Stronger together: Radical resilience in disaster recovery

It’s been a brutal few years for the Australian environment, with 2019’s Black Summer bushfires burning 5.5 million hectares of land, and northern New South Wales recently emerging from the grips of back-to-back record floods.

Whether flood or fire, the unifying factor in each extreme weather event has been community resilience and resourcefulness, with news feeds inundated with stories of regular people saving lives and managing the aftermath.

Conversely, there’s been no shortage of public criticism of the federal government’s response to environmental crises. From frustration over locals being left to bear the brunt of rescue efforts in Lismore, to a budget that cut overall spending on climate action by 35% over four years, there’s growing concern about Australia’s preparedness to face future natural disasters.

However, there might be gold among the ruins. Researchers at the Monash Fire to Flourish project are asking whether Australia’s environmental chaos has created the perfect storm for meaningful social, cultural and structural change in some of our most charred and exhausted towns.