“Prediction, not narration, is the real test of our understanding of the world.” ― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable We live in a time of uncertainty. Our world is undergoing a transformative journey in an era of technological advancements and global challenges. Disasters are constant, as is the harm they cause. Funders must understand that a better future is possible. In “The Black Swan,” Taleb challenges his readers not to look at past events, including disasters, to develop plans but to imagine what could be. As much as they may feel random at times, disasters have a level of predictability that allows funders to be strategic rather than reactive in their grantmaking. One week after the federal election, join philanthropic futurist Trista Harris from FutureGood and CDP’s Chief Financial and Operation Officer, Brenda Camacho, for our last scheduled webinar of 2024. They will discuss where current trends are headed and how we can build the future we want to see for ourselves, our sector and our communities.
Imagining 2025: What’s next for disaster philanthropy?
The impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit Florida two weeks apart, went well beyond the catastrophe from the storms. Communities along the Gulf Coast and southeastern U.S. felt the devastating impact of Helene and Milton and the so-called “secondary perils,” smaller events such as storm surge, tornadoes, heavy rain and flash flooding. As secondary perils begin to cause as much or more loss and destruction as the hurricanes themselves, and as disaster after disaster hits the same communities, funders need to adjust their disaster-giving strategies. During this webinar, our speakers will discuss how climate change is upending traditional disaster philanthropy and creating an opportunity for funders to rethink and adapt to the changing environment.
By the end of this webinar, donors will:
- Understand the risks that communities now face due to climate change.
- Be aware of the cumulative impact of multiple disasters on individuals and communities.
- Learn about the intersections and layered impacts of climate change and disasters on marginalized communities.
- Consider ways they can adjust their planning and grantmaking to account for the new realities of disasters.
Wildfires cause significant stress, break apart communities and in places dramatically change the world people birth their newborns into. Recent epidemiologic research suggests wildfire exposure is associated with higher rates of adverse birth outcomes. Although some data is available, information on wildfires and health protection strategies are not known to many health educators, providers, pregnant people, or families.
Research on climate trends suggests that the frequency, duration, and intensity of wildfires will continue at least until mid-century. Action must be taken with direct service providers and communities at large. The US cannot afford further pressure on maternal and newborn health, already in crisis in the US.
Human Rights Watch and Nurturely invite you to a webinar exploring the US wildfire crisis as a reproductive health and rights problem that requires a response that centers care workers and reproductive justice. The speakers will, in different ways, press for bold and creative approaches in how we think about wildfires and what people, skills and resources are needed, especially for care workers. This event follows the recent release of our report “Reproductive Rights in the US Wildfire Crisis: Insights from Health Workers in Oregon State”
- Laura Kate Bender, Assistant Vice President, Nationwide Healthy Air at the American Lung Association will open our webinar and provide some comments on the state of air in the US including the growing contribution of wildfire smoke to pollution.
- Epidemiologist and air pollution/climate expert Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of California Merced, Dr. Sandie Ha will provide insights into what epidemiology is available on maternal health impacts from wildfire including her recent findings on how heat and wildfire smoke together may be especially dangerous for pregnancy health.
- Dr. Aver Yakubu, Nurturely, and Skye Wheeler, Human Rights Watch, will discuss findings and recommendations from their recent research interviewing community health workers, doctors, doulas, midwives, nurses and public health officials in Oregon about wildfire impacts on pregnancy health and their own work.
- Three providers, Jacquelyn Ingram, midwife, Hawaii, Jessica “Veege” Ruediger, midwife, Oregon and Shoneena Lee Loss, doula, Nlaka’pamux Territory in British Columbia, Canada, who have all worked with wildfire-affected communities will have conversation with Americares’ director of climate and disaster resilience, and maternal health expert Elena Ateva, about their experiences, the impacts they’ve seen on maternal and newborn health and well-being from wildfire and what actions they want to see from policy makers to better protect maternal health and rights in response to the climate crisis.
The Symposium will gather designers, academics, researchers, public servants, and others, from across the resiliency spectrum, to share ideas from our individual realms, in a time of changing and disrupted ecologies, communities and climate.