Climate Disaster Project

Climate professor receives $2.5 million grant to document stories globally - UVic News Fires rage, floods devastate, storms surge: every day we hear about the impacts of climate change, with ever-increasing casualty counts and infrastructure

We are proud to announce the Climate Disaster Project and its partners have been awarded a $2.5 million grant to document the stories of climate-impacted people worldwide, creating a museum exhibition that honours their experiences and shares their wisdom.

news.uvic.ca/media-releas...

Eyes of the Beast at SFU - Neworld Theatre Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Survivor Stories is a verbatim theatre adaptation of the multi-award-winning journalism by the Climate Disaster Project, a teaching newsroom based out of the Univer...

Got to take in performance of Eyes of the Beast, powerful co-creation of New World Theatre & @climatedisaster.bsky.social. Highly recommend. Brings to life oral testimonies of people who lived through BC's heat dome, fires & floods. Last shows today & tomorrow.
neworldtheatre.com/projects/eye...

I Worked the ER During BC’s Worst Heat Wave. One Shift Haunts Me | The Tyee ‘That night could break people,’ recalls a health professional. A first-person account.

"You can’t even take a moment to acknowledge this person passed. I remember seeing a family member just standing in the hallway. And I’m literally running, gunning it across the hall to go to a different room and can’t even talk to them."

thetyee.ca/News/2025/06...

I Worked the ER During BC’s Worst Heat Wave. One Shift Haunts Me | The Tyee ‘That night could break people,’ recalls a health professional. A first-person account.

Powerful and important reporting from an ER worker during the 2021 heat dome. Very glad The Tyee ran this, but I feel frustrated and upset that a health care worker would have to be anonymous to be able to share a story like this. HC workers need to be able to speak freely
thetyee.ca/News/2025/06...

I Worked the ER During BC’s Worst Heat Wave. One Shift Haunts Me | The Tyee ‘That night could break people,’ recalls a health professional. A first-person account.

“We have to lose our humanity in order to try to save other people. People were suffering and you can’t hold their hand. I can’t be there in their last moments.”

Climate Storytellers’ Summit - High Meadows Environmental Institute Time and Location Live via Zoom Thursday, April 10, 2025 4–6PM Eastern Register for our Zoom webinar here! Or attend our watch party.   Event Description Join My Climate Story project, the Yale Progra...

Honoured to be representing the students and survivors of the @climatedisaster.bsky.social, as one of 20 presenters at the Climate Storytellers' Summit. Because we need new forms of journalism to help communities recover from the trauma of a warming world.

environment.princeton.edu/climate-stor...

We're honoured the @cajournalists.bsky.social has selected Eyes of the Beast, the documentary play the Climate Disaster Project and Neworld Theatre created with survivors of extreme heat, fire, and floods, as a finalist. It's the first time newsroom-theatre partnership has been a CAJ awards nominee.

"There was a lot to learn about trauma-informed interviewing, but at the core of it, you’re showing up as a person first—empathy forward," recent graduate Sydney Lobe says about her experience as Climate Disaster Project student at @uvic.ca.

www.uvic.ca/support-uvic...

Hear @uvic.ca Writing professor & @climatedisaster.bsky.social founding director Sean Holman at the Climate Storytellers’ Summit on Apr 10: chosen from 100 submissions, Holman will be one of 20+ speakers on how climate stories spark change. Register here:
environment.princeton.edu/climate-stor...

'You think it wouldn't affect you, but there's a very high possibility it can' Shekainah Mendis shares her experience of the 2016 Sri Lanka floods with Sylvia Ndirangu.

“Seeing her and how that could have happened to anyone, it made me think about people who probably didn't have relatives to go stay with, people who got displaced. These floods lasted quite a while.” - student Shekainah Mendis, 2016 Sri Lanka floods

thewrennews.ca/you-think-it...

“We ended up having a relative move in with us for a while because of how high the water levels were. I could see how difficult that was for her because almost her whole life is in that house, and she had no access to it.”

“Where we were living, the water levels did rise in our street as much as other places. We were continuously checking up on any friends and family that lived in any of the severely affected areas.”

Journalism students explore personal stories of climate disaster survival – TRU Newsroom TRU Newsroom

We're honoured to be partnering with @thompsonriversu.bsky.social and journalism professor @jenniferchrumka.bsky.social on this important work, sharing stories from climate-impacted people in Kamloops and around the world.

inside.tru.ca/2025/03/25/j...

