The Response

The world as we knew it is no more. It sounds dark, trite, and reductive, but there's a truth in there that can't be denied.

All signs point to the global climate changing faster than most scientists predicted. In the news, we see stories about extreme heat waves causing tens of thousands of deaths, ongoing droughts impacting the global food supply, and the accelerated loss of polar ice caps.

At the same time, for many of us, the reliability of the seasons we once had is no more. In my neck of the woods in Northern California, it was 80 degrees in February, and then it was so cold at the beginning of July that we had to fire up the woodstove!

And while the changing weather may be a mild inconvenience for some of us, it can be catastrophic for others, especially for those in the global south who have contributed the least to the climate emergency.

Many areas along the equator and in the southern hemisphere will become increasingly uninhabitable over the next 50 years, with one prominent study projecting that as many as three billion people will be forced to migrate to the Northern Hemisphere. That's roughly a third of the global population!

Even if it's only the low side of that estimate, the migration of a billion people would completely transform every nation on the planet.

For the 100th episode of The Response Podcast, we interviewed Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Josh Fox about the climate crisis, human migration, and how to welcome those coming rather than meet them with walls and brutal criminalization.

Josh's new film, The Welcome Table, is now available to watch on HBO Max.

Josh is an independent filmmaker and founder and artistic director of International WOW Company. His films include AWAKE. A Dream From Standing Rock, How To Let Go Of The World And Love All The Things Climate Can't Change, and the award-winning Gasland and Gasland 2.

• joshfoxfilm.com
• Substack: @joshfoxfilm
• Instagram: @joshfoxfilm
• How to kick out Flock and organize to stop mass surveillance

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced by Paige Kelly
• Edited by Tom Llewellyn and Paige Kelly
• Theme music by Cultivate Beats

How do we live in an age of disaster? That's the provocation put forth in the new book "Compassion in Crisis." With engaging prompts, concise checklists, and heartfelt guidance, co-authors Kailea Loften and Kate Weiner lead readers in building and sustaining durable mutual aid networks for rapid response in the face of disaster while underscoring preparedness as a constant, communal practice.

Response host Tom Llewellyn had the opportunity to meet Kailea and Kate last month during the first leg of their 18-city North American tour, and they recorded the interview for today's episode a couple of days later.

Kailea Loften (she/her) is a mother of Tahltan, Kaska, and Black American ancestry. A forever small-town girl, she is a lover of everything slow and subtle. Black tea with honey and cream, long walks regardless of weather, and the scent of rain in the air are a few of her favorite things.

Kate Weiner (she/her) is an environmental writer and student of community herbalism. As a 2025 Strange Foundation Resident, 2024 North Coast Project Participant, 2023 Editorial Fellow at the Center for Humans & Nature, 2021 Artist/Activist-in-Residence at Boulder Public Library, and 2018 Spiritual Ecology Fellow, she has devoted the past decade to creating work at the confluence of culture and climate justice.

• Get the Book: "Compassion in Crisis"
• National Tour: Compassion in Crisis Tour
• Story: Preserving Palestinian culture during genocide: the Phoenix Library of Gaza
• Video: Gaza-based journalist Mohamed Solaimane's video of walking across Gaza to report the story about the Phoenix Library
• Video: Covering the Flock Cameras- FlockOff! Ithaca

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced by Paige Kelly
• Edited by Tom Llewellyn and Paige Kelly
• Theme music by Cultivate Beats

For 25 years, NewStories has been supporting communities that have faced the unimaginable, total loss from disaster—those who don't want to rebuild the old normal, but are ready to co-create something that affirms life, reciprocity, and interdependence.

They call this approach, Re-Storying Disaster. After a quarter century of working with communities impacted by disaster, they have found that true recovery is not simply the replacement of what was lost, but rather an ongoing journey of collective healing that nourishes both people and place.

Today on the show, we'll hear from Bob Stilger, cofounder of NewStories and author of AfterNow: When We Can't See The Future, Where Do We Begin? and Nicole LaJeunesse, Executive Director of Regenerating Paradise and NewStories' program lead for Re-Storying Disaster.

Thank you for tuning in.

• NewStories.org
• Northern California Fire Affected Communities Collaboratory
• Paradise Learning Exchange
• Regenerative Responders
• "Reimagining Paradise in an age of climate disruption" Response episode

Bob Stilger, PhD founded New Stories in 2000. Bob's focus is on helping us all create new stories which demand social and environmental justice equity and inclusion — the new stories needed to shift our mental models and meta-narratives enabling us to step into systemic shifts which regenerate healthy and resilient communities.

