As the climate crisis deepens and it becomes clear that climate chaos is going to become a lived experience for millions of people. Taking personal responsibility for the safety and resilience of those you care about becomes really important.
As has been we have witnessed in recent times those charged with this responsibility are often left wanting. The IPCC in its AR6 Synthesis report made this observation regarding the barriers to adaptation in the face of a destabilizing climate:
Key barriers to adaptation are limited resources, lack of private sector and citizen engagement, insufficient mobilization of finance (including for research), low climate literacy, lack of political commitment, limited research and/or slow and low uptake of adaptation science, and low sense of urgency.
Many elected officials have demonstrated low climate literacy, a lack of political commitment to adapt, a low uptake of adaption science and have repeatedly shown a lack of urgency.
In this context having a personal family climate resilience plan is extremely important!
Reslience Plan Outline
- Understand Exposure: Start by researching the specific climate risks relevant to your location, like wildfires, floods, extreme heat, or hurricanes. Consider both current risks and future trends (e.g., warming, rising sea levels etc.). Resources like local government websites, the IPCC's Fact Sheets or a tool like Probable Futures can provide information about your area’s potential climate-related risks.
- Assess Vulnerability and Risks: Think about what aspects of your family life might be impacted by these risks. For instance, consider your home’s structure, its proximity to a seasonal river or ice, your family members' health conditions, critical supplies, and any pets. Identify who or what might be most vulnerable. For example, young children, your elderly parents, or family with medical needs may require special attention during an extreme heat event.
- Investigate Options: Look into actions your family can take to reduce the above vulnerabilities. This might include assembling an emergency kit, developing evacuation routes, installing safety measures (like flood barriers or fire-resistant materials if you can afford to), or creating backup plans for essential resources (like food, water, and medications). Also, consider communication options if phone service or power is down.
- Prioritize and Plan: Decide which resilience-building actions are most important and feasible for your family, then create a plan. In addition to ensuring that you have a robust early warning system in place, you might also decide to prioritize gathering emergency supplies, setting aside backup funds if you can, or planning alternate transportation in case of evacuation. Make a timeline and assign tasks to family members to prepare together.
- Take Action: Begin implementing your family resilience plan. Assemble supplies, make copies of important documents, save emergency contacts, and practice evacuation or sheltering-in-place procedures. Discuss the plan with each family member to ensure everyone understands what to do in different scenarios. This step builds awareness, confidence and readiness.
- Evaluate and Adjust: After setting up your initial plan, revisit it periodically. Discuss with your family what worked or didn’t during any drills or real events, and update your plans as family needs or local risks change. Keeping the plan fresh and flexible helps adapt to new circumstances, like having to moving to a new home or dealing with updated climate projections.
Involving the whole family in creating this resilience plan gets everyone on the same page and empowers them with the knowledge and confidence to handle increasing physical environment instability.
When you have done something like this for your family, share it with friends and neighbours.
Let's look out for each other.