Tracking Disaster Events

I was on a webinar last week. I logged in early and listened to the scientists chatting between themselves. This is before the official start of the webinar.

At one point one person mentioned the wildfires in New Mexico and others on that webinar seemed surprised and not informed at all, basically ignorant that there were any wildfires going on. "How many fires are there and where are they?"

Which tells me one of two things. 1) They are absorbed in their own work and totally focused on what they are concentrating on. 2) They are oblivious to current events — even disasters.

It made me want to ask if they had heard of the series of tornadoes that have been occurring across the United States. Or, how about the war in Ukraine? Ever heard anything about that?

No matter who we are, what we do and how important that work is, we need to, as part of being a citizen, stay well informed of current events, domestic and in foreign lands.

Lots of people don't follow politics. To them I say, don't sound surprised when something happens so dramatic that you didn't realize what was going on — because you were not paying attention. Pay attention: It is part of our civic duty.