Three of our researchers (Christopher Mitchell, John Farrell, & Brenda Platt) sit down together to discuss how small cities across America are innovating in the ways they are supporting their local economies. Mitchell discusses this innovation in Idaho; Farrell details the discussions in Decorah, Iowa; and Platt portrays many different home composting programs.… Read More
This week’s Weekly Picks details the myriad fights between cities and distant, consolidated industries such as investor-owned electric utilities, immigration and customs enforcement (ICE), and cryptocurrency miners. Other stories detail what localities can do in response to China’s ban on U.S. recycling scrap as well as how to build a smart city.… Read More
Rural Pinetop residents are getting a glimpse of the treatment they are going to receive from Suddenlink, even before the ISP has started offering service in the small North Carolina community. According to locals, Suddenlink subcontractors are busting water mains, connecting fiber without homeowner permission, and spreading lies about the Town’s favored community-broadband provider, Wilson’s municipal network, Greenlight Community Broadband.… Read More
Rural broadband policy can be hard to explain. That’s why we made this fact sheet. It explains how rural America can have high-speed Internet service without breaking the bank. Give this to your neighbors, to your co-op board members, city council members, county officials, or state legislators.… Read More
The following is shared with us by our friend and ally Dan Knapp of Urban Ore in Berkeley, California. For more from Dan Knapp and his partner Mary Lou Van Deventer, please listen to our Building Local Power podcast where we interviewed both of them:Rescuing Materials and Building Community in Berkeley Thanks to “Waste” (Episode 43).… Read More
Neil Seldman ILSR’s co-founder and director of its Waste to Wealth Initiative, quoted in Falls River Herald News on unit pricing of solid waste and recycling: Stands corrected. Seldman stated that he was not aware of any community that ended its Pay As You Throw (PAYT) program when interviewed by Herald News reporter Jo C. Goode. After the interview he learned of one such community, East Lyme, Conn.… Read More
On May 15th, 2018 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released a statement saying that the proposed incinerator plan is, “not consistent with my administration’s goals for protecting our public health, our environment, and our thriving agriculture-based economy in the Finger Lakes.”… Read More
How did one group of neighbors from Washington, D.C., band together to advance clean energy locally and then build a larger movement replicating their model elsewhere? In the latest episode from the Local Energy Rules podcast archive, John Farrell, Director of ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative, revisits a 2013 interview with Anya Schoolman, the major force behind a unique, grassroots solar cooperative model that has since grown into Solar United Neighbors, now a national leader in distributed, cooperative solar. The two discuss effective ways to invest in solar energy and advocate for local policies to support distributed energy from the ground up—strategies as relevant in 2013 as they are today.… Read More
We’re hiring! We’re excited to announce a job opening for a Research Associate with our Community-Scaled Economy program, which challenges concentrated corporate power and advocates for policies to rebuild the economic power and capacity of local communities. This is a terrific opportunity for someone passionate about building just, sustainable, and local economies. Take a look at the full job posting, and please do help us spread the word about the opening.… Read More