Nicole LaJeunesse is a community organizer, learning steward, and long-arc practitioner rooted in lived experience of disaster and recovery. A survivor of the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, Nicole brings an embodied understanding of what it means to live through catastrophic loss — and to remain committed to community long after the immediate crisis has passed. At NewStories, Nicole serves in program and organizational support for Regenerative Responders and the Fire-Affected Communities Collaboratories, helping steward learning spaces where practitioners and community leaders can reflect together, share lived experience, and build capacity through relationship. Her work is grounded in care, consistency, and a commitment to strengthening the connective tissue that allows insight, courage, and mutual support to circulate across places and roles.

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced by Paige Kelly
• Edited by Paige Kelly
• Theme music by Cultivate Beats

On March 4, 2026, the Ithaca Common Council in Ithaca, New York, U.S., voted to non-renew its contract with Flock Safety. Flock, among other things, is a vendor of fixed-location automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems.

You may have seen them pop up in your city or county in the past couple of years, as they have become a popular surveillance tool for many law enforcement agencies.

And while Flock claims the primary purpose of its network of tens of thousands of AI-powered cameras is to find people who have committed criminalized acts, it is tracking everyone without a warrant on a massive scale.

The implications of this level of mass surveillance are only starting to be fully understood. But, when people learn what is happening, the backlash is fierce. Local coalitions have been successful in convincing their government officials to tell them to 'Flock Off'!

On this episode of The Response, we'll discuss what makes this technology especially troublesome, how communities have responded, and what you can do to Get the Flock Out.

Host Tom Llewellyn is joined by Shareable's Aaron Fernando, who recently co-led the campaign in Ithaca, and Chad Marlow, a senior policy counsel at the ACLU who directs both the nationwide #TakeCTRL and Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) campaigns.

We're also in the process of evaluating what to do with this show. If you enjoy the show and feel like it's a valuable contribution, please let us know by leaving a comment on Shareable's social posts or leaving a review on Apple, Spotify, etc. Or send an email to [email protected].

We appreciate you tuning in.

Aaron Fernando recently co-led the campaign in Ithaca and is Shareable's Cooperative Organizer, working to support a Just Transition for electric cooperatives and the rural communities they serve. He is also an independent journalist covering grassroots movements and solidarity economy projects, with a focus on land, policy, housing, and cooperative movements and has written for The Nation, Truthout, Shelterforce, In These Times, and others. His broader organizing work is focused on housing justice. Aaron can be found on a co-operative instance of Mastodon at @[email protected].

Chad Marlow is a senior policy counsel at the ACLU, where he principally focuses on privacy, surveillance, and technology issues. His field-leading policy and advocacy work has frequently been the subject of national and international media coverage and critical acclaim. He is the author of over 20 ACLU model bills, is the primary author of the ACLU's groundbreaking "Digital Dystopia" report on student surveillance, has published dozens of influential ACLU blogs and op-eds, and directs both the ACLU's nationwide #TakeCTRL and Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) campaigns.

• https://www.shareable.net/toolkit/library-of-things/
• https://www.shareable.net/donate/
• https://www.shareable.net/navigating-conflict-in-movement-spaces/
• https://www.shareable.net/as-state-and-corporate-surveillance-intensifies-a-new-guide-aims-to-help-mutual-aid-organizations-protect-themselves/
• Chad Marlow
• https://www.aclu.org/affiliates
• Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS)
• Atlas of Surveillance
• Flock Misuse Fact Sheet
• Ithaca, NY City Council Ordinance

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced by Aaron Fernando and Paige Kelly
• Edited by Tom Llewellyn with Paige Kelly
• Theme Music by Cultivate Beats

On November 20, 2025, we hosted activist, organizer, and writer Dean Spade to lead a Mutual Aid 101 session about navigating conflict.

So many of our mutual aid groups and solidarity economy projects are dealing with burnout, conflict, and the pressure of doing real care work with limited capacity. We currently find ourselves in a particularly " horrible f#ck*ng moment in the history of humans," to quote Dean Spade. And it's leading many of us to feel judgmental, aggravated, and resentful, which, in turn, can strain our relationships to the brink.

But Dean was also quick to remind us that internal conflict has always been part of movement work, and will always be. So we'd best lean into it.

This workshop focused on practical tools for staying grounded, building trust, and keeping our groups strong.

The video version, slide deck, human-edited transcript, and all resources shared during the session are available here: https://www.shareable.net/podcasts/navigating-conflict-when-building-power-with-dean-spade/

Whether you've attended our Mutual Aid 101 sessions, used our Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit, or enjoy listening to The Response, resources like these are only possible because folks like you donate to Shareable.

