In his 2007 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Al Gore warned, “The catastrophe now threatening us is unprecedented — and we often confuse the unprecedented with the improbable.”

It's hard to deny the prescience of these words. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report detailing that the U.S. is on pace for another record-breaking year of billion-dollar disasters, with the average time between them only 18 days. During the summer, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reacted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report by calling it a “code red for humanity.”

Our news cycle is full of hurricanes, wildfires, floods, droughts, heatwaves, cold snaps and other disasters. These climate-induced hazards are intensifying in scale and expanding in their geographic scope. All the while, the world remains in the throes of a pandemic, a crisis which itself is increasing communities’ vulnerabilities through expanding economic, social and health risks and inequities, especially for racialized and marginalized populations. The needs seem (and are) overwhelming, and the onslaught of disasters risks creating donor fatigue, desensitization and empathy overload.

And yet, we can lessen our exposure to climate risks. We can help to prevent and mitigate disasters. A disaster happens when a hazard meets a vulnerability. For example, a disaster occurs when a hurricane meets a seaside community, destroying houses and displacing families. If the community can be prepared, they may be able to minimize the impact of the hurricane when it hits shore.

Read the full article about climate community by Patricia McIlreavy at Forbes.