Publication archives

One of the worst outbreaks of forest fires in British Columbia history is beginning to overwhelm the province's hard pressed firefighting crews. Firefighters who have been battling for weeks in scorching heat to keep scores of raging fires at bay are being forced to let many fires burn unchecked so they can concentrate on those posing the gravest threat to communities.

Thank you to anyone who submitted pictures of the Midwest Rural Assembly this week. A special thanks to Shawn Poynter of Rural Strategies.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 8:00 a.m. Breakfast and coffee time BALLROOM A 9:00 a.m. Morning focus: How to make our ideas happen BALLROOM A Speaker: Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State 9:45 a.m. Learning from each other: Enhancing our skills (concurrent)

South Dakota Representative Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin gave members of the Midwest Rural Assembly a window into the so-called Blue Dog Democrats—most of whom represent rural districts. She recently voted against the health care and climate change bills in the U.S. Congress.

"When people love something, they take care of it together." This was the message of Minnesota Secretary of State, and IATP founder, Mark Ritchie at the Midwest Rural Assembly this morning as he linked together community pride, patriotism and rural revitalization. 

Rural communities are part of the vanguard of new ideas promoting small-scale sustainable production and use of energy and food. One of the challenges in expanding and scaling up these ideas is getting success stories out there and allowing others to benefit from their experience. At the Midwest Rural Assembly this afternoon, four communities shared their stories.

At the Midwest Rural Assembly this morning, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager got everyone's immediate attention by emphasizing that the agency has twice as much money as it had last year—and it needs to get that money out the door and into the countryside.

"If urban America has the technology and we don't, what does it say about democracy in this country?" — Loris Taylor, Native Public Media