Overview

The financial crisis and its economic aftershocks have spawned the first serious examination of the structure of our current banking system and the public policies that have fueled consolidation over the last 30 years and untethered financial institutions from their communities.

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Featured Article filed under Banking | Written by Stacy Mitchell | 1 Comment | Updated on Sep 15, 2011

How State Banks Bring the Money Home

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/how-state-banks-bring-money-home/

One of the most significant, but least noticed, consequences of the rapid and dramatic consolidation of the banking industry over the last decade is how much it has hindered the U.S. economy’s ability to create jobs. Our financial system is top-heavy with big banks that are scaled to meet the needs of large multinational corporations. There’s no single solution to this problem, but one of the most promising strategies involves creating state-owned banks that can bolster the lending capacity of local banks, helping them grow and multiply. Continue reading

Featured Article filed under Banking | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Jul 14, 2010

Taking Financial Reform into Our Own Hands

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/taking-financial-reform-our-own-hands/

How do we change course and revive a banking system that is more local and responsive to the needs of communities? Continue reading

Featured Article filed under Banking, The Public Good | Written by David Morris | 5 Comments | Updated on Mar 1, 2011

And The Academy Award for Cowardice Goes To….

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/and-the-academy-award-for-cowardice-goes-to/

After winning an Oscar for Best Documentary for Inside Job, Charles Ferguson injected some much-needed real world relevance amidst the fabulously glitzy proceedings. “Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail — and that’s wrong.” Continue reading

Biomaterials

Overview

In 1992, ILSR’s work on plant derived plastics and other materials led to our co-hosting the first International Workshop on Biodegradability. The concept of a Carbohydrate Economy – one that uses plant-based chemicals to replace petro-chemicals – was born...

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Featured Article, Resource filed under Biomaterials, Composting, Waste to Wealth | Written by Brenda Platt | No Comments | Updated on Apr 25, 2012

Atlanta Airport Launches Compostable Foodservice Ware Program

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/atlanta-airport-launches-compostable-foodservice-ware-program/

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (HJAIA) sends more than 19,000 tons of waste to Georgia landfills each year. Food scraps are the single largest component of HJAIA waste, making up about one-third of this tonnage. HJAIA has a goal to divert 50% of its waste from landfill disposal by 2015. Composting food waste is essential to reach this goal, and switching to compostable food packaging will enable successful food residuals recovery. Continue reading

Featured Article filed under Biomaterials | Written by admin | No Comments | Updated on Apr 17, 2012

SBC Co-chair to Keynote the Biopolymer World Congress

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/sbc-co-chair-keynote-biopolymer-world-congress/

Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative co-chair, Jim Kleinshmit, will keynote the Biopolymer World Congress in Italy Monday, April 23, 2012. His talk will be on sustainable sourcing and the concerns about and opportunities for biopolymer feedstocks. Continue reading

Broadband

Overview

Access to the Internet is an essential infrastructure for any community that cares about economic development, quality of life, and educational opportunities. Unfortunately, most communities are presently dependent on a few unaccountable absentee corporations that act as gatekeepers to...

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Featured Article filed under Broadband | Written by Christopher | No Comments | Updated on Mar 20, 2012

Big Bucks: Why North Carolina Outlawed Community Networks

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.muninetworks.org/content/big-bucks-why-north-carolina-outlawed-community-networks

Less than a year after North Carolina became the 19th state to create barriers to community networks, effectively outlawing them, the non-partisan organization Follow the Money has crunched the… Continue reading

Featured Article filed under Broadband | Written by Christopher | No Comments | Updated on Mar 8, 2012

Charter Fights Dirty to Kill Competition in Monticello

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.muninetworks.org/content/charter-fights-dirty-kill-competition-monticello

When Monticello, Minnesota, decided to build its community fiber network — Fibernet Monticello — it expected the incumbents to lower their prices and fight to keep subscribers. But Monticello had no idea the lengths to which they would go. The telephone incumbent, TDS, delayed the project for a year with a frivolous lawsuit and then… Continue reading

Featured Article, Resource filed under Broadband | Written by Lisa Gonzalez | No Comments | Updated on May 9, 2012

Community Broadband and Economic Development Presentation – Dallas 2012

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/ilsrs-christopher-mitchell-speaks/

Christopher Mitchell recently presented at the Broadband Communities Summit 12 in Dallas, Texas. The two-day event, April 24th and 25th, brought together experts from all over the world to discuss the policy and economic challenges and achievements in broadband. Christopher discussed the new ILSR Report, Broadband at the Speed of Light, and presented information on… Continue reading

Energy

Overview

Wind and sun are available everywhere, so renewable energy can be economically harnessed at small scales across the country. This nature of renewable energy, and the exponential increase of renewable energy generation, promises to decentralize the nation’s grid system. ...

