“Rural America knows the truth long before the rest of the country feels it.

[xankarn@mastodon.online]

“Rural America knows the truth long before the rest of the country feels it. Nothing collapses all at once. It just stops working in small places first while everyone else calls it local hardship. That’s why wood banks—like a food bank but for fuel—are important. They’re the clearest sign that basic systems in this country have already failed.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/204051/firewood-banks-heating-bill-winter

[lj@zirk.us]

@xankarn this hit hard:

"People like to say rural communities are resilient. What they mean is rural communities absorb the damage so others don’t have to think about it. The volunteers running wood banks aren’t performing resilience. They’re plugging holes in a sinking ship and doing the work the state stopped doing. They are the thin line between a cold snap and another obituary."

I live in a community like this.