I've been trying to keep up on what's being written on the Y2K topic.
Thanks to who ever sent the link to the Scientific American site which
contains a mighty fine piece on Y2K. I am at a different computer or I'd
send the link out again.
Vulnerability. This is exactly what I feel. I live a few miles from center
city Philadelphia in a house with a yard the size of a desktop. Even though
I am an active supporter of urban agriculture, it is hard to see the Philly
Farms! movement coming to the scale of even feeding 2% of our millions here.
Grant we can all grow a bit of our food this summer, a few tomato plants,
some herbs. But how will this really help me in the month of January if the
food system can not deliver the massive stream of food that this city
consumes everyday? How will this help our many residents that have little
interaction with the food system other than to stop at the Wawa or Super
Fresh for a tv dinner and chips.
I have already had repeated dreams of food riots. Though I am still hopeful
that all the $$$ and effort people are pouring into the various components
of the problem will minimize the disruptions. The electricity issue has me
most worried. The consulting firm where I work in New Jersey has a team of
energy consultants whose primary clients are electric utilities. I hear
them talk and it isn't good news. No one knows what happens to the U.S.
grid if big pieces all go out at once.
So those of you who are wonderfully and safely situated on a piece of
mother earth that will shelter you and provide you with food, have some
compassion for us urban dwellers and the challenges of developing a local
food system.
And I for one would appreciate any information posts on this issue so I can
keep up, collect ideas, and try to keep this fear at bay.
Kate Smith, East Falls, Philadelphia
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