The goal of this stream is to begin conversations and make plans for creating a northeast regional disaster response network, so that no matter what form the coming disasters take we will be ready. Within each city, these plans can include rapid response call networks to deal with police violence or immigration raids, community evacuation plans, first aid trainings, and much more.

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Here are some of the workshops that will be part of the “From Ice Storms to ICE Raids: Disaster Preparedness Network” stream:

Disaster & Resistance
Description: a musical multimedia presentation of the work in Seth Tobocman’s new comic book “Disaster and Resistance: Comics and Landscapes for the 21st century.” Disaster and Resistance outlines pressing social and political struggles at the dawn of the twenty-first century - from post 9-11 New York City, to Israel and Palestine, to Iraq and New Orleans. He brings us a behind-the-scenes view from the frontlines, with heart and clarity, and turns static headlines into flesh and blood realities.
Who: Seth Tobocman

Food Sovereignty: Spiritual, Ecological and Political-Economic Grounding of our Struggles
Description: Popular-education workshop on the root causes of the current food crises, seed saving, and sustainable agriculture.
Who: Stepen Bartlett, Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville, National Family Farm Coalition / Via Campesina

Mountaintop Removal
Description: An introduction to coal extraction and the exploitation of the land and people of Southern Appalachia. This workshop will include a brief overview of the ecological impacts of mountaintop removal, and will focus on the social and cultural impacts of coal extraction. How are we connected to devastation, and how can we stop it?
Who: Marty Driggs, Rising Tide Boston

Community Organizing Against the BU Bio-Lab
Description: Klare is a seasoned community organizer who is tirelessly fighting Boston University’s proposed BSL-4 Bio-Terror lab in Roxbury, a community of color in Boston. She will share her thoughts on organizing against this kind of man-made disaster, and give some details on this important struggle.
Who: Klare Allen, Safety-Net / Stop The Bio-Lab Coalition

ICE Raids and the JP Rapid Response Network
Description: The Jamaica Plains Rapid Response Network is a group of pro-immigrant rights community volunteers who support immigrant workers and families. This workshop will introduce how they create a network of residents and neighbors of Jamaica Plains who are prepared to provide legal, material, and political support to immigrants in the event of an immigration emergency.
Who: Dorotea Manuela - Jamaica Plains Rapid Response Network

False Solutions Roundtable
Description: an overview of various false solutions to climate and the reason why it is important to confront these insidious profit-driven plans as a justice-based approach to dealing with climate change.
Who: Anne Petermann and Rachel Smolker of the Global Justice Ecology Project, Andrea Samulon of Rainforest Action Network’s Agribusiness campaign, and Brian Tokar of the Institute for Policy Studies

Building a Disaster Response Team: Experience & Overview
Description: A discussion about a model of community disaster response that can empower us and others as unspecialized
citizens to begin learning the skills our communities and families may need in times of disaster. This first half of a double workshop will focus on the experiences of people in Aftershock Alliance and Wrench in the Works in disaster situations, and discuss an overview of what disasters entail and what can be done about it.
Who: Aftershock Alliance & Wrench in the Works

Aftershock Alliance & Wrench in the Works Continued: Building a Disaster Response Network

Bio-Tech, Trees, & Next Generation Agro-Fuels
Description: By now, many people have heard of the problems with ethanol and bio-diesel produced from corn, sugar, and palm-oil. The industries’ response is next generation agrofuels like cellulosic ethanol and biomass. This workshop debunks these new myths, discussing the many problems with cellulosic fuels, genetically engineered trees, and other biotech applications, by exposing what this means for forests and forest peoples.
Who: Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project

Aftershock Skill-Share (Community Triage & Communication) (Continued from 4 pm block)
Description: We have spent a lot of time think tanking and prioritizing skills, breaking into groups of interest so that some members are more specialized as medics and others are in water filtration, food storage, or sanitation. All of us are committed to learning basic medic and radio operations, and building a safe and self sufficient community. What we have to offer is what we’ve come up with through those discussions, and for others to adopt or criticize and suggest their ideas.
Who: Smokey, Katrina, Aftershock Alliance