Tompkins County Relocalization Project

[Tompkins County Relocalization Project <tcrp-news AT lists.ibiblio.org>]

While most of the health care conversation over the last few months has 
focused on presidential plans for improving our current system at a 
national level, there's another discussion to open at the local level.

Most conversations about health care emphasize how we could do better 
with the same resources we have today.  In the face of limits to energy 
supplies and increasing demand (well, it was increasing before the 
economy plunged), those conversations may prove much more difficult.

Putting these challenges into a local context, Bethany Schroeder starts 
by examining what is available to Tompkins County residents in the first 
of a pair of health care articles, 'A Local Health Resource Assessment,' at:

http://tclocal.org/2008/10/health_care_in_an_energyconstr.html

Schroeder's inventory examines a variety of different aspects of health 
care, different approaches, and different resources.  This piece doesn't 
provide a solution to upcoming challenges, but lays the groundwork for 
the conversation.  (A further examination of the problems and proposed 
solutions will come in the next installment.)

We'd definitely be interested in comments and suggestions on this piece,
and welcome feedback. We'd love to hear questions, criticisms, and 
additional ideas.

TCLocal is a group of citizens developing strategies for dealing with
energy descent in Tompkins County.  To that end, we're publishing
periodic articles, examining specific topics in the harsh light of
higher energy prices.  You can find them at:

http://www.tclocal.org/

Previous articles have examined growing fruit and managing roads and
bridges in Tompkins County after the peak, as well as water systems and
land use planning.

Upcoming articles, about one per month, will cover small livestock, 
waste disposal, and foodsheds.  A followup to this article, continuing 
the conversation, will appear in the spring.

The TCLocal web site is specifically designed to get your feedback
on these ideas they are developed. These articles are a starting point
for a conversation we hope will include a wide variety of readers coming
at these issues from different perspectives.  We welcome comments - they
work now! - and hope to find more good ideas through public discussion.

Thanks,
Simon St.Laurent
Chair, TCLocal