Please take a minute while you're listening to click the link in the show notes to donate $5, $10, or $50. Every bit helps! https://www.shareable.net/donate/

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced and edited by Paige Kelly
• Theme Music by Cultivate Beats

When floods, fires, freezes, or other extreme weather rip through our communities, the fallout goes far beyond damaged homes and downed power lines. As we've established on The Response Podcast, the climate crisis touches everyone—especially women and gender-diverse people—yet sexual and reproductive health rarely makes the checklist.

Stores, pharmacies, and clinics close or run out of supplies. Roads and other forms of transit shut down. And with worsening disasters comes a longer length of time to be self-reliant. Gone is the advice to have three days of food and water. Now the reality for many communities is to expect little to no support for up to two weeks!

Without a plan, it's harder to manage menstrual periods, get sexually transmitted infection testing, or refill birth control. Survivors may face increased violence and reduced privacy, which compounds the risk. These gaps aren't inevitable, and as you'll learn, there are things you can do now to be better prepared while supporting others in your community at the same time.

For this episode of The Response, we brought on Kelley Dennings and Kyliah Hughes from The Center for Biological Diversity (Kelley is also a member of Shareable's Board of Directors). They recently collaborated on a new how-to guide for creating and distributing Sexual Health Emergency Preparedness Kits.

[PODCAST]

Kelley Dennings (she/her) works in the Population and Sustainability program at The Center for Biological Diversity, developing and executing advocacy and outreach initiatives addressing the connections between reproductive health, gender equity, endless growth, inequitable consumption, and the climate and extinction crises. She's also a Shareable board member.

Kyliah Hughes (she/her) is a sexual health emergency preparedness campaign intern at The Center for Biological Diversity and is currently working towards a Master's in Public Health at Howard University.

• Sexual Health Emergency Preparedness Kits
• Webinar: Reproductive Health Preparedness in Climate Emergencies on 11/17 2:00 PM ET
• Next Mutual Aid 101 event, "Navigating Conflict" with Dean Spade on 11/20 at 3:00 PM ET
• Shareable's Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit
• Support The Response with a monthly or 1-time donation

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced and edited by Paige Kelly
• Theme Music by Cultivate Beats

On October 21, 2025 Shareable and the Tool Library Alliance hosted a crossover event of the Mutual Aid 101 Learning Series and Library of Things Co-Lab for "Tool Libraries, Mutual Aid & Community-Led Disaster Response."

A panel of practitioners from tool libraries and mutual aid groups discussed the intersection of resource sharing and mutual aid. This session featured a particular focus on the role tool libraries can play during disasters, like last year's collaboration between the Asheville Tool Library, WNC Repair Cafe, and Mutual Aid Disaster Relief during the response to Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Today's episode is an edited recording of the inspiring event.

Rachel Kinbar (they/zey/all) is actively engaged in building a new commons while exploring what it means to be human, heal lineage, and honor ancestors. Zey are working for collective liberation as a local community and mutual aid organizer with Central Florida Mutual Aid, Alternative Economy Fellow with the Center for Biological Diversity and Shareable, director of operations for Beautiful Trouble (and until recently as director of operations for the Jews of Color Mishpacha Project). They are also a writer, gardener, artist, half of noise/poetry duo Unfade, and co-editor of Bonk! magazine.

Shelby Treichler is a volunteer with Asheville Tool Library and the Western North Carolina Repair Café.

Ben Wyatt has been a volunteer and organizer with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief since 2017. He was part of the initial crew that set up the MADR Smith Mill Works hub (sharing space with the Asheville Tool Library) immediately after Helene that has been operating ever since to receive and deliver household necessities, building materials, first aid and cleanup supplies to direct distribution sites throughout the region. Ben works full time as the Project Manager for the Asheville Coalition for Home Repair (ARCHR) as an employee of Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity.

• Video recording of "Mutual Aid 101: Tool Libraries, Mutual Aid & Community-Led Disaster Response"
• Next Mutual Aid 101 event, "Navigating Conflict" with Dean Spade on 11/20 at 3:00 PM ET
• Tool Library Alliance Winter Weatherization Session on Wednesday, December 10 at 1:00 PM ET
• Central Florida Mutual Aid
• Central Florida Mutual Aid link tree
• Central Florida Mutual Aid Tool Library link tree
• Asheville Tool Library
• WNC Repair Cafe
• Meshtastic.org
• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
• Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Smith Millworks Distrobution Hub "Hub Guide"
• Shareable's Library of Things Toolkit
• Shareable's Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit
• The Response podcast: Fighting misinformation in the aftermath of the Mexico City earthquake
• Link document shared with participants

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced and edited by Paige Kelly
• Theme Music by Cultivate Beats

In this episode of The Response, we hear from Jordan Seaberry, co-director of the US Dept of Arts and Culture (USDAC). In addition to being a working artist and a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, he has built a career as a grassroots organizer and legislative advocate, helping to pass multiple criminal justice reform milestones, including probation reform, the Unshackling Pregnant Prisoners Bill, and the statewide Community-Police Relationship Act.

