Michael Shuman presented to a crowd about local investing and ways to create wealth in a community. His talk on October 10 was the kickoff event for Vermont’s New Economy Week 2013.
Michael Shuman is director of research for Cutting Edge Capital, director of research and economic development at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and a Fellow of Post Carbon Institute. He holds an AB with distinction in economics and international relations from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School. He has led community-based economic-development efforts across the country and has authored or edited seven previous books, including The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (2006) and Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in the Global Age (1998).
In recent years, Michael has led community-based economic-development efforts in St. Lawrence County (NY), Hudson Valley (NY), Katahdin Region (ME), Martha’s Vineyard (MA), and Carbondale (CO), and served as a senior editor for the recently published Encyclopedia of Community. He has given an average of more than one invited talk per week for 25 years throughout the United States and the world.
Now, let’s be real: 2025 is going to be a truly hard year for the poor and vulnerable in our society. But the promise and possibility of ending poverty, reclaiming democracy, and advancing peace and justice remain closer than any of us may think.
Traditional fermentation practices, essential for self-sufficiency, embody a form of everyday resistance and quiet sustainability, countering the homogenization and commodification of food.
I say, you can have one or the other — shitty capitalism or met needs. There is no both. And there never has been. And the awareness of this central fact is what we now call enshitification.