Podcasts about ilsr

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, […]

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 […]

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

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. 

What will Amazon do once it's eaten every other business, automated every process, and none of us have any money to buy their products? To find out, musician Oliver Ackermann (A Place To Bury Strangers) interviews Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a national research and advocacy organization that fights corporate control and works to build thriving, equitable communities. She inspires him to create a new song ‘Always Gonna Be The Same'. Stream the song: https://ffm.to/AlwaysGonnaBeTheSame I could spin a story that would make you freak But I'm not thinking of ways to manipulate you - I don't hate you I just want you to enjoy your life And I hope you're a really good potato - Kato I don't wanna live in a stupid world I don't wanna live under their control I don't wanna buy all their useless shit That should just be thrown in a giant pit I don't wanna be hooked on all these drugs Pushed to fund someone's expensive rugs I just wanna live and have some fun I don't need to feel like I have won Cuz it's gross They're lying to our faces It's a show They stripped away their regulations What we don't know Is that they multiplied their operations So if we don't vote Then its always gonna be the same Someone's gotta play the adult in the room - with a broom We can't let these greedy fuckers take another dime - waste of time I would rather be out on vacation - in another nation But we seem to be living with some bad potatoes - Kato I don't wanna live in their stupid world I don't wanna live under their control I don't wanna buy all this useless shit That should just be thrown in a giant pit I don't wanna be hooked on all their drugs Pushed to fund someone's expensive rugs I just wanna help out my fellow man Any fucking way that I can Cuz it's gross They're lying to our faces And it's low They bought a house with our donations What we don't know Is that they buried all the allegations So if we don't vote Then its always gonna be the same --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/podsongs/message

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

How can a community reeling from multiple economic shocks use composting as a tool to build a more resilient food system? ILSR's Linda Bilsens Brolis talks to Renee V. Wallace of Detroit about composting as a tool for building equity and solving big challenges. … Read More

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by ILSR colleagues Sean Gonsalves (Senior Editor and Communications Team Lead) and DeAnne Cuellar (Outreach Team Lead) for a roundup of recent news. They talk about the release of our new tracking and advocacy tool, the Affordable Connectivity Program dashboard, the pace and speed of the municipal broadband … Continue reading "Cities Doing Work – Episode 519 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

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?

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, ILSR's John Farrell is joined by Michael Murray, President of Mission Data. … Read More

This week on the podcast, Christopher is joined by three colleagues from the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at ILSR including Sean Gonsalves (Communications Team Lead), Ry Marcattilio-McCracken (Research Team Lead) and DeAnne Cuellar (Outreach Team Lead). During the conversation, the four talk about Sean's writing that highlights improvements to New York's new budget bill, and … Continue reading "What New York State Got Right and No Answers on States Rights Question – Episode 501 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast"

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, a rebroadcast from the Building Local Power Podcast, we share a recording of ILSR's Democratizing Power event: a conversation with advocates about how communities have challenged monopoly power.… Read More

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, a rebroadcast from the Building Local Power Podcast, we share a recording of ILSR's Democratizing Power event: a conversation with advocates about how communities have challenged monopoly power.… Read More

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director of ILSR, is joined by Arlene Martínez, Deputy Executive Director and Communications Director at Good Jobs First. Good Jobs First promotes government accountability in economic development and tracks corporate subsidies. Stacy and Arlene discuss the use of nondisclosure agreements, the acceleration of mega-deals during the pandemic, and what true economic development looks like. Highlights include: How states have used the Care Act and American Rescue Plan funding for economic development. Defining opportunity zones and exposing how the wealthy are profiting from their favorable tax treatment. Revealing how one of the main consequences of subsidy giveaways is exacerbating racial disparities. Why a campaign called Ban Secret Deals is trying to end the use of nondisclosure agreements. “Amazon is eager to use its power to get what it wants.”- Arlene Martínez “For the 4.1 billion that cities gave to Amazon over the last ten years we could have built 672 new locally-owned grocery stores in underserved communities – connected to, say, local farmers and food producers. The scale of this money is extraordinary.” – Stacy Mitchell “The problem with the way that so much of economic development is done in this country, and the ways that these deals are structured, is that the community loses in the end, because the giveaways are so big that tax money that was given will never pay for itself.” – Arlene Martínez 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. This week, ILSR Stacy Mitchell talks with Arlene Martínez. Arlene is the deputy executive director and communications director at Good Jobs First. Good Jobs First is an organization that promotes corporate and government accountability, and economic development. As well as smart growth for working families. Stacy and Arlene are going to discuss Amazon's use of public subsidies to advance their growth, the company's tax avoidance and more. Without further ado, I'm going to hand things over to Stacy to lead the interview. Stacy Mitchell: Well, Arlene, it's so great to have you on Building Local Power. Thanks so much for joining us today? Arlene Martínez: Thanks for having me Stacy. Stacy Mitchell: You all, Good Jobs First, your organization just does extraordinary work around the problem of corporate subsidies. These giveaways that happen across the country to big corporations. Tell us a little about what these corporate subsidies are all about? And maybe give a couple of recent examples of some of the kinds of bad deals that you're tracking and why you see them as harmful? Arlene Martínez: Yeah. Corporate subsidies are when a corporation comes to a community and wants to bring a facility, a project, and they always promise a lot of jobs. They ask for public money to help [inaudible 00:01:44] the cost of the project. They come and they say they're going to bring a lot of capital investment. They say they're going to bring a lot of jobs and officials get excited and start opening up their wallets. The problem with some of these deals is that, first of all, it's done out of public view. Sometimes the community doesn't know the company name, don't know how much money's being offered. That's the case even after the deal's closed. In some states, we never know how much money the company got. A recent deal that just happened, first when you asked that question came to mind, was [inaudible 00:02:24].

