I've been pretty disengaged on local issues, apart from the occasional letter to the editor. Running for state representative pretty much exhausted whatever stores of public service desire I might have had. Made me more of a misanthrope than I already was.

But it's been a few years now, and my encounter with the North Florida Land Trust kind of sparked something.

I subscribe to an email list from the Jacksonville Climate Coalition, and I read about a meeting that was coming up called the Resilient First Coast collaborative. I didn't find out much about it, but I put it on the calendar and attended it yesterday.

It takes a lot to get me out of the house these days.

It was well attended, about thirty-some folks in a large conference room. Mostly government and public agency reps, a couple of non-profits. The chair of the Northeast Florida Green Chamber policy committee was there, and I'm a member of that committee.

I spoke up a couple of times, suggesting that they might seek more engagement from non-profits that serve vulnerable populations, in terms of any insights they may have regarding resiliency. Although there were a couple of reps of non-profits in the audience, they were not directly serving vulnerable populations like Feeding Northeast Florida, and HabiJax (Habitat for Humanity local chapter). I got the impression it might have been a new idea.

The other thing I mentioned, looking through the definitions section of the draft document they were circulating, was the absence of logistics as a key term. We learned from the pandemic that we ought to have a thorough understanding of the logistics supply chains that serve us, so we can think about or anticipate disruptions due to climate or other disasters. Toilet paper during the early part of the pandemic came to mind. I suggested they might focus on food, fuel and medicine.

I don't know how helpful that was. Logistics is very complicated, and not a great deal of it is under any one entity's control. But I think any understanding of "vulnerability" ought to include an appreciation of the "flows" of resources into the region.

I told one of their reps I'd send them an email.

My cognitive dissonance was high. These are all nice people. Public spirited. Aware there's an issue. Wanting to do something.

But there's no sense of urgency. Little in the way of leadership. Here's their web site. There are no years on those dates, so I have no idea if this is current. I'll ask. (Oh, here's the actual web site.)

Oh well. You do your best, and the rest isn't up to you.

At least it got me out of the house.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:45 Thursday, 28 March 2024