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By Sharan Street
Published Aug 29, 2022

First responders are there for us—but average citizens can learn skills that will serve them and their neighbors during a disaster. First responders are there for us—but average citizens can learn skills that will serve them and their neighbors during a disaster. Image credit: CoolR   Shutterstock

8-29-22: How to Be Your Own Hero

Pessimists and optimists—they’ve no doubt been coexisting since Homo sapiens became a thing. A good thing or a bad thing? Depends on what side of the spectrum you occupy. And it is a spectrum—from full-on cheermonger to full-time worrier, with cautious optimists and hopeful pessimists in the middle.

Both traits have evolutionary value. The optimist was sanguine enough to leave the security of the trees in search of better food. The pessimist kept a close eye out for predators.

Researchers have found that being optimistic helps individuals be more resilient when times are tough. And resilience—the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties—is an important concept for us at California Local—one of the two dozen-plus topics we regularly explore.

Pessimism also has its value. Glass-half-empty types are more apt to worry about the future, identify obstacles and think about how to overcome them. This phenomenon, called defensive pessimism, is marked by low expectations and a predilection toward imagining worst-case scenarios. Combined with productive action, defensive pessimism can lead one to be better prepared for adversity.

Wherever we fall on that spectrum, one thing is certain: We all need to consider the likelihood that some day, in some way, we’ll be confronted with a disaster. Fire, flood, earthquake, snowmageddon—take your pick. 

The end of the week marks the beginning of September, which is National Preparedness Month. (Side note: Sept. 2 is when the last episode of Five Days at Memorial drops on Apple TV—a riveting look at just one of the humanitarian crises that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.) All of us, optimists and pessimists alike, have a role to play in helping our community be ready in case of a true emergency. Below are a few productive ways to be prepared.


Urban Survival Skills

Where to begin? One central location is Ready.gov. There are useful tips on how to prepare for a laundry list of nightmare scenarios that haunt the pessimistic mind, from lightning strikes and flooding to attacks in public places.

For those willing and able to take a more active role, the Federal Emergency Management Agency offers a nationwide program—Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT—that teaches various skills that average civilians can use before, during, and after a disaster. Read more about it in Ray Delgado’s explainer on CERT, with links to the Santa Cruz auxiliary.

And in case you missed it, a couple weeks back this newsletter featured a story on the Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Emergency Service—another example of how citizens can help our community be more resilient during a crisis.


Emergency Teamwork

With CERT training, volunteers can learn firefighting skills.
Fires, floods, earthquakes—California’s got it all. And CERT volunteers are ready to step in.

Get Your Kit Together

Not ready to join a team and start brushing up on first-aid procedures? You can still prepare your own “go bag” in case of evacuation or stock up on the supplies you’ll need to hunker down at home during power outages or other major disruptions. Reporter Ray Delgado digs into what’s involved in preparing for the worst.

Wildfire is, of course, a major concern in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Reporter Jonathan Vankin rounds up a list of private and public organizations dedicated to helping the state’s residents defend themselves against the threat of fire. (And another ICMYI from a previous newsletter: Check out Robert Kerbeck’s excellent piece of how to harden your home against wildfires.)


Battening Down for the Big One

Though it’s the most famous, the San Andreas Fault is just one of more than 500 active faults in California.
Making it through the earthquake is the easy part. The hard part is surviving in the chaos that follows.

How Not to Feel the Burn


California residents can turn to these public and private entities to help prepare for wildfires and protect their property.

Meanwhile, in D.C.

It’s been a busy month in the nation’s capital, and as the most populous state in the union, California will be affected by some of the big pieces of legislation that are working their way through Congress. Jon Vankin takes a look at two of these.


How the Inflation Reduction Act Will Save You Money

Pres. Joe Biden (r) signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes incentives for clean energy.
The new Inflation Reduction Act offers substantial cash savings to California homeowners who convert to clean energy by using heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicles.

Biden’s Student Debt Relief Plan: Here’s How it Works

Student debt is a potential source of financial stress for about one in seven Americans.
President Joe Biden announced a plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for each borrower. Here are the details on who is eligible and how the plan works.


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