1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. Hello, and welcome to Cool People Who 2 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: Did Cool Stuff, your weekly reminder that for all the 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: bad things happening, there are people trying to do good 4 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: things too. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, and this week 5 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: it's just me. It's just me because I'm writing and 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 1: recording this on the Thursday and Friday before it's released. 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 1: I just drove from North Carolina home to West Virginia 8 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 1: to get to my studio. But there's no rest in sight, 9 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: not yet soon. See. I was all set to do 10 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: a regular episode this week, and regular episodes will absolutely 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: return next week, but I wanted this week to be different. 12 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about a historical event, as always, 13 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: but the event I wanted. 14 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 2: To talk about. The historical event I wanted to talk 15 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 2: about occurred from the end of September to early October 16 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. That is to say, from last week 17 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 2: and this week. I wanted to talk about grassroots disaster 18 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 2: response to Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. I wanted 19 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 2: to talk about that because I wanted to go down 20 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 2: there and talk to people and help. I lived there 21 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 2: for a long time that a lot of my best 22 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 2: friends are there, so I went down there to help, 23 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 2: only only for a few days. I'd be sort of 24 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:20,960 Speaker 2: self aggrandizing to claim I did some heroic amount of work, 25 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 2: So maybe it's better to see me as a journalist 26 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 2: who wanted sort of desperately to help out and bring 27 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 2: some of my friends some of the stuff that they needed. Sophie, 28 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 2: my producer, agreed to let me break format to try 29 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 2: something new, Rory my audio engineer, agreed to be stuck 30 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 2: doing the audio editing at the last minute to make 31 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 2: it happen. And prop the guest I had booked, agreed 32 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 2: to let me reschedule. So I owe even more to 33 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 2: the rest of the crew than usual. This week's show 34 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 2: isn't not quite the here's the news about Hurricane Helene 35 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 2: and its impacts on western North Carolina. That kind of 36 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 2: show is coming, I'm sure for me or from someone else, 37 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 2: it probably is already out there. Some of what I'm 38 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 2: going to say is hearsay, because the research I did 39 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 2: this week was talk to people in Ashville, and I 40 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 2: didn't have any kind of reliable internet access until pretty 41 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 2: much last night and this morning, and so I looked 42 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,920 Speaker 2: up everything as fast as I could, but not everything 43 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 2: is known yet. I've done my best to sort out 44 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:23,679 Speaker 2: truth from rumor, and I'm sure there's going to be 45 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 2: some blurred lines. I'm also going to weave more personal 46 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 2: narrative into this, not because I'm anywhere near a central 47 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 2: figure in this story, but because I don't know. It's 48 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 2: how I know how to tell a story. I like hanging. 49 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: Stories off of a narrative, and my own is the 50 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: one I know here. So I'm going to tell you 51 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: a story about rain, about floods, about Ashville, about mutual aid, 52 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: about organic grassroots organizing, about disaster compassion, and about not 53 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: only can we live in a better world, but we 54 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: sort of do. It's buried underneath the world that we're 55 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: used to, the world of misery and capitalism, and it 56 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: peaks its head out sometimes. So where do we start 57 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: with this story? How about some books? Everyone likes books. 58 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: There are these two books that I think about all 59 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: the time. One of them I've read and the other 60 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: one I actually haven't. The book I've read is called 61 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: Russia through a shot Glass by C. S. Walton. It's 62 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 1: ostensibly and probably actually the true story of a Russian 63 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: vagabond wandering around during Soviet times, drinking and begging and 64 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: just living his best life. I have no idea where 65 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: I found this book or why I read it, but 66 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: I did. And there's a part that's stuck with me. Well, 67 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: there's a couple parts. One part that stuck with me 68 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: is like, oh, right, poverty did exist under this ostensibly 69 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: communist society. But the other thing that's stuck with me 70 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: is a part of the story wherein our protagonist is 71 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: talking to another beggar, and the beggar explains that what 72 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: he does is a social service for the community, and 73 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: it's an important one. Everyone who gives him money feels better. 74 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: And that's one of those things that's so obvious it 75 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: shouldn't even be an epiphany, but it was one. When 76 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: we help people out, we feel better. Try it out. 77 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: Give a twenty to someone flying a sign. You feel better, 78 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: they feel better. Everyone wins. The catch here is that 79 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: you have to be you have to help people out 80 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: unforced right. You have to choose to help people out. 81 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: When institutions force you to help people out, it often 82 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:39,039 Speaker 1: causes resentment. But go try tipping real good at a 83 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: restaurant like Above and beyond. You feel like you are 84 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: the best person to ever walk upon God's green Earth. 