E1H1 (or, how to combat the pigginess virus)

Remember the “Y2K” scare? Back in 2000, as you may recall, concern about the ability of certain computers systems to deal with the new century raised ominous speculation about possible societal collapse. This prompted a lot of stockpiling of dried fruits and toilet paper (not to mention ammunition)—but it also prompted some people to engage in rational and thoughtful contemplation of how we might actually cope with small- or large-scale disruptions in the many systems that we rely on for survival.

The folks at the Utne Reader ((www.utne.com)), a wonderful monthly magazine that serves as a Reader’s Digest of sorts for the alternative press, responded with a novel neighborhood-based approach to disaster preparedness. Their “Y2K Citizen’s Action Guide” encouraged citizens to work with their neighbors to identify needs and available resources and devise action plans. “As we prepare for Y2K, something surprising and quite wonderful is going to happen,” said Eric Utne, who was then editor-in-chief of the magazine. “We’re going to get to know our neighbors. Our communities will become safer, more intimate, more resilient, more neighborly places to live. Y2K offers us a tremendous opportunity to rekindle genuine community.”

Of course, the Y2K bug turned out, fortunately enough, to not be a problem. But the notion of neighborhood self-reliance stuck a deep chord with many people, including myself. And goodness knows we’ve had a number of situations in the intervening years, from 9/11 to the food safety scares, that have reminded us of the fragility and vulnerabilities of some of those larger support systems.

Indeed, history points out that disruptions in these systems frequently occur in clusters. Consider the 1918 flu outbreak, coming in the midst of World War I, or the “Dust Bowl” drought that further complicated the Depression. Today, we face several concurrent challenges to what we might call normal existence, from the “H1N1” flu virus to the financial meltdown to the threat of global climate change.

So a recent story by Annie Gowen in The Washington Post (see tinyurl.com/osqr8f) caught my eye. The headline read, “In Recession, Some See Burst of ‘Neighboring’; Tough Times May Be Helping Build Stronger Communities in DC Suburbs.” The story told how residents of communities around DC, in the face of unemployment and foreclosures, have begun talking to each other, sharing ideas and resources. Here’s a quote from the story:

“There’s been an overwhelming increase in participation overall…. People want to get back to the basics. They understand, especially with the housing crisis, you just don’t know who is living next to you, and all of a sudden it’s a foreclosure…. If you would have been neighborly, you’d know who to call if something’s going wrong.”

A few days ago, a group of people met at the Himalayan Institute to discuss Paul Hawken’s excellent and encouraging book “Blessed Unrest” (See blessedunrest.com ). Hawken’s thesis, which is certainly borne out by the Washington Post story, is that this kind of thing has begun happening, spontaneously and without centralized direction, all over the world. Thousands of small organizations and millions of individuals, have begun working for environmental and social reforms.

So perhaps the days of Reaganesque idolization of “rugged individualism” and personal aggrandizement, of “greed is good” and righteous selfishness, having wrought the damage they were bound to wreak, are coming to an end. The Hummer brand will soon be placed next to the Edsel. The immune response to the “pigginess virus” has been triggered. Perhaps we are coming to a time where we counter “H1N1” and other threats with “E1H1”—“Each One Help One.”

On June 2 at 6:00 p.m., if I may be allowed a plug, I’ll be giving a talk at the Wayne County Public Library exploring this topic. Come by if you can.

- Skip Mendler