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America is a big place with a wide-reaching connected infrastructure. Yet the country has also been shaped by grassroots networks.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Rural Electrification Administration literally empowered remote communities. Their traveling "electric circus," led by home economist Louisan Mamer, showed rural families the benefits of building their own power grids. This was a monumental task, but one with huge long-term benefits. Rural electric cooperatives still provide power to millions of Americans today.
In the 1960s futurist Stewart Brand sought to connect a different set of remote communities: the "drop out" communes of the era. His Whole Earth Catalog promised a dizzying range of tools for self-sufficient living. It became an indispensable guide to the emerging environmental movement.
As contemporary examples like the Open Insulin Foundation suggest, grassroