Today’s guests:
Mark Crossweller –  Head of the National Resilience Task Force
Jo Dodds – Councillor at Bega Valley Shire Council
Rob Roggema – Professor of Sustainable Urban Environments UTS

Are global climate disruptions finding us unprepared for some emergencies, even in countries with high tech warning systems?  Psychologists say it is bad to paralyse people with frightening prospects.  The antidote is to BE PREPARED.

Mark Crossweller

Mark Crossweller  made a raw admission  about unsuccessful emergency responses in the Canberra and 2009 Victorian bush fires.  He said that communications with the public and media need to be a lot earlier.  He was speaking at the NCCARF Climate Adaptation Conference.  As Craig Lapsley says “There will be an increase in emergency days and disaster means you have to repurpose the city. People need to know where to go”

Jo Dodds

Jo Dodds witnessed the Tathra Bushfire this year and challenged the PM by saying “This is the very time to be talking about climate change.”  As Tathra is a town that is on the front foot with renewable energy and carbon sequestration, they were not comforted by our lack of urgency in cutting the emissions that intensify the weather.
As a writer Jo  conveys the emotional pain of loss that can sometimes linger for years after the climate emergency.  She spoke on the platform with Bill Mc Kibben at Collingwood Town Hall about accelerating our move away from fossil fuels and her vivid words will move you..

Rob Roggema

Rob Roggema  has put his mind to flood emergencies in Bangladesh.  He speaks about strategies to help the city of Dhaka grow more food in the city and detour the floodwaters that are increasingly disruptive.  His experience in the Netherlands has led him to collaborate with people in Bangladesh on landscaping the city to retain flood water, to calm it in extended or elevated rivers, to catch it in fish ponds and rooftop gardens. Check out this link to see thrilling  pictures of  these plans which could repurpose a megacity for resilience.