Why are you doing this?

I left the last post in mysterious place:  Bixby!  What the hell are you doing?  Japan?  And earthquakes?

Before I get into that, because circumnavigating the landscaping is fun, I want to you all to know who you all, my multiple audiences, are.  Obviously, I'm talking to several crowds in Portland, including my NET (Neighborhood Emergency Team) peeps, my City Club peeps, my work peeps, my PSU classmates, my Quaker crowd (no seismic connection, there...), and many other dear friends in town.  

But, many of them already have already been, uh, INTRODUCED to this topic through my ramblings.  So these first few blogs will be review for them.  I'm mostly talking to friends and family east of here.  This matters to you all, too.  AND, I think it will help my blogging in Japan to have established the broader context here.  If you'd like the executive summary ("summary"), I've got a shorter version on the GoFundMe page:  https://www.gofundme.com/Community-Resilience-In-Japan

Circling back to the beginning: why am I doing this thing?  About 4 years ago, I completed my NET training.  NET (called Community Emergency Response Teams or 'CERT' everywhere else in the world) was created to help decentralize emergency response to problems or disasters.  It's a basic instruction that helps citizens help each other, especially if professional aid is expected to be slow in coming.  CERTs have cropped up all over the country, particularly in the wake of big storms (Katrina, Sandy), but also in response to more local incidents:  tornadoes, train derailments, wildfires.  In many places, I get the sense that it's primarily a way to plan ahead.

I love that, of course.  But in Portland, NET has also become something of a vehicle for community resilience.  After a large earthquake, no amount of pre-staged powdered water is going to suffice.  We will rely on each other, and to do that, we need better-stitched social fabric. We need better connected, more humane, less dependent communities.  We actually need this everywhere, in my opinion, not just in Portland.  But this is where I live, and NET sets it up nicely.

So, that's a start to an answer.  My time at NET has led me to explore public health and sanitation, especially within the sewer bureau I work for.  It's led me to the City Club of Portland, whose thoughtful policy analysis and passionate wonk-cred ('like recognizes like') are unmatched in Portland.  And it's led me to explore even further afield, to Japan.

But, next:  what earthquakes?