Building Sustainable Economies in a Shrinking World

November 7th and 8th, 2007
South Charleston, West Virginia

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On November 7th and 8th, 2007, the Central Appalachian Network hosted a two day convening, "Building Sustainable Economies in a Shrinking World" with sponsorship from the Ford Foundation and the Appalachian Regional Commission. This dynamic gathering examined innovative regionally-based sustainable economic development strategies for reducing poverty, increasing community self-reliance, and mitigating the impacts of climate change and the ever increasing demands on our natural resources.

Through cumulative years of regional practitioner experience, CAN has identified community-based sustainable economic development strategies that stimulate activity over a variety of economic sectors and extend to a regional scale.  These strategies maximize the use of the diverse ecological, cultural and human assets while increasing the region’s wealth and yielding the positive impacts on regional environmental quality.

Participants included Michael Shuman the author of “Going Local” and “The Small Mart Revolution”, Stacy Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self Reliance, and Stuart Rosenfeld an expert on network scale and scope with Regional Technology Strategies.  Additional participants included national leaders among philanthropic organizations, socially responsible investors, policy makers, and sustainable development practitioners.

The goal of the gathering was two-fold:  to amplify a collective understanding of the connections between sustainable regional economies and global environmental problems; and to formulate strategies and plans for action based on this understanding.