85 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: When you do that, and hey, if it's a place 86 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: you go to regularly, like it's sure is nice to 87 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: be known as like, oh, that girl's a good tipper 88 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: because people talk. There's another book it's more influential to 89 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: what we're talking about, and it's been an enormously impactful 90 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: on my worldview and I haven't even read it. It's 91 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: Rebecca Solnet's A Paradise Built in Hell. It's about how 92 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: humans come together during crisis and create altruistic societies. I 93 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: really need to read it. It's entirely up my alley, 94 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: like it forms the walls of the alley that I 95 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: live in. But that's the power of books. You can 96 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: write down ideas so compelling that they reach people who 97 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,159 Speaker 1: haven't even read your specific words. A lot of especially 98 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:29,479 Speaker 1: when I was a younger activist, a lot of what 99 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: I learned came from people who've been doing the reading 100 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:34,479 Speaker 1: or had talked to people who do in the reading. 101 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:38,720 Speaker 1: And a sort of oral tradition also exists. And I 102 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,679 Speaker 1: love books, I write books, I read books for a living. 103 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: But the oral tradition that often starts in books but 104 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 1: not always is also super essential. I've known and felt 105 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: these things for a while. Giving people stuff feels good, 106 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: and people come together during times of crisis. I've believed them, 107 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: and they're fairly central ideas to my worldview and my 108 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:04,159 Speaker 1: political idea. I've experienced them both too. But this week, 109 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: visiting Asheville, North Carolina, in the wake of Hurricane Helene, 110 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: I've seen it in a way that I'll never unsee. 111 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: I used to believe in it, but now I believe 112 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: in it with a capital B, which would have been 113 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: a clever way to write that sentence if I weren't 114 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: writing a script for an audio medium. People are coming 115 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,679 Speaker 1: together in western North Carolina, and they're doing amazing things, 116 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: and they're doing it through broad, informal and heterogeneous networks. 117 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: There is no one person on the ground there right 118 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: now who truly has the whole, big picture of what's happening, 119 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,799 Speaker 1: and there never will be one history book that contains 120 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: everything that happened, because most of it isn't written down. 121 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: It's just happening. I only saw like a tenth of 122 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 1: a percent of the relief efforts that are happening there 123 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: on my two day trip, but they're enough that I'll 124 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: carry them for the rest of my days. But first 125 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: there was some rain. Let's talk about rain. If you 126 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: don't live somewhere that floods regularly, and you don't garden, 127 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: you might not have a sense of how much rain 128 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: is when it's measured in inches, right, Like you might think, oh, 129 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: an inch of rain makes the water rise an inch. 130 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: That's just not true. I know that I didn't have 131 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: a sense of rain measured in inches, not until I 132 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: moved on to some property outside of Asheville, North Carolina. 133 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: I want to say twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, not actually sure. 134 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: Most of the acreage was down in a field alongside 135 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: a narrow, lazy creek. The field was what's called a 136 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: one hundred year floodplain by one map, but not a 137 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: floodplain at all by another map. And that second map 138 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: was the map that mattered for permitting. It was the 139 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: more official map, which is to say, one half of 140 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: the government figured it didn't flood at all, and the 141 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: other half figured it only flooded about once in a century. 142 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: I'd like to say that I built my little cabin 143 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: on the hill because I was thinking ahead, because I'm 144 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: such a good prepper. But I actually built my cabin 145 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: on the hill because I'm weird and antisocial and wanted 146 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: to build a black a frame deep in the way 147 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: woods at the back corner of the property, far away 148 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: from my best friends. The people I lived with don't 149 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: do what I do. I'm just a strange person down 150 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: in the field. Though, it flooded not once a century, 151 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: but at first about once a season, or soon once 152 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: a month, sometimes multiple times in a week. It flooded 153 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: more and more, higher and higher. We talked with water 154 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: people at length about it. Official people came out and 155 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: took measurements, gave us ideas about how to reinforce the 156 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: banks of the creek so that we wouldn't lose our 157 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: houses to the widening river bed. But when we asked 158 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: those officials what was going to happen in the future, 159 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: they shook their heads. It should have been one hundred 160 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: year floodplain. But climate change is real, and all they 161 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: knew was that everything was going to get worse. But 162 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: I learned how much an inch of rain was. An 163 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: inch of rain is a lot. Hours of heavy rainfall 164 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: brings you an inch of rain. An inch or two 165 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 1: of rain means flooding. My my friends almost died during 166 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: an inch or two of rain a few years ago, 167 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: in fact, when we were trying to save some stuff 168 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: from the flood and they were pulled under the water 169 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: for a second, which is to say, don't try and 170 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: save stuff from the flood. But you know, we also arrived, 171 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: all of us on that land, learned to watch the 172 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: weather closely to know when to move the cars to 173 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: higher ground, to get ourselves or the animals to higher ground. 