'Everyone thought they were going to die and felt like they were stuck' Diego Machado shares his story of the 2021 Juniper Ridge wildfire with Jenna Spencer.

“My brother and my mom were packing up our stuff. My dad went out and set up a bunch of sprinklers to make sure everything was wet while they waited for the fire department to show up.” - student Diego Machado, 2021 Juniper Ridge Fire

thewrennews.ca/everyone-tho...

“The first thing I did was call my brother to see if they had seen it. He told me that it struck thirty or fourty metres from our backyard, and everything around it caught fire immediately. We live right at the bottom of the neighbourhood, right against a big parkland, which gets quite dry.”

“There was a bit of a gap where there was almost no lightning strikes at all, and then there was one really big one. Something about it clicked within my head. It’s like my intuition knew exactly where that lightning hit.”

'There was no good way to help them and myself at the same time' Remy Machado shares his experience of the 2021 Juniper Ridge wildfire with Diego Machado.

“We do have a couple of neighbours that are older and their family lives far away and they're living on their own. I wanted to make sure that if they needed any help with anything, I could be there for them.” - Kamloops resident Remy Machado, 2021 Juniper Ridge fire

thewrennews.ca/there-was-no...

“Talk about their experiences, how they felt, and just be able to have that communication with other people. I tried to talk with all of my neighbours about it and make sure that they were okay, seeing if they needed anything, even if it was just somebody to talk to.”

“The wildfire made people scared for the rest of the summer. It put a damper on the summer for people wanting to do things in the neighbourhood. It would have been nice to have a neighbourhood support group so people could talk about it more and explain their side of things.”

Our elections are increasingly defined by the threats we face. That's why coverage of the dangers of climate change is so important. And that's why we were honoured @sfuceri.bsky.social cited the Climate Disaster Project as an example of how to get that coverage right.

www.sfu.ca/ceri/publica...

'The fact that I saw something like this happening close to home made it more terrifying' Sylvia Ndirangu shares her experience of the 2024 Kenya-Tanzania flood with author Shekainah Mendis.

"So the fact that you’re not able to confirm right then and there just heightened the anxiety around the flooding.” - student Sylvia Ndirangu, 2024 Kenya-Tanzania floods

thewrennews.ca/the-fact-tha...

"The fact that I saw something like this happening close to home made it more terrifying. I began to think, you never know who was there when the person was taking the video. It could have been a family member. It could have been anybody."

“I remember seeing these massive, privately owned buses carrying people. As they’re driving on the road, the water becomes too heavy, and you see buses being swept away with people struggling and screaming through the buses. It was quite traumatic."

'The fact that I saw something like this happening close to home made it more terrifying' Sylvia Ndirangu shares her experience of the 2024 Kenya-Tanzania flood with author Shekainah Mendis.

So the fact that you’re not able to confirm right then and there just heightened the anxiety around the flooding.” - student Sylvia Ndirangu, 2024 Kenya-Tanzania floods

thewrennews.ca/the-fact-tha...

The fact that I saw something like this happening close to home made it more terrifying. I began to think, you never know who was there when the person was taking the video. It could have been a family member. It could have been anybody.

'Now I understand that every experience is valuable Anel Jazybaeva shares her story about the 2023 Bush Creek East wildfire with author Aibiike Alymova.

“Imagine 100 upset people showing up one day to your property. We did try to be prepared as much as possible. We held some rooms for evacuees just in case.” - hotel front desk receptionist Anel Jazybaeva, 2023 Bush Creek fire

thewrennews.ca/now-i-unders...

“We were so lost when it actually happened. At that moment, when 100 people showed up at our doors, we didn’t know what to do.”

“It's something that you can be ready for but at the same time, you can’t prepare for it. We had lots of theoretical knowledge on what to do in these situations. We had lots of meetings on how to address emergency situations when they occur, but we've never faced it really on that scale."

'I felt this was the right place to be, until I saw the flames' Cheyanne Watkinson shares her experience of the 2017 Elephant Hill wildfire with author Harshika Gupta.

“When the dry grass around us ignited, we barely escaped. It was clear that firefighting methods hadn’t evolved to match the intensity of modern fires.” - firefighter Cheyanne Watkinson, 2017 Elephant Hill fire

thewrennews.ca/i-felt-this-...