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell and guests Crystal Huang and Al Weinrub discuss the gap between policy and implementation and how ILSR's Community Power Scorecard could better represent and mobilize local organizers.… Read More

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell and guests Crystal Huang and Al Weinrub discuss the gap between policy and implementation and how ILSR's Community Power Scorecard could better represent and mobilize local organizers.… Read More

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, we share highlights from a recent ILSR event called “The Progressive Fight for Small Business” featuring Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and White House Advisor Tim Wu. Rep. Jayapal talks about the intersectionality between small business, health care, minimum wage, and racial inequity. Wu discusses how we need to relearn the virtues of a true American economy and how consolidation and the rise of a middleman are two of the biggest problems we face today. Highlights include: How the Paycheck Recovery Act would help small businesses if it is reintroduced. The effects of Biden's Executive Order and how the Competition Council are working towards a more equitable economy. How the economic principles that our nation subscribed to 40 years ago were not interested in maintaining a diverse set of businesses. Why it is critical for small businesses to thrive. “We have a real opportunity to use the bipartisan momentum to prevent dominant companies from maintaining market power and using their extensive resources to stifle independent and small competitors from entering the market and also to think about our communities in a holistic way and I think that is what small businesses do particularly well.” – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal “Our country has become too centralized, too national, too centered on consumption as opposed to production, and too many of the returns go to too few people. ” – Tim Wu 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: For today's episode, we're bringing you highlights from a recent event that we put on. The event is all about the momentum that is building in Congress within the Biden administration and within many state houses to reign in monopoly power and level the playing field for small, independent businesses. You'll hear from Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who's the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Tim Wu, who is a special assistant to the president for Technology and Competition Policy. This event was called the Progressive Fight for Small Business, and if you're interested in watching the whole recording, you can find that and related resources archived on archive.ilsr.org. Jess Del Fiacco: With that, I'll let you listen to the show. Stacy Mitchell: I'm Stacy Mitchell. I'm the co-director of ILSR, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. More than a decade ago, I helped launch an initiative here at ILSR focused on independent business. We were, and continue to be, deeply concerned about the sharp decline in small, independent businesses that we've seen across virtually every sector of the economy. Back at that time, there were very few political leaders on either side of the aisle who had much concern about this trend. The widespread assumption at that time was that small business didn't matter much, the bigger corporations were better, more efficient, more productive, and so on. Stacy Mitchell: Today, we know that economic concentration and the losses that we've seen, both for working people and for small businesses, have had devastating effects on communities, that the decline of small business and the growing concentration across our economy is really driving racial and economic inequality, and ultimately undermining our democracy. We know that the primary driver of this trend is concentrated corporate power, whether it's the power that these corporations wield in the market or the political power that they have to rig gover...

Listen to highlights from a recent ILSR event called "The Progressive Fight for Small Business" featuring Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and White House Advisor Tim Wu. … Read More

