March 3, 1999
Oryana addresses Y2K
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The buzz on the Y2K bug got a little louder and more educated last Wednesday evening at a Y2K Forum sponsored by Oryana Food Co-Operative. More than 175 people packed a meeting room at the Howe Arena to hear a panel of industry experts discuss the issue, their preparedness and answer questions from the audience.
The panel included Greg Daniels of Old Kent Bank, Peter Hembrough of Consumer's Energy, Dave Poinsett, a computer professional, Brandon Everest, a sociologist, Loraine Anderson of the Traverse City Record-Eagle and Bob Russell, chairman of the Board of Public Works in Traverse City.
The gist of the panel was that the banking and utilities industries are mostly prepared, having made their computers and systems Y2K compliant. They have tested this and created contingency plans to handle any problems that may arise as 1999 ends. Most businesses are well on the way to being prepared, panel members agreed, and local governments are working on being Y2K compliant.
The upshot is that the actual computer problems may be no more than a ripple, not a tidal wave of disaster. Panel members stated that it is the fear and the perception of problems that could lead to more problems than the actual Y2K bug itself.
"My impression is that people are having a hard time comprehending the technical aspects of Y2K and as a result are having a disproportionate degree of being alarmed," said Poinsett, who has been closely following the issue in trade journals for more than a year. "My biggest concern is the social aspect of it, people being panicked and the social consequences of that. These kinds of meetings can help dispel that."
Daniels, a senior vice president and head of Y2K for Old Kent Bank, has spoken to numerous Y2K forums such as this one around the state and in Detroit and Chicago. He found Oryana's forum the best attended and unique in that people were focused on the community's role in handling Y2K issues, not just individual problems. He sensed a community preparing itself for any problems, working together, not just waiting for someone else to do it.
"This meeting had the spirit of community that I haven't seen, even in smaller towns in Michigan," Daniels said. "People were standing up and doing just as much talking to each other as peppering the panel with questions. I walked out of there very encouraged."
The forum was suggested and organized by staff members at Oryana, in response to the many questions they have been getting from members on purchasing and storing quantities of food. The forum was part of an ongoing series of discussions on community that the co-op has been sponsoring periodically.
Organizers themselves were surprised at the turnout, estimating beforehand that maybe 75 people would come. When more than double that amount packed the room, they knew they had hit a vein of concern and interest in the community. Because of the response, Oryana is considering hosting another Y2K Forum in the spring that will include representatives from industries not heard from at this one.
"We wanted to take this on because we are part of the community and see our role as providing a vehicle for discussion," said Sandi McArthur, bulk food team leader at Oryana. "We are owned by our members and we need to be out there supporting various types of issues and sponsoring educational forums on many issues, such as organic food and the local economy."
One of the sidelights of the Y2K Forum was that this bug provided a chance to look at how we live as a community and begin evaluating lifestyle decisions. Does every family need to use hundreds of gallons of water per person per day, asked Bob Russell? Why have we become so dependent on centralized sources of food and energy? These are some issues Oryana staff members want to bring out for community discussion in their ongoing series.
"If we had more windmills here or people had more alternative energy in their homes, a break in supply wouldn't be such a problem," McArthur said. "Local economy is the key; to avoid panic we have to be a community reliant on ourselves."