Local Economy, Work, Livelihood

The story of Samso - a small Danish island of 4200 that now generate more power than they use - here's how they did it

Duncan is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, a master craftsman, and Big Green Summer faculty. He loves showing people how to use traditional Japanese hand tools. See his work at http://www.templeworks.com. (Note from Big Green Summer founder Lonnie Gamble: My wife Valerie and I sleep on a bed that Duncan crafted using a traditional Japanese hand plane)

National Public Radio's Marketplace looks at the hottest job market in 2007 - green jobs.

Life in Italy - Jessica 1.mp3

(8MB MP3) Big Green Summer founder Lonnie Gamble interviews American ex-pat Jessica Russell about the pace of life in Italy. Like France, Italy is a wealthy western country that has taken a very different path than the US. Hear about universal health care and higher education, 4 week paid vacations, two hour lunch breaks, and public policy that encourages artisan, local foods with a taste of place. Part of a series of interviews that Lonnie did in France and Italy on his 2006 trip to the Slow Food world conferences (Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto).

ItalyVillage.mp3

(4.3MB MP3) Story about a village that uses its position as one of the most ecologically advanced cities to thrive on ecotourism and attract young people back to the region. Read by student Natalie Melo for Abundant Planet Radio.

EuroWork.mp3

(4MB MP3) Excerpt from an NPR story about leisure and the pace of life in France and Italy and how it is threatened by attempts to imitate the United States. Big Green Summer founder Lonnie Gamble's wife Valerie is French.

JohnBarryPermaculture.mp3

(30MB MP3) John Barry is an economist and head of the Green Party in Ireland. In 2006-2007 he was a visiting professor at Carleton College, where he and Big Green Summer founder Lonnie Gamble spoke at a conference. Lonnie was so impressed by the eloquence of John Barry's vision for a just, beyond-sustainable world that he invited John to speak to the June 2007 Permaculture Design Certification course.

DavidKortenSpeech.mp3

DavidKortenInterview.mp3

(mp3, 47 mb) The first 10 minutes or so of this interview needs to be edited out, the Korten talk starts there. This is one of the best talks on this page. Korten is the author of When Corporations Ruled the World and The Great Turning. His wife is the publisher of Yes Magazine.

BillGrinnell.mp3

(MP3 - 44MB) Questions are from students in a course taught by Jon Andelson at Grinnell College in the fall of 2007.

Wendel Berry local economy.mp3

(1.5 MB MP3) Wendel Berry is not part of our faculty, but Lonnie had a chance to meet him at the Land Institute conference in the fall of 2006 and record some of his talk for Abundant Planet Radio. This is an excerpt from a speech at UC Berkeley.