Podcasts about ilsr

Some residents of the Boxtown neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee, didn't know Elon Musk was building a huge data center nearby until they saw city and Chamber of Commerce officials hyping the deal. A historic Black neighborhood founded by freedmen after the Civil War, Boxtown is one recent example of an old pattern: corporations siting polluting, noisy facilities in Black or poor neighborhoods, which the corporations see as less likely to mount a resistance to their plans. We chronicle this history, finding useful context in the decades-long fight against trash incinerators. We also learn what Memphis is doing to fight back, from citizen journalism to liberation science. Guest voices + context:  Dr. Sacoby Wilson: Director of The Health, Environmental, and Economic Justice Lab, and Professor in Global, Environmental and Occupational Health. Focuses on environmental health science, including water quality analysis and air pollution studies, and works closely with community-based organizations, such as those in Memphis. Collaborated with Representative Justin Pearson on work to advocate for Black Communities in the fight against data centers and environmental racism. Andrew Chow: TIME technology correspondent who has extensively covered AI and data centers at the intersection of race over the past few years. Jennifer Kunze: Maryland Organizing Director at Clean Water Action, who took Danny on a tour of the Baltimore Incinerator. Brenda Platt: Director of ILSR's Composting for Community Initiative Amber Sherman: Local policy organizer in Memphis Learn More: Data Center Watch BriefingInside Memphis' Battle Against Elon Musk's xAI Data Center -Andrew Chow, TimeHow the AI Boom Sparked a Housing Crisis in One Texas City -Andrew Chow, TimeFrom Neighborhood Streets to City Hall with Zac Blanchard - Building Local PowerMemphis Community Against Pollution We Went to the Town Elon Musk Is Poisoning - More Perfect Union

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're joined once again by Tracy McMillan to discuss a number of super interesting news items.  We discuss the future of New Orleans in a time of Sea Level rise, getting amphibians across the road safely during mating season, food insecurity amidst transit deserts, the importance of weekend transit service, and a bit on meeting people where they are when planning. Below are the News items that were discussed and links to resources mentioned. Main Items SafeTrec street story - University of California at Berkeley New Orleans point of no return - The Guardian How Americans in transit deserts get groceries - The Guardian The weekend transit problem - Car Free America How planners could reduce the cost of living - Planetizen Amphibian crossings - Grist Extra Items Maul Shadow Lord Janix Transit Map  YouTube Ecology Bingeing China releases horses to stop desertification - Ground Zero Channel Scotland's 250 year forest plan - Make Tech Future Nevada let five Beavers back into a dead desert - Daily Discoveries Do Redwoods Only Grow in California? - Atlas Pro Referenced Talking Headways Episodes 521: Food Deserts and Policy - Stacy Mitchell of ILSR 459: Crossings - Ben Goldfarb 325: Transport Justice - Karel Martens +++ Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music. Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com  

This week: Jess Auer (Institute for Local Self-Reliance) and David Kulp (Ashfield, Massachusetts) on ILSR's new report exploring how 19 Western Massachusetts towns collaborated to connect their communities to municipal broadband. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (Tak Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) to talk about all the recent broadband news that’s fit to print. Topics include: A new report from ILSR on 19 small towns in Massachusetts building public partnerships and new fiber networks. Massive AWS and Cloudflare outages impacting large parts of the Internet The new broadband usage report from OpenVault 18 states so far have finally gotten NTIA approval after redoing most of the work from last summer, with the result being fewer homes will be passed by the BEAD program and, of those, a smaller proportion will get fiber than under Biden. The latest attempt to hamstring any state regulation of AI by tying BEAD approval to the measure Join us live on November 20th at 3pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts. Email us at broadband@communitynetworks.org with feedback and ideas for the show. Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.

Writer Jesse Baum - The Dollar Store Invasion. Links You Need UE Union EWOC Union of Southern Service Workers UnionElections.org ILSR.org AntigravityMagazine.com Step Up LA Thanks to CWA MLPA BACLocal4 INKY UAW2209 

You'd think a company with as many resources, employees, and facilities as AT&T or Comcast would have good customer service. Surely, with all the billions of dollars flowing through these businesses, there'd be some resources devoted to creating a really good customer experience, right? If only that were the case. The thing is, these telecom monopolies are so big, with their power so entrenched, that it doesn't matter if their customer service is good. When you control the market, you control the market whether customers are happy or not. Time and again, smaller, locally-controlled telecom companies and networks have better customer service and better products. Because they're small and connected to their communities, these small companies have greater motivation to please their customers. Plus, since they're competing against giants, they have a lot to prove to their customers. This is the crux of one of Christopher Mitchell's arguments about why community broadband matters. Christopher Mitchell, today's guest on Building Local Power, is the head of ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative. Community broadband networks can take many forms, from municipal networks to co-ops and more. These networks are important, says Mitchell, not just because they're better for consumers but because Internet access is essentially a human right in the contemporary world. Reliable and affordable Internet access isn't just about social media and Netflix; everything from healthcare to education and beyond relies on a good Internet connection, all the more reason to leave broadband access in the hands of local communities. On today's episode, Christopher explains all this, as well as sharing his thoughts on his friend, ILSR's recently passed co-founder David Morris. It's a compelling conversation with a passionate advocate. For full show notes and transcript, visit https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-internet-as-a-human-right

