Local Food Security
One of the many reasons for eating local is the issue of food security. If 90% of our food is produced off-island, what would happen if shipping traffic were interrupted? That's exactly the scenario described in an editorial by Dave Wethington earlier this week.
The setup to the editorial strays too far into xenophobic fearmongering for my liking (Terrorists! Mexicans!) but an attack on our nation's ports is just one of several hypothetical events that could stop container ships dead in the water. It's what happens next that caught my attention, the crowds at the grocery stores, the inevitable shortages. Even a short-term halt in ocean-bound cargo could have immediate and traumatic consequences including severe food shortages and eventually civil unrest.
I'm not saying the eating local is by itself complete insulation against a scenario like this. That's folly. The modern world is too interdependent for any metropolitan area to be an island unto itself (even if that metropolitan area exists on a literal island). What I am suggesting is that eating food grown from the people in our own communities encourages agriculture and food production while reducing dependence on the smooth flow of commerce. The more we grow here, the less we need from elsewhere. It's good sense.
I don't want to get too hung up on the issue of food security though. As stated, it's just one of many reasons to eat local, and in my daily life not even the most compelling. What's the best reason to eat locally? Stay tuned until tomorrow...
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I'm also not a fan of the media's attempts to warn about the collapse of our society. Maybe it's hard to warn people without pushing some level of fear. Fear is always about control, And I can't see how fear and control are going to help get to a better tomorrow.
Ensuring a local food supply is good sense. But I'm not sure if my town is really any different than Hawaii. Perhaps the logistics of being in the middle of the ocean makes it seem more obvious, but the ice storms in Quebec did pretty much the same thing as the toxic waste. What about New Orleans? I think there was people out killing their neighbors within 48 hours.
What do people need in order to cope at times like that? Community. It's not control that matters, it's trust. Communities are built on trust. If people don't know how to trust, then there is trouble. You can't use fear to manipulate (control) people into trusting.
Bad things will happen, and happen easily, and there is no way to prepare for everything that could happen all at the same time. I'm not saying bury your head in one of your beautiful beaches. That would not be very shrewed. Take it from a guy that lived in Somalia: I've seen really educated people strip a developed society down to nothing with no outside threat or natural disaster. The thin veneer of civility in our society can shatter easily. Common sense says a guy needs to be prepared and minimize the greatest areas of weakness.
But more important than that, is if people know they are a part of a community, and what it takes to be a good member of that community. That would lead people to make choices to strengthen the community and when whatever hits, people already know who they are relying on instead of who they need to fight for control.
We're all better off, wherever we are, if we know the value of community and seek to understand how we all lean in to protect it and make it thrive. Community is a value that will protect against many things.
Wow Bruce, your comment has more meat to it than the original post! I know what you mean about your town not being able to adequately support a locavore diet. There are very few places I know that have the climate and biodiversity to approach local sustainability. The Pacific Northwest might be one, along with parts of California. It's a tough problem to solve but I've come to realize we don't need to fully solve it. Every step in the right direction is positive.
I also agree wholeheartedly about the importance of community as a safety net in the face of adversity. I'd like to think that's one area where Hawaii is better than the norm, but maybe I'm delusional. There's only one real way to know and that's not something I ever want to see...