Saket Soni on the People Who Make Disaster Recovery Possible
As human-driven global warming amplifies the frequency and potency of natural disasters, we are increasingly dependent on one group of workers who live in the shadows: the migrant workforce that arrives to clean up and rebuild.
Climate One · Climate One from The Commonwealth Club
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Show Notes
Who cleans up and rebuilds our communities after floods, fires, and hurricanes? COVID redefined America's definition of “essential workers,” but many who help communities recover from climate disasters remain underpaid and overlooked.
In 2006, labor organizer Saket Soni got an anonymous call from an Indian migrant worker in Mississippi who had scraped together $20,000 to apply for the “opportunity” to rebuild oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina. The caller was only one of hundreds lured into Gulf Coast labor camps, surrounded by barbed wire, and watched by armed guards. Since then, the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters has only increased – and disaster recovery has become big business. How are the lives of people displaced by disasters intertwined with those helping to rebuild?
Guests:
Saket Soni, Founder and Director, Resilience Force
Daniel Castellanos, Director Of Workforce Engagement, Resilience Force
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