We hear it again and again on this show: neighborhoods that are presumed less likely to fight back are taken advantage of by huge corporations and monopolies. Through predatory decisions and massive market power, a chain grocery store erodes a historically black neighborhood into a food desert. Amazon locates a massive warehouse, and its associated noise, congestion, and pollution, into an already vulnerable area of town. The Target in the BIPOC neighborhood is demonstrably worse than the Target in the rich, white part of town. Now we're seeing the same pattern play out with the question of where to put AI data centers and their enormous environmental demands. The tech companies making these decisions seek out the neighborhoods that have the least political capital, neighborhoods that Brenda Platt calls “areas of least political resistance.” And she would know.  Brenda Platt, director of ILSR's Composting for Community Initiative, has been fighting for sustainability, recycling, reuse, and composting for a bit longer than I've been alive. Throughout her nearly 40 year career, Brenda has taken a leading role in shifting the waste industry away from expensive, polluting, and inefficient trash incinerators. Today she's working tirelessly to not only encourage sustainable waste alternatives like composting, but she's fighting to ensure that such programs remain under community control and influence. Compost, she says, has to be local by default. It's silly to ship banana peels across the country, so it's best to figure out local and sustainable waste alternatives. Here to catch us up on her recent work, Brenda is today's guest. Listen in to hear the story of her influential work, her reflections on how the incinerator fight resonates today, and her memories of working with beloved ILSR co-founder David Morris. For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-why-solving-waste-has-to-be-local

When ILSR co-founder David Morris published his pamphlet The Dawning of Solar Cells in 1975, nearly the only people using solar power were those in the Apollo program at NASA. Yet David saw decades into the future as he laid out a vision for community control and local ownership of a solar power system that was better for the climate and kept much more money in local economies than utility monopolies ever would. In many ways, says ILSR co-director and leader of the Energy Democracy Initiative, John Farrell, the world is still catching up with things David Morris wrote 50 years ago.  John Farrell is this week's guest. To hear him tell it, one of the most important lessons he took from David Morris was that the idea of clean energy itself isn't enough. In addition to the climate, we must also think about who owns energy and the systems that provide it. If clean energy systems are owned and controlled by energy monopolies, communities still find themselves at the mercy of huge corporations. A true energy revolution will come not only from clean energy, but community-owned clean energy. That's the path to energy self-reliance. That's the path that David Morris charted decades ago, and it's the path that John Farrell and ILSR's energy democracy team follow to this day.  For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-why-clean-energy-is-not-enough

On this week's episode of Building Local Power, we continue our series honoring ILSR's co-founder David Morris, who passed away in June. One way to measure the impact of someone's work is to measure their influence on those they mentored. And if you ask Stacy Mitchell, the word "influence" isn't even sufficient for what she learned from David Morris. Hired into an entry-level position at ILSR by David Morris in 1997, Mitchell now leads the Independent Business Initiative and co-directs the entire organization. Her time working with Morris led to a long and distinguished career at ILSR and in the broader antimonopoly movement. On this episode, Mitchell shares her reflections on her time working with Morris and on the impact of his work overall. Listen for her insights about how prescient Morris's work is proving to be, as well as his demanding curiosity and tireless advocacy. Ultimately, Mitchell claims, Morris's philosophy is a blueprint for what it means to build local power, and Morris did that until the very end of his life. Don't miss this stirring conversation about one revolutionary's impact on another. For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-the-problems-you-can-solve

On this week's episode of Building Local Power, we continue our series honoring ILSR's co-founder David Morris, who passed away in June. One way to measure the impact of someone's work is to measure their influence on those they mentored. And if you ask Stacy Mitchell, the word "influence" isn't even sufficient for what she […]

Here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we recently received some shocking news as we learned of the sudden passing of our beloved co-founder, David Morris. A giant in the antimonopoly field, an innovative thinker ahead of his time, and a crucial mentor to so many of us here at ILSR, David will be missed. I imagine I wasn't alone in diving into ILSR's archives to understand and revisit David's work and legacy in the wake of his death. Reading David's work from the last 50 years reminded me just how much he deeply understood about building local power, often well before political discourse arrived at the same conclusions.   That's the inspiration for this week's episode of Building Local Power. Today, we're revisiting episode 22 of Building Local Power, a 2017 interview between David Morris and ILSR's Community Broadband Initiative director, Chris Mitchell. What struck me about this interview was how much of it could be said today and how much David anticipated our current moment. In the interview you're about to hear, when asked about the source of local power, David explained that the communal nature of cities has had massive power since medieval times. In doing so, David lauds the value of so-called “Sanctuary Cities,” asserting that the term really means mutual protection against a faraway federal government that doesn't necessarily act in the city's interest. Such thoughts are almost painfully relevant in the wake of June 14th's “No Kings” rallies, as those in power cynically exploit tensions about the alleged dangers of cities. There are those who say cities should not be sanctuaries. One of the many pieces of wisdom we have from David Morris's long career runs counter to that: cities have dramatic potential for their residents to protect each other, and to act in each other's best interest. That's how local power is built. I hope you enjoy revisiting this 2017 interview as much as I did.  For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-what-cities-can-do

Here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we recently received some shocking news as we learned of the sudden passing of our beloved co-founder, David Morris. A giant in the antimonopoly field, an innovative thinker ahead of his time, and a crucial mentor to so many of us here at ILSR, David will be missed. […]

In this episode of the Composting for Community Podcast, ILSR's Jordan Ashby is joined by recipients of ILSR's 2024 Composting for Community Mini-Grant Program, Victor Perez, compost educator at Garden Time, and Carla Doughty, Executive Director of Zero Waste Providence. Garden Time, Inc. prepares incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals for the plant-based green industry workforce, […]

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act represented one of the largest ever investments in broadband infrastructure. Many in the digital equity space believed the bill would go a long way to solve the digital divide. Provisions like the Digital Equity Act promised to be powerful tools in ensuring fast and reliable Internet access for all, regardless of money, race, and the rural/urban split. Groups ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team supports got to work applying for and receiving government funds to make major progress bringing equity to the digital space. Then, on a Thursday night in May 2025, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was cancelling the Digital Equity Act, freezing or suspending all grants awarded for it. The President's decision will likely face legal challenges because the act and the money appropriated for it represent an action that Congress has already taken. Still, the law's cancellation will have wide-ranging and devastating consequences in the digital equity space. Efforts to close the digital divide for the eight populations served by the bill are now halted in their tracks, just as they were gathering speed. On this week's Building Local Power, we are joined by Sean Gonsalves, ILSR's associate director for communications on the Community Broadband Team. Sean brings his years of experience and expertise to explain to us the consequences and impacts of the cancellation of the Digital Equity Act. For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-increasing-internet-access-at-the-speed-of-trust

