Robert Rodriguez / CNET
In recent years, the CNET team has spent the months before summer traveling around the world to hear firsthand from the troublemakers and pioneers working on solutions to the intense problems we face, from the global refugee crisis to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
Given the fires in Northern California and Australia, earthquakes in Albania, Pakistan and Peru, and Ebola and other infectious diseases that are common worldwide, we have decided to dedicate our Road Trip 2020 coverage to this work to respond to natural emergencies.
Then it is Coronavirus pandemic beaten, but our plans for this year's series - take responsibility for tomorrow: prepare now for what might come next - failed.
Our award-winning team of reporters, photographers and videographers turned (mostly) to virtual interviews with innovators working on ideas big and small to develop new technologies, products and services that prepare us for the future.
This year, we also decided to use CNET's expertise as the world's largest consumer technology news and advice website to answer questions about how to take control, protect yourself, and adopt new thinking to become part of To become a solution rather than just a spectator. We have gathered pragmatic advice - guides, FAQs, explanations - to help you get out of emergencies.
For our first story, we immersed ourselves in the world of preppers, people who assume that a catastrophe will happen one day and who want to be ready: no pursuit of protection, food, security. CNET's chief editor, Jon Skillings, interviewed Drew Miller, founder of the Fortitude Ranch Survival Community, about the network of mountain retreats he built in the U.S. and about the food, medicine, and supplies he and she had need another prepper.
"When you're alone, as most people will," Miller says, "I just don't think you'll survive."
Next, CNET reporter Daniel Van Boom takes us to Venice and to the sophisticated gating system that the Italian government has built over the past decade to mitigate the rising floods that submerge the historic city 60 times a year brings. TL; DR: The best intentions and $ 9 billion may not be enough to save Venice.
In the coming weeks, we will be introducing scientists who are working to detect tornadoes before they form by paying attention to low-frequency sound waves. We will share our reports on software that can monitor the health of firefighters while they are on site. We'll tell you how mobile operators plan to keep the community connected after a devastating hurricane. And we'll investigate why we may never be able to end our addiction to plastic goods.
A good friend of mine liked to share the wisdom he received from one of his teachers: plan your work and work your plan.
COVID-19 has shown us - like almost nothing else - that natural emergencies can change our world. Everyone should Have plans in place and be ready to revise, adapt and improvise to Navigate in almost every emergency. Fortunately, there are smart, determined, and future-oriented people working on it. Join us as we walk you through the details of your work.
