Why now?

For most people, I assume the idea of the Pacific Northwest getting a big jolt is something of a weird idea.  I may have that wrong.  When I did my first NET (Neighborhood Emergency Team) training in November 2012, the State of Oregon was just about to release the Oregon Resilience Plan.  Many of the writing team had spent time in Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate prefectures (the 3 most affected by the tsunami) in the months afterwards, so their perspectives weren't theoretical.  They had actually seen it.  I'd signed up for NET because it just seemed like the responsible thing;  the Resilience Plan outlined just how much work needed/needs to be done.  It's 350 pages of pure sobering buzzkill.  I know you'll want to read it.....(here).

About two years ago, the discussion got another jolt, in the form of a New Yorker article (here) which you may have seen, and a public television program called 'Unprepared'.  Both are pretty spooky, but got a lot of people thinking and talking.  

Since then, and no doubt because of those two releases, our local American Red Cross chapter has been running their 'Prepare Out Loud' campaign.  Their lead presenter, Steve, gives a somewhat hair-raising (if you're into that kind of thing) but also quite funny (actually) talk.  It's very humane, and represents the next phase of the popular discussion:  this shouldn't be paralyzing, so what, exactly, should we do?  

In February of this year, the City Club of Portland, our volunteer policy tank, released their findings on resilience.  They'd focused 9 months of research of four aspects of 'how do we bounce back?'  They made 14 recommendations, which is a LOT, but fewer than they had wanted to make.  It's another impressive read, but quick:  only 84 pages.  I'd recommend the 'reports on tape' version, but the graphs, man.  You'd miss the graphs....

I think I mentioned something about "wonks" in an earlier blog?

Anyway, at this point, I'm essentially riding this wave about preparedness.  I've read the articles, I'm deep into NET, I've heard Steve talk twice, and I've actually joined City Club so I can help push along the recommendations.  A chance conversation at our big annual neighborhood event finally woke me up enough to apply, just as the application window was closing.  The PSU folks were very kind to me.  Visiting Japan had been on my list for years, and, suddenly, after a flurry of a week, I'm on the glide path.  

Next up:  wait, and now I'm back in class?