Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing and Y2k (rather long)

[Loren Davidson (loren]

At 03:43 PM 11/7/98 -0600, Stevenson/Bitner wrote:
>This is a sideline issue, and I don't think it has much to do with what 
>this list is about.  Disaster preparedness is important, but not an issue 
>that is special to cohousing, or that should distract from the other 
>pressing issues that need to be discussed here. 

Oh, of course, it shouldn't distract from other issues.

Can you list, say, three of those pressing issues and how you feel about
them?  I haven't seen so much traffic on this list recently that I feel at
all burdened by seeing a few notes about how cohousers specifically can be
prepared for various problems.  If you feel there are issues not being
addressed on the list right now, perhaps you can share these and see what
feedback you get.  

Ways in which this could be addressed in a cohousing-specific manner:

How could storage of emergency supplies in the common house be facilitated?

One major preparedness item is having sufficient food supplies on hand for
3-7 days.  How might a cohousing community rotate foodstocks in the common
house kitchen to allow for this?

How might cohousers network with others in their community to be able to
keep track of one another in an emergency - picking up each others'
children, setting up contact points out of the area that many people in the
community could utilize - two coho communities in different states could
offer to do this for each other.  Local phone service is more likely to be
out than long distance in the event of, say, an earthquake.

Given that Southside Park is not only in an earthquake zone, but in a flood
plain, what plans is *your* community making to help each other out in the
event of an emergency?  How could these provide lessons for other cohousers?

I agree that disaster preparedness, by itself, is probably off-topic for a
cohousing list.  However, I feel that it has aspects which *are*
cohousing-related, and which I feel might make proper subject matter for the
list.

Just a few thoughts...respectfully submitted, as one voice among many...

Loren
--
Loren Davidson                  Permaculturist, poet, philosopher
loren [at] wombat.net    http://www.batnet.com/beauty/
"Follow your dreams.  Make your wishes.  Create the future.  And above all,
believe in yourself."  -- J. Michael Straczynski