Building Local Power Podcast Por Institute for Local Self-Reliance arte de portada

Building Local Power

Building Local Power

De: Institute for Local Self-Reliance
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Building Local Power brings you thought-provoking stories and new ideas for breaking the hold of corporate monopolies and expanding the power of communities to chart their own futures. We deliver insights from trailblazing lawmakers, scholars, business leaders, and advocates. Plus, conversations with in-house experts at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance help reveal the patterns and policies that shape our economy and communities. These stories and conversations help map solutions that distribute power to everyday people. Building Local Power is a podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance that brings you thought-provoking stories and new ideas for breaking the hold of corporate monopolies and expanding the power of citizens and communities to chart their own futures. We deliver insights from trailblazing lawmakers, scholars, business leaders, and advocates, plus conversations with ILSR’s own in-house experts, who help reveal the patterns and policies that shape our economy and communities, mapping the solutions that distribute power to everyday people. Our newest series, The Data Centers Are Coming, brings listeners into the stories of local communities fighting back against Big Tech, corporate greed, bureaucratic secrecy, and a system that prioritizes scale at all costs.© Institute for Local Self-Reliance Ciencias Sociales Política y Gobierno
Episodios
  • Introducing "The Data Centers Are Coming"

    Introducing "The Data Centers Are Coming"
    Apr 16 2026

    Welcome to the newest season of Building Local Power, The Data Centers Are Coming, where we take a trip across the country to some of the hot spots for data center fights. Big Tech is racing for AI dominance, attempting to steamroll local communities through secrecy and shell companies, but that’s only part of the story. We hear from activists and agitated neighbors, experts on energy supply and the environment, and tech correspondents chasing these fights across state lines.

    Through this series, we start to uncover just how deeply this conflict is steeped in America’s legacy of monopoly corporations versus motivated local communities. And we learn that one thing is certain: the corporate giants behind the data center boom better not underestimate the power of passionate and organized local resistance.
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    3 m
  • Internet as a Human Right: Christopher Mitchell on Community Networks

    Internet as a Human Right: Christopher Mitchell on Community Networks
    Aug 21 2025
    You'd think a company with as many resources, employees, and facilities as AT&T or Comcast would have good customer service. Surely, with all the billions of dollars flowing through these businesses, there'd be some resources devoted to creating a really good customer experience, right? If only that were the case. The thing is, these telecom monopolies are so big, with their power so entrenched, that it doesn't matter if their customer service is good. When you control the market, you control the market whether customers are happy or not. Time and again, smaller, locally-controlled telecom companies and networks have better customer service and better products. Because they're small and connected to their communities, these small companies have greater motivation to please their customers. Plus, since they're competing against giants, they have a lot to prove to their customers. This is the crux of one of Christopher Mitchell's arguments about why community broadband matters. Christopher Mitchell, today's guest on Building Local Power, is the head of ILSR's Community Broadband Networks Initiative. Community broadband networks can take many forms, from municipal networks to co-ops and more. These networks are important, says Mitchell, not just because they're better for consumers but because Internet access is essentially a human right in the contemporary world. Reliable and affordable Internet access isn't just about social media and Netflix; everything from healthcare to education and beyond relies on a good Internet connection, all the more reason to leave broadband access in the hands of local communities. On today's episode, Christopher explains all this, as well as sharing his thoughts on his friend, ILSR's recently passed co-founder David Morris. It's a compelling conversation with a passionate advocate. For full show notes and transcript, visit https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-internet-as-a-human-right
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    26 m
  • Why Solving Waste Has To Be Local: Brenda Platt on Sustainability and Community

    Why Solving Waste Has To Be Local: Brenda Platt on Sustainability and Community
    Aug 7 2025
    We hear it again and again on this show: neighborhoods that are presumed less likely to fight back are taken advantage of by huge corporations and monopolies. Through predatory decisions and massive market power, a chain grocery store erodes a historically black neighborhood into a food desert. Amazon locates a massive warehouse, and its associated noise, congestion, and pollution, into an already vulnerable area of town. The Target in the BIPOC neighborhood is demonstrably worse than the Target in the rich, white part of town. Now we’re seeing the same pattern play out with the question of where to put AI data centers and their enormous environmental demands. The tech companies making these decisions seek out the neighborhoods that have the least political capital, neighborhoods that Brenda Platt calls “areas of least political resistance.” And she would know. Brenda Platt, director of ILSR’s Composting for Community Initiative, has been fighting for sustainability, recycling, reuse, and composting for a bit longer than I’ve been alive. Throughout her nearly 40 year career, Brenda has taken a leading role in shifting the waste industry away from expensive, polluting, and inefficient trash incinerators. Today she’s working tirelessly to not only encourage sustainable waste alternatives like composting, but she’s fighting to ensure that such programs remain under community control and influence. Compost, she says, has to be local by default. It’s silly to ship banana peels across the country, so it’s best to figure out local and sustainable waste alternatives. Here to catch us up on her recent work, Brenda is today’s guest. Listen in to hear the story of her influential work, her reflections on how the incinerator fight resonates today, and her memories of working with beloved ILSR co-founder David Morris. For transcript and related resources, see the episode page at https://ilsr.org/articles/blp-why-solving-waste-has-to-be-local
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    30 m
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