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by her colleague John Farrell, director of ILSR's Energy Democracy Initiative, and guest Ari Peskoe, who is the director of the Energy Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. They discuss the attempts Congress has made to increase competition in electric utilities, the four orders the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled between 1996 and 2011, and the how the lack of competitive processes negatively impacts consumers. Highlights include: The reasons why Congress passed the Public Utility Act and its impacts on the concentration of economic and political power. The FERC recognizing that the single greatest impediment to competition is Investor Owned Utilities. How the conviction “bigger is better” impacted the electric utility sector for nearly a hundred years. Whether Peskoe's recommendations to the FERC; independent planning, information transparency, and burden of proof on the utility to show that costs are reasonable will be considered moving forward. “I worry about innovation in this space. It is a hallmark of the capitalist system that competition brings innovation. When we have an industry like the transmission sector here that is dominated by the century old incumbents who for decades have been planning among themselves without any competitive pressure I wonder if that is a system that can yield the benefits that I think we get from innovation.” – Ari Peskoe “The transmission system is so novel in a way of being so balkanized and so controlled by the incumbents.” – John Farrell 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 driving equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability are made in local hands. Jess Del Fiacco: Welcome to today's episode. I'm actually going to hand over hosting duties to ILSR's John Farrell today. John is a co-director of ILSR and he directs our energy democracy work. John is joined by his guest, Ari Peskoe, who is the Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. They're going to talk about how utilities have gained outside market power by owning energy infrastructure and how federal regulators could reintroduce competition through targeted regulation. With that, I'm going to hand things over to John. John Farrell: If you've heard of transmission lines in the context of clean energy, it's probably a complaint about not in my backyard, or NIMBY, opposition to the large steel towers and wires that carry electricity long distances. However, utilities themselves have as much to do with the barriers to expanding the electricity grid. Like with rooftop solar, the exercise of monopoly power has much to do with the problem. Ari Peskoe is the Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program, and author of a new paper, Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever? John Farrell: He joined me in December, 2021 to talk about the battle to overcome monopoly, utility opposition, to making transmission line planning and construction more competitive and more cost effective. I'm John Farrell, Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Ari, thank you so much for joining me on Building Local Power. Ari Peskoe: Thanks for having me. John Farrell: I feel like this is a really timely conversation with the passage of the federal infrastructure bill, which does include money for high voltage electricity transmission lines. There might be other ordinary folks who would be curious since John O...

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by her colleague Brenda Platt who leads ILSR's Community Composting Initiative and guests Sarah Boltwala-Mesina, Monique Figueiredo, and Kourtnii Brown. Sarah is the Executive Director of Inika Small Earth Inc., which operates Food2Soil, a community composting collective in San Diego; Monique is the founder of Compostable LA, a food scrap collector in Los Angeles; and Kourtnii Brown is the co-founder and CEO of the California Alliance for Community Composting and runs Common Compost, a community composting operation in Oakland. They discuss solid waste franchise districts, which are waste collection zones that a municipality or county has assigned to one or more contractors on an exclusive basis to provide collection services for trash and recycling. As the system typically only allows large companies to compete to win a zone, smaller competitors are kept out of the playing field. Highlights include: How franchise districts have impacted community composters' operations, and the creative ways some have navigated the agreements in order to build successful businesses. The difference between a non-exclusive franchise and an exclusive franchise and how they impact communities. How local leaders have responded to the issues facing small-sized composters. How cities could change contracts to better support small-sized composting and recycling operations (such as through carve outs) and help them grow. “It's not an us or them. It is an us and them. The more we can have our human based systems mimic our ecosystems, the more no one is left behind. ” – Monique Figueiredo “As community composters who want to focus on turning these scraps into soil that rejuvenates our landscape, we have to deal with regulations, attorneys… We are not made for that. We don't have the deep pockets for that.” – Sarah Boltwala-Mesina “A lot of the attraction to an exclusive franchise agreement is because these cities have put a lot of work into establishing their zero-waste goals and their diversion targets. It is very attractive for cities to look for large scale service providers and that are capable of implementing large scale collection programs.” – Kourtnii Brown   Related Resources Mallory Szczepanski, Waste360, Commercial Franchise Zones Explained, January 25, 2017. New York City Department of Sanitation, Commercial Waste Zones: A Plan to Reform, Reroute, and Revitalize Private Carting in New York City, 2018. LA County Residential Franchise System Greggory Moore, Random Lengths News, Hauling Green Waste for Compost Is a Legal Gray Area in Long Beach, October 10, 2020 Palm Springs Sustainability Commission's Standing Subcommittee on Waste Reduction Meeting, July 1, 2021 The Sustainable Economies Law Center's Soil Policy Party Curriculum and Legal Guide to Community Composting (with examples from Alameda County) CalRecycle's Model Franchise Agreement and Webinar (Scope of Contract terms starting at min 34) ILSR's Hierarchy to Reduce Food Waste & Grow Community Food2Soil's Model Franchise Agreement and Model Solid Waste Ordinance enhanced for community composting. Food2Soil's story of Temecula, California's first community compost pile. Food2Soil's The Supermaze of Regulations Preventing Community Composting. Transcript Jess: 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. Hello, everybody. Today, we're going to be discussing the challenges solid waste franchise agreements pose to community composters.