And that's just a small example of his organizing and mutual aid experience.

We discuss the genesis of the US Department of Arts and Culture, the role of artists during fascism, and how to bring movement organizers and artists together to drive culture shifts.

Jordan Seaberry is a painter, organizer, legislative advocate and educator. He is also the co-director of the US Department of Arts and Culture. Learn more about Jordan and view his work here.

• US Department of Arts and Culture
• Vital Conversations series: "The Role of the Artist During Fascism" (Comic)
• Artists and Cultural Workers Against Authoritarianism Workshop recording and resources
• Tool Libraries, Mutual Aid & Community-led Disaster Response (Tue, Oct 21st 2025 at 4:00 PM EDT)
• Mutual Aid 101: Navigating Conflict w/ Dean Spade (Thu, Nov 20th 2025 at 3:00 PM EDT)
• Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit from Shareable

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced and edited by Paige Kelly
• Theme Music by Cultivate Beats

Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more.

Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show.

The Response is back after a two-month hiatus. For today's show, we resumed our interview format and welcomed two of the seven co-founders of Survival Bloc, Daisy Carter and Aracely Jimenez-Hudis.

Survival Bloc is a BIPOC-led network of leaders, movement organizations, and grassroots groups building power and community alternatives to survive the climate crisis.

Survival Bloc recently released a new free guidebook, How to Build a Survival Program, filled with "insights, tools and practices for communities to build their own survival programs and other strategies for climate resilience."

Daisy Carter (she/they) is a queer multi-disciplinary artist, yogi and climate justice organizer working at the intersections of grassroots leadership development, disaster resiliency, and mutual aid infrastructure. They work to implement strategies for self-determination, cultural revival, and alternative care that aim to protect frontline, ВІРОС (black, brown, and people of color) communities who are most vulnerable to climate disaster and political violence. As a movement consultant, they have trained over 500+ leaders in power-building strategies across the country, and worked for organizations such as CODEPINK, The Poor People's Campaign, The Climate Mobilization Project, and more. Born in New Orleans, LA, they are currently based in Louisville, KY. Daisy is a co-founder of Survival Bloc and works as Network Organizer.

Aracely Jimenez-Hudis (she/they) is a queer community organizer and facilitator born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Over the years, they have led strategic communications + grassroots mobilizations for major movement organizations and campaigns, including The Sunrise Movement and Los Angeles Tenants Union. As a certified yogi with a background in sociology, they are mostly interested in how to build up marginalized communities capacities for intergenerational healing, processing systemic and disaster related traumas, and cultivating resilience within the body. Aracely is also a co-founder of Survival Bloc, and holds down Communications Support.

• Survival Bloc
• Survival Bloc Network Member Application - for folks interested in joining the network, cross-movement collaborations, or building their own survival program
• Free Zine: How To Build a Survival Program
• Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit from Shareable
• Support The Response: https://www.shareable.net/donate/

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced and edited by Paige Kelly
• Theme Music by Cultivate Beats

Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more.

Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show.

We're back with the fifth installment in our Mutual Aid 101 mini-series. This episode is going to be a little different from what we've shared before. Rather than extended presentations, you'll hear six 5-10 minute "Rad Talks" covering examples of mutual aid in action.

We welcomed Sanae Lahgazi Alaoui from Metro Atlanta Mutual Aid Fund; Alexa Baiano and Rain from Mutual Aid Disaster Relief; Valinda Chan from Mutual Aid Eastie; Laurie Bertram Roberts from Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund; and writer, organizer, and agitator Vicky Osterweil.

These short talks explore the trans and queer underground, reproductive justice, immigration support, and community-led disaster response.

At the live event, they were followed by breakout sessions on each topic, which were not recorded. So if you feel like the speakers were a bit reserved, it's because what they are up to may or may not be suitable for the public record…

• Mutual Aid Session 4 video recording
• Mutual Aid Session 4 transcript
• Mutual Aid Session 4 public slides
• Mutual Aid Session 4 link document
• Mutual Aid 101 Learning Series
• Mutual Aid 101 Community Canvas
• Donate to The Response

• Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
• Produced and edited by Paige Kelly
• Theme Music by Cultivate Beats

Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more.

Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in reaching new people who may otherwise not hear about this show.