New Green Party leader knows the trauma of environmental damage first-hand

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Like many people, new interim Green Party Leader Amita Kuttner has watched the aftermath of the storm that claimed several lives and caused untold damage to livelihoods and infrastructure in B.C. with concern and dismay. But for Kuttner, it hits harder. Their mother was killed and father severely injured in January 2005 when their house was crushed in a landslide in North Vancouver — triggered by what Kuttner later learned was an atmospheric river. 

Kuttner runs the Moonlight Institute, a non-profit that explores ways to adapt to the climate crisis, and spoke with What On Earth host Laura Lynch last week, before announcing their new political role. 

Q: What happened in January of 2005?

A: I was away at boarding school in California, which is the only reason I survived. It was about 3:30 in the morning on Jan. 19, after days and days of rain, which I found out years later was an atmospheric river. And I had gotten an email from my mother the night before that actually said that the basement was flooding. And at 3:30 in the morning, the hillside came crashing down onto my house, through my parents' bedroom, and killed my mother.… My dad happened to be in the bathtub at the time, because he'd been up late cleaning the basement. They'd fallen asleep. He managed to stand up, and so he got transported down the hill and stayed alive, amazingly, [though] smashed to pieces. But alive. What had caused the mudslide was a bit complicated. There was an illegal pond, I believe, installed at the property above, and fill had been added, which exacerbated the mudslide risk. But there was actually a known risk of mudslides for that slope, and technically … there shouldn't have been a development there in the first place. 

Q: What has gone through your mind as you watch what's unfolded in B.C.? 

A: I'm angry. I'm frustrated because these sorts of things are predictable. Perhaps not in perfect detail. You don't know exactly what the flooding is going to be like. You don't know exactly which [hillside] is going to come down, but we know we have mudslide risk. We know … when atmospheric rivers are coming, we know when we're going to have a huge amount of rainfall. 

So I'm looking for: Where was the preparation? Where was the mobilization beforehand? And then in the aftermath as well, I'm looking at the same thing: everybody going about their business, like nothing is going on, being swept off roadways, being trapped over and over … some sort of personal awareness that this was possibly coming would have made a huge difference. 

Q: It seems there's an opportunity now, in the wake of this, to try to do something differently. What would you like to see municipal, provincial and federal governments do to prevent this kind of loss of life and damage?

A: I would like to see a strategy combining all levels of government working together for both adaptation and mitigation. So, talking about what can we do beforehand, where and how are we mapping risk for many different types of disasters. And also, so that we're ready to alert people that something might be coming so that they themselves can get prepared — helping individuals, helping families, helping communities get ready for things. Understanding the risk. And then making sure that there is an actual, more real and detailed awareness of what the risks are and then having a co-ordinated response and adaptation methods and methodologies across every single level of government. Because on the ground, it's going to often fall to municipalities to do the detailed work of how you actually prepare. But response comes from every level and has to be ready before you're actually in the middle of a disaster. 

Q: You've spoken about how the events in British Columbia over the last several days have been triggering for you, and that causes you to relive the trauma. How do you cope? 

A: Good counselling.… I have PTSD and I've been working with therapists for years on trauma counselling, but it's difficult and … you know, I'm listening to people tell the stories of watching their homes be swept away. And it hits very deeply. You know, it's one thing to empathize with people whose experiences you don't recognize, and another to know exactly how they feel.

Q: If you could offer advice to people who have been traumatized by such events, what would you say to them?