174 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: I spent more time in floodwater than I'd like to admit, 175 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: because you're not supposed to spend any time in floodwater. 176 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: And even this tiny rural creek, I saw all kinds 177 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: of terrible stuff washing through it. I have absolutely pulled 178 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: syringes out of this water. Eventually, we fled the flooding 179 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: land and I moved up to West Virginia. And you 180 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,600 Speaker 1: know what enabled me to move to West Virginia. It 181 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 1: was no, it wasn't the product. I actually didn't have 182 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: this job yet. Actually what enabled me to move there 183 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: is the cooperative economy. Because I used to work at 184 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: a nonprofit called seed Commons that helps finance the cooperative 185 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: economy and they're pretty cool. So informally this show sponsored 186 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: by seed Commons. Why not. I really like them. Look 187 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: them up. They finance worker cooperatives, but we're probably also 188 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: sponsored by other stuff. I'm not sure. Let's find out, 189 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: and we're back. People tend to think mountains don't flood. Well, 190 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: people who live in the mountains know that they flood. 191 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,319 Speaker 1: But if you don't, you might think that mountains don't flood. 192 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,079 Speaker 1: And maybe you, dear listener, do already know that, right. 193 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 1: But I have talked to many people in this past 194 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: week who are very confused by the fact that mountains flood. 195 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 1: And that's not because they're like, you know, unintelligent people. 196 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 1: They just didn't know a thing that is a little 197 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: bit counterintuitive. And it's true that Hurricane Helene was a 198 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: once in a lifetime event. It was more or less 199 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: unprecedented and unimaginable. But that's not because mountains don't flood. 200 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:02,080 Speaker 1: It's just because usually nothing floods as much as Asheville 201 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: and the surrounding areas flooded last week. Mountain communities are 202 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: built in what in Appalachia we call hollers. They are 203 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 1: the crooks between the arms of the mountains. Sometimes the 204 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:16,679 Speaker 1: word is spelled hollow, but it's always pronounced hollow. And 205 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: usually people just spell it holler. It's a way of 206 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: saying neighborhood. More or less. I lived in a holler 207 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 1: outside of Ashville. I live in a different holler now. 208 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: Heavy rains flow down the mountains and collect in the 209 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 1: low spots and join creeks or become creeks. These low 210 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:37,080 Speaker 1: spots are what flood. The thing is, the low spots 211 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:40,240 Speaker 1: are where we put our roads, because it's a good 212 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: place to put roads. They're often also where people put 213 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: their houses because they're close to the roads, and they're 214 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: flatter these areas, and they're easier to farm and graze 215 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 1: and do all of the stuff of life. And towns 216 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: grow up in these lower areas. So the mountaintops themselves 217 00:11:57,880 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: know they don't tend to flood, although they do have 218 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 1: problems with mudslides and all kinds of other things. The roads, 219 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,720 Speaker 1: though they flood, they flood bad, and so do the rivers, 220 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 1: and those floods are just getting worse and worse. The 221 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: first time I responded to a flood in Appalachia was 222 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: a community in western West Virginia. I think it was 223 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,559 Speaker 1: Wise County. It lost a lot of its roads and 224 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: its connection to the outside world. In part due to 225 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: the strip mining and mountaintop removal coal mining that left 226 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: the ground ill suited to absorbing rain. Because there are 227 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: so many different ways that human industrial society, it was 228 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: like causing all of these climate effects. It's not just 229 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: the carbon, it's also all of this other stuff. Later 230 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about chemical pollution in the water 231 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: because of plastic plants, and also dead people because plastic 232 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: plant operators didn't let their people leave during the storm 233 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: because they are nightmare men. Anyway, in Wise County, I 234 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: don't know twenty eleven, who's to keep track of time? 235 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: Not This girl showed up as activists and mucked out 236 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: people's basements for a day or two, and I learned that, yes, 237 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: mountains flood. It seems and is odd that Hurricane Helene 238 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:14,359 Speaker 1: most spectacularly destroyed a couple counties in western North Carolina 239 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: at twenty one hundred feet nowhere near the coast. Hurricane 240 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: Helene wasn't exactly set up to be history's most impressive hurricane. 241 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,440 Speaker 1: I think it made landfall as a Cat one, but 242 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: I forgot to write that down in my script. But 243 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: it was, if you'll part in the way of putting 244 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: it the perfect storm, because what hit western North Carolina 245 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: was two storms. My friend in Asheville explained it to 246 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: me the night that I arrived. The cool thing about 247 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: getting older as a punk is that, Okay, you have 248 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,959 Speaker 1: to pick a hobby right, and you can pick between 249 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,559 Speaker 1: bird watching, becoming a weather nerd, weightlifting, or some combination 250 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: of the above. And this friend of mine became a 251 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: weather nerd. And so this friend explained that essentially two 252 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: storms hit Asheville like a zipper coming together. First rain 253 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: had been sitting on Ashville, a storm that showed up 254 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: and just hovered over the city like a little cartoon 255 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,959 Speaker 1: rain cloud over a little cartoon sad person. This storm 256 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: dumped at least four and I've also heard eight inches 257 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,080 Speaker 1: of rain on the city in a day, And likely 258 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: the difference between those is like different whether measuring stations 259 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: or exactly when they're like starting and stopping the count. 