Protect Ariel’s Home: Hurricane Relief

5 min readMay 16, 2023

A banner featuring “Protect Ariel’s Home” in blue font as well as illustrations of crabs, coral reefs, fish, starfish, and water bubbles.

In The Little Mermaid, Prince Eric is caught in a hurricane and shipwrecked. In this scene we see how destructive a hurricane can be and the damage it can wreck on everything in its path. While the storm in the movie moves quickly, a hurricane in real life moves relatively slowly. Especially with global atmospheric temperatures and ocean temperatures increasing, we are seeing storms that are larger, move slower, and are more intense than storms in the past, and with this, they cause more damage to the regions they pass over.

Hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones are all different names for the same weather system phenomenon: the names refer to where the weather event occurs. They are called hurricanes in the Atlantic basin and in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, they are cyclones in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, and they are typhoons in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. To be considered one of these storms, winds must reach at least 74 mph (119 kph). The exact season varies a bit depending on location, but the typical season runs from May to November.

Hurricanes come with intense rain, powerful wind, and massive storm surges. This combination has the power to devastate entire communities. Imagine a community being hit by winds faster than a moving car! Hurricanes are categorized by their minimum wind speeds:

Category 1: 74 mph
Category 2: 96 mph
Category 3: 111 mph — considered a major storm
Category 4: 130 mph — considered a catastrophic storm
Category 5: 157 mph — considered a catastrophic storm

As we’ve already discussed in the Clean Water Access article, environmental racism and community divestment make it so that the impacts of hurricanes are felt even worse by marginalized and lower income communities because of failing infrastructure, less access to flood insurance, and delayed response following a weather disaster.

For example, in the U.S., government response to these storms comes from several organizations, but the efforts are not coordinated by any central authority; this means that recovery efforts are often chaotic and confusing, making it hard for people to get the aid they need. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) is the main source of disaster relief funds, but they give aid based on a cost-benefit analysis that is designed to minimize tax payer risk, which means that money is often given to wealthier areas where property values are higher. Money is then given to the areas where property is worth more, not based on where the greatest need is. If a family owns their home, they can receive larger grants, and if their income is high enough, they can receive tax refunds; if families rent, they receive smaller loans, and if their income is not high enough, they will not receive tax refunds. All this allows wealthier neighborhoods to recover quicker from disasters and further undermines marginalized communities.

TALK IT OUT

Do you know of any local organizations that help your community prepare for disasters? Are there any that help with disaster recovery? Do you know of any that are BIPOC-led? How could you help support these organizations?
Is there anything you can think of that you could do to help your community prepare for a disaster? Are there organizations you could join? Or disaster relief organizations that need help gathering supplies?
Are there areas of your community that are more at risk of disasters? Are there areas that are more flood prone? Or are they susceptible to other disasters? Is there anything you could do to help these communities?

GET CRAFTY

Hurricane in a Jar

Source: https://playingwithrain.com/hurricane-in-a-jar/

Objective:

Simulate a hurricane to better understand the immense power of this weather event!

Supplies:

A wide mouthed jar
Water
Food coloring (just one color, darker colors will be easier to see)
Spoon

Method:

Fill the jar around ¾ full with water
With the spoon, swirl the water in one direction; keep swirling until the water is really going around.
Quickly remove the spoon and drop a few drops of food coloring into the water. Tip: have a second person add the color as soon as the spoon is removed.
Watch as the color spreads out in a hurricane shape.

Notice that the darkest color remains at the center which, like in a hurricane, is the strongest area of the storm, and the lighter color bands spread out from the center.

TAKE ACTION

Natural coastal infrastructure helps to significantly decrease the effects of hurricanes. If you live in a hurricane prone area, be on the lookout for events where organizations are helping to restore wetlands, dunes, mangrove forests, and other natural infrastructure. Rebuilding these areas can significantly help communities that are built in flood prone areas.
Reach out to your elected representatives and express your support for making the response to natural disasters more equitable, where the response is expanded to include helping those most at risk instead of focusing primarily on recovery of property.
If you or someone you know has been affected by a hurricane (or other natural or human made disaster) and is experiencing emotional distress, you can call the Disaster Distress Hotline at 1–800–985–5990. This is a 24/7/365 hotline to offer support and counseling to all residents of the U.S. and its territories; it is toll-free, multilingual, and confidential.

Conclusion

The reality of the climate crisis may be bleak, but the future doesn’t have to be. Fan activism, the organizing methodology that Fandom Forward was founded on, involves making connections between pop culture and the real world to inspire fans to take action for social change. The power fan communities have is incredible, especially when they work together on a common goal. Please use these articles to organize and inspire action amongst your fellow fans, your friends, and your family. We can’t wait to see what the Disney fandom–arguably one of the largest fandoms in the world–does to Protect Ariel’s Home!

If you take action, please tell us about it! #ProtectArielsHome

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