Good People: Muncie not Mercury

In the summer of 2019, a violinist stood up at a city council meeting in Muncie, Indiana, and expressed concern over a factory that was coming to town. A local reporter wrote a story about the meeting. That story was passed around to concerned citizens who started asking questions. A few weeks later more than 1,000 people showed up at the courthouse protesting the Waelz Sustainable Products factory. A factory that would likely be the #1 polluter of airborne Mercury in the nation. Ultimately the billion-dollar corporation left town.

Kelsey talks with Josh Arthur, a local pastor, and Bryan Preston, a county employee, who were both in early on the action.

Good People: A Doughnut Economy

What does an economy of living within the means of our planet look like? Welp, according to economist Kate Raworth it looks like a doghnut. Kelsey and Jay are joined by John Motlotch and Scott Truex of the Sustainable Communities Institute for a discussion on Raworth’s TED Talk.

Topics we discussed and relevant links:

• Kate Raworth’s Ted Talk, site,  book
• How Scott’s focus on landscape design impacted his thinking and how John’s focus on systems impacted his
• More in-depth explanation of how the doughnut economy works
• How our economy/culture doesn’t give value to the environment and often people
• Problem of focus on short-term growth and how nothing in nature works like that
• George Monbiot’s Ted Talk: For more wonder, rewild the…