<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/mutual-aid-climate-change-social-infrastructure/>
"When Winter Storm Uri hit Texas in February 2021, bringing single-digit
temperatures and sheets of snow to Dallas, Susana Edith and a group of
volunteers distributed lentil soup and winter gear to unhoused people in their
community.
“A lot of us had a sense of urgency and were called to action at that moment,”
Edith said. “We were out in the streets while the storm was happening.”
Edith is the founder of Lucha Dallas, a community-based collective that
coordinated with other mutual aid groups in North Texas to bring food, warm
clothing, sleeping bags and tent warmers to their unhoused neighbors; they even
raised cash donations to pay for hotel rooms for those who could not access
shelters.
Like millions of Texans across the state, Edith’s own household was without
power and heat. The frigid temperatures, snow and ice caused a catastrophic
failure of the state’s power grid; within days, some 12 million residents lost
access to safe drinking water. The disruptions disproportionately affected
low-income communities and communities of color, and the consequences were
deadly. The state’s official death toll reached 246, but a
Buzzfeed analysis
found more than three times as many people likely died from the storm.
Edith said she and her neighbors felt abandoned by the local government.
“There’s no other means of survival for us,” Edith said. “If we’re not looking
out for each other and helping each other, giving each other a hand, no one
else is gonna do it.”
Across the country, people are increasingly relying on mutual aid — cooperative
assistance adherents describe as “solidarity, not charity” — to get through
climate-related disasters.
The practice is nothing new. Communities of color and other marginalized groups
have long relied on mutual assistance when government services fell short. But
now, many frontline communities are taking up the practice as a way to become
more resilient in the face of increasingly extreme weather."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
