Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: EMS, Y2K and CoHousing

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

In my opinion, It is prudent to think about the local issues regarding
medium scale disasters. What if the commonhouse caught on fire? (actually
happened at Ithaca)What is the plan if your neighhors house catches on fire?
.. My own family has a fire escape plan in case one night the smoke alarms go
off. I don't think about it much, but my kids remind of it every once and
awhile.

In our area, earthquakes are more of a real disaster scenario than Y2K. I
have a small kit of stuff in each car, 5 gallons of water in the basement,
and since the power goes out at Sharingwood at least twice each winter, I
have a note on my yearly calendar, on NOV 1 that says, winterproof house,
which means check the lamp oil, wick supply, candles, matches, flashlight
batteries. We also freeze a gallon container of water (old milk jug) so our
frozen foods don't melt. This is all practical stuff because in fact our
lights DO go out each winter during big storms. Its one of the joys of
Country life I guess.

Cohousing types seem much less interested in the horde guns and groceries
aspects of Y2K, but just today at the sustainable Communities fair in
Seattle where NICA had a cohousing and communities booth, in my two hour
shift I got 3 Y2K related inquires. I must admit, one of those people seemed
pretty off balance in the way he spoke, enough to make me question his
mental condition.

Fear of being alone is a primal movativator, especially when coupled with
fear of the unknown. There is a lot of fear about the millenium, and I
suspect as that date gets closer, the fear will increase. I hope that fear
does not get fanned into mass media hysteria. I would be somewhat cautious
about group members that join because of fear. They may not be the most
sustainable people you could have join you.

Rob Sandelin
A computer professional who has seen no compelling evidence that failure of
calendaring functions will effect essential systems.