Superstruct notes

The GEAS report asks, "How can we balance the need for safe, affordable food with the need for new sources of energy? What can we do to improve our day-to-day food safety? When should we grow food local and when should be stay globally connected? How can we feed the world without destroying it?".

In many ways, this is all about oil. If oil is an infinite resource, the industrialized food system built up over the last century makes a lot of sense (we'll set aside issues of health and taste for the time being). It turns agriculture into a number of cheap inputs creating standardized products. It also requires large amounts of oil for fertilizer and transport. If oil is scarce and expensive, oil-dependent food becomes scarce and expensive. Trying to turn food crops into cheap fuel replacements just makes it worse (and it's confusing, when biofuels can be made from waste materials and things you probably don't want to eat, like algae).

So what do you, as a lone individual, do about this? Learn to cook from scratch, so you have more foods to pick from. Learn what grows in your area, and what's in season at a given time (half an hour on Google should give you more than enough info, especially since 'locovore' became word of the year). Make friends with people who grow food. Make friends with people who make food (I'm not the only one who ends up with surpluses after a bout of enthusiastic experimentation). And if you have dirt, grow something.

I could talk about this for hours. But really, it all boils down to knowing where your food comes from, and participating in local food networks when possible. I'm not rejecting chocolate, or coffee, or tea. But things that grow well here, I'm buying from local sources.

Resources

Oregon Food Bank on improving community food security

OFB cooking classes - I helped teach one of these a few years ago. The program helps low-income households learn to cook healthy foods.

You can use food stamps at many farmers markets - list of markets in Oregon that participate

Portland Fruit Tree Project - this group helps get fruit from Portlanders' yards to harvesting volunteers and food banks

Urban Edibles - find edible plants (like fruit and nut trees) in your neighborhood

Your Backyard Farmer - like a CSA, but they grown the food in your own backyard

Sunroot Gardens - a bike-based urban CSA

A map of my current food sources

[Meta: I am assuming that Portland, OR and surrounding areas are going to be doing better than the global average in the Superstruct scenario for 2019. We regularly top sustainable city rankings, and local DIY culture tends to build what it needs without waiting for external approval or funding. So yes, declining environment, increased instability, but we'll have more options than most.]