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Featured Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | 1 Comment | Updated on Apr 20, 2012

Welcome to the new Energy Self-Reliant States

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/energy-self-reliant-states-2/

ILSR Senior Researcher John Farrell launched the Energy Self-Reliant States blog in late 2010 to provide hard data and analysis on the economic and political advantages of focusing on distributed renewable energy and local ownership. For a while, it lived off our website, due to technical and aesthetic limitations. Today, we’re happy to repatriate the… Continue reading

Featured Article, Resource filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Apr 6, 2012

Solving the Local Clean Energy Puzzle

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/solving-local-clean-energy-puzzle/

In this April 2 presentation to the Pedernales Electric Cooperative of Johnson City, TX, ILSR Senior Researcher John Farrell discussed how solving the clean local energy puzzle requires much more than a consideration of cost per kilowatt-hour. Instead, cooperatives, municipal utilities and others considering developing local clean power should consider issues of scale, value and… Continue reading

Featured Article, Resource filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | 1 Comment | Updated on Apr 24, 2012

The More Local the Energy, the More Valuable

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/local-energy-valuable/

Local ownership of a wind project accounts for half of its lifetime economic value to the community! From: Value Creation for Local Communities through Renewable Energies [pdf] Continue reading

Independent Business

Overview

Over the last 25 years, a handful of giant retailers have grown to dominate the U.S. economy. ILSR challenges the wisdom of this market concentration. Through research and analysis, we have built a compelling case that places that are home to...

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Featured Article, ILSR Press Room filed under Independent Business | Written by admin | 3 Comments | Updated on Apr 17, 2012

Top 10 Ways Walmart Fails on Sustainability

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/top-10-ways-walmart-fails-sustainability/

Since 2005, Walmart has been making splashy announcements and issuing slick reports to highlight its environmental and social responsibility efforts. In this new brief, Food & Water Watch and ILSR contend that the world’s largest retailer fails to live up to its promises and continues to ignore the fundamental problems with its business model that harm the environment, undermine healthy food choices, and exacerbate poverty. Continue reading

Featured Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Apr 27, 2012

The Walmart de Mexico Scandal: Here’s a Punishment that Befits the Crime

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/walmart-de-mexico-scandal/

By bribing officials, Walmart was able to outpace its competitors, opening new stores so fast they had no time to react. In just a few years, Walmart came out of nowhere to dominate the Mexican economy. But, as any athlete or other competitor knows, if you’re caught cheating your way to a win, then you most certainly do not get to keep the prize. Continue reading

Featured Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | 1 Comment | Updated on May 16, 2012

Walmart Heirs Quietly Fund Walmart’s Environmental Allies

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/walmart-heirs-quietly-fund-walmarts-environmental-allies/

The staggeringly rich Waltons, who own half of Walmart and have a net worth equal to the bottom one-third of Americans combined, are using their family foundation to reshape the environmental movement. Now the second largest grant-maker in the country, the Walton Family Foundation, is steering large grants to organizations that work closely with Walmart, helping to build its green image and reinforcing the power of large corporations in our economy. Continue reading

The Public Good

Overview

At the founding of the American Republic the word “private” had pejorative connotations. Derived from the Latin word “privare”, private meant to divide or tear apart. A privateer was a pirate. The word “public” was an honorable adjective, often...

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peter_kropotkin_the_great_advocate_of_anarcho_communism-200x300

Featured Article filed under The Public Good | Written by David Morris | No Comments | Updated on Feb 10, 2012

Where is Kropotkin When We Really Need Him?