Ron Knox was a successful reporter covering antitrust and antimonopoly issues until he couldn't take it any more. His growing passion for the fight against corporate power didn't match a reporter's need for neutrality and objectivity. Shedding the mantle of neutrality, Knox joined ILSR to fight for what he believed in: building local power and resisting corporate power. In the years since then, Knox has become a leading voice in the antimonopoly movement, creating resources about everything from Ticketmaster to Kroger to what states can do to fight corporate monopolies. In fact, that very idea is the center of this week's episode of Building Local Power. Knox has been a leader in ILSR's effort to provide resources and tools to help states fight monopolies, and he's here on the show to outline that work. Our galvanizing conversation also covers his antimonopoly history, his soon-to-be-released debut book, and his dreams for the future of the antimonopoly movement. If you're looking to be inspired by what's happening at the state level of the antimonopoly fight, as well as the people driving that movement, this episode is a must-listen. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-ron-knox-on-the-states-of-antitrust

In this episode, Terry Craghead, founder and CEO of Fertile Ground Cooperative, joins ILSR's host Jordan Ashby on the Composting for Community podcast to share how Fertile Ground went from competing on Big Waste's terms to creating a new set of terms altogether. Since 2011, Fertile Ground Cooperative has been creating local jobs, educating their […]

The inspiration for this season of Building Local Power is ILSR's Power Play report, written by ILSR senior editor and researcher Susan Holmberg. Sue joins us today for a wide-ranging and candid conversation about the report and its main finding: that monopolies leverage systemic racism to build and retain their power. Our conversation ties together the previous conversations in our Power Play series, from organizing an Amazon warehouse to consumer redlining to the inequitable environmental harm of AI data centers. Sue discusses the monstrous costs of monopoly power to communities of color and the interconnected ways corporate power can ensnare these communities. But it's not all doom and gloom. Sue, like her report, has much to say about legislative and community fixes to the problem of monopoly power and structural racism. If you want to know not only how monopolies damage communities of color but also how to fix it, this conversation is a must-listen. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-structural-racism-fuels-american-monopolies

ILSR co-executive directors Stacy Mitchell and John Farrell join Reggie Rucker to discuss the year in ILSR and the issues we care about. What did the media get wrong about the economy in the lead-up to the election? How can voter frustration turn into positive political change? Will we ever move past "change elections?" Will the antitrust revival last through the next four years? How can states and cities fight corporate consolidation and monopoly power? What victories did the antitrust movement see in 2024, and how can we replicate that success in the future? And how can ILSR help? All of these questions and much, much more come up in this in-depth and far-reaching conversation between ILSR's fearless leaders. Building Local Power's special year-end 2024 recap episode charts how we got to this moment, and what the path ahead can look like. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-a-rebalancing-act

For many years, Reverend Ryan Brown has been a picker at Amazon's RDU1 warehouse outside of Raleigh, NC. In 2020, he was asked to work in a part of the warehouse he knew was a dangerous COVID hot spot. He refused, calling his decision to do so a "Rosa Parks moment." In the immediate aftermath, Reverend Ryan and some comrades founded Amazon CAUSE (Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment) and began campaigning to unionize RDU1. In this episode, Reverend Ryan and fellow CAUSE organizer Adam Stromme join host Danny Caine for a lively discussion of their unionizing efforts. Running through the conversation is the truth that systemic racism is deeply intertwined with the labor struggles at Amazon's warehouses. It's the first episode in a series inspired by ILSR's Power Play report, exploring how monopolies exploit systemic racism to build and maintain their power. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-amazon-labor-and-race

The first bookstore Danny Caine fell in love with was a suburban Cleveland outpost of a mega-chain. Since then, he has not only fallen in love with independent bookstores and other local businesses but has also become a widely known advocate against Amazon and other corporate monopolies. Now, he's the new host of Building Local Power. This week's episode features Danny talking with co-host Reggie Rucker about his history, advocacy, and path to ILSR. Danny also shares his future plans for the podcast in hopes of inviting more folks into the Building Local Power conversation. For the full transcript and related resources, visit the episode page: https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-new-host-danny-caine

Independent pharmacies are the unsung heroes of healthcare, providing critical services that chain pharmacies simply can't match. On this summer special, ILSR's Stacy Mitchell illustrates how corporate giants like CVS and Walgreens have used predatory tactics to drive these vital local businesses to the brink of extinction in communities and have, in many cases, subsequently abandoned these communities, creating pharmacy deserts and pushing people towards unreliable mail-order services.  Stacy reflects on the significant shift in our federal regulatory agencies since the 2020 Building Local Power episode “Independent Pharmacies are on the Front Lines of COVID-19 Care,” which we revisit after the interview. She explains how we're witnessing a dramatic transformation in the federal approach to curbing predatory practices. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a report exposing how Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are driving up drug costs and squeezing out main street pharmacies. The federal government is finally recognizing the need to challenge the monopoly power of these pharmacy giants and advocate for policies that support independent pharmacies and the communities they serve.

John Farrell summarizes ILSR's recent report, Upcharge: Hidden Costs of Electric Utility Monopoly Power, and makes the case for restoring competition to the electricity system. | Show page available: https://ilsr.org/how-monopoly-utilities-abuse-power-ler216/ | Listen to all of our Local Energy Rules podcast episodes at our site: https://ilsr.org/local-energy-rules-podcast-homepage | Don't forget to subscribe, share with your friends, leave a recommendation on our podcast feeds, and join the conversation online using the #LocalEnergyRules hashtag!

