Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care

Fostering Local Climate Resilience and Community Care in the Face of Climate Disasters

How can we center the inherent worth and dignity of every person in climate disasters?

We can use our gifts to offer love, to work for justice, to heal injury, to create pleasure for ourselves and others. We can recognize our mutual independence with all life. We can take actions that are grounded in justice, guided by wisdom, and sustained with hope. We can learn, act, and reflect to cultivate the beloved community.

Every community is different, and climate impacts will vary at the hyper-local level.  Some neighborhoods may be devastated by a hurricane while others experience only minor impacts.  Adequate preparation and response for climate disasters must center the lived experiences and impacts of climate disasters on those most at risk.  

The UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team put together this toolbox to help individuals and congregations to:

Assess Climate Impacts

  • Identify the climate risks impacting your neighborhoods and community.

  • Consider who will be most impacted by a climate disaster, how they will be impacted and what areas of your community are at greatest risk. 

  • Assess the needs of your community, resources available, existing leadership, and opportunities for joy and hope.

Mobilize for Action (in progress)

  • Build intentional and lasting relationships with frontline organizations and other community leaders.

  • Set realistic short- and long-term goals grounded in understanding of the issues and relationships with community organizations guided by visions of a flourishing community for all.  

  • Adopt strategic plans to build community resilience as you prepare for and respond to climate disasters.  

Recognizing that congregational transformation is challenging, we’ve paired tools for each section to help you think through each step of the process.  The Tools to Explore Section provides several options to engage as individuals, with the entire congregation, and in your larger community.  As you do the work, please let us know what worked or share other useful tools you’ve found.  We can build this resource together!

Just as the impacts of climate change differ for each community, the solutions will be equally unique.  Solutions should be informed by the needs of those most impacted by potential or actual climate disasters.  We’ve included some actions to consider, and we invite you to co-create this list with us. 

We’ve provided worksheets for each section.  You can access these worksheets at the links below.  

Each is provided as a google doc that you can make a copy of and directly edit and as a pdf to download and write on.  

Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care Webinars

Community Conversation Video

On November 16, we hosted the third and final session in our Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care series.

Mobilizing for Action Video & Slides

On October 12, we took a deep dive into organizing strategies and tools for Climate Disaster Response.  This workshop provided rich frameworks to mobilize for action, including ways to build and sustain community partnerships with justice at the center by assessing power dynamics and intentionally shifting power in relationships to cultivate equity, including power mapping, goal setting, and relationship building.

Assessing Climate Impacts & Making Connections Video & Slides

On September 27, we hosted the first workshop in our series Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care.  This workshop included tools and resources to identify local climate threats and the resulting impacts, focusing on who will be most affected, how the climate threats will impact them, and where in your community are people most at risk.  This hands-on workshop on Assessing Climate Impacts & Making Connections was designed for UUs to attend in person and/or use for congregational engagement.  

Climate Disaster Response Video & Slides

In July 2022, Side With Love hosted an in-depth workshop on Climate Disaster Response to help congregations effectively talk about climate change, identify impacts and make connections within their communities.  The September meeting will include more hands-on engagement with the material.  We encourage all attendees to watch this video prior to the September 27 webinar, as not all topics will be covered in detail. 

Fostering Local Climate Resilience and Community Care Webinar

In May 2022, we hosted the webinar Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care.  Special thanks to Rev. Karen Hutt, Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry; Halcyon Westall with the UUA Disaster Relief Fund and Faithify; and Rev. Cynthia Cain for helping us all reflect on how to cultivate community care in response to climate disasters.