260 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: Both four and eight inches are a lot. This is 261 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: enough to fuck some people's days up good. At four 262 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: inches of rain, people start dying. Then Helene hit twelve 263 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: to eighteen inches over most of western North Carolina in 264 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:43,840 Speaker 1: a three day period, hitting the area around Asheville the 265 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: hardest and When I say around Asheville, I don't mean 266 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: Asheville is the only place that was affected. I mean 267 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: a pretty large area with whole other towns and cities 268 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: that people usually haven't heard of. Some places, some measuring stations, 269 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: saw up to thirty one inches over those three days. 270 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:02,600 Speaker 1: According to the North Carolina State Climate Office, the Asheville 271 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: Airport recorded almost fourteen inches before it went offline, which 272 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: is as much rain as you'd expect over three months. 273 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: For comparison, Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in US history, 274 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: put five to ten inches of rain on the city 275 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: of New Orleans. Now this doesn't mean that Helene is 276 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: like worse, because you can't measure things as simply as that, 277 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: But it's just it's a lot. It's so much rain, 278 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: and there's no way that people could have known that 279 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 1: this was going to happen besides the vaguest hints, And 280 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: so the rivers rose by as much as twenty six feet. 281 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: The rivers rose well higher than the previous record floods 282 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixteen, which I think was once again when 283 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: two storms converged on the area, and I think the 284 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 1: record from that was like twenty feet again. Didn't write 285 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 1: that number in the script. Working from memory here. I 286 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: was on book tour when Helene hit. I was driving 287 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: down to Charlotte to Virginia, and I was hearing vague 288 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: warnings about maybe some flooding or some heavy rainfall. But 289 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: nothing hit us where we were besides, you know, some rain. Saturday. 290 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 1: The next day I drove to Baltimore for the book 291 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: festival there, and by that point people were starting to 292 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: worry about western North Carolina. Images of destroyed towns and roads, 293 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: trapped cars, entire houses floating down the river started coming out. 294 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: But more importantly, we stopped hearing from our friends. I 295 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: sent Signal messages to a bunch of my friends. Hey, 296 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: just checking in. When you send a message with the 297 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: app Signal, it's an encrypted app. Everyone should be using it. 298 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: It uses little icons to show you how far your 299 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: message has gotten. One check mark means it's gone to 300 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: the server right, and two check marks means it's reached 301 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: the recipient, and then both turn white when the message 302 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: has been read. If both you and the recipient have 303 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,720 Speaker 1: message read, receipts turned on. All my message were stuck 304 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: on one check mark because no one had received them 305 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 1: on the ground a group of friends with Ham radios, 306 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,880 Speaker 1: which are amateur radios. We're like, Okay, this storm is bad. 307 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: Cell phones are out, but hey, we've got Ham radios. 308 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,879 Speaker 1: They're kind of like seen as the sort of if 309 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:19,879 Speaker 1: any technology is going to work, Ham radio is going 310 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: to work, you know, or radio is going to work. 311 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,879 Speaker 1: But it turns out that they are radios. While radio 312 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 1: is indeed the most reliable form of communication during a 313 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: storm like that, they still weren't incredibly reliable because mountains 314 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:38,280 Speaker 1: make a lot of frequencies hard to use, because well, 315 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: radios are really complicated, but basically like some radios are 316 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: a little bit more line of sight than others, and 317 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,159 Speaker 1: some move over obstacles better than others, depending on what 318 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,239 Speaker 1: frequency it is and how much power you're putting out 319 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,480 Speaker 1: and stuff like that, and mountains make frequencies hard to use, 320 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: and water in the air also can make frequencies hard 321 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: to use. Some folks could hear other folks, but it 322 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: wasn't reliable, Like one person person A could hear person B, 323 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: and person Z could hear a person B, and you 324 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: know whatever. So in the end, they went door to 325 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: door I believe, on bicycles and gathered up their crew 326 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: at someone's house. They called for a community meeting at 327 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,360 Speaker 1: two pm at firestorm. Then they went door to door 328 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 1: again and told people about it, leaving notes at houses 329 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 1: of people who weren't home. So people met in mass 330 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: and they started organizing. And what they organized was to 331 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: get together and take advantage of these sweet, sweet deals. 332 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: That's not what they organized, but you can. You can 333 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: listen to the sponsors if you want. Meanwhile, those of 334 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: us outside the city had been getting organized too, through 335 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: a group called Mutual a Disaster Relief, which is more 336 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 1: of a network. It's complicated, semi autonomous groups working together. 