We HAVE a Speaker!

Guy Wolf's done it again! We have a speaker for our Coulee Progressives State of the Union on Friday, January 29! (Remember - for table space, email couleeprogressive@hotmail.com!)

DAVID MORRIS, Vice President, Institute for Self-Reliance (Minneapolis, MN)

For more than three decades David Morris has been one of the nation’s leading proponents for humanly-scaled, community-based economic and political systems as a prolific writer, speaker and advocate who has provided the basis for an extraordinary array of path-breaking policy initiatives. An economist by training with stellar academic credentials, David is a syndicated columnist and author of more than 200 books and articles on rural communities, energy and sustainability.

He co-founded the Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.- based Institute for local Self-Reliance in 1974 and currently serves as its Vice-President and director of its New Rules Project. The Institute’s mission is to identify public policies that promote strong, locally owned and environmentally sound economies and to assist communities to move in that direction.

Bill Moyers calls him "one of the nation's most innovative thinkers" and US Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota described him as "one of the nation's leading experts on sustainable development."

Morris holds a PhD. from Union Graduate School (1976), an MA in Political Science / Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, and a BA in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the Smithsonian magazine. He appears regularly on TV and radio, including All Things Considered, NBC’s TODAY Show, The O’Reilly Factor, and CNN Financial News. The Utne Reader listed him as one of the top 100 visionaries in America. President Clinton's Secretary of Energy appointed him to a congressionally created advisory committee to the DOE and USDA and President Bush's Secretary of
Energy reappointed him.

The Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) is a small organization with a remarkable track record for breaking new ground in promoting sustainable communities. In 1978 RAIN magazine described ILSR as an organization that "puts hard numbers on soft dreams".

ILSR was the first to systematically apply the concept of local self-reliance to urban areas. In 1980 ILSR was the first to investigate the energy conservation and solar energy potential for a major city (Baltimore) and was one of the first groups to formally testify before a utility regulatory commission in favor of investing in energy conservation as a cheaper alternative to new energy supplies.

http://www.ilsr.org/