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by her colleagues on the broadband team, DeAnne Cuellar who leads our community broadband outreach work, and Sean Gonsalves who is a senior reporter and editor. They discuss where the bulk of the broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is geared toward and how to engage local champions to create community broadband strategies. Highlights include: How states will be impacted by the fact that cooperatives, nonprofits, public utilities, and local governments are eligible to use Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds to build networks. Which states are well-poised to submit a five year strategic plan before accessing the broadband money and which states are not. How digital equity organizing efforts in LA County are a perfect example of a willingness to collaborate, design community solutions, and be community-driven in terms of building better broadband infrastructure. Why having access to telehealth and remote learning are human rights.   “The bill largely targets rural America, which is sort of unfortunate, because it feeds into this idea that the digital divide is between urban and rural America, which isn't the case. A digital divide exists within any locale that you are in.” – Sean Gonsalves “As advocates of digital inclusion… and building community broadband networks, we see connectivity as critical infrastructure, life-saving critical infrastructure.” – DeAnne Cuellar   Related Resources Infrastructure Bill Passes: ‘Our Broadband Moment' MuniNetworks.org 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. Jess Del Fiacco: 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 driving equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability remain in local hands. Jess Del Fiacco: And hello, everybody. Welcome to our show today. I'm joined by my colleagues, DeAnne Cuellar who leads our community broadband outreach work and Sean Gonsalves who is a senior reporter and editor on our broadband team. We're going to talk about a few different things today, but well, first of all, welcome to the show. Let's start there. Sean Gonsalves: All right. CBN is in the building or buildings. DeAnne Cuellar: Hi. Jess Del Fiacco: Hi, and we have, it's DeAnne's debut for Building Local Power, so it's always a special episode. DeAnne Cuellar: Hello. Thanks for having me. Jess Del Fiacco: So happy to have you guys on the show. And with that, let's dive into some questions for Sean. So last fall, I believe Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act so Sean, could you talk about that as it relates to the broadband world? Maybe we can start with just a general description of what's in this bill. Sean Gonsalves: Good question. Good question because there's different pots of money that are floating out of there, floating from the federal government to states and so this shouldn't be confused with the American Rescue Plan money, which has already made its way to state coffers and the difference really between the money that's available in the American Rescue plan and the money that is going to be available once it makes its way to the states in the infrastructure bill is that the American Rescue Plan money is a lot more flexible, which is important. Sean Gonsalves: So the money that goes to the states and local communities, it gives a lot of wiggle room, the spending rules. There's a lot of wiggle room on how you can spend those funds, which includes the ability of local communities to define what's considered affordable and reliable and use that to justify deploying networks or initiat...

On this episode of Building Local Power, we share a recording of ILSR's recent event Democratizing Power: New Citizen Initiatives Challenge Monopoly Electric Utilities. Across the country, powerful utilities are actively blocking decentralized solar energy, degrading the reliability of the power lines even as they raise prices, and failing to make the grid investments needed for a clean, carbon-free future. Listen to ILSR's Stacy Mitchell and John Farrell facilitate conversations with the advocates who are leading the movement to take back control from electric utility monopolies. Highlights of the event's discussions include: Rep. Seth Berry and Sen. Rick Bennett of the Maine State Legislature discuss Our Power, a citizen-led ballot campaign in Maine that aims to convert the utility serving most of the state to a consumer-owned electric company, allowing for competition and innovation on a public grid system. Jean Su, Energy Justice Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, explains how advocates in Arizona are using antitrust and anti-monopoly laws to fight a big utility's plans to crush customer-owned rooftop solar power. Mariel Nanasi, Executive Director of New Energy Economy in New Mexico, tells the story behind a recent and highly unusual rejection of a proposed utility merger in New Mexico, brought about by grassroots advocacy effort. “Clean electricity is how we get out of the climate emergency. And all of that needs to flow over the poles and wires. Those poles and wires are a monopoly. And because of the last 150 years or so of the evolution of that industry, we have allowed it without really thinking about it. Without really noticing, we've allowed it to globalize, we've allowed it to conglomerate. We've allowed it to be the province of the few in order to extract value from the many. And so this is about power. It is about money. It's also very much about climate. If we're going to decarbonize, we know that we need to shift to consumer ownership because it works.”     Related Resources Democratizing Power: New Citizen Initiatives Challenge Monopoly Electric Utilities The Role of Antitrust Law in Creating Energy Justice — Episode 127 of Building Local Power Mainers Consider Putting Electricity, Internet in Local Hands — Episode 103 of Building Local Power In Santa Fe, Momentum Builds for Locals to Take Charge of Electricity System – Episode 39 of Local Energy Rules Podcast A David and Goliath Fight to Tap World Class Solar – Episode 14 of Local Energy Rules Podcast Transcript Jess Del Fiacco: Hello. 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. Hello, today we have something slightly different for you. Last week, ILSR hosted an event called Democratizing the Grid. And at that event ILSR Co-directors, John Farrell and Stacy Mitchell were joined by Representative Seth Berry and Senator Rick Bennett of Maine, as well as Mariel Nanasi of New Energy Economy in New Mexico, and Jean Su of the Center for Biological Diversity. This group discussed the people-powered movements around the country that are taking on the electric utility monopolies with the aim of accelerating the shift to clean energy and winning democratic community control. We're going to share a recording of that conversation with you today. So without further ado, here's ILRS's Stacy Mitchell. Stacy Mitchell: Hello everyone. Welcome today. My name is Stacy Mitchell. I'm the co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and I'm super excited about today's event. I'm excited to welcome all of you.