Last month, the Biden White House released its National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics. ILSR's Julia Spector joins Building Local Power to discuss how the leading advocacy of ILSR and allied organizations led to community composting becoming a featured component of the national strategy, and how far we've come since we aired the 2019 episode of Building Local Power entitled “Why Scale Matters in Protecting the Climate and How Composting Can Help.”  Julia explains how the strategy's goals — reducing methane emissions and increasing organics recycling with an emphasis on the importance of local and decentralized composting — are met by being mindful of how scale matters in tackling climate change, creating jobs, and building resilient local food systems. Following this introduction, we replay the conversation from the “Why Scale Matters” episode of Building Local Power for a deeper dive into the topic, highlighting the progress from unrelenting advocacy to integrate community composting into federal policies, ultimately showcasing how local power can drive substantial environmental and social benefits.

In 2019, we aired an episode titled "Independent Musicians and the Antimonopoly Movement," which explored the impact of industry concentration on independent musicians. We are resurfacing that episode in light of recent news that the Department of Justice is suing Live Nation for hindering competition following its 2011 merger with Ticketmaster.  ILSR's Ron Knox joins us to explain the lawsuit's two main points: Live Nation and Ticketmaster's monopolization of the industry and their use of power to exclude rivals and prevent competition. As Ron explains, the lawsuit signifies a major shift in government policy and underscores the importance of collective action among fans, workers, and small business groups in tackling corporate concentration and monopoly power. The 2019 episode details the impact of concentration on independent musicians and how we can rebuild our media ecosystem to make it equitable. You can find that post and episode here. 

Less than 700 yards is all that separates Prairie Island Indian Community homes from the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant and its growing stockpile of nuclear waste.For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell speaks with community members and experts to learn more about the history of Prairie Island Indian Community and the construction of the nuclear plant next door.This is part one in a special three-part series, Seven Hundred Yards: How a Native Nation Resisted the Nuclear Plant Next Door. The series examines how powerful players sited the nuclear plant, and its waste, next to Prairie Island Indian Community, and how Tribal members and their allies have stood up for their rights — in the process, growing a clean energy future for the community and Minnesota as a whole.Listen to the full episode and explore more resources here — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. Also check out the accompanying StoryMap as part of ILSR's 50th-Anniversary Racial Justice Storytelling Project.Note: This episode discusses events related to the United States' genocide and killing of Indigenous peoples. Listen with care.

While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation.  The following is from our episode Trust-Busting 2024: A Bipartisan Battle Against Monopoly Power where we look at the actions underway to tackle the problem of monopolies and the detrimental impact the concentration of power in this way can have on consumers, workers and the democratic project.  Laura's guests are two experts who've been involved for decades in anti-trust action Stacy Mitchell, the Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance & Matt Stoller, Research Director for the American Economic Liberties Project. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.  Please consider becoming a monthly supporter for a few dollars a month… go to https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriendsGuests:•  Stacy Mitchell: Co-Executive Director, Institute for Local Self-Reliance•  Matt Stoller: Research Director, American Economic Liberties Project; Publisher, BIG & Author, Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy Full Episode Notes are accessible to all at https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriends Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, Sabrina Artel, David Neuman, Nat Needham, Rory O'Conner, Janet Hernandez, Sarah Miller and Jeannie Hopper, Nady Pina, Jordan Flaherty FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LFAndFriendsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

In 1974, in Washington D.C., amidst a backdrop of economic turbulence and social unrest, the seeds of the Institute for Local Self-reliance were sown. David Morris, Neil Seldman, and Gil Friend, driven by a shared vision of community resilience, founded the Institute in a townhouse in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Their goal was to demonstrate that our economies and environments can thrive when rooted in community cooperation and mutual aid. Fifty years later, in the face of prevailing national norms promoting centralization, ILSR continues to challenge the status quo through research, advocacy, and grassroots organizing, promoting a framework of decentralized production, responsibility, and authority. For additional resources visit: https://ilsr.org/building-local-power/

Reflecting on ILSR's DC origins 50 years later, when the seat of federal power inspired three pioneers to build local power. … Read More

In this episode from the archive, Howard Crystal and Liz Veazey discuss a petition to the Federal Trade Commission and why electric utility practices require federal investigation. ILSR first published this interview in June of 2022.… Read More

Frances Sawyer and Maria McCoy discuss ILSR's new report on rural electric co-ops and how federal dollars can meet the growing momentum of co-op member-owners organizing around affordability, clean energy, and local control.… Read More

Brenda Platt is the director and life-force behind the Composting for Community Initiative of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. ILSR has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, they build local power to fight corporate control. They are a national research and advocacy organization that partners with allies across the country to build an American economy driven by local priorities accountable to people and the planet. Today, we're going to talk about one of the institutes five key initiatives: the Composting for Community Initiative is advancing local composting to create jobs, enhance soils, protect the climate, and reduce waste through advocacy, training, research, demonstration sites, and coalition building. Mentioned in the show... The wealth of resources provided by the ISLR on composting Folks who make this show possible... Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you. Vermont Compost Company for premium living soils, composts, and potting mixes. Invest in your soil! High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here. Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

Brenda Platt is the director and life-force behind the Composting for Community Initiative of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. ILSR has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, they build local power to fight corporate control. They are a national research and advocacy organization that partners with allies across the country to build an American economy driven by local priorities accountable to people and the planet. Today, we're going to talk about one of the institutes five key initiatives: the Composting for Community Initiative is advancing local composting to create jobs, enhance soils, protect the climate, and reduce waste through advocacy, training, research, demonstration sites, and coalition building. Mentioned in the show... The wealth of resources provided by the ISLR on composting Folks who make this show possible... Optimize commercial compost production while maintaining high-quality with Komptech. Use our link here to learn more, get a consultation, and let them know we sent you. Vermont Compost Company for premium living soils, composts, and potting mixes. Invest in your soil! High Country News is an independent, non-profit, publication covering the land, wildlife, and communities of the Western US for over 50+ years. Check them out using our link here. Xsense provides home safety and environmental monitoring products for your peace of mind.

