Democracy and Autonomy – Speech
A speech by David Morris presented at The Other Economc Summit in Houston, Texas in July 1990, later published in Annals of Earth (Vol X, No.3, 1992).… Read More
Beyond 40 Percent: Record-Setting Recycling and Composting Programs
Date:
1 Apr 1990 |
posted in: Composting, waste - composting, waste - recycling, Waste to Wealth
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The recovery of more than 40 percent of municipal solid waste is now a reality. This report establishes materials recovery as a cost-effective, primary waste management strategy. The operating experiences of 17 communities—urban, suburban, and rural—are extensively documented. The book includes 58 charts with specifics of recycling and composting programs, breakdowns of capital and operating costs, … Read More
Salvaging the Future: Waste-Based Production
Using a hypothetical American city of one million people, this groundbreaking study on value added to discarded material presents a detailed forecast of the costs and benefits of recycling. Four common material commodities found in a city’s waste stream are analyzed to determine their ability to maximize value added to the city’s economy, and how each … Read More
Proven Profits from Pollution Prevention: Case Studies in Resource Conservation and Waste Reduction, Volume II
This compendium of case studies illustrates how various industries have achieved environmental goals through a primary emphasis on pollution prevention instead of on pollution control. Proven Profits from Pollution Prevention by Donald Huisingh, Larry Martin, Helene Hilger, and Neil Seldman ISBN: 0-917582-47-0
Be Your Own Power Company
This book by David Morris (first published in 1983) was the first how-to book published after Congress ended the 100-year-old monopoly by utilities on the generation of power. The book examines the technical and economic aspects of four small scale power technologies (photovoltaics, wind power, hydropower and onsite cogeneration) and offers advice on how to negotiate a contract for sale of on-site power to local utilities.… Read More
The Homegrown Economy: A Prescription for Saint Paul’s Future
Produced for the citizens of Saint Paul, Minnesota, this 1983 booklet by David Morris describes resource flows within the city and provides a look at local enterprises that serve as models of self-reliant economic development. Download Report:The Homegrown Economy: A Prescription for Saint Paul’s Future
Self Reliance Newsletter Archive 1976 – 1982
Back when ILSR was just getting started, the staff put out a newsletter called “Self-Reliance” that addressed sustainability and economic development issues across a variety of sectors. We’ve scanned them in and present the complete archive here. Enjoy. Self-Reliance Newsletter Archive Self-Reliance – Issue 28 – February 1982 Cover Story: The Emerging Municipal Solar Utility Self-Reliance … Read More
Self-Reliant Cities – Energy and the Transformation of Urban America
The first half of this book discusses the century-long struggle by cities to gain autonomy and authority from state governments and create their own planning and service delivery capacities. The second part describes the first urban-based localization movements. Given the relevance of the book to current localist efforts, we’ve written a new foreword that traces the local energy initiatives after the 75 percent plunge in oil prices after 1982 and the coming to power of a new administration hostile to renewable energy.… Read More
The New City-States
Date:
1 Apr 1982 |
posted in: Energy, environment, From the Desk of David Morris, governance, The Public Good
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"From the hills of Seattle to the flatlands of Davis, from the industrial city of Hartford to the universty town of Madison, cities are beginning to redefine their role in our society," begins this important essay. For Morris the new role should should include inducing the widest distribution of productive capacity. New technologies make possible a more self-conscious and organic city. Local self-reliance becomes a strategy that embraces economic, environmental, and political goals. Morris argues that we have had far too much government and far too little governance. Government is bureaucratic. Governance is democratic. Communities can design their future. The new city-state emerge. … Read More