![\"\"](\"https:\/\/globalfutures.asu.edu\/futurevoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/Lisa-Trank-150x150.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe Event: <\/strong>In 2013, a deluge caused massive floods in Colorado\u2019s Southern Rockies. As rivers and creeks swelled across the state\u2019s 24 counties, roads, bridges and houses were washed away. Ten residents lost their lives, and property damages were estimated at $4 billion dollars, the largest amount in the state\u2019s history. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lisa Trank is a writer, educator, environmentalist<\/strong> and longtime resident of Longmont, Colorado. During the 2013 floods there, she found herself in a surprising role as part of an emergency response team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Trank, a communications director in a small private university at the time, was trapped in her house with her husband, three children and an elderly mother during the floods. City and National Guard officials had prohibited Longmont residents from being on the streets as the rivers and creeks swelled in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe floods had destroyed our roadways, and our city was separated in two,\u201d Trank says, noting that all of Boulder County was affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was able to update weather and emergency conditions on the school website and communicate between the faculty, staff and students and their families from my house, since we still had electricity,\u201d she says. \u201cI also used Twitter to communicate with media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t even believe that it \u2014 the rain and floods lasted 10 days \u2014 really hit me until it was all done because I had to be in this responsive role. I couldn\u2019t allow it really to affect me. I also had to keep my children busy and make sure they weren\u2019t too worried. I got really sick with bronchitis after it was all over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, the destruction was overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey call it the 500-year flood,\u201d Trank says. \u201cI have never seen anything like this before. I totally believe that climate change was a contributing factor for the severity of the floods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trank has a history of being environmentally conscious. She tends her own kitchen garden. She shops at thrift stores and recycles clothes. She composts food waste. Still, she feels that her family and community must do even more to minimize the impact of the climate crisis on the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are living in a time that our family and community view as being an extreme climate emergency,\u201d she says. \u201cWe expect weather incidents like ours to become even more frequent either in our area or somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having lived through the 2013 floods, Trank\u2019s three children, who were 13 and 11 at the time, were changed for good from the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy children learned from very early age what it means to support and help other people in need,\u201d Trank says. \u201cMy oldest daughter is in college, and the twins are seniors at high school, and they are very environmentally aware. They prepare winter survival kits for the homeless. As a family, we do less shopping and try to buy even more clothes at thrift stores. We recycle and we have reduced the use of plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe also try to order less through Amazon to lessen our carbon imprint. We want to make sure that if we use Amazon it\u2019s something you can only get from there. I have an older dog who has lymphoma and take takes immune support powder, which we can only get from Amazon. But that\u2019s only four times a year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though Trank believes that the planet will face enormous climate challenges soon, she has an eternal optimist in her. Her role model is her father, who escaped from Nazi Germany to America in 1929.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI feel strongly that we have the capacity to turn the tide,\u201d Trank says. \u201cI don\u2019t see any other alternative than to be hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The city of Longmont itself also contributes to Trank\u2019s optimistic outlook about the future, since the city has taken several steps towards sustainability and conserving the environment lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re lucky,\u201d she says. \u201cOur city has a voluntary composting program, which we participate in. We have trash picked up only twice a month, not weekly. One thing though, the city should get more bike lanes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trank says that, five years ago, she made conscious decision to work only 5miles from home, which meant less polluting the air with her car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, because there are so many sunny days where she lives, she wishes she and her family could go solar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe problem is that our utilities are so inexpensive that there are no incentives \u2014 no renting or leasing options on solar panels,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we have a friend who is working with the city to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Trank has no intention of moving away. Soon, the youngest of her children will be out of their 1,500-square-foot house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe intend to be here for the rest of our lives,\u201d she says. \u201cIt will be just right size for us. The heating costs aren\u2019t big, either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, and maybe because of their fortunate situation, Trank is painfully aware that not everyone was as lucky as her family was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the floods, there were children who disappeared with their family\u2019s car into the river. Trank\u2019s eldest daughter\u2019s high school sports coach died when he drove back to his wife to rescue her from their house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is like, why them and not us?\u201d Trank asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Kirsi-M. Hayrinen-Beschloss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voices from the Future | Lisa Trank After the Flood The Event: In 2013, a deluge caused massive floods in Colorado\u2019s Southern Rockies. 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