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Christine Parker (Senior GIS Analyst at ILSR), and Meghan Grabill (Geospatial Analyst at the Maine Connectivity Authority) to run through the recently announced NTIA location challenge process for the upcoming BEAD program and talk about how state processes can adjust eligible technologies and location types, shift of the burden of proof to the IPSs, allow of more flexible speed test data, and include the ability to add community anchor institutions to grant-eligible maps.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Stacy Mitchell is Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a research and advocacy organization that challenges concentrated corporate power and works to build thriving, equitable communities. ILSR has been a pioneering leader in the growing anti-monopoly movement and has a long track record of working alongside grassroots groups to develop better alternatives, from community-owned broadband, to independent businesses, to distributed solar.Stacy recently wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times titled The Real Reason Your Groceries are Getting More Expensive, and has advocated for the FTC revitalizing the anti chain store legislation known as the Robinson Patman Act.Stacy has also produced pivotal research and reporting on the policies driving the decline of small businesses and the economic and political consequences of monopoly power. In 2020, she was profiled by the New York Times for her analysis of Amazon's power and her leadership in building a broad coalition to counter it. Her reports and articles about the tech giant have drawn a wide and influential readership. The House Judiciary Committee cited her research extensively in its “Investigation of Competition in Digital Markets.” In 2022, political strategy firm Baron named her an “Antitrust Super Influencer” for her role in shaping the policy debate.

 It's strange to see the FCC continually patting itself on the back for releasing a new national broadband map. Spend just a little bit of time with it, and the cracks and holes quickly show themselves. This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Christine Parker, Senior GIS Analyst at ILSR, and Alexis Schrubbe, Director of the Internet Equity Initiative at University of Chicago. They do a deep dive into the many, many problems that persist - and what we can do to fix them.  ★ Support this podcast ★

The plan is to electrify the economy. Reduce the combustion of fossil fuels for heating and transportation by replacing it with electricity from a grid powered by low-carbon sources like solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear. These are the basics of the energy transition but, there are two competing visions for how we accomplish it. The first vision is to extend the current utility business model to build the new fleet of generation and transmission in the image of the old, using the same ownership structure, regulatory paradigm, and relationship to ratepayers. The competing vision is a grid optimized for distributed energy resources (DERs). Comparing the two development pathways leads to some pretty clear conclusions. The first scenario, business as usual, may be the quickest to implement (it's what we've always done and it's what the utility lobby wants) and it's by far the most expensive. The second scenario, DER optimized, is more affordable, more resilient, and creates more jobs. However, it involves consumers as stakeholders and decision-makers in the energy system. In this episode, Nick Hylla and Katie Kienbaum discuss the promise of DERs in the energy transition and the policy actions needed to ensure that everyone has access to the social and environmental benefits provided by a DER optimized system. Host: Nick Hylla, MREA Executive Director  Guest: Katie Kienbaum, Research Associate - Institute for Local Self-Reliance  -About Katie Kienbaum: Katie is a Senior Researcher with ILSR's Energy Democracy initiative, where she researches and writes about equitable and decentralized clean energy and its impact on communities across the country. Before joining the Energy Democracy initiative, she was a Research Associate with the Community Broadband Networks initiative.     Katie Kienbaum - Live Event at The Energy Fair: Catch Katie at the Rise Up Live Event at The 2023 Energy Fair on Saturday, June 24th at 12p.m. Get your tickets at theenergyfair.org/tickets. 

For our final Building Local Power episode of 2022, we invited Co-Founder, David Morris, to offer a history lesson on the self-reliance framework that underpins ILSR's work. He discusses how that framework has evolved over four-plus decades, the organization's inherent aversion to bigness, and the successes and hardships of ILSR's early years. … Read More

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by Senior Reporter, Editor and Communications Team Lead Sean Gonsalves and GIS and Data Visualization Specialist Christine Parker to talk about how bad data can blind us and good data can drive positive policy solutions. First, they talk about a new guide developed by ILSR to help citizen-advocates, nonprofits, … Continue reading "Data-Driven Policy Solutions – Episode 531 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

On this episode of Building Local Power, three members of ILSR's Independent Business team, Lauren Gellatly, Katy Milani, and Kennedy Smith, answer: What challenges are small, independent businesses facing? And what legislative solutions are on the way? … Read More

The three members from ILSR's energy team engage in a riveting conversation on the biggest energy stories from 2022, including the Inflation Reduction Act's big funding for solar, the antimonopoly focus in the Biden administration, how utility companies are continuing to use their financial power to lobby against energy, and a new tool designed to bring distributed solar to more communities.… Read More

On this episode of Building Local Power Alejandro Roark, the Chief of Consumer and Governmental Affairs at the FCC tells a captivating journey of his career from working at the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership all the way to his current career at the Federal Communications Commission. He speaks about his LGBTQ inclusion work, racial and economic justice in the telecommunications sector, collective action, and how the ACP is filling an immediate and vital need. ILSR's Sean Gonsalves weighs in on how to strategize for longer term Internet solutions that will make our broadband economy more fair and equitable.… Read More

This week on Building Local Power, we are joined by Brandi Collins-Dexter, author of Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and our Political Future and Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director of ILSR. We engage in a riveting conversation on how political parties have monopolistic tendencies, how Big Tech has dominated mainstream media, and the future of Black-owned and led businesses in America. … Read More