337 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: It's great usually look it up. They are the main people. 338 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: I'm going to be like, hey, you should donate money too. 339 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: We'll talk about that a little bit later. I don't 340 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: know how much Wei language I should use here about 341 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: this organizing, because I tried to help out a little bit, 342 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 1: and I was on some signal chats and things. I 343 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: cannot paint myself in any way es central to any 344 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: of it, as anyone who made it happen. Information coming 345 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: out of the area was, of course real spotty, but 346 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: within twenty four hours of the storm there were anarchists 347 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:26,720 Speaker 1: coordinating a small fleet of planes to get relief supplies 348 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: into the area, trying their hardest to work out which, 349 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: if any airports were still open for relief traffic. In 350 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: the end, it wasn't small planes that did most of 351 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: the work. It was helicopters and well, the relief supplies 352 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,439 Speaker 1: mostly went in by truck and car and van and 353 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: things right, whereas the actual relief on the ground for 354 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: people happened more with hikers and ATVs and dirt bikes 355 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: and helicopters and all kinds of other methods of a 356 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:59,640 Speaker 1: string of pack mules most photogenically and also usefully anyway, okay, 357 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,640 Speaker 1: and short planes to save the day. But I still 358 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: thought it was pretty cool that I know people who 359 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: can coordinate a fleet of planes on short notice. People 360 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 1: tend to think of grassroots disaster response as sort of 361 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,480 Speaker 1: the like scrappy and impromptu and small thing that like 362 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: kind of fills in the little tiny gaps left by 363 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: the big stuff, And that's just not true. It is 364 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: the first of those two things. It is scrappy and impromptu, 365 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: but it can scale up to some serious infrastructure and 366 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,040 Speaker 1: often does. I remember, on one of these signal threads, 367 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: someone was saying, you know, asking for some type of 368 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 1: tent I'd never heard of to store supplies. And I 369 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:35,360 Speaker 1: was like, well, I got I got a ten by 370 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: ten easy up. It doesn't got walls, but maybe it'll help. 371 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: And then I realized that what the what the grown 372 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: ups in the chat were discussing was the sort of 373 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,000 Speaker 1: tent that you set up a field hospital or a 374 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,119 Speaker 1: mess hall inside, the kind that takes a forklift to 375 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 1: move before they're assembled. I was quite obviously out of 376 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,919 Speaker 1: my league. After the Baltimore stop on my tour, I 377 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 1: was up to Brooklyn for the Brooklyn Book Festival, and 378 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: I had the hardest time paying attention to anything besides 379 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,399 Speaker 1: my phone and the incessant signal messages coordinating relief. The 380 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: first crews from outside the area were making their way in, 381 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: and some people living in town had managed to find 382 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: enough internet access to tell us what they needed and 383 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: who was okay. Largely that happened by starlink actually, and 384 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,680 Speaker 1: there was oh, so many things were happening immediately, just 385 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: like right away from the storm. Right there's a there's 386 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: a Ramen shop in town that once it's up and running, 387 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 1: go support Ido Ramen on Heywood they absolutely help people 388 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: out amazingly. So did so many places. But that was 389 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: the place they had starlink internet access and people would 390 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:36,919 Speaker 1: go there, and I think they were one of the 391 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 1: many different places that once they got power up and 392 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: other people didn't. I'm not sure what was with generators 393 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: or just you know, luck of location. They would just 394 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: put extension cords out their door with like USB chargers 395 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,240 Speaker 1: and stuff on them and make sure that people were 396 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,080 Speaker 1: okay and that people could come and charge their phones. 397 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: And they weren't like paying customers get power only or 398 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: any of that nonsense, you know. I think they were 399 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,639 Speaker 1: actually even that place was like just bring out food 400 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: to people who were waiting there. Anyway, that's besides the point, 401 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:08,199 Speaker 1: but that's how my friends first started getting internet. There 402 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:09,920 Speaker 1: are other people who managed to do it in different ways. 403 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,359 Speaker 1: And actually, one of the things that's just kind of 404 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: funny is that starlink doesn't work really well during heavy storms, 405 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: so even that wasn't really working during the brunt of 406 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: the storm. A lot of the relief work, it turns out, 407 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:27,000 Speaker 1: doesn't even happen on the ground. A lot of relief 408 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: work is just coordinating by signal, by spreadsheet, by discord 409 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: by slack, by SMS messages, by phone calls, by going 410 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 1: door to door. People announce needs like insulin is needed 411 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: at the following nursing home, or can someone do a 412 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: wellness check on my aunt? Or diapers are needed in 413 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: the following neighborhoods, and then people track those needs and 414 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,040 Speaker 1: coordinate it with people who can meet them. Gas stations 415 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:51,800 Speaker 1: are called one at a time to find out who 416 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:53,400 Speaker 1: has gas and wear, and as the kind of work 417 