In 2022, Minnesota’s Public Utility Commission approved an Integrated Resource Plan requiring Xcel to model distributed ...

Local Energy Rules is a biweekly podcast about monopoly power, energy democracy, and how communities can take charge to transform the energy system. Our audience is researchers, grassroots organizers, ...

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John Farrell is a co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and directs the Energy Democracy Initiative. Widely known as the guru of distributed energy, he has received accolades for his ...

Our team fights the unchecked power of corporate monopolies and champions policies that level the playing field for small independent businesses. ILSR’s new zine Resist Monopolies is a guide to how ...

A network of community composters building the movement by connecting early adopters, spreading lessons learned, and inspiring new operations. The Community Composter Coalition is a network of ...

In the late 1800’s there were 4,000 breweries. By the 1970’s, just 40 companies operated 89 breweries. ILSR’s Ron Knox explains how the beer industry is now dominated by just a few large conglomerates ...

Are you part of a local government and curious to learn how you can help spur local composting? Are you a community-oriented composter or micro hauler searching for public-private partnerships? Or ...

Chain dollar stores are inundating America’s communities. In both small towns and urban neighborhoods, they are edging out locally owned businesses, freezing out entrepreneurs, and shifting profits ...

These stores are not merely a symptom of economic distress; they’re a cause of it. Learn how your community can stop dollar stores and join us in calling for federal action to rein in their predatory ...

Big-box retailers’ new tactic to slash their taxes is the latest example of why cities are better off saying no to the boxes and cultivating Main Streets instead. In February, the library in Marquette ...

Randy Wilson knew you had to start somewhere. Knocking on doors and hanging around retail store parking lots, he and volunteers from the citizen group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth collected ...