In the 17th century, humans weren't the only ones voyaging to the U.S. — the Norway rat decided to join the expedition. And ever since, the human and the rat have been inseparable, much to the rat's delight and the human's dismay. Today, rats lurk in underground subways, flourish in commercial centers, burrow in city parks, and scurry across sidewalks. They thrive in any place humans have mismanaged our food disposal systems — hence in cities across the U.S. On this episode of Building Local Power, Bloomberg reporter Linda Poon joins us to talk about how cities are [mis]managing rat infestations. We dive into the decline and spike in rat populations during and after the pandemic, cities' solutions to mitigating rat infestations, and how to shift the public focus from a problem with rats to a more proactive and thoughtful approach to how we discard food. “There is this one statistic called the one in ten rule. It only takes one house to have very sloppy practices to invite a rat infestation into the neighborhood. It really has to be a community effort, which is why it's such a big deal that cities are engaging [the] public [on a] large scale.” – Linda Poon Related Resources I Got a Crash Course in Rodent Control at D.C.'s Rat Academy by Linda Poon Linda Poon's Bloomberg Article Catalog Oh Rats! How to Avoid Rodents at Community Composting Sites The Rodent Academy with Bobby Corrigan Find the Accidental Ecosystem by Peter S. Alagona at your local bookstore! Transcript Linda Poon: The community part is a big deal. There is this one statistic, in our course, that we kept learning, he called it the one in 10 rule. It only takes one house to have very sloppy practices to invite a rat infestation into the neighborhood. It only takes one house to infest 10. It really has to be a community effort, which is why it's such a big deal that cities are engaging public at a large scale. Reggie Rucker: Hello and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance dedicated to challenging corporate monopolies and expanding the power of people to shape their own future. I'm Reggie Rucker, and today we are talking about rats. Now you might be thinking, why are we talking about rats? I have to say, I cannot wait for this conversation. I've lived in DC for a little over a year at this point and I am stunned to the degree that rats are everywhere. When I say everywhere, not so much everywhere I go, although a little bit of that, but it's in my social media feed. People are just constantly talking about rats in this city. And so recently, Luke is going to tell you about some work at our composting team about how you can compost and avoid rats. And so, it just made total sense. We have to have a rat conversation. But before we get into all that, I will pass it over to my cohost, Luke. Luke Gannon: Thank you, Reggie. I haven't lived in a city long enough to experience the rat infestations. As I've been preparing for this show, I've read a bunch of rat articles and I'm just so surprised how big of an issue they are. So, I'm really looking forward to this conversation. But my name is Luke Gannon, and today on the show, we are speaking with a reporter at Bloomberg City Lab, Linda Poon. In her work, Linda covers how to be an activist and an advocate of Asian American communities, the complexities of urban life, how cities are responding to climate disasters and recently, she wrote about a rodent control crash course and the relationship between humans and rats. ILSR released a new guide called Oh, Rats! which looks at how you can safely compost while avoiding rodents completely. So we felt like this was a perfect occasion to have Linda on the show to talk about all things urban, climate change and rats. We are so excited to have you on the show today, Linda. Welcome. Linda Poon: Thank you. I never thought my rat knowledge would take me to places. Luke Gannon: All right, so we'll get started here. So,

What can you win if you fail? Minneapolis has a unique story of its path towards clean energy. Although Minneapolis failed to get a public utility on their first significant push, they ultimately made a deal requiring utilities to engage the local government and residents more in their operations. So despite their public power pursuit not achieving all of their aims, what the advocates in Minneapolis gained was increased leverage to push for more clean energy. While Minneapolis' story is unique, it shares some common themes with cities all across the country looking to move to public-owned utilities that provide cleaner energy. This episode previews a new six-part series from the Local Energy Rules podcast that debuts August 17, telling these stories. The series, “The Promise and Perils of Public-Owned Power,” traverses cities' trajectories towards controlling their own power.   What to look forward to: What public power means Four ingredients that improve the odds of success in moving to public-owned power What cities learned and accomplished in their advocacy for public-owned power Other ways cities can leverage their power to address clean energy   “What's so important about the idea of public power is that it localizes the decision making. This is one of those key benefits that we're gonna talk about in this series about what you win if you fail, which is all of a sudden you get engagement from your local elected officials who are really accountable and close to you, you know, like a couple phone calls to a city council member is all it takes to get them to pay attention to an issue. So if we can get cities passionate about renewable energy and caring about renewable energy to address the needs of the community, all of a sudden we have folks that are lot easier to work with.” – John Farrell Related Resources Local Energy Rules Podcast (find “The Promise and Perils of Public-Owned Power on August 17 here) Local Energy Rules Episode on Minneapolis' clean energy partnership The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee (buy at your local bookstore!) Heather McGhee talking about The Sum of Us on NPR, How to Citizen with Baratunde, The Ezra Klein Show, and more! Other energy sources that have alliterated titles: ILSR Asks Arizona Commissioners to Consider Community Solar Implemented Correctly, Community Choice Energy Can Support Colorado Communities in Their Goals Transcript John Farrell: And what's amazing and I think what's so important about the idea of public power is that it localizes the decision making. This is one of those key benefits that we're going to talk about in this series about what you win, if you fail. Reggie Rucker: Hello, and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance dedicated to challenging corporate monopolies and expanding the power of people to shape their own future. I am Reggie Rucker, one of the hosts on this journey, along with my co-host, Luke Gannon, who frankly, does all the work. I just get to show up and look pretty. Luke? Luke Gannon: Thank you, Reggie. My mom was listening to the most recent episode and she was like, “I really like how Reggie summarizes what the guests say. It's really useful.” So, I wouldn't say that I do all the work. But I'm Luke Gannon, the other co-host. And without further ado, today on the podcast, I am welcoming my colleague and co-director of ILSR, John Farrell. John is also the director of the Energy Democracy Initiative. I am sure you recognize his voice because he has been on here many of times. John and the energy team are releasing a new six part series on public power. So, we welcome him on the show today to find out just exactly what this series is all about, and why you all should be marking your calendars in anticipation of its release. Welcome, John. John Farrell: Well, thank you so much. It's great to be here. Luke Gannon: So John, to start off, can you briefly describe to us what this series is about?...

