At the Laura Flanders Show, we want to find the common ground that unites Americans, stories of progress, equity, and resilience — to discover that there is more evidence of congress, than of division. Our guest this weeks speaks to some ways he has built a career on these very philosophies of equity and unity.
Joining us for last new show of the 2016 year, is Anthony Flaccavento, founder of SCALE (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies) and author of “Building A Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up.” Much of the Trump campaign and its cohorts campaigned for “trickle-down” economics — the idea that, when those at the top (the 1%), do well, that prosperity “trickles down” to the bottom 10%. This concept has been disproven repeatedly. Flaccavento’s experience and success in reinvigorating rural communities, which are often left out of macro policies, suggests one major way we can bridge the divides between these disparate parts of America. A restorative, perhaps, for the shared economic struggles that led to Trump’s ascent.
Flaccavento hails from rural Virginia in Appalachian country, and has spent the last 25 years in community development advocating for directing government policy and resources towards building sustainable, thriving, rural communities. By building an economy from the bottom up — that is, from the farm — we make its foundations sturdy, says Flaccavento.
