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By Robyn Ross, Fri., Jan.

In the fall of 2011 we were asked to examine a 50-acre property with multiple buildings to see if we could determine ways to reduce our client’s carbon footprint.  The historic buildings presented a challenge.  There were acceptable ways to reduce energy consumption but they were not as significant as we would have liked.  Likewise, the opportunities to produce energy were limited as most places to mount solar electric panels on both roofs and ground were ruled out.

The Peer-To-Peer gang discovers an Economic Democracy resource. Dada Maheshvarananda, an american Yogi working at the PROUT (Progressive Utilization Theory) Institute in Venecuela has recently updated this book with new material.

Last week I traveled to Portland Oregon...the reason for the trip was to meet with the 19 members of the Partners Group who own the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor, MI.  Zingerman’s is one of the great stories of today’s business world, a hopeful harbinger of the Next Economy.  The partners manage nearly 600 employees and the eight distinct businesses have combined annual revenues of $46 million.  They are all food-related (and educational) and they are all in Ann Arbor.

GREENFIELD — From pickles to granola to beverages, a few local food makers are mixing up the recipe for how to own their growing businesses.

Picking up key paragraphs from Marjorie's recent article on Alternet (also run in Yes! Magazine). Marjorie has a new book: Owning the Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution.

With reference to Zingerman in Ann Arbor, mentioned earlier in our Blogs.

A very strong statement from a 4th generation family farmer working a homestead established in 1889. It reminds us that the agricultural co-ops of the 19th century Progressive movement didn't die. The political arm died but many of the co-ops are continuing to work for Food Security and a fair deal for the family farmer.

This is a really good and simple explanation of the use of an alternate currency, a credit arrangement, actually, on co-operative principles and structures to revitalize the local economy of a community that is in a country under a New-Liberal Austerity job and social-benefits crunch.

This is a two-part story on CounterPunch.org by Jane Slaughter. It tells the story of the formation of the TRADOC Cooperative that started with a three-year worker's strike and has led to a successful worker co-op. Part two [can be found here](http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/04/can-worker-owners-make-a-big-factory-run/).

Highlighting the Importance of Student-Run Cooperatives

by Meghan McDonough, (University of Massachusetts, Amherst student)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an original report written for GEO.)

Mostly, capped landfills remind me of the mausoleums of a consumer society.  For most of a century we dumped our solid waste onto these Mt Trashmores and mixed up a brew of concentrated toxins which seeped into the surrounding areas and often polluted (and still do) our water.  So we learned to treat our waste as a resource, close the landfills, cap them, and leave them idle.  We’re still very primitive about this, but progress is steady.

Paul Glover, instigator behinc Ithaca Hours and a passionate spokes-person for local money contributed this overview to Shareables.net. A local money or, alternatively, a time-bank, can bring the community together, provide the "money" for local improvement(s), and teaches the participants trust in each other and the community as a whole.