What does it really mean when people talk about the digital divide? And what power do communities have that find themselves on the wrong side of that divide? Shayna Englin is our guest on this episode of Building Local Power discussing how she approaches these issues as director of the Digital Equity Initiative at the California Community Foundation. Joining Shayna in this episode is ILSR Community Broadband Outreach Team Lead DeAnne Cuellar. Shayna and DeAnne discuss how the digital divide is not isolated as an issue of broadband access, but tied to housing justice, healthcare access, immigration policies, and education. As the pandemic moved everything online, they explained, the whole country experienced how fundamental internet connectivity is to the entire human experience. Highlights include: How the California Community Foundation is using a systems change approach to creating digital equity. Giving decision-makers access to accurate information to invest in local communities. The funding sources and policies that are expanding opportunities for municipalities to come up with local solutions. Creating power and policy frameworks to mobilize communities.   “The digital divide is the gap in access to what is a modern utility. Whether it's access in terms of a subscription or access in terms of devices or access in terms of having apps and utilities, especially from the public sector that are user friendly and meet the needs of the communities they are intended to serve.” – Shayna Englin “The early numbers that came back from the pandemic was that 80% of people over 60 years old were the people who were dying from COVID. 42% of that population didn't have access to the internet. So that's why we talk about the digital divide as a social determinant of health, it's a life or death issue.” – DeAnne Cuellar   Related Resources California Community Foundation Digital Equity Initiative: https://www.calfund.org/digital-equity-initiative/ Community Networks (ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative): https://muninetworks.org/ Transcript Reggie Rucker: Hello, and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast dedicated to thought provoking conversations about how we can challenge corporate monopolies and expand the power of people to shape their own future. For more than 45 years, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance or ILSR has worked to build thriving, equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability remain in local hands. My name is Reggie Rucker and I am the new communications director at ILSR and co-host for Building Local Power. Luke Gannon: And I am Luke Gannon, the other co-host. I am a communications and research associate at ILSR. Today on the podcast I'm welcoming my colleague, DeAnne Cuellar, who works on the outreach team for our community broadband initiative here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Along with DeAnne, I am eager to invite Shayna Englin, the director of the California community foundation, digital equity initiative. The digital equity initiative is a multi-year project that will activate a digital equity movement in Los Angeles county. With the power and capacity to successfully advocate for fast, reliable, and affordable broadband for all people living in Los Angeles. Welcome DeAnne and Shayna. DeAnne: Hello. Thanks for having me. Shayna Englin: Thank you. Luke Gannon: Of course. So, let's get started for all of our dedicated listeners and new listeners on Building Local Power. We are going to break these difficult topics down, like broadband. So today we are talking about the digital divide and the intricacies that fall under that umbrella. So Shayna, I'm going to start with you, and ask what is the digital divide? Shayna Englin: I love that question because we throw that term around a lot. I don't think we ever do a great job at articulating it. So I'll say from the perspective of CCF and the work that we are doing,

This episode marks a new beginning for Building Local Power – Reggie Rucker, Communications Director, and Luke Gannon, Communications and Research Associate are taking a step back to look at our work in a larger context. To kick this transition off we welcomed our colleagues from the composting team Brenda Platt, Director of the Composting for Community Initiative, and Linda Bilsens Brolis, Project Manager for the Composting team. We asked our guests how this rich organic matter, compost, is combating the climate crisis. Highlights include: How composting can reclaim disturbed sites. The consequences of “waste imperialism” on social and environmental structures. How different composting models make the practice more accessible. The necessary paradigm shift within our consumer culture.   “Waste historically has been an environmental justice issue. We're dumping our waste on areas of least political resistance, whether it's the garbage barges on Haiti from the '80s or in our urban areas where trash incinerators get built.” – Brenda Platt   “Whenever you build something you're compressing the soil so a lot of community gardens are actually based in places where things don't readily grow and so you need to import soil. And being able to compost locally just helps reduce input costs because you can help create something that you would otherwise have to buy to help improve your soil to grow.” – Linda Bilsens Brolis   Related Resources ILSR infographic: Compost Combats the Climate Crisis ILSR training: Community Composting 101 Online Certificate Course ILSR web post: Home Composting: Its Time Has Come ILSR report: Stop Trashing the Climate ILSR web post: Waste Disposal Surcharges ILSR web post: Soil Health Policies Project Drawdown (identifies reducing & recycling food waste as a top climate solution) Transcript Reggie Rucker: Hello, and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast dedicated to thought-provoking conversations about how we can challenge corporate monopolies and expand the power of people to shape their own future. For more than 45 years, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance has worked to build thriving, equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability remain in local hands. You might be thinking, this isn't Jess. It's not. Jess is now leaving communications for the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, we just wanted to say, “Thank you, Jess, for your dedication and integral voice to this podcast.” My name is Reggie Rucker and I'm the new Communications Director at ILSR and co-host for Building Local Power. Now, when I say co-host, that means I have somebody else who needs to introduce themselves. Luke? Luke Gannon: Hi, everyone. My name is Luke Gannon and I am a Communications and Research Associate here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm super excited to be working with Reggie to produce and co-host this podcast. And I would also like to give a shout-out to Jess who was an amazing asset to the ILSR team. Already in this last month, I have missed her immensely but the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center is really lucky to have her. But without further ado, we have a big topic today so let's dive right in. Luke Gannon: Today on the show, we are asking our guests how is composting combating the climate crisis? Right now we are experiencing the glaring implications of climate change firsthand. Last year we saw wildfires rage across the west coast and we are starting to see it again. Warming ocean temperatures are killing off species. Just to name one recent event in the news, both Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park are flooding which is due to extreme weather shifts driven by climate change. So as we can see, the consequences of climate change are devastating. And in order to alter these realities, we must drastically reduce global carbon emissions, and most importantly modify our practices to be more responsive to the world around us. Reggie Rucker:

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by John Farrell and Stacy Mitchell, Co-directors of ILSR, and Ron Knox, a Senior Researcher on our Independent Business team. The group discusses the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission's plan to overhaul their merger guidelines. Highlights include: The history of anti-merger laws in the United States. How the lack of merger regulation has impacted workers, consumers, and our democracy. ILSR's recommendations that detail how we can change merger guidelines. How new merger policy could revitalize local economies. “The Great Depression was in large part, and the stock market crash, driven by the merger and concentration of electric utility holding companies.” – John Farrell “So you allow these mergers to happen and it's like when Spider-Man shoots a whole spider web at a villain. These mergers shoot a whole spider web at the economy, every part of it, and really tamp down the ability for folks to earn a living, start a business, do all these kinds of things.” – Ron Knox “I think our chief recommendation was instead of calling them the merger guidelines, we should call them the anti-merger guidelines in keeping with Congress' intent and being clear about the new direction and policy that at least we're hoping to see.” – Stacy Mitchell Related Resources Transcript Jess Del Fiacco: Hello and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast dedicated to thought-provoking conversations about how we can challenge corporate monopolies and expand the power of people to shape their own future. I'm Jess Del Fiacco, the host of Building Local Power and communications manager here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. For more than 45 years, ILSR has worked to build thriving equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability remain in local hands. Jess Del Fiacco: And hello everybody. Today we are going to talk about merger policy. If you're thinking, “I am not an economic policy wonk. I don't want to hear about merger policy,” don't turn the episode off because it is going to be a great conversation. And I promise it'll be interesting for everybody. Joining me to talk about this are my colleagues, John Farrell and Stacy Mitchell, who are co-directors of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, as well as Ron Knox, who is a senior researcher with our independent business team. Welcome to the show everybody. Ron Knox: Hey, Jess. Thank you. Stacy Mitchell: … be here. Jess Del Fiacco: So I can just give a little bit of a background, I think, before we dive into questions, although I'm sure I won't do as good of a job as everybody else will on this call, but I will do my best. So the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission recently announced that they're going to overhaul their guidelines around mergers. And ILSR has submitted comments, which detail basically how these guidelines should change in order to stop corporate concentration and support a more decentralized economy. So with that kind of context, I think I'm actually going to start with asking Ron and Stacy to talk a little bit about the history of anti-merger legislation in the US and how this enforcement has changed pretty dramatically over the course of the 20th century. Ron Knox: Yeah Jess. Thanks. So there is a lot of history, of course, behind the reason that we look at mergers in this country, the reason we prohibit mergers that would be bad for the economy, for workers, for small business, and for communities, but I think it's important to understand what the result is when we don't do that very well, when we don't stop those mergers. Like I think about beer a lot, not just because I enjoy beer. I do. But I also think about it because it's a great example of how corporate concentration has really gotten out of control in this country and why. So for a long time, we've had two really dominant brewers, right? We have Budweiser,

Host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by members of ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team: Ry Marcattilio-McCracken, Sean Gonsalves, and Christine Parker. They discuss the importance of mapping for building broadband networks.… Read More

Host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by several ILSR colleagues: Susan R. Holmberg, Senior Researcher and Editor for the Independent Business initiative; Katie Kienbaum, Senior Researcher for the Energy Democracy initiative; and Sophia Jones, a Fellow with the Composting for Community initiative.… Read More

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, John Farrell, Co-Director of ILSR, is joined by Michael Murray, the President of Mission Data. Mission Data is a national coalition of innovative technology companies that empower consumers to access their own energy usage data. John and Michael discuss how structural market problems prevent consumers from accessing electricity data and possible solutions for utilities to create a more decentralized energy system. Highlights include: How energy usage data plays a critical role in lowering costs for all customers. How monopoly utilities are exploiting smart meter data. The difference between the U.S. and the U.K. in their approach to using electricity data. “The usage data is really the fulcrum of the whole system because that's how the aggregator goes to the wholesale market operator and gets paid for their service and in turn those payments can flow through and part to the consumers who are donating their flexibility and their power usage.”- Michael Murray “We reward utilities for spending money on capital investment, but not for figuring out how to use it well.” – John Farrell “How quickly do utilities acknowledge the existence of a problem and actually resolve it? […] I think it's time for public utility regulators to take up the mantel and really think about themselves as overseers, as a tech support platform – that is an important part of accountability. – Michael Murray Related Resources Drone Data Helps a Minnesota City Conserve Energy How Big Utilities are Impeding Clean Energy, and What We Can Do About It Transcript Jess Del Fiacco: Hello and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast dedicated to thought-provoking conversations about how we can challenge corporate monopolies and expand the power of people to shape their own future. I'm Jess Del Fiacco, the host of Building Local Power and Communications Manager here at the Institute for Local Self Reliance. For more than 45 years, ILSR has worked to build thriving, equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability remain in local hands. This week, John Farrell, a co-director of ILSR speaks with Michael Murray, the President of the Mission Data Coalition. John and Michael discuss why clean energy advocates should be paying more attention to the value of customer electricity use data and how we can extract this data from the protective claws of monopoly electric utilities. Without further ado, here's John. John Farrell: Michael, welcome. Michael Murray: Thank you, John. I am a big fan of the podcast and very happy to join you today. John Farrell: It was such a pleasure to meet and talk to you earlier this year for the first time, and then to get a chance to read your recent report, Digital Platform Regulation, because it really intersects well with the way that ILSR and other folks across the country are looking at this issue of, who controls the platforms that we do business on and who has access to the information about themselves? Some people might think of this in the context of Facebook, as a Facebook user, this company controls a lot of data about you that you've given them voluntarily, and then sometimes you're trying to figure out like, “Wow, maybe I want to cancel my account or close my account. How do I have access to that data? How can I get back my data?” Or you have Amazon, which uses data about the different sellers on its platform in ways that can enhance its ability to compete or unfairly compete with the independent sellers on its platform. John Farrell: And then we have the utility business, and this is where I was so pleased to come across your work, because I wasn't aware that someone had thought through so carefully, not just this idea of access to customer data as something that might be useful, but you've really thought through it in terms of, what are the structural market structure problems that prevent us from getting access to customer data?