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🔥 From Wildfire to Renewal: Greenville’s Reimagined Future

In 2021, the Dixie Fire wiped out Greenville, CA in under an hour, destroying nearly a million acres. Among those left standing in the ashes was Tyler Pew, a fourth-generation local and design-build contractor. Faced with total loss, he moved back home from San Francisco and asked: What if recovery is not about rebuilding the past, but creating something better?

Tyler shares the hard truth about disaster recovery, why the toughest years often come 5 to 7 years later, and the difference between a “closed fist” and an “open hand” when rebuilding a community. He draws on lessons from other disaster-hit towns, integrates indigenous Mountain Maidu land wisdom, and helps launch innovative housing initiatives like Welcome Home Greenville.

📑 Check out the incredible body of work that Tyler and the LMNOP Team have led with a group of partners HERE — a 3-year index of projects completed in the general time sequence of the work.

This is a story of resilience, regeneration, and finding hope in the next generation.

🎧 Listen now to learn how tragedy can become transformation, and how open-handed leadership can shape a stronger future.

👉 If you have faced setbacks or care about community resilience, share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

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How do communities recover after disaster? And what happens when leaders try to move forward quickly, speeding past a process that would honor what has been lost?

In this episode, Sean sits down with Jennifer Gray Thompson, founder of After the Fire USA. Jennifer has walked into some of the hardest-hit communities across the country, helping people navigate recovery after megafires.

They talk about what defines a megafire, why grief cannot be skipped, and how communities find strength not in strategy documents, but in each other.

Jennifer offers sharp insight into what makes Los Angeles both powerful and vulnerable. She also shares what gives her hope after years of doing this work. And how she cares for herself while caring for others.

If you care about climate, loss, leadership, or recovery, this conversation will stay with you.

Listen to hear:

• Why resilience requires opening ourselves to accept grace
• What makes megafires different from other disasters
• How communities like yours can show up for one another

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

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What happens when the systems meant to protect us fall short? How might we rebuild them with compassion, insight, and integrity?

In this episode of Shared Ground, we talk with Gavin Blair of Bright Harbor about the complex realities of disaster response and long-term recovery. Gavin has spent years working at the intersection of risk, community service, and systemic resilience, supporting survivors, navigating the insurance and FEMA landscape, and pushing for solutions that focus on those affected by challenging situations.

We cover:

• How systems need to innovate in response to the increasing severity and frequency of disasters, and what effective support really looks like
• What FEMA gets right, where it breaks down, and how to work within its limits
• Why insurance systems often fail survivors, and what needs to change
• How to advocate for communities without adding to what they’re experiencing
• And why kindness isn’t just moral, it’s structural

This episode blends the intimate with the systemic, pairing lived experience with lessons for anyone working in emergency response, policy, or community infrastructure. It’s about what resilience really looks like—and how it begins long after the flames are out.

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

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How do we turn overwhelming climate risk into actionable hope?

In this Quick Hits episode, Sean caught up with Matt Gonser, Climate Resilience Officer for LA County, and Jonathan Parfrey, Executive Director of Climate Resolve. Together, we break down what resilience actually means and how it’s being put into action across Los Angeles.

Matt shares what it looks like to build climate resilience at the systems level, from extreme heat mitigation to coastal protections, and why government must center community well-being in its plans.

Jonathan offers sharp insights from years of policy and project work, including surprising lessons from disaster recovery that reveal how communities can thrive through change—not just survive it.

From fires to floods, housing pressures to extreme heat, this conversation challenges assumptions about displacement, community capacity, and what’s possible when we lead with both planning and compassion.

✅ Listen in if you want a clearer, more hopeful way to think about resilience—grounded in real policy, real projects, and real people.

If this episode sparks new ideas for you, help us spread the word.

🟣 Subscribe to Shared Ground on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.

💬 Share this episode with someone who cares about building better futures, even in hard times.

And, as always, we’d love to hear your reflections—leave us a rating or drop a comment on Substack (seanknierim.substack.com)

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

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What if resilience is not a finish line, but a way of moving through the world?

In this episode, Nuin-Tara Key, Executive Director of Programs at California Forward, shares a sharp reframe on resilience and adaptation. She unpacks why these terms are often confused - and why that confusion holds us back.

Adaptation is about responding to specific climate impacts. Resilience, she explains, is something deeper: an ongoing process of learning, connection, and evolution. It is not a box to check or a one-time investment. It is about building communities that can adapt, thrive, and imagine new futures in the face of change.

