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I think Beth makes several good points. It may be that rural life will have to change to reflect rising transportation costs and that a local economic focus will become more and more important.

Judy: Are you hearing people voice similar thoughts as you travel to rural communities, and talk with the people who live there?

I think this is a huge problem everywhere, and everywhere I go, I hear from people that they don’t want to be forced to give up the lifestyle that rural areas provide.
Also, even though gas prices are dropping, the crisis isn’t over yet. I’m hearing a lot about perilously high home-heating prices this winter.

Consolidation has had a huge impact on rural areas - and there are so many unaccounted for costs - like who is hurt by mergers, how some people (rural) are no longer served.  The idea of small and local seems to be making a comeback after a trend to go WalMart.  But rising fuel and other costs hurt small communities disproportiately.  I lived near Wakefield, Neb. for time and food was hard to come by in my town of Emerson and then in Walthill where I moved- unless you wanted convienence store food. So we drove to Sioux City.  And we joined a whole food co-op that delivered by semi-truck once a month.  But once they were bought out they no longer found it profitable to deliver to small town Nebraska.

Is the situation bad enough that people are considering moving to bigger communities? If so, that’s a trend I’d write about!
Judy

I don’t know about the link between the more recent rise in so many things and more outmigration.  There has been some writing on the outmigration from remote and rural areas and the impacts this has on schools, businesses, the tax base, etc. in rural communities. 

There is so much history, natural ammenity considerations (hunting, fishing, open spaces), historic agricultural roots, and family roots related to why people live in rural areas.  Then there are those who choose to live there because of a way of life or to move closer to family. 

It is hard to say how many sacrifices anyone can make to stay living in a place.  I witnessed family ties running very deep in rural places and that tends to be a compelling reason why people stay. High gas prices?  Not sure that would force a new outmigration.  Rural people have dealt with high prices and lack of choices for a very long time. 

It might be interesting to look at how this is helping rural areas - i.e. are more local businesses springing up so people don’t have to drive so far to shop.  There has to be a point where people say I’d rather buy here at home, pay a bit more - but not have to pay $40 or $50 for gas every time I need to drive to town.

That would make a great story, too. If anyone out there sees signs of it, let us know!
Judy

We certainly see and feel the effects of rising gas prices and the many problems this creates within our current infrastructure and habits--what I’d love to see is some great rural ingenuity addressing some of these issues in ways that are community-minded and possibly profit oriented. We are well positioned to do some creative problem solving that could help rural communities--and that might even catch on in some of the bigger areas.

I wonder if there is an opportunity for RDI to serve as a convener for a variety of stakeholders to discuss some possible solutions? I’d love to see us take that step. Is there any interest?