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by John Farrell, ILSR Co-Director, and Ron Knox, Senior Researcher with ILSR's Independent Business initiative. They take a look back at ILSR's work in 2021 and share big wins, challenges, and interesting trends from the year. Highlights of their conversation include: ILSR's influence at the federal level, including our 30 Million Solar Homes campaign; our research and organizing around Congressional action to reign in the power of Big Tech; and our role in the development of the COMPOST Act. Progress at the local level, including several legislative wins in Maryland to advance composting, the launch of a New York coalition to hold powerful corporations accountable, and more. How ILSR's impact has grown in recent years. Looking ahead to what 2022 might bring.   “We're seeing some really encouraging signs that things are being taken seriously around the idea of monopoly and market power. Especially at this moment, we have so many awesome ways that we can generate energy and supply services to our electricity system in a way that's cleaner, that can employ people who've been left behind, that can lower their energy bills. You name it.”   “Lawmakers have really started to listen and have really started to understand that this consolidation that's gone on over the past several decades, half century let's say has hurt the economy. And that in order to undo some of the bad policies and the bad legal precedents that have created this issue, the laws themselves ultimately need to change.”   Related Resources ILSR's 2021 Annual Report ILSR 2021: A Year of Building Local Power 4 New Maryland Laws to Spur Local Composting Statement on the House Judiciary Committee's Vote Approving Legislation to Break Up and Rein In Big Tech Fact Sheet: How Amazon Exploits and Undermines Small Businesses, and Why Breaking It Up Would Revive American Entrepreneurship Small Business Rising Rep. Seth Berry on the Movement for Publicly-Owned Power in Maine — Episode 132 of Building Local Power Transcript Jess Del Fiacco: Hello, welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast dedicated to thought provoking conversations about how we can challenge perfect 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 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 hi everybody. I am joined today by my colleagues Ron Knox who's a senior researcher with our Independent Business Initiative, as well as John Farrell who directs our Energy Democracy work and is one of ILSR's co-directors. Our other colleague Brenda Platt was going to join us, but she's unfortunately sick. So I am going to be sharing some highlights from our composting team as well as we go through things here. So welcome to the show, Ron and John. Ron Knox: Hey Jess. Good to be here. Thanks. John Farrell: You know, if you welcome us together, it's Ron John. And then we're just a surf shop instead of policy- Ron Knox: Just a Tampa area surf shop. Nothing more. [crosstalk 00:01:09] which is a good, strong, Independent Business by the way, Tampa area surf shop. Jess Del Fiacco: This is also our very last Building Local Power episode of 2021. So that's why we're celebrating it with the Hawaiian shirts. Ron Knox: Right. John Farrell: It's amazing how comfortable this Hawaiian shirt is in my cold basement in Minnesota. Jess Del Fiacco: So we're going to talk about some highlights from our work this year. And I wanted to start by, I'm looking at some of the work that we did at the federal level, which may not be the first thing you think of when you hear the name the Institute for Local Self-Reliance is us working at the federal level,

On this episode of the Building Local Power podcast, ILSR Co-Director John Farrell speaks with Luis Reyes, General Manager of the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in New Mexico. John and Luis discuss the many benefits of distributing solar power through the community and Kit Carson's plan to provide members 100% of their daytime electricity from local solar projects. Highlights include: How rural electric co-ops are adapting to new challenges and expectations after serving rural areas for more than 100 years. Why, due to contracts with coal plants, Generation and Transmission cooperatives (G&Ts) often hold back distribution cooperatives like Kit Carson from generating much of their energy locally. How Kit Carson connects members to high quality Internet access — and how they rose to the challenge of distance learning by connecting schools and Internet hotspots at no cost. How co-op members are shaping future renewable energy projects.   “I continue to see the co-ops in the forefront of this new energy world we're facing, and we're probably the best equipped to address it. I think that's positive for the co-op nation.” “We have to get out of these scare tactics and, and say, the sun doesn't shine at night, so let's put some batteries. Or let's get wind that follows that nighttime profile. And instead of us as co-ops and utilities making excuses why we can't, we should figure how we can.”   Related Resources Read ILSR's updated report on How Cooperatives Are Bridging the Digital Divide. Listen to our 2018 Local Energy Rules episode featuring Luis Reyes and Warren McKenna of Farmers Electric Cooperative. Read more about Kit Carson's clean energy and broadband Internet programs. Read our 2014 report on rural electric cooperatives: Re-member-ing the Electric Cooperative. Listen to episode 139 of Local Energy Rules, detailing how a Colorado Law Creates Transparency at Rural Electric Co-ops. Check out the New Economy Coalition's Rural Electric Cooperative Toolkit or listen to our Local Energy Rules episode featuring two of its creators. For concrete examples of how towns and cities can take action toward gaining more control over their clean energy future, explore ILSR's Community Power Toolkit. Explore local and state policies and programs that help advance clean energy goals across the country, using ILSR's interactive Community Power Map. 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 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: Today you're going to hear from ILSR Co-director, John Farrell, who is joined by Luis Reyes, who is the general manager of Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in New Mexico. Starting in 2022, Taos, New Mexico and surrounding communities will receive 100% of their daytime electricity from local solar projects. Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, which is the utility that serves that area, is also connecting everyone of its 30,000 members to high speed affordable internet service. You'll hear John and Luis discuss the advantages of self-reliance in rural communities and how Kit Carson's progress has been driven by member engagement. With that, onto the show. John Farrell: Without further ado, Luis, welcome. Luis Reyes: Yeah, thanks John, it's nice to talk to you again. John Farrell: Now, your cooperative has gotten in the news for all sorts of reasons around clean energy, but one of the things I think most people don't realize is that you've really been at the helm at Kit Carson for a long time. I looked up in your bio and I think you've been there now for over 25 years.