Nuin-Tara also speaks candidly about her own sources of hope. From the creativity and compassion of people doing this work every day, to the freeing realization that we do not need to exhaust ourselves defending outdated systems - we can invest in building what comes next.

California Forward’s work reflects this mindset: advancing regional resilience while centering equity and sustainable local economies.

This conversation will change how you think about climate work, resilience, and what it means to show up for your community.

🎧 Listen in. If it sparks something, share it with someone who would benefit from this perspective.

If you are not yet subscribed to Shared Ground, now is a good time to join us. We are building a library of voices on resilience, generosity, and rebuilding what comes next.

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

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How Do You Rebuild After Losing Everything?

In this episode, we sit down with disaster recovery expert Justin Hollerich from Bright Harbor to talk about what really helps after catastrophic loss—what works, what doesn’t, and what most people overlook. With over two decades navigating recovery from wildfires, floods, and hurricanes, Justin shares practical lessons on managing the mental toll of starting over, building back stronger, and staying grounded when life is in chaos.

We cover:

• Why most people underestimate the mental strain of recovery
• Simple strategies to protect your health and mindset during tough times
• How community can make or break the path to rebuilding
• Why facts—not fear—are essential to recovery
• The unique resilience Justin has witnessed in Los Angeles after the fires

Whether you’re navigating personal loss, supporting someone who is, or just interested in how people rise after devastation, this conversation offers grounded insights and actionable takeaways.

🎧 Listen now to understand why community matters more than ever.

If you find this useful, share it with someone rebuilding or working through hard things.

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

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What does resilience actually mean - and where do we find it?

We recorded a series of special episodes at a recent gathering focused on rebuilding to insurable standards in Altadena and the Palisades.

Sean sits down with three thoughtful leaders working across architecture, energy infrastructure, and philanthropy:

• Drew Pedrick (MCTIGUE)
• Anuj Desai (Southern California Edison)
• Lisa Cleri Reale (philanthropic and nonprofit advisor).

Each offers their own lived definition of resilience, rooted in design, systems thinking, community care, and hard-won personal lessons.

Drew talks about how buildings and people alike must be prepared to endure and adapt. Anuj speaks to the challenge of keeping the lights on in a warming world, and the deeper meaning of community resilience. Lisa reminds us, quoting Rocky Balboa, that it’s not how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up.

From data fatigue to hope found in collaboration, from personal recovery to helping others through tragedy, this short, moving episode captures what Shared Ground is all about.

🎧 Listen, subscribe, and send it to someone you think might need to hear this today.

💬 Then leave a comment or reply—what’s your own definition of resilience?

🌍 More stories and resources at shared-ground.com

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

Send us a text

When disaster strikes, who shows up? And who keeps showing up after the headlines fade?

In this episode of Shared Ground, Venice resident Jon Seidman joins Allan and Sean to talk about the quiet, enduring work of recovery after the Los Angeles fires.

We decided to release this on the 6-month anniversary of the January fires - listen to Jon's thoughts about how and when to lean in to understand why.

Jon didn’t just check in. He showed up. With his characteristic care and understated generosity, he offered not only a place to stay but something more lasting: a morning ritual built around exceptional coffee. As a passionate home roaster, John brought beans, brewing gear, and a simple gesture that reshaped Sean’s mornings. Together they made coffee, watched the moon set, and began to rebuild a sense of rhythm amid the rubble. (read more on Sean's substack: "Don't Drink Shitty Coffee")

But this story is not just about coffee.

Jon reflects on the emotional timeline of crisis. He talks about the surge of immediate support, the sudden quiet that follows, and the need to stay present long after the moment has passed. He shares insights from his time living in remote Costa Rica, where interdependence was not a value but a way of life. His reflections offer a contrast to how many communities approach care and crisis today.

This episode explores:

• How months 4 after a crisis may be harder than month 1...and why now would be a good time to reach out to anyone you know affected by the January fires
• How micro rituals can ground us during displacement
• What mutual aid looks like when it is quiet and real
• Why asking good questions matters more than giving advice

If you have ever wondered how to show up well for someone in pain—or how to let others show up for you—this conversation will stay with you.

Shared Ground is produced by Sean Knierim and Allan Marks. Thanks to Cory Grabow, Kara Poltor, Corey Walles (from The Recording Studio) for your support in launching this effort.

For more stories of resilience & rebuilding, kindness & generosity: visit shared-ground.com and subscribe to Sean's substack. We invite you to share your own stories of resilience at the Shared Ground website - whether in response to the January fires in LA or other situations.

Follow us at seanknierim.substack.com, Instagram, or wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).