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Survivors team up to support those dealing with the devastating consequences of extreme weather: 'My entire life just fell apart'

"It's not political. It's about all of us."

"It's not political. It's about all of us."

Photo Credit: iStock

The Extreme Weather Survivors group provides free, bilingual support to those affected by extreme weather disasters. It also highlights real stories of people impacted by heat waves, storms, and other weather disasters in order to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change, reported Deceleration.

As part of the group's mission, Extreme Weather Survivors aims to "empower those impacted by extreme weather to be storytellers and changemakers in the fight to build resilient communities," per its official website.

For example, in 2022, Amy Dishion's Labor Day started like any other but ended in tragedy when her husband Evan died from a heat stroke during a morning hike in Phoenix. The 32-year-old doctor left behind not just a grieving wife but also their newborn daughter, Chloe.

"My entire life just fell apart," Dishion told Deceleration. "I lost my best friend and the father of my child."

"It feels like being displaced, right on top of losing somebody in a very preventable way," she added after moving back to Salem, Oregon, to live with family.

This summer, Phoenix saw temperatures over 100 degrees for 113 straight days, breaking the city's previous record of 76 days set in 1993. Other women facing similar challenges have joined Dishion in speaking out.

When Hurricane Beryl hit Houston in July, Shauntá Floyd spent a night without air conditioning. "The narrative in Texas is that climate change doesn't exist," Floyd said, per Deceleration. "It's a global issue, and it needs to be highlighted so that we can reduce our carbon footprint and make changes to balance out what has already occurred."

These women are part of a new campaign called Act of Man, partnering with Science Moms as well as All Hands and Hearts. As Deceleration reported, research by marketing firm Potential Energy Coalition showed that messaging centered on "unnatural disasters" increased support for protective actions by suburban women by 8.8 percentage points.

Dishion feels that speaking up helps prevent future tragedies while creating a better world for her daughter.

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"I want a safe world for my baby and all of our babies and all of our kids that have, through no fault of their own, inherited a giant problem," she said. "I want the world to be habitable for the people growing up on this planet."

"I think, really, the goal is that this conversation should be as American as apple pie," said Science Moms co-founder Joellen Russell, per Deceleration. "It's not political. It's about all of us."

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