When it all comes down to it, food is probably the number one issue. How do we feed ourselves? 300 million people, in the US alone. And very, very, very few farmers. It would seem to me to be the highest priority for states and counties, desperate for any kind of economic recovery, to provide incentives and support to small scale farming in areas that are good farmland, with an emphasis on providing local foods, as quickly as possible. And, it seems like it would be the sort of investment that would provide almost a tenfold return on that investment, too. Money provided to farmers gets turned over in the local economy in the form of animal feed, tools, supplies, building and construction materials, and of course, clothing and so on. It also stands to reason that every apple produced and eaten locally, is an apple that doesnt have to be shipped from Oregon or Washington state, and every head of broccoli grown and eaten here, is one that isnt shipped 3,000 miles from Salinas and the California Central Valley. Which means less trucking, less fuel, less greenhouse gases, and all that. Small local farms. Food security. Hand tools whenever possible. Horses. Local bakeries. Local tool making shops (not shipped from China). Better local economies, in a fairly short period of time. Meanwhile, most states are too busy trying to woo Tech companies to their states with massive incentives, or Toyota, or Pepsi, or whatever, and laying out the red carpet for their few manufacturing jobs..... Sigh! Great article, a little scary, but we do have time to start taking precautions and good actions that can lead to some mitigation and possibly provide some models of ways we can begin to change...
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:13:06 +0000
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