119 actually build back the way we want the way we 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.720 foresee our communities to be whatever that looks like. But 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:12.960 we need those skills if we are going to divest, 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:18.680 if we are going to have autonomy. Yeah, I really 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:22.480 like that model of thinking of your natural disasters like 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.800 an opportunity to rebuild in a more a more equal way, 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:27.919 rather than thinking of it it's the thing which just 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:30.760 has knocks down the you know, the amount of stuff 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:32.879 you've accumulated or whatever, instead of seeing it as an 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.720 opportunity is really positive. It is an opportunity to reevaluate, 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:40.200 is an opportunity to see each other, to see your neighbor. 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:42.800 It's an opportunity to be more sustainable in the rebuild, 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:45.320 which is the thing that I really struggle with in 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:50.160 a lot of responses. Um it is just the dependency 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.840 on the existing supply chains and the existing methods of 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.960 transportation like that, that whole needs to be addressed for 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.480 resiliency in the future. There's got to be the entire 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:05.159 real world of how we respond in some ways in general. Yeah, 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:07.800 divest the way we want, No, I think that's the 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.560 sustain ability thing. It's just reminded me of something which like, 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:12.720 for whatever reason, I bought one back last time. I 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:16.680 was somewhere, but people can't see this being an audio podcast. 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.159 But one of the things you often see in natural 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:22.440 disasters is these things that are called humanitarian daily rations 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:24.120 and it's like a it's like an m R E. 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:26.760 And it comes in a pink packet and everything else 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.359 comes in the packet, and like it's within like two days. 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.480 And obviously this is a time when like sort of 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:37.600 systems for disposing of rubbish have been overwhelmed within two days, 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.400 these things and the foil packets and little brown spirits 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:45.119 of fucking everywhere, and it's just it It always strikes 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:47.440 me as so sad that like we've taken this time 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:50.040 when people are in crisis, and we've made a time 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:54.760 when also that their environment is in crisis now as well. Yeah, 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:56.720 and a lot, and that's one of the things I 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.479 struggle with um with water as well. Water is kind 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:03.240 of like my ing. I know, the irony, but um, 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:07.159 when whenever there's a response, there's a heavy dependency on 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:12.240 bottled water and there's other alternatives, but it would require 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:15.760 you know, a little bit of advanced skill training, a 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:19.720 little bit of advanced infrastructure development, but that response could 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:22.880 be prepared in advance and I think in in some 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:26.560 cases there's communities, especially in the local South, where that 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:31.359 advanced thinking about it's gonna happen, Right, It's gonna happen here, right, 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:37.320 it's gonna it's gonna have what's gonna happen everywhere in 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:39.239 the Gulf coast, and it's going to keep going up 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.240 and up. And whether it's a fire, whether it's a hurricane, 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:45.159 whether it's a massive tornado, whether it's to drought in 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:49.240 a food shortage, or a pandemic, if we're not thinking 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:51.199 in advance and be just and I don't want to 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:54.199 sound like you know, necessarily prepper individualistic, but as a 0:23:54.240 --> 0:23:59.000 community thinking in advance, like for example, small plug but cooperation. 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:04.520