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: that people can do from anywhere. I think it was 418 00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: Sunday morning when a friend in Ohio wrote me and 419 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,119 Speaker 1: asked for a wellness check on a family friend whose 420 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: North Carolina address included the words riverside. He wrote an 421 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 1: hour or so later to say that her body had 422 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: been found. I hadn't yet heard from some of my 423 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,639 Speaker 1: closest friends, and so I decided that I was going 424 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 1: to go down. I actually did, in the end, end 425 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 1: up hearing from them before I started my trip, and 426 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 1: that friend of a friend is the only death that 427 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,199 Speaker 1: I've personally experienced out of this so far, and I 428 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,720 Speaker 1: hope it is the only one. But anyway, I had 429 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 1: heard from my friends before I started the trip, but 430 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: I made my decision when I had end, and by 431 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: that point I'd committed, and I'd talked with other volunteers 432 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 1: about what I was bringing and how I was going 433 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: to get there and who I was going to caravan with. 434 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 1: It's a tricky thing to decide to go into a 435 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: crisis zone. Nine times out of ten, the most useful 436 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: thing you can do is to not go into a 437 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: crisis zone. In combat medicine, one of the first rules 438 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,680 Speaker 1: is basically, don't make another victim. If you go into 439 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,680 Speaker 1: a crisis zone and need help, you've made the situation 440 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,239 Speaker 1: worse instead of better. But I had an awful lot 441 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,719 Speaker 1: of preparedness supplies, and I have a van, and I 442 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,359 Speaker 1: was connected with some folks bringing even more supplies in, 443 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: and we weren't so certain about the roots yet, and 444 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: we wanted a caravan and do the whole safety and 445 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,040 Speaker 1: numbers thing. And I'm pretty well set up for self reliance. 446 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: So Monday morning, I woke up in Queens, New York, 447 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 1: and I drove home to West Virginia, and I packed 448 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,360 Speaker 1: my van with supplies for my own stash, plus some 449 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: stores that I hit up. I stopped at the gas 450 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 1: station at the bottom of my street to pick up 451 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,200 Speaker 1: a last minute request. I'd seen bar and chain oil. 452 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: This is the stuff you put into even an electric 453 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: chainsaw to keep it lubricated and running. It's very important 454 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,840 Speaker 1: part of running a chainsaw. I walked to the cash 455 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,399 Speaker 1: register with an awful lot of bar and chain oil, 456 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,919 Speaker 1: plus engine oil and ratchet straps. I was buying like 457 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:52,639 Speaker 1: way more bar and chain oil than any one person 458 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,719 Speaker 1: needs to buy at one time. Big job coming up. 459 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: The man behind the counter asked. I told him I 460 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: was going to Ashville. This man sells Trump hats at 461 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: a store, and I'm walking in with earrings and bangs 462 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: and gender ambiguity and whatever I mean. He's also seen 463 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: me before I lived there, but Asheville is famously the 464 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: den of queer lefties with purple hair or whatever, I 465 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:17,719 Speaker 1: told him. I figured if it could happen there, it 466 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: could happen here. No podcast name pun intended, and he 467 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: nodded gravely, and he thanked me, and he gave me 468 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 1: a forty percent discount, effectively taking no profit off of 469 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: the sale. I drove down to Regular Virginia and I 470 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: met up with a friend. The next morning. We woke 471 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:38,080 Speaker 1: up before the sun rose and strapped gas cans to 472 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: the roof of her car, and we drove a rather 473 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: circutuitous route up to what was at the time the 474 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: only road into town. We stopped at the last reliable 475 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: gas in Shelby, about ninety minutes out of town. The 476 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: gas stations weren't mobbed, but they were full, and most 477 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: cars were filling up gas cans like we were. We 478 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: started seeing relief vehicles. Some were official like trucks with 479 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: trailers holding generators the size of cars. Others were just 480 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: folks with pickups loaded down with palettes of bottled water. 481 00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,240 Speaker 1: The stream of help pouring into the city was heartwarming, 482 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: to say the least. I got a little choked up. 483 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,720 Speaker 1: I had been not sure what I was driving into, 484 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,879 Speaker 1: and immediately learned that what I was driving into was 485 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: a steady stream of people trying desperately and succeeding at 486 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: helping people. And then I drove into the city and 487 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: into a storm of mutual aid, which is better than 488 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: the kind of storm I was afraid I was driving into. 489 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: I talk about mutual aid all the time on this show. 490 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,880 Speaker 1: One of the most influential books in history that once 491 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 1: again I haven't read all of, but oddly enough, again, 492 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: you don't need to read a book to be influenced 493 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: by it, because you can be influenced by people who 494 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,160 Speaker 1: are influenced by it. Is a book called Mutual Aid, 495 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: A Factor and Evolution by Peter Krapotkin. I feel like 496 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: I reference this book or Krapotkin like every other week 497 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: because his ideas have influenced so many people. The book, 498 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: which is like nineteen oh two or I don't know 499 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:09,879 Speaker 1: the year off the top of my head, but it's 500 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,320 Speaker 1: like turn of this old century. The book is an 501 