Topics > Opinion
Video
Scott Ballum | August 25, 2010
We're hitting the road! Sheepless founder Scott Ballum is driving from California to Maine—and back—to discover innovative and unique small businesses wherever they may be. Read more about the idea behind this trip here. Friday, August 13: Washington, DC Working on it....
Short
Scott Ballum | August 24, 2010
It's been many months since I've published an update on the status and the direction of Sheepless.org. To be frank, as I near the one-year mark of publishing online in this venue I find myself, and the future of this endeavor, quite unsettled. This is not a point where many, including myself, feel comfortable starting a public commentary on the status of their project. It is usually the time when we hide, when we feel sorry for ourselves and wonder why we started this in the first place and oh, can't I just have my old job back?
Feature
Stacy Mitchell | August 24, 2010
Third and last, we need new mechanisms for channeling our investment capital in directions that nurture community and rebuild local economies. 

The financial crisis has provided us all with a crash course on how much of our economy is based not on the creation of real value, but on speculation. Over the last year, we have learned that the speculative economy — the one that trades in exotic derivatives like credit default swaps and makes short-term, bubble-inducing bets on assets like real estate and tech stocks — is vast and highly rewarded.
Resource
| August 23, 2010
Having Marketing Mentor’s Start Anytime Marketing Plan + Calendar is like having your marketing “to do list” already filled out for you for the entire year! You’ll know how much time to spend on your marketing every week, how many prospects to contact, how much time to spend on the phone, when to launch an e-mail campaign…and when to reward yourself for a job well done.
Feature
Stacy Mitchell | August 11, 2010
My second proposal is that we need to adopt planning policies that support local economies. 

I live in a 19th century neighborhood in a small New England city. My mother-in-law, who grew up in this same neighborhood, often talks about what it was like during her childhood in the 1940s. What I find most striking about her description is how many businesses our little section of town once had. There was a grocery store, hardware store, two drugstores, a tailor, and more.


Feature
Stacy Mitchell | August 2, 2010
About ten years ago, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance launched the New Rules Project to develop and advocate for policies that would democratize ownership, refashion the economy for long-term sustainability, and nurture strong self-conscious and self-governing communities. Today I would like to highlight three areas of policy reform that I think are especially critical. 

The first is that we must resurrect and embrace a vigorous anti-monopoly policy.
Feature
Stacy Mitchell | July 26, 2010

While signs abound that people are rediscovering the benefits of an economy rooted in community and small-scale enterprise, all of this activity, though widespread, is still quite modest. It exists largely on the margins and is unlikely to coalesce into a wholesale reorganization of our economy unless we change the rules. 


Project
Scott Ballum | July 24, 2010
We're hitting the road! Sheepless founder Scott Ballum is driving from California to Maine—and back—to discover innovative and unique small businesses wherever they may be, and documenting the trip in video as we go [WATCH], please check it out and follow along!
Feature
Stacy Mitchell | July 19, 2010
Let me begin by sharing some good news. Scattered here and there, in my country and in yours, the seeds of a new, more local and durable economy are taking root. 

Locally grown food has soared in popularity. There are now 5,274 active farmers markets in the United States. Remarkably, almost one of every two of these markets was started within the last decade.(1)  Food co-ops and neighborhood greengrocers are likewise on the rise. 


Feature
Scott Ballum | July 13, 2010
There's a neighborhood I've heard about, with the most remarkable sense of community. On one block there's a giant warehouse outfitted for woodworking, photo studios, computer rooms, and painters studios. Across the street two women collaborate with building owners to build rooftop gardens and parks.