Top 10 Reasons to Read “Vermont Dollars, Vermont Sense
This week marks the official publication of Post Carbon Institute’s first handbook on local investment, written by myself and Gwen Hallsmith.
Vermont Dollars, Vermont Sense, builds on my 2012 book on local investment, Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity.” The new handbook presents 28 specific tools for promoting local investment, and presents examples of people, initiatives, and programs in Vermont carrying out each of them. We are now planning similar handbooks for several states in the Pacific Northwest, and hope that ultimately there will be an edition for every state in the nation.
Why did we start with Vermont? The state has a long history of community resilience, from local food and energy systems to town meetings. More recently, Vermonters have taken the lead in reclaiming that tradition, for example by setting a goal of 90 percent renewable power by 2050 (Burlington, the state’s largest city, has already hit that goal). We also were impressed with the state’s long embrace of local investment. One of the earliest and best examples was carried out by two ice cream entrepreneurs named Ben and Jerry in 1984, who insisted that shares in their initial public offering be owned solely by Vermonters.
Whether or not you live in Vermont, here are the top ten reasons you might want to take a gander at this handbook (Spoiler Alert: the #1 reason is that it’s free!):
(10) It’s Important – Americans are still putting almost 100 percent of their long-term savings into Wall Street, even though more than half the economy is made up of locally owned businesses that are highly profitable and competitive. If you think that Wall Street has too much power, then stop wishing for change, and start putting your money where your idealism is. This handbook will show you how.
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