On this episode of Building Local Power, ILSR's Linda Bilsens Brolis and Sophia Hosain speak with Emma Jagoz, owner of Moon Valley Farm in Maryland. They discuss the benefits of local family farms to food system resilience, food accessibility, and having more nutritious and delicious food. Highlights include: What motivated Emma to get into farming, and her long-term mission to improve soil health and the biodiversity of farms. How Moon Valley Farm uses compost to build healthy soils. How the pandemic impacted farm operations and increased the public's interest in local food. Challenges small farmers face such as land access, labor, and the lack of sustainable agriculture training programs. The importance of farming year-round and partnering with other farmers to build a sustainable and robust food system. Regenerative agriculture practices are rooted in Indigenous knowledge and practices. Read ILSR's land acknowledgement here. “I wanted to shorten the chain between myself, my neighbors, and their food. Because it just connects the farmer and the consumers so directly. And I can communicate with my customers exactly what's in season, exactly how to prepare it. It just felt so magical.” “I think COVID brought to light a lot of different issues, especially with the food supply and what is considered essential. Our community members were able to access food through our farm via home delivery, and also pick-up locations with some new COVID safe practices throughout the whole time — from when COVID began in March in 2020 to today.”     Related Resources Posters: Compost Impacts More Than You Think Hierarchy to Reduce Food Waste & Grow Community ILSR's On-Farm Composting & Compost Use Webinar Series Journey to Soil Health… with Emma Jagoz, Moon Valley Farm 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: On today's episode. You're going to hear from my colleagues Sophia Hussein, and Linda Bilsens Brolis, as well as a farmer named Emma Jagoz. They're going to discuss the role of composting in farming and in our food system. But before we get to that main conversation though, Sophia and I are going to briefly set the table for you guys. So I'm here with Sophia Hussein. Hey Sophia, welcome. Sophia Hosain: Hi everyone. Jess Del Fiacco: But a few minutes, our listeners are going to hear from Emma about her farm, which is called Moon Valley Farm, and her journey that she took to feed her family and feed her community. So Sophia, could you just give us a bird's eye view of the role of composting in a sustainable food system? Sophia Hosain: Absolutely! I think it's really fitting that we're publishing this episode around Thanksgiving. A day when many of us are thinking about food, abundance, and gratitude even more so than usual. So in this interview, we talk with Emma from Moon Valley Farm, about how she's created a resilient farm ecosystem by harnessing biodiversity, partnering with other farmers and by using compost. And I think it's important to note that as our population grows, so does the importance of supporting local food systems. Sophia Hosain: By avoiding those long shipping distances, like bringing food over from California. We're able to cut the carbon footprint of what we eat, and build local food system resiliency by keeping those resources in our own local economy. And before we dive in, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge that it is indigenous communities who really spearheaded the regenerative agricultural movement.

