As California works through the devastating consequences of catastrophic flooding, today on “Post Reports” we look back at another climate disaster and ask if survivors can find healing on the very land that holds the scars of climate change.
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From deadly flooding to destructive wildfires, Californians have been coping with the perils of climate change for years. More than four years after the Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise, one study on the fire’s aftermath said survivors experienced PTSD at rates on par with veterans of war.
Research increasingly shows that victims of climate change disasters are left with deep psychological wounds — from anxiety after hurricanes to surges in suicide during heat waves — that the nation’s disaster response agencies are ill-prepared to treat.
But in the burned and battered forests near Paradise, a small program run by California State University at Chico is using nature therapy walks to help fire survivors recover.
Today on “Post Reports,” climate reporter Sarah Kaplan explains how the program is testing a fraught premise: that the site of survivors’ worst memories can become a source of solace.