On Dec. 15 the Lake County Board of Supervisors was presented with a report on food security here in Lake County. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, you”d think the wisdom of doing a local food security assessment would be self-evident.
Yet the report”s very existence seemed to distress Supervisor Rob Brown, who accused the food assessment team (citizen volunteers who put in long hours) of having an “agenda.”
What agenda would that be, Mr. Brown – prudence, foresight and preparedness?
What could possibly be bad about helping Lake County achieve a plan for grassroots self-sufficiency that could see us through a large-scale disaster?
Among other complaints, Brown was upset that the report suggests Lake County lacks a coordinated emergency preparedness plan for local food distribution. According to Brown, the Office of Emergency Services already has such a system in place, and therefore the county”s food supply is not susceptible to disruption. (Brown later admitted that he actually does not know if OES has such a plan; when pressed, Brown said “someone should check.”)
Regardless of whatever plan OES may or may not have, does Supervisor Rob Brown really have that much faith in big government?
Call me a tree-hugging, radical, commie-libertarian, peacenik troublemaker, but I believe that citizen self-sufficiency can (and should) play a role.
And the fact is, geography makes Lake County extremely vulnerable to supply disruption.
Landlocked and without railroads, Lake County depends entirely on trucking. There is only one route across county borders that can be safely used by really big rigs: Highway 20, from either east or west, a route that relies upon aging bridges and decaying infrastructure.Any disaster that damages that slender asphalt thread will disrupt trucked-in supplies, possibly for a very long time.
If (or when) the price of gas goes through the roof, the cost of importing supplies into Lake County could create a different kind of nightmare, and people will suffer when that happens, too.
Death, illness and suffering that followed Hurricane Katrina were magnified a thousand fold by the ineptitude of a government agency (FEMA) run by an infamously useless, good-old-boy, crony-appointee.
So, pardon me if I do not have blind faith in big government. I believe that true security comes from being able to feed ourselves.
Some of us may already be prepared to provide for ourselves and our families, but unless we are utterly heartless, we also want to know that a wider circle of neighbors, the elderly, the helpless and the less fortunate are taken care of, too. If for no other reason, then consider this: In the absence of efficient handling of supply distribution, anarchy and violence are a certainty.
Enough food is grown here that if disaster prevents supplies from being trucked in, Lake County could feed itself – if we pay heed to the food assessment team”s recommendations and start working on a plan.
And if we don”t ?
Imagine relying upon the government exclusively; entrusting it with your life and your family”s life, in the event of calamity or natural disaster.
Yeah. That”s what I”m talking about.
I am thankful for the hard work done by the good citizens who volunteered for the Lake County Food Policy Council. Thank goodness for people capable of recognizing potential problems in advance, and developing realistic, practical, grassroots solutions.
Deb Baumann is a resident of Upper Lake.