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/where-is-kropotkin-when-we-really-need-him/

On February 8, 1921 twenty thousand people, braving temperatures so low that musical instruments froze, marched in a funeral procession in the town of Dimitrov, a suburb of Moscow. They came to pay their respects to a man, Petr Kropotkin, and his philosophy, anarchism. Some 90 years later few know of Kropotkin. And the word… Continue reading

Featured Article filed under The Public Good | Written by David Morris | 1 Comment | Updated on Apr 4, 2012

Democracy Under Attack

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/democracy-attack/

For its first 200 years the American Republic slowly, sometimes infuriatingly slowly and at horrific human cost (e.g. the Civil War) expanded the franchise. In 1870 the 15th Amendment gave blacks the right to vote. In 1920, the 19th Amendment extended the franchise to women. In 1924 Congress granted Native Americans citizenship and thus the… Continue reading

Featured Article filed under The Public Good | Written by David Morris | 1 Comment | Updated on May 9, 2012

Romney, Hoover, Eisenhower and that Pipeline

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/romney-hoover-eisenhower-pipeline-2/

After winning the Illinois primary, Mitt Romney delivered a victory speech in which he deplored America’s lost “can do spirit”. Unsurprisingly, he blamed it on government. If elected he promised, “We’re going to get government out of the way”. Then he offered a few examples of what he meant. “We once built the interstate highway… Continue reading

Waste to Wealth

Overview

ILSR's Waste to Wealth program helps communities across the country create policies and practices that address citizens' environmental concerns and economic needs. We help citizens fight the incinerators and landfills that pollute their air and water, and drive property...

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Our Projects

Featured Article filed under Composting, Waste to Wealth | Written by admin | No Comments | Updated on Apr 16, 2012

Internship Openings, Compost Research and More

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/internship-openings-compost-research-and-more/

ILSR’s Waste to Wealth Program has openings for qualified college and university students or graduates for summer or academic year internships to research the economic and watershed benefits of composting and to assist with its no-styrofoam campaign. Continue reading

cleveland young people with anti-incin signs

Featured Article filed under Stop Incineration, Waste to Wealth | Written by Neil Seldman | No Comments | Updated on Apr 2, 2012

Let’s Settle Cleveland’s Garbage Future

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/lets-settle-clevelands-garbage-future/

In the 1980’s Cleveland considered garbage incineration. It was rejected, but no positive action was taken. For thirty years Cleveland’s valuable materials flowed to low-cost area landfills. This left the city vulnerable to the next push for incineration. The push came three years ago; this plan fell to pieces a few days ago. What will the City do now? Continue reading

filed under General

David Morris Discusses Biofuels and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles on Inside Renewable Energy

| Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Jul 6, 2006 The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/david-morris-discusses-biofuels-and-plugin-hybrid-electric-vehicles-inside-renewable-energy/

David Morris on Biofuels and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles – on Inside Renewable Energy by RenewableEnergyAccess.com

David Morris Discusses Biofuels and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles on Inside Renewable Energy

Overview

How State Banks Bring the Money Home

Taking Financial Reform into Our Own Hands

And The Academy Award for Cowardice Goes To….

Overview

Atlanta Airport Launches Compostable Foodservice Ware Program

SBC Co-chair to Keynote the Biopolymer World Congress

Overview

Big Bucks: Why North Carolina Outlawed Community Networks

Charter Fights Dirty to Kill Competition in Monticello

Community Broadband and Economic Development Presentation – Dallas 2012

Overview

Welcome to the new Energy Self-Reliant States

Solving the Local Clean Energy Puzzle

The More Local the Energy, the More Valuable

Overview

Top 10 Ways Walmart Fails on Sustainability

The Walmart de Mexico Scandal: Here’s a Punishment that Befits the Crime

Walmart Heirs Quietly Fund Walmart’s Environmental Allies

Overview

Where is Kropotkin When We Really Need Him?

Democracy Under Attack

Romney, Hoover, Eisenhower and that Pipeline

Overview

Our Projects

Internship Openings, Compost Research and More

Let’s Settle Cleveland’s Garbage Future

Strengthening communities for more than 35 years!

David Morris Discusses Biofuels and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles on Inside Renewable Energy

Thank you for your interest in ILSR