The
Impact
of
Climate Change
ILLUSTRATION BY PHILLIP CLARK / NEXTGENRADIO
Jaz’min Franks speaks to LaWanda Felder, a Jennings resident and mother of two young children, about the experience of raising her children in times of climate change. Severe storms and flooding in July damaged a large portion of her home — particularly the area she uses for her child who has autism — on top of dealing with rising utility costs. Despite challenges, she says she is doing what she can to create an atmosphere of safety and comfort for her children.
A mother in St. Louis grapples with the effects of climate change
Climate Change and Motherhood
Click here for audio transcript
STAND-UP TRANSCRIPT: Hi, I’m Jaz’min Franks for NPR’s Next Generation Radio in Saint Louis. LaWanda Felder is the mother of two young children in the northern suburbs of Saint Louis. The experience of raising children in times of climate change has been a challenge. Severe storms and flooding in July damaged a large portion of her home, particularly the area she uses for her child who has autism.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: My name is LaWanda, my last name is Felder. I’m 28. We’re currently in Saint Louis, Missouri. Jennings area, to be exact. My daughter, she’s two months. Her name is Aza’ali, my 20 month old, his name is Ahmaud Rahim. It was raining. It was coming down pretty hard. And I didn’t think too much about it. Well, I packed my daughter up and I was going back to get Ahmaud from child care.
I’m just looking. I’m like, it’s coming down so so bad. The raindrops were coming down so hard it made you question was it hailing. So I just kept saying, please, please, please, God. Please do not let my basement flood. I got the call as I was getting my children out of the car. And my mom said, my cousin’s basement was flooded and I knew what I was done for.
My son, he has a sensory problem. He didn’t understand that he couldn’t go in a basement and play. So I had to go to Sam’s to pick up foam mats to put on the floor in his room. So when he’s laying down, he’s not bumping his head. It was kind of frustrating because I was upset and he was also upset which added to the aura of the room.
It just made everyone frustrated because he’s so used to going down there and playing and there’s no way to make him understand. So you have to reroute and try to find a way to get through it. By the time that the water did leave and drain out, the pictures was soaking wet and sticking together. It’s small things people don’t understand.
It’s something that you can’t put a price on. It kind of make you frustrated because COVID was so much and… I’m sorry for tearing up. It’s just stuff that can be replaced. Things you don’t think about til you need them. I still have a bit of anxiety because it rained two days ago and I just kept going down the steps, checking.
I feel as if climate change does have something to do with the flooding because what people don’t understand it’s affecting everywhere. Juggling all of that, it upsets you because whether you’re trying to be green or go green or just preserve the earth with little measures people don’t understand that. So it makes you want to become more active in your community, more active in who you vote in.
You try to do better. You’ve got to be the change you want to see.
Add to that, she’s also dealing with rising utility costs. Despite the challenges, she says she’s doing what she can to create an atmosphere of safety and comfort for her children.
LaWanda Felder was sitting in her car with her two young children — 20-month-old son Ahmaud Rahim and 2-month-old Aza’ali — when she received the flash flood warning.
“I just kept saying please just let me be able to make it home and don’t get caught in traffic with two kids,” she said. “The last time there was flash flooding, I was stuck on a highway for almost two hours with a newborn and my 18 month old and they were extremely restless.”
When she made it back to her Jennings home, a red brick single-family home off of the highway, she expected the worst. Felder’s mother called and told her to check her basement because her cousin’s basement was completely flooded as a result of several hours of non-stop rain.
“When I walked down my basement steps, there was water to the first step,” Felder said. “So I gave it a few hours [… and] there was water to the third step — I was irate.”