On this episode of the Building Local Power podcast, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by two members of ILSR's Community Broadband Networks initiative: Sean Gonsalves and Emma Gautier. They discuss new research the team has been working on, including tracking how communities are spending federal infrastructure money on broadband projects and explaining why shopping for a new Internet service is such a frustrating process. Highlights of their conversation include: Why and how ILSR decided to create a “Big List” of local broadband projects supported by American Rescue Plan funding — which now includes more than 100 communities! How states compare when it comes to spending on community broadband projects. Interesting local election results related to broadband issues in New Jersey, Maine, and elsewhere. ILSR's new report that grades Internet Service Providers' (ISPs) transparency — or lack thereof — around the Internet service packages they offer. “This problem, providers not being transparent, might kind of seem like something that's annoying or inconvenient, but it's actually a really big problem beyond that because we know, especially in the context of the pandemic, that broadband is a very important thing to a household. So a household or a person's ability to make informed decisions about what kind of service they're going to subscribe to is really important.” “When a community network is built and operated and maintained by the people in your community, that in and of itself brings a level of accountability that is unmatched. You're bumping into those people in the grocery store. Your kids play sports together… And one of the things that is tough to quantify, but I hear anecdotally all the time in talking to folks in various communities, is the difference between before they had a municipal network and they had to rely on the monopoly provider, and then after they got one is the difference in the customer service experience. And that is hard to quantify, but it's something that's huge for people.”   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: Hello, everybody. Today I am joined by two of my colleagues, both from ILSR's community broadband initiative. We've got Sean Gonsalves, you've heard on the show before, he's a reporter and editor with the team, as well as a newbie to Building Local Power, it's Emma Gotye, and she is on the community broadband team. Welcome to the show, guys. Sean Gonsalves: Top of the morning. How are you doing? Emma Gautier : Good to be here. Thanks, Jess. Jess Del Fiacco: Yeah. As you all might expect, we're going to be talking about community broadband today. And per usual, there's a lot going on. We're going to talk about how communities are using new federal funding. We're also going to take a look at a new scorecard we've put together that grades different internet service providers based on how transparent they are about the services that they offer. But we're going to start with a question for Sean, which is something the whole team's been working on, but I know you've done a lot of work on this specifically. Looking at what communities are doing with American Rescue Plan funding to invest that in community broadband projects. Basically first, why'd you guys decide to track this information? Sean Gonsalves: Yeah, no. That's a great question. I mean, we're tracking it because the American Rescue Plan funding is really an unprecedented massive federal investment being made available.

In this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco and Director of ILSR's Community Composting initiative Brenda Platt are joined by Jacob Hannah, Conservation Director at Coalfield Development. Coalfield Development works across many sectors — solar energy, agriculture, manufacturing, deconstruction, reuse, and more — as it pursues its mission of rebuilding the Appalachian economy. Highlights of their discussion include: The requirements of a just economic transition for the region. Coalfield Development's impact on the region — hundreds of new jobs, dozens of new businesses — and the diverse economic enterprises they are supporting. The important role of partnerships and community engagement in their work. Why replacing the coal-centric economy with diverse, community-led solutions is key to sustainable success in the region. “A lot of times there's a false narrative that for a just transition, everything that was a brown economy has to be replaced by a green energy economy. And that's not always the case. There's never going to be one silver bullet that replaces all of what coal used to be. And so that's what we're trying to make sure that we iterate in the diversity of our options right now, whether it's agriculture, woodworking, entrepreneurship, solar, manufacturing, we want to have a large toolbox of opportunities for folks in the region. And so that just transition for us looks very different from, let's say, the European model where it's a very top-down approach, where the government owns the coal mine and say, phases it out.”   Related Resources How The ReUse Corridor is Creating Wealth From Waste in Appalachia 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. Today, I'm joined by my colleague, Brenda Platt who directs ILSR's Community Composting Initiative. And we're going to be talking about zero waste moving away from a coal focused economy and local economic development with Jacob Hannah. Who's the conservation director at Coalfield Development, organization that is rebuilding the Appalachian economy from the ground up. So welcome to the show, Jacob and Brenda. Brenda Platt: Hello. Jacob Hannah: Thanks for having me. Jess Del Fiacco: And I think to get us started, Jacob, could you just give us a very brief overview of what Coalfield Development is and what's the meaning behind the name? Jacob Hannah: Sure. So Coalfield Development is a nonprofit organization here in West Virginia. We cover about five counties and the name is a clue to not only the region, but the focus this region has historically been very, not only dependent, but productive for coal generation and coal consumption. So essentially it was a mono economy built around serving that one industry. So all the towns were built around the coal mines, all the roads and trains and infrastructure built to serve this economy. And so now that that industry has gone into decline. We have this massive power vacuum in it's place. And so how do we address that in a way that is a just transition to new and diverse economies that doesn't leave people behind like what we're seeing right now with the opioid epidemic, massive rates of unemployment, lots of folks leaving the state and lots of health issues as well. Jacob Hannah: So how can we tackle those factors by offering folks some re-skilling opportunities, new economic employment opportunities, training, education, and also of course, diversified portfolio of different opportunities for folks to choose from. We are a nonprofit,

