Climate change can manifest in many ways, but in the last 10 years the growing trend of increasingly severe storm seasons and natural disaster have grabbed headlines and displaced entire populations. The urgency of disaster relief is growing every year and the cost of the recovery efforts is skyrocketing. This is what lead me to speak with Rory Dickens, I was first introduced to Rory Dickens through John Bodnar, a former student of mine from our intro to natural building course who recommended that I get in touch with Rory to talk to him about the inspiring disaster relief projects that he and his team are working on with RecycleRebuild on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean.

In this interview we talk in detail about some of the major issues facing modern disaster relief efforts and how they can be improved. Rory speaks about his own experiences working in many relief efforts around the world and what he’s learned as well as how RecycleRebuild approaches their recovery efforts from a local perspective that takes into account the specific need of the effected communities and the resources that they have on hand. There are a lot of nuances in each of these cases and it was refreshing to hear a viewpoint that doesn’t advocate for a one-size-fits-all approach, so I hope you get as much out of this interview as I did. Now I’ll turn things over to Rory.

Resources:

Recycle Rebuild