Rebecca McNaught – ChangeMaker Chat – Community response to Climate
What the Northern River’s community teaches us all about responding to climate disaster
You can download this episode via the ACAST app here, or find it on any podcast app (Spotify, Apple, Stitcher etc) – just search “ChangeMakers Podcast” and look for the Orange Box!
Climate change has led the Northern Rivers has been inundated by flood and flood threats, but it has also shown Australia – and the world – what it looks like to lead a community response to climate change. In this episode we talk with Rebecca McNaught, a community researcher on disaster response who shares with us how the community did respond to the extreme floods in 2022, and what all communities can learn from what they did.
Bec has decades of experience in community-led climate work, having worked across the Pacific and the world before focusing on researching best practice in community strategies. She was undertaking field work when the 2022 floods began, and she helped lead emergency support with others in her neighbourhood before she finished her PhD documenting best practice.
In this conversation she argues that big concepts like “climate change adaptation” and creating climate infrastructure are at their heart about building strong social bonds between people who can be there for each other when dialling 000 no longer works.
For more on the Northern Rivers Community Resilience Alliance see here.
For information on the University of Sydney’s University Centre for Rural Health see here.
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