Re: Y2K & Cohousing | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Lynn Nadeau (welcomeolympus.net) | |
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 11:13:59 -0600 |
The best effect of Y2K meetings and published materials here on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington has been increased consciousness of disaster preparedness in general. This is not misplaced, as we are in an area with significant danger of a large earthquake (and very little consciousness of that, compared to California, where I used to live) as well as being vulnerable to power outages in winter time-- we have several each winter, and they can last several days, even with nothing worse than a storm to blame. So it is a good thing that people are getting to know their neighbors, learning where their shut-off valves are, taking First Aid, and checking their pantries. We are also heavily reliant on the Hood Canal Bridge, which has been out of service in the past, and will be again, inevitably. As cohousing, we are already ahead of the game, in knowing our community neighbors, feeling free to borrow from each other and ask for help if needed, knowing who might have special needs. A project I am working on would give our community a job in our greater area. I learned that the Red Cross is always short of trained Shelter Managers. A public school building near us is a likely Shelter, with back-up power and heat, and construction likely to survive an earthquake. I am working to get a group from our cohousing project to take the shelter-managing training together, and make a group commitment to staff the school-shelter at a certain level, if needed. The training is probably the same in your area too, with a self-study video, then a few evenings of class. The local organizer said if we got 10 participants, they'd run the class for us, and adapt the schedule to our preferences. This can be valuable community building for your group, and a good resource for your larger community, and a way to contribute the skills you have. Probably could get you an article on your community in your local newspaper, too, for that matter. Our common house is not built yet, but we are surely going to have a non-electric heat source, propane cooking and heat, so that would make it a gathering place in an outage. We are on city water, but also have a well for our gardens. We are looking into what it would take to use a generator to pump water from our well, if city water were unavailable or unsafe, in an emergency. Something called a "transfer switch", which costs some hundreds of dollars, seems to be needed, to use a generator on a system which is already hooked up to the regional power grid. Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend WA where we are working on a 2-lot deal with Habitat for Humanity
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Y2K & Cohousing Zev Paiss, March 22 1999
- Re: Y2K & Cohousing Lynn Nadeau, March 23 1999
- Re: Y2K & Cohousing Bitner/Stevenson, March 23 1999
- RE: Y2K & Cohousing Rob Sandelin, March 23 1999
- Re: Y2K & Cohousing Bitner/Stevenson, March 23 1999
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