In this episode of Building Local Power, ILSR Co-Director John Farrell is joined by Chris Villarreal, President of Plugged In Strategies and an Associate Fellow with the R Street Institute. Their discussion focuses on monopoly power in the energy sector, and how lack of competition impacts consumers and stands in the way of progress. Highlights of their conversation include: What's behind growing interest in public takeovers of electric utilities. Why electricity markets were originally designed as monopolies and why that structure doesn't fit the way energy use and production has evolved. How utilities use their monopoly power to shape regulation and limit competition. Rethinking utilities and the energy distribution system in order to incentivize competition.   “What I'm hopeful for, and what we're seeing, is that with the growth of distributed resources like rooftop solar, community, solar and the like, is that consumers, you and I, have more options now available to us if we so choose. We don't need to rely 100% on the utility to provide us electricity. We have abilities now to put solar on our roof or participate in a community solar garden project, which introduces competition, which is good because now it should be imparting cost pressure onto the company.” “Just because it's public doesn't mean it's going to be run well. Just because it's private doesn't mean it's going to be run poorly. It really all is in the rules.”   Related Resources How Big Utilities Are Impeding Clean Energy, and What We Can Do About It Is Energy Still a “Natural Monopoly”? Spreading Like Wildfire: An Interest in Making Electric Power Public The Role of Antitrust Law in Creating Energy Justice Why Utilities in Minnesota and Other States Need to Plan for More Competition 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, I'm actually handing things over to ILSR codirector, John Farrell. He also directs our energy program here at ILSR. And he's going to be joined by Chris Villarreal, who is the president of Plugged In Strategies and a fellow with the R Street Institute. Jess Del Fiacco: They're going to discuss the structure of the energy market which is a sector you'll hear John refer to as a hidden in plain sight monopoly in a few minutes. With that, I'm going to let you go on to the show. John Farrell: Welcome to another edition of Building Local Power, a podcast hosted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. I'm John Farrell, the director of the Energy Democracy Initiative and one of ILSR's two codirectors. And today, I'm really excited to be joined by Chris Villarreal. He's the president of Plugged In Strategies. He's a fellow with the R Street Institute, a think tank that promotes free markets and limited effective government. He's got experience at two different state public utilities commissions, so he knows a great deal about what we're going to talk about which is the market structure and the market sector, the electricity market. John Farrell: If you follow him on Twitter in addition to excellent information about energy, you will also find out that he is a Baylor University grad, a Kansas City Chiefs fan and many other things. Chris, thanks so much for joining me on Building Local Power. Chris Villarreal: Thanks, John, for having me. John Farrell: So I feel like I need to start off with knowing that our audience cares about issues, about monopoly and concentration by just saying that the electricity sector is almost like this hidden in plain sight monopoly,

On this episode of Building Local Power, host Jess Del Fiacco and ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell interview Chuck Marohn, President of Strong Towns. Chuck is also the author of the new book Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town, which explores what conventional transportation planning is costing our communities. Highlights of the conversation include: How Chuck's background in engineering and planning informed the book. How conventional transportation planning values disregard the complexity of human behavior and end up negatively impacting safety, economic growth, and community. How flawed transportation policy allowed big box retailers and chains to take over communities and why good street design could revive Main Street. Streets, roads, and “stroads” — and the key design decisions that can help communities flourish. The small steps city leaders can take to start rethinking transportation policy.   “The idea of roads and streets is really to put the focus back on what are we trying to accomplish with our transportation system. On a road we're trying to move people quickly between two places. On a street, we're trying to create wealth. We're trying to create a place. We're trying to create someplace that people want to be, a productive place where we can live, have economics, have commerce, have entertainment, have high quality of life. A street is not conducive to fast throughput and a road is not conducive to development to things that slow things down.” “Congestion is actually our greatest ally if we want to build great places, if we want to build local economies, it will actually drive the outcomes we want to see. And so the best places in America, the places that have I think the best economics, the best local small business options, are all places where you have overwhelming levels of congestion combined with… a more flexible development framework where people can actually then respond to these local needs by building stuff, to serve their neighbors.”   Learn more about Confessions of a Recovering Engineer and check out free resources here.   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 00:00:18] Del Fiacco, the host of Building Local Power and communications manager here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Jess Del Fiacco: For more than 45 years, ILSR has worked to build thriving, equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability remain in local hands. And welcome to today's show. I'm here with my colleague, Stacy Mitchell, who is one of ILSR co-directors. And we are joined by Chuck Mahron, who is the president of Small Towns. Small Towns is an organization that is rethinking how we build our communities. And Chuck is the author of a new book called Confessions of a Recovering Engineer:Transportation for a Strong Town. Chuck, welcome to the show. We're very happy to have you. Chuck Marohn: Hey, thank you. It's really nice to be here. I love the work that you all do and it's exciting to be able to chat. Stacy: We're such big fans of Strong Towns too. So it's awesome to have you. Chuck Marohn: Yeah. Thank you. I know we have so much in common and so much overlap and I really appreciated like everything that you guys have put out since I've become aware of the work you're doing. So yeah, this might be a love Fest for a while, but that's fine. That's fine. We can mutually admire each other. Jess Del Fiacco: So to get us started, I just wanted to ask, and if you got a little bit about your background, I mean, you were trained as a transportation engineer and this book is essentially your confession, you are criticizing your critique of the whole profession. What's that all about? Chuck Marohn: Yeah, well,