Building Local Power brings you thought-provoking stories and new ideas for breaking the hold of corporate monopolies and expanding the power of communities to chart their own futures. We deliver insights from trailblazing lawmakers, scholars, business leaders, and advocates. Plus, conversations with in-house experts at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance help reveal the patterns and policies that shape our economy and communities. These stories and conversations help map solutions that distribute power to everyday people. Our newest series, The Data Centers Are Coming, brings listeners into the stories of local communities fighting back against Big Tech, corporate greed, bureaucratic secrecy...
Latest episodes
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37 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Bonus Episode 2 - Fighting for Our Lives
Danny heads to Nashville to emcee a panel hosted by Stand Up Nashville, which has assembled “The Avengers” of the data center fight in the American South. But Nashville has meaning…
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31 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Bonus Ep. 1 - A New Lens on Community
Danny gets an intriguing email from Joe Cuccio, a photographer on a years-long mission to document data centers and the physical infrastructure of the digital cloud. When Joe visit…
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49 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Ep. 6 - Closing Arguments
This is it, the final episode! Danny gives us his closing arguments, reflecting on all he’s learned about the data center fight in communities across the United States. We listen i…
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47 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Ep. 5 - A Better Way
Throughout this season, we've learned about the threats and harms data centers pose to local communities. But is there a better way to build this tech infrastructure? On this episo…
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42 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Ep. 4 - Transmission (Im)possible
If you’re anything like Building Local Power’s host, Danny Caine, you’ve seen your electric bill creep up and are wondering: are data centers to blame for this? Danny sets out to a…
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39 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Ep. 3 - Contamination Without Representation
Some residents of the Boxtown neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee, didn’t know Elon Musk was building a huge data center nearby until they saw city and Chamber of Commerce officials…
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40 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Ep. 2 - They Underestimated Us
When a notice appeared in a local newspaper about a company applying for an air quality permit for a power plant, it set off alarm bells in the small West Virginia town of Davis. A…
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41 min
The Data Centers Are Coming: Ep. 1 - Planting a Flag
Welcome to Building Local Power’s “The Data Centers Are Coming,” where we journey to some of the most active places in the cross-country battle over data centers in our local commu…
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3 min
Introducing "The Data Centers Are Coming"
Welcome to the newest season of Building Local Power, The Data Centers Are Coming, where we take a trip across the country to some of the hot spots for data center fights. Big Tech…
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26 min
Internet as a Human Right: Christopher Mitchell on Community Networks
You'd think a company with as many resources, employees, and facilities as AT&T or Comcast would have good customer service. Surely, with all the billions of dollars flowing throug…
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30 min
Why Solving Waste Has To Be Local: Brenda Platt on Sustainability and Community
We hear it again and again on this show: neighborhoods that are presumed less likely to fight back are taken advantage of by huge corporations and monopolies. Through predatory dec…
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27 min
Why Clean Energy Is Not Enough: John Farrell on Lessons from David Morris
When ILSR co-founder David Morris published his pamphlet The Dawning of Solar Cells in 1975, nearly the only people using solar power were those in the Apollo program at NASA. Yet…
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26 min
The Problems You Can Solve: Stacy Mitchell on David Morris’s Legacy
On this week's episode of Building Local Power, we continue our series honoring ILSR's co-founder David Morris, who passed away in June. One way to measure the impact of someone's…
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34 min
What Cities Can Do: Remembering David Morris
Here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we recently received some shocking news as we learned of the sudden passing of our beloved co-founder, David Morris. A giant in the a…
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27 min
Increasing Internet Access at the Speed of Trust: Sean Gonsalves on the Digital Equity Act
The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act represented one of the largest ever investments in broadband infrastructure. Many in the digital equity space believed the bill woul…
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23 min
The Human Side of Government Work: Paola Santana on Procurement
The United States government is one of the biggest purchasers in the world. Few people or entities spend more money on more goods and services. Add state and local governments to t…
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24 min
The Champion of Local Champions: Recast City’s Ilana Preuss
One way to build local power is to catalyze change directly in your community. Another, equally important method is to catalyze the catalysts. To really make change and build susta…
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33 min
The Diner Building Community In Times of Crisis: Ladybird’s Meg Heriford
Saturday, March 14, 2020, was even busier than the typical bustling Saturday at Ladybird Diner in Lawrence, Kansas. Bottles of handmade hand sanitizer were perched on each table. I…
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28 min
Where Things Are Happening: Ron Knox on the State(s) of Antitrust
Ron Knox was a successful reporter covering antitrust and antimonopoly issues until he couldn't take it any more. His growing passion for the fight against corporate power didn't m…
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23 min
Civil Unrest, Group Chats, and Representation: Rachel Hernandez on Governing as a First-Gen Mayor
In late 2024, Rachel Hernandez ran a successful campaign to become mayor of Riverbank, California. A small town at the top of the state's central valley, Riverbank may not fit into…