PERSPECTIVE: What can we control? All things local

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As our community struggles with feelings about, and the meaning of, the recent election, consider that the most effective response to the many challenges we face is likely to start right here, at the local level.

Government in this city and county are closest to the people who live here and this is where we have our greatest access to political decision makers. These locally elected decision makers obviously know the challenges our community faces better than state and national politicians and bureaucrats.

Some of our local challenges have to do with our location off the normal corridors of commerce and transportation.

Others have to do with the vulnerability of this place, which relies on bridges and ferries for goods and transportation. One of our greatest challenges is geological, given that we are near the Cascadian Subduction Zone faults off the Northwest Coast. Our vulnerabilities include food security, emergency preparedness, energy dependence, economic stability, climate change and sea level rise, and the potential for catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis.

So how can we make progress on these concerns in this post-election world? Sometimes it is best to start with what one can control.

Concerned about climate change? Install a heat pump in your house to reduce your personal carbon footprint. Take the bus in to town rather than driving. Worried about how we might fare in an earthquake? Create a grab-and-go kit, or make sure the one you have is up to date.

And once you make progress at an individual level, perhaps you will be interested in applying your knowledge and time to working with others locally on community-level solutions. We are fortunate to have a variety of community organizations working at the local level on everything from protecting our marine resources to organizing neighborhoods for emergency preparedness.

The group we are part of, Local 20/20, has long recognized the potential vulnerabilities in our community. It is a volunteer run Jefferson County nonprofit organization that for the past decade has focused attention on promoting local self-reliance and sustainability.

It is also part of an international Transition Town movement – communities all over the world working to rebuild resiliency and reduce CO2 emissions. We have local teams (action groups), that are working to address some of the challenges we face as a community and region in the Pacific Northwest, including climate change, local food, transportation, economy, energy, health, emergency preparedness, and waste.

We believe that community self-reliance and local resilience are the best safeguard against the potential breakdowns of our overly centralized state and national infrastructure systems. Local 20/20 invites all in this community (regardless of how you voted in this last election) to share your ideas on how we can address problems that state and federal governments are too far removed to be able to deal with effectively.

Sometimes the best remedy for concern about the future is to take action. Plant a tree. Help feed those less fortunate in our community. Talk with your neighbor. Resilient communities are built one action and one relationship at a time.

(Larry Dennison and Cindy Jayne, on behalf of Local 20/20. Dennison has been a business owner, county commissioner and currently is on the board of radio KPTZ and Local 20/20 Council. Jayne is a volunteer with the Local 20/20 Climate Action, energy action and transportation groups, and is first speaker of Local 20/20.)