LaWanda Felder, 28, has lived in Jennings, Mo., for 6 years and her most recent home for two years while raising her two young children. She is one of hundreds of St. Louisans who are recovering from historic flooding late last summer, along with juggling motherhood and the day-to-day impact of climate change. (Photos by Jaz’min Franks/NPR Next Generation Radio)
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
LaWanda Felder, 28, tries to console her 2-month-old Aza’ali while getting her 20-month-old son Ahmaud Rahim ready for daycare on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, at her home in Jennings, Mo. “I just kept saying please just let me be able to make it home and don’t get caught in traffic with two kids,” she said recollecting the day of the flooding. “The last time there was flash flooding, I was stuck on a highway for almost two hours with a newborn and my 18 month old and they were extremely restless.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
Lawanda Felder, 28, holds up a photograph of flooding in her basement on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, at her home in Jennings, Mo. “My mom said my cousin’s basement was flooded and I knew I was done for,” she said. “I was just like ‘if her basement flooded, I only can imagine what I’m looking like’.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
LaWanda Felder walks through her damaged basement on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, at her home in Jennings, Mo. “I was upset because I had just had a baby shower and my baby shower things were down there,” she said. “I lost so many Pampers and wipes, I lost clothes, I lost my son’s sensory toys […] It makes you upset, you get upset.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
Felder is one of hundreds of St. Louis residents who have experienced historic flash flooding in July. The St. Louis region received so much rain, in five hours it surpassed the daily rainfall record of 6.85 inches set in 1915. A few hours after that the area received more rainfall in six hours than it normally receives in the months of July and August combined.
“I feel as if climate change has something to do with the flooding because what people don’t understand [is] it’s affecting everywhere. It’s not just here,” she said, adding things in her day-to-day life which have left her frustrated like: her water bill doubling, having to use smaller appliances to keep her gas bill down, considering stopping using air conditioning as much and struggling to put gas in her car from the high prices earlier this summer — all while raising two young children.
“It’s just hard, it’s hard,” she said. “I have two [kids] under two. […] It’s just hard and wages are not enough to keep up.”
Sunlight bounces off of play mats, left, and LaWanda Felder, 28, gets her 20-month-old son Ahmaud Rahim out of bed to get ready for the day while holding her 2-month-old Aza’ali on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, at LaWanda Felder’s home in Jennings, Mo. She said she converted her basement into an area her son can play in without being hurt, which was important a a child with autism and sensory issues. “So it just made life so much harder because I had to rip up flooring, rip up carpets,” she said. “It made life so much harder than what it already was because on top of that, I had to worry about not being at home which is his save haven.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
Portraits of Lawanda Felder and her 20-month-old son Ahmad Rahim sit in her living room on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, in Jennings, Mo. “I lost a lot of stuff they can’t be replaced,” Felder said. “It’s just a small things people don’t understand it’s something that you can’t put a price on.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
LaWanda Felder, 28, explains how water started dripping through her basement’s windows on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, outside of her home in Jennings. Felder said she rethinks storing anything in her basement because it’s refinished because of the possibility flooding may happen again. “I still have a bit of anxiety because it rained two days ago and I kept going down the steps to check.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
LaWanda Felder, 28, comforts her 2-month-old Aza’ali after strapping her into a carseat before taking her son to daycare on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, at her home in Jennings, Mo.
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
LaWanda Felder, 28, drivers while taking her son to daycare on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, in Jennings, Mo. Felder said she wishes her community was closer outside of coming together during times of tragedy. “I feel as the community could be better in coming together,” she said. “There’s people out here struggling to eat. […] We just need to be bound more to the people that’s near you.”
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
Despite the challenges, Felder said seeing how climate change is impacting her children and community drives her to want to make change for the better.
“It makes you want to become more active in your community, more active in who you vote for, more active who you put into the Senate and you try to do better,” she said. “You got to be the change you want to see.”
LaWanda Felder, 28, walks holds Ahmaud Rahim’s, her 20-month-old son’s hand while walking up to daycare with her 2-month-old Aza’ali in hand in Jennings, Mo. She said she never truly understood the phrase “take care of Mother Earth and she’ll take care of you” until she had a child with autism and now she wants to do everything in her power to protect the environment for her children.
JAZ’MIN FRANKS / NEXTGENRADIO
LaWanda Felder, 28, looks down the road outside of her home which saw historic rainfall in late July on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, in Jennings, Mo. Felder said after the experiences she’s gone through in the last several months, she hesitates staying in her home. “When my lease is up, I’m moving because I don’t want to take this loss again.”
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