PART A:

NYAPATH GAK
14303251
SCIENCE

The Brief of this challenge is “How can the Australian Red Cross empower communities to
become more resilient“. My group and I have been discussing what problems the Red Cross
can provide solutions to and empower different types of communities in becoming resilient.
We developed a rich picture and targeted the types of impacts bushfires have on
communities. Through lots of research, we wanted to explore how air pollution from bushfire
smoke affects communities in a specific region such as the North coast who are prone to
bushfires due to bushland, and what exactly can the Australian Red Cross do to provide a
solution to this problem and increase resilience within this community.

The North coast is a bushfire prone area due to its location and climate. It is surrounded by
lots of bushland and reaches very high temperatures which can be the fuel to many
bushfires. Bushfire smoke is a problem that affects everyone, especially vulnerable
communities such as the elderly, children and individuals with pre-existing respiratory
conditions. During the 2019-2020 black summer, the impact of bushfires were devastating.
The extent of the fires burnt caused extremely poor air quality in this region. Having
community events such as BBQs with a more diverse range of food will potentially attract
more individuals in the community to come. More knowledge will be spread and more people
will be prepared.

Some parties and perspectives that our problem is targeting are Individuals who have pre-
existing health conditions and are worried what impacts smoke inhalation will have on their
health, individuals who are healthy and would like to maintain their health, and individuals
who are healthy or have pre-existing conditions but are reckless to the impacts and do not
care to know.

Some stakeholders who may be interested in this project include the Australian Red Cross,
rural fire services, healthcare providers and individuals living in the north coast. The ARC
may be interested in this project as they help people with bushfire responses and recovery.
The ARC can work with other organisations such as the rural fire service to develop
strategies for bushfire prevention and management. This connection allows programs such
as community BBQs to be organised and awareness on the issue to be spread.

This problem requires reframing as there is a lack of resources and awareness on the
impacts of bushfire smoke on health in these communities. Different approaches need to be
implemented in order to increase resilience within these communities.

RICH PICTURES:
PART B
NYAPATH GAK
14303251
SCIENCE
Using BBQs as a meeting point to spread awareness and information to people on how to
protect themselves from bushfire smoke made sense from my disciplinary perspective of
medical science. Medical science plays a crucial role in preventing and treating health issues
caused by bushfire smoke. Raising awareness and sharing information at these BBQs is a
great way to help people take the steps they need to protect their health.

From my personal perspective, participating in and attending these community events can
be a great way to make a difference and connect with people who may be going through the
same issues as you.

The process of forming our ‘how might we’ question was a difficult one with many trials and
errors. At the beginning, what we found difficult was making our question specific; it was very
broad at first and did not focus on a specific problem or impact of bushfires. In the end, it
was rewarding as we focused on the lack of awareness about the effects of bushfire smoke
on the health of individuals and were able to propose solutions to the problem.

The steps we took between the beginning and end of the process were lots of research and
using strategies like rich pictures, a general resilience framework, understanding
stakeholders, and setting boundaries. Our rich picture included a visual representation of the
different factors that contribute to bushfires and bushfire smoke, such as climate, weather
patterns, land use, and human activity, and then we examined how bushfire particulate
matter impacts communities, such as the vulnerable.

Using our rich picture, we were able to visualise the complexity of the system. We were able
to identify different patterns, relationships, and challenges that may have been difficult to see
through other means. Understanding stakeholders allowed us to work out what types of
organisations would be willing and able to benefit from working with us, such as the ARC or
RFS.

My team and I come from different disciplinary perspectives, such as IT, medical science,
property economics, and construction. As a team, we always took into account the
perspectives and opinions of everyone involved. We looked at things from all viewpoints
because we believed we would make better decisions and achieve better results. Our
transdisciplinary approach to the brief allowed us to combine our ideas to create a new
approach to forming our proposal and providing solutions.

At first, when reading this brief, our initial assumption was to just answer the question
provided. We didn’t think that we would have to personalise it and make it our own version.
We didn’t think we would need to specify what communities we would like to help and why. It
was a very challenging concept to grasp at first, but in the end, through applying different
strategies and concepts, we were able to form our "how might we" question using the brief.

Modularity, openness, and nestedness were useful concepts when applying them to the Red
Cross challenge and understanding and addressing complex problems like the impacts of
bushfire smoke. Modularity is the idea that complex systems are able to be broken down into
smaller, more manageable parts. Openness refers to the idea that effective solutions require
the input of a diverse range of people and stakeholders. Nested needs are the idea that
solutions must be adapted to local contexts and work together to address larger issues.
Applying these concepts to the general resilience framework allowed us to work out
solutions and take into account the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders.

Framing and reframing resilience can help individuals and communities better understand
what resilience is and how it can be cultivated. Framing allowed us to impose a view on the
problem that suggested a solution or a direction. It allowed us to create our question to be
more specific, so we know what we are targeting. Reframing allowed us to create new ways
of approaching the problem of raising awareness about bushfire smoke's health impacts. We
also used the multilevel perspective to understand where our question would fit, which we
felt was the niche level.

Some dimensions of resilience that we incorporated into our team's response were feedback
loops and self-organisation. Feedback loops refer to the ways in which information and
resources flow within a system and how they can be used to improve it over time. In the
context of community resilience, feedback loops help individuals and organisations identify
their strengths and weaknesses. Self-organisation refers to the way in which communities
come together to address common challenges and build resilience from the bottom up.
Together, feedbakloops and self-organisations help build resilient communities that are
better able to withstand and recover from bushfire smoke.

Some interpretations of community resilience and the activation of "young people" may
include focusing on community-led approaches and promoting youth engagement. These
approaches recognise the importance of building strong, reliant communities that are able to
better respond to and recover from the impacts of bushfire smoke and other challenges.

Some other perspectives the other teams had on increasing community resilience were
providing individuals with resources to help them through high temperatures in specific
regions like western Sydney and organising "how-to" informative sessions to raise
awareness for elderly communities on how to not be scammed online. These were good
interpretations, as they aimed to connect communities so they could work together to
address the common challenges they may face and build a sustainable future. The Red
Cross is able to work with these communities and partner with other organisations and
stakeholders to build strong, connected communities that are able to withstand and recover
from these problems.

The ways in which we might extend or enrich my team's response are to expand how we
raise awareness. We could share resources such as articles and other educational materials
on social media or in local community groups. We could also reach out to local organisations
or government agencies that work on these health issues and see if there was a way we
could collaborate on awareness-raising efforts. In doing this, we can build a more informed
and engaged community that is better Able to respond to the impacts of bushfire smoke and
be better prepared for any future occurrences.

REFERENCES:
BBC News. (2020, May 26). Australia bushfires: Hundreds of deaths linked to smoke, inquiry
hears. BBC News. [Link]
Bushfires trigger warnings for poor air quality. (2016, November 4). Blue Mountains Gazette.

[Link]
air-quality
The five worst air polluted places in Australia. (2022, March 23). [Link].

[Link]
in-australia-armidale-and-st-helens-tasmania/183da462-f577-4390-af5a-
20461a449e8f#:~:text=Armidale%20has%20the%20 worst%20 air