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 1: evolutionary biologist and anthropologist rejecting social Darwinism, not rejecting Darwinism 502 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 1: and evolutionary theory. Competition absolutely plays a role in biological evolution, 503 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,840 Speaker 1: as Kropotkin will be the first to admit, it's just that, 504 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:32,400 Speaker 1: so does mutual aid, so doaes cooperation. We are wired 505 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,000 Speaker 1: at least as strongly for altruism as we are for competition, 506 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: and I have never been more convinced of the truth 507 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,639 Speaker 1: of that. We first showed up at Firestorm, which is 508 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: the anarchist bookstore, because we heard it was one of 509 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: the dozens or hundreds of hubs accepting donations, to then 510 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 1: get them out to people, and because we'd heard about 511 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,479 Speaker 1: those daily two pm community meetings to get people plugged 512 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,679 Speaker 1: in with each other about how to help, and we 513 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: wanted to be plugged in figure out how to help. 514 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: All along Haywood Road, relief centers were running the Auditorium, 515 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,159 Speaker 1: which is the punk bar across the street from Firestorm. 516 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: As soon as the storm at hit they had cooked 517 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: up all the food in their walk in freezer and 518 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: given it away, and still days later they were serving 519 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 1: free hot meals out front another punk bar on Heywood. Look, 520 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 1: there's lots more places besides punk bars, but I'm a punk, 521 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,440 Speaker 1: so I know that punk bar is the best. It's 522 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,199 Speaker 1: called the Double Crown, and it served as the landing 523 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: spot for a group called Ashville Medical Solidarity, plus a 524 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: rotating crew of various medical professionals and street medics. Every 525 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 1: group I talked to was like this, A specific, often 526 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: named group was working with all comers to help people 527 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: to the point where it no longer felt like that 528 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: group's project, where multiple groups would just sort of merge 529 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: organically and if they're doing similar work in similar areas. 530 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: But yeah, Asheville Medical Solidarity and friends set up easy 531 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: ups underneath the skeleton of the old front patio time 532 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 1: Heart pavilion, which had been destroyed in the storm. I 533 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 1: talked to one of the doctors there, and they explained 534 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,840 Speaker 1: that under an Emergency Authorization Act, doctors are allowed to 535 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: treat patients in informal settings without risking their licenses. And 536 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 1: this was less of a field hospital and more of 537 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:22,080 Speaker 1: like a field CVS. People gathered and distributed first aid supplies, 538 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: and medical professionals there were able to help connect people 539 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: with ways to legally refill their medications due to complicated 540 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,160 Speaker 1: emergency measure stuff that I'm not in the best place 541 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: to explain. I gave them all the medical supplies I'd 542 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,080 Speaker 1: pulled out of my basement I used to I guess 543 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:39,640 Speaker 1: I still do, but there'll be a while because I 544 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: just gave away all this stuff. I'd make these like 545 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: emergency kits and give them to my friends. And so 546 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 1: I buy all this stuff in bulk and assemble it 547 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: because I figure I can't convince my friends to prep 548 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: but if I do all the work and hand them 549 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 1: a little pack and say throw this in the back 550 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: of your car, I can get my friends to do that, 551 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:54,960 Speaker 1: you know. But that means I have all of these 552 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: like tots, or I used to have all these tots 553 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 1: full of like individually wrapped U aspirin and things like that, 554 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: and so that's what I ended up bringing to them. 555 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 1: I know you all wanted to know the details. That's 556 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,479 Speaker 1: what you all are here for. So I gave them 557 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: all of that, and then the next day I returned, 558 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: or maybe later that day, I don't know. Time is 559 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: a strange thing in this situation. A different trip there. 560 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: I heard that they needed some power banks and a 561 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: solar generator, and I had some of that, so that 562 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 1: went over to them too. Outside Firestorm, I met a 563 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 1: man who ran a permaculture farm who had taken upon 564 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: himself to make fifty five gallon drums with spigots at 565 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: the bottom, which is like an oddly annoying plumbing problem. 566 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 1: Once you like do it, it's easy. But having done 567 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 1: this a couple times in my life, like figuring out 568 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: the pieces to get to put spigots in the bottom 569 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: of barrels is like annoying. But again, he already knew 570 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: how to do it, so he did it a whole bunch, 571 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: and he drove them around and he set up all 572 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: these distribution centers for water across town and then filled 573 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,200 Speaker 1: them up with spring water that he hauled around with 574 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: his diesel truck in an IBC tote. You ever see 575 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 1: like a plastic tote with like a metal frame around it. 576 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,080 Speaker 1: That's a style of tote that's used in a lot 577 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: of rural applications. It's also used by restaurants to bring 578 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 1: in like soy sauce and things. A lot of the 579 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,240 Speaker 1: rural applications are people going and getting the ones that 580 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 1: were used for soysauce and things and then cleaning them 581 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: out and filling them with water. Anyway, he was driving 582 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:24,840 Speaker 1: up to a spring that was up above the flooding 583 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 1: and so hopefully away from a lot of the toxins 584 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: and stuff, and driving around and filling them up, still 585 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,720 Speaker 1: putting a like hey, this is you know, wild water. 