Resources and Studies

Articles

From the local to the national to the international, media are giving increasing attention to BALLE, the work of local BALLE networks, and the concept of local itself.

• Click here to see a regularly updated list of recent and archived articles, op-eds, podcasts, videos, and other coverage of BALLE and Local Living Economies.

• Click here to see a regularly updated list of articles about the concept of "local."

• Click here to see articles about BALLE from In Business magazine's regular BALLE Beat column, January 2003 - August 2007.

Studies

A number of economic studies have confirmed our contentions about the value to communities of their locally owned businesses, the importance of choosing local first, and the impact of Local First campaigns on the economic health of various communities.

• Click here to view studies that support Local First.

• Click here to view studies on various Living Economy building blocks.

• Click here for the latest Retail Diversity Study.

• Click here to view studies on green jobs.

Links

The Story of Stuff - a fast-paced, fact-filled 20-minute look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. This animated video exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more just and sustainable world.

Books

Books we recommend:

THE SMALL-MART REVOLUTION: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition, by Michael H. Shuman

GOING LOCAL: Building Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age, by Michael H. Shuman

DEEP ECONOMY: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, by Bill McKibben

THE GREAT TURNING: From Empire to Earth Community, by David C. Korten

FIELDS OF PLENTY, by Michael Abelman

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver

PLENTY: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally, by Alisa
Smith, J.B. Mackinnon

THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan

SMALL GIANTS: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, by Bo Burlingham

THE COMPANY WE KEEP: Reinventing Small Business for People, Community, and Place, by John Abrams

COMPANIES WE KEEP: Employee Ownership and the Business of Community and Place, by John Abrams

GROWING LOCAL VALUE: How to Build Business Partnerships That Strengthen Your
Community, by Laury Hammel and Gun Denhart

BIG-BOX SWINDLE: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s
Independent Businesses, by Stacy Mitchell

AMERICA BEYOND CAPITALISM: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy, by Gar Alperovitz

BUILDING POWERFUL COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS: A Personal Guide to
Creating Groups That Can Solve Problems and Change the World, by Michael Jacoby Brown

GREEN ALTERNATIVES TO GLOBALISATION: A Manifesto, by Michael Woodin and Caroline Lucas.

For further recommendations, please click here.

BALLE Conference Proceedings

DVDs and CDs of keynotes, plenaries, and breakout sessions from our 6th annual conference, held in Boston June 5-7, 2008, are available from Fleetwood Multimedia.

DVDs and CDs of keynotes and plenaries from our 5th annual conference, held in Berkeley May 31 - June 2, 2007, are available from Conference Recording.