Don't leave the rural areas behind.

This blog was started because I had lived most of my life as an urban dweller; I wanted to record my adventures as I tried my hands at different things and I never pictured this blog would become what it did.

Country life suits me in some ways.   I'm at a point in my life where I can appreciate looking up into the night sky and seeing thousands of stars, just like I did as a kid.  

I just love how the moonlight bathes my beautiful sleeping wife in a creme colored light.   Country life is more peaceful and a lot more hard work than I would have ever expected.  While my neighbors and I may not agree politically or philosophically, my new lifestyle has given me insights on how they view the world.

This brings me to my main point.   Here in rural America we simply don't have public transportation, nor do we have a lot of manufacturing or diversity or hospitals or even great education...and if we are going to move forward with a brighter greener future that we all want then we cannot leave the rural areas behind. 

President Biden announced plans to invest Five (5) Billion dollars into rural communities through a variety of different programs, but that is for the entire United States and frankly really doesn't address some underlying problems with rural life.  Also, that's really not a whole lot of money as it breaks down to 100 Million per state.   In Pennsylvania alone there are 48 rural counties.  

Slightly over 25% of the states population, or 3.4 Million people, call rural areas home.  Two hundred and thirty eight (238) of Pennsylvania's 500 public school districts are rural. 

Roughly 14% of America's population, or roughly 46 Million people live in rural areas.  The medium age is 51 years old.  The average income is roughly $50,000 a year; which is about 15 thousand less than the average city dweller.  

Roughly 15% of America's rural population is living below the poverty line. 

I know that we live roughly 20 minutes away from the nearest hospitable.  There are actually three "local" hospitals - each within a 30 minute drive - but each has been threatened with closure at one time or another.  The one time we required an ambulance it took over 30 minutes for it to arrive, if we lived in a city that time would have been cut to an average of 9 minutes.  The average time for an ambulance in rural areas nationwide is 14 minutes, and the care is generally second rate at best.

While there are small convenience stores in my area, even shopping for groceries can be a 30+ minute drive.  While we may not technically be considered a food desert, we do share a lot of characteristics of one.

So...we are going to fix all these problems with 100 Million dollars?  

Now please don't misunderstand me, this is not a complaint.  We choose this life for a variety of reasons, however I do think it is important to understand that as we move towards a greener more sustainable future that personal stories be told.   

Much of what is discussed in concepts of a greener and brighter future are urban based.  That's because the majority of the worlds population live in urban areas and its easier to affect change.

Yes, it's wonderful that something like a 15 minute city concept would solve a lot of problems but it may not applicable to country life.    Sure a vertical farm in the middle of the city is a beautiful thing, but is it truly practical?  No one discusses the limited number of crops that can be grown in a vertical farm or the high start up costs.   

This technology however is still in it's infancy, so these problems may have solutions that can be easily solved.

Not everyone that lives in the country is a farmer, but I do think it's important to talk about agriculture because until we solve how to make vertical farming profitable or have lab grown meat accepted, we are going to have to rely on rural areas..  

One American farm feeds approximately 166 people annually in the U.S. and abroad. With the global population expected to increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, that means that farm production would have to grow about 70% more food than what is now produced to make sure everyone is fed.  Which is one of the reasons why "fake meat" and "plant based meat" are so important, as it reduces greenhouse gases while also reducing land and water use.

Farmers are also not given enough credit for being on the front line of the climate crisis.  Careful stewardship and new ideas have reduced erosion by 34% in the last 30 years, but it is still a major concern.   It's been estimated that some 153 thousand farms have switched to "green power" using solar, geothermal, windmills and methane digesters.  

Woman own a little over 1/3 of America's working farms as well.

However rural areas still have an aging population, a high percentage of which that lives below the poverty line and a lack of infrastructure.   It's a problem that is going to affect more than food production eventually.  Everyone agrees that addressing how to increase the populations of rural areas, addressing the income gap and how to bring other high paying jobs to the rural areas are important, but no real concrete solutions are being offered.   

In fact when you review various groups; from international aid organizations to the EPA to local and regional groups to policy wonks, all basically say the same thing.  Concentrate on bringing capital into the local community.

In fact, it's like reading a series of buzzwords over and over again.  

It's something that frankly I need to think about more, because I don't have the solution.   All I know is that historically, rural areas tend to get left behind because in area's of high population it is simply easier to distribute resources.   

I also know that in discussions about what a greener more sustainable future looks like, it's basically an urban environment.  At the end of the day though it's the farmer that puts the food on the table.  It's rural areas that people from the city escape to when they need a breath of fresh air.

It's were the solar farms and windmills are being placed to create green power.  In fact, a solar farm is being constructed not far from me as I write this.  Although at this time I'm not sure if crops will be grown under the solar panels, a process called Agrivoltaics, one can hope.

While there is still some resistance to green power in rural areas; usually do to concerns over disturbances to the land, aesthetic impacts or noise disruptions from wind and solar projects, there is also a understanding that they can be beneficial to the area.   As long as the funds and taxes generated by these projects stay in the local county and are used to keep local community services going.  That's an important thing!

Generally speaking once such a project is in place, resistance to green power fades over time and there are a total of six planned plants for my county.   

Which I think is encouraging over all...as long as rural areas don't get left behind.