586 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: You should boil this or filter it first, little sign 587 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: on it. He was shy to let me take a 588 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: picture of his truck because he didn't want to be 589 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: advertising himself out of crisis. It was all I could 590 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: do to convince him to let people give him free 591 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: diesel for his truck, even though his truck didn't have 592 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: a working fuel gauge, because he assumed there were people 593 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:58,720 Speaker 1: who needed it more than him. And meanwhile, construction companies 594 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: still today as I this this morning, I'm you know, 595 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: hearing messages, how do we plug in these construction companies 596 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: that have five hundred gallon tanks of water that I 597 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: guess they use for like job site clean up water 598 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: or something, I'm not entirely sure. And they're talking with 599 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: anarchists and churches about where they need to go, anarchists 600 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:18,520 Speaker 1: and churches being kind of two of the groups that 601 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 1: really kick assidt mutual aid. Not to pat my own 602 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: ideological back, but that's where we're going to leave it 603 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: today because on Wednesday, I'm gonna come back with Part two, 604 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:34,960 Speaker 1: and I'm gonna talk about so much disaster compassion. I'm 605 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: going to talk about so much people helping each other 606 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: from pretty wide spectrum of people, and I'm really excited 607 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: about it. I know that an awful lot of awful 608 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: stuff is happening there and will continue to happen there, 609 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: and there's going to be a problem where once the 610 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: immediate needs are done and once you know, the city 611 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:01,520 Speaker 1: has its water or turned back on, although that's honestly 612 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: going to be weeks, if not months, some of the 613 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 1: harder hit places are still going to be in trouble 614 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: and it's going to be harder to get mutual aid 615 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: to them. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate what's 616 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: happening now. If anything, it means we should build it 617 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:18,600 Speaker 1: up and keep its momentum and encourage ourselves to care longer. 618 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: And if you don't want to wait till Wednesday to 619 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: know how, I think you should help. If you're far 620 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: away and you can donate money, donate money. The two 621 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,640 Speaker 1: groups that I can like personally immediately vouch for are 622 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: Appalachian Medical Solidarity AMS and Mutual Aid Disaster Relief. Both 623 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: of those are on Instagram, and there's lots of stuff 624 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: lying around about venmos and stuff to hell to help 625 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: them out. But there are a ton of other grassroots 626 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 1: things out there as well that also can all use 627 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:51,640 Speaker 1: your support, and everyone's sharing pretty freely, and the at 628 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,959 Speaker 1: least currently, the lines between all of these groups are 629 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: very blurred in a very useful way. If you're a 630 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,400 Speaker 1: little bit closer, if your days drive or so away, 631 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: then actual stuff might be useful. But don't drive that 632 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: stuff to Ashville. Drive it to a distribution center that 633 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,759 Speaker 1: people are setting up in different towns. I've only been 634 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,200 Speaker 1: paying attention to the ones in the Carolinas, but there's 635 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: you know, if you're in like the Triangle area, North Carolina, 636 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:17,319 Speaker 1: there's a bunch of these set up, and Charlotte and 637 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 1: a bunch of other places, and coordinate with people. If 638 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,439 Speaker 1: those aren't happening where you are, reach out to mutual 639 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 1: a disaster relief, or just start setting it up yourself 640 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: and collect things and hear what people want. It's going 641 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: to be less like old sweaters and more like insulin 642 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:38,960 Speaker 1: or diapers, or water jugs or solar banks or generators 643 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: or chainsaws or you know, it's going to be different 644 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:43,279 Speaker 1: at different points during the crisis, too, right, And so 645 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 1: you can help collect these things and eventually someone will 646 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: then drive them to Ashville. That could be you, but 647 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be. There's no reason to. I'm 648 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:53,839 Speaker 1: not trying to tell people they shouldn't go, but like 649 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,640 Speaker 1: you know, that's not the most immediate thing that's needed. 650 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: And there's a lot of people on the gro there already. 651 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:04,319 Speaker 1: So that's some of how you can help. But the 652 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:06,800 Speaker 1: other way you can help is you can get prepared yourself, 653 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,560 Speaker 1: because Ashville was voted to be the climate haven of 654 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: the North America. And here we are there is no 655 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,320 Speaker 1: climate haven, not even Mars, because that's actually got a 656 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,440 Speaker 1: worse climate even than Earth does. What the fuck are 657 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: people thinking? How would that be safer? How can people 658 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:28,400 Speaker 1: talk about colonizing Mars if they haven't even had a 659 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: successful biodome on Earth. That's unrelated. I'll talk to you 660 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:40,880 Speaker 1: on Wednesday. Cool People Who Did? Cool Stuff is a 661 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: production of cool Zone Media. Or more podcasts and gorl 662 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,640 Speaker 1: zone Media, Visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com or check 663 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 664 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:52,319 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.