The Pacific Northwest is a relatively self-sufficient region. Surrounded by vast swaths of high desert, rugged mountains and one very big ocean, the PNW has come to produce for it's own needs and depend on local/regional assets for economic viability. The PNW is a net exporter of both tangible goods and value-add services, a claim that few regions in North America can make. Entire industries have waxed and waned here - as everywhere - but always there is new demand (local and distant) to be met by PNW supply.
As fuel prices rise (permanently), the cost of transit and other inputs to distribution and production also increase. This fact has already begun to erode the impact and spread of globalization, as evidenced by the unfolding worldwide economic crisis. Much of the luxury and convenience we have imported so cheaply in decades past will slowly become too expensive for domestic markets to bear. Consequently, the local marketplace will adjust and provide viable alternatives to meet local demand, sans the cost of transit and international intermediary. A diverse and creative regional economy will survive this transition, and perhaps even thrive. Blessed with abundant renewable natural resources, the Pacific Northwest is already positioned to survive the coming global economic contraction, but will the PNW thrive?
If the PNW is to thrive - or merely survive - certain short-sighted trends must be reversed. What remains of productive agricultural acreage should be preserved and diversified. The penchant for selfish and inefficient rural development must end. The distance between resources & raw materials, the means of production, and the marketplace must be minimized. Industrial capacity must be preserved, as well. Like agriculture, industry will scale in a new (old?) way and be made sustainable. Education quality must match the demands of a high value-added economy and the jobs it provides. Such efficiencies, investment and sacrifice will not be optional, but necessary.
Local substitutes must be developed to replace certain imported goods and materials. Paper please, not plastic. Apple juice instead of orange. Mass transit of raw materials, finished goods, and people can diminish demand for imported oil, while biofuels produced from local resources displaces the remainder. Urban and suburban infrastructure will be re-made and remodeled to reflect efficiency and thrift. Simple, net-positive incentives should be constructed to encourage individual and collective sustainability. Those materials and goods that must be imported into the region must be exceeded (or at least balanced) by the region's own export value and capacity.
Regional self-sufficiency is a lofty goal, one that will require long-term thinking among citizens and equally long-term planning and resolve among our elected officials. The Pacific Northwest's relative isolation has already created an advantage of sorts. The region's natural resources and geography are in reasonable proportion to population. But this head-start can be easily lost against the headwinds of inflation and economic contraction. The region must also re-assert states rights and contradict certain federal authority for the sake of the local commonwealth. Can the PNW prepare itself and achieve momentum before-the-fact? Or will circumstances overwhelm Cascadia as they have Wall St. and our neighbors to the south? There is no neutral position with respect to local determination. Each of us must choose our own path into the future and act accordingly... all else will follow.
--MP
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