Anthony Flaccavento presenting Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up
2016.10.05 4:30pm at The Cave
We live in a time of widespread frustration and alienation, driven largely by a failed economic system that has concentrated wealth and political power at the top.
In his new book, Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up: Harnessing Real-World Experience for Transformative Change, Anthony Flaccavento highlights the work of people, organizations, and communities that are moving toward economic sustainability and creating healthy, localized economic, agricultural, and financial infrastructure. As the major media continues to focus on “what’s wrong” nationally and internationally, Flaccavento collects a pleasantly staggering vision of “what’s right” in the country.
Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up touches on agriculture, urban and rural connections, personal finances, economic policy, and even the arts. While it offers a clear-eyed, positive portrayal of change throughout the country, it also is an articulate indictment of the larger political and economic structures that keep these forward leaps from turning into a nationwide movement.
To counter those problems, however, Flaccavento offers a number of options for people who are interested in making change in their personal lives, communities, and at the political and policy level. For those wanting to go deeper and learn more, there is also a “Further Reading” section at the end of each chapter. Activist and author David Korten calls Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up “an invaluable guidebook,” and that is exactly what it is.
Flaccavento, an organic farmer, consultant, and speaker from Virginia, writes about successes that are happening all over—from the upper Midwest to southern Appalachia and from the desert Southwest to the Eastern seaboard. In New Mexico, La Montañita Co-op’s incredible strides as a food hub and its micro-loan fund are noted as examples of “community capitalization” and community-supported resilience. As President of SCALE, Inc. (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies), Flaccavento has worked with Farm to Table New Mexico, La Montañita, and others in the state.