[Patricia Haines:] | this discussion is all very present-oriented - if you're listening | at all to Bethany and Jon's TCLocal work, you'll know that "energy | descent" - what I've been thinking of as post-peak oil - is going | to hit far sooner than we realized, especially now that the world | economic system is experiencing such upheavals. This means that we | MUST move QUICKLY toward local food self-sufficiency.
Economic collapse for financial reasons unrelated to peak oil is one of the possibilities we've been talking about for the last couple of years in TCLocal presentations, though not one that most people have taken seriously until lately. What we've said is that economic collapse may push the peak of production out a ways due to decreased demand, but that we would still be in an energy descent situation simply because no one would have money to buy much energy (despite lower prices). Having said that, it has to be recognized that the current meltdown has already eliminated much of the potential funding that would have enabled the implementation of the policies we've been promoting. So while it's no less urgent that we move toward increasing local self-sufficiency, we're going to have to concentrate on actions that can be carried out inexpensively. This is one reason that I find the central market idea attractive; apparently the City has to tear up the Commons to perform unavoidable once-in-a-century repair work on sewer and water mains (though there seems to be some controversy about that). So if the City has to put the Commons back together again anyway, it might as well be in a form that promotes local food distribution and production in the ways that have been discussed in this thread. Permanent roofed stalls of the kind I've seen in Latin America couldn't be more expensive than some of the proposals being floated for a rebuilt Commons and would certainly be more useful. Beyond that -- I think we'll need to reassess the situation after the dust has settled in the financial arena. Personally, I had hoped to see local government revenues stay available a while longer than it looks like they're going to. And much as it pains me to say so, it's quite possible that big-box distribution will get a shot in the arm from the sharply reduced incomes we can see on the horizon as unemployment becomes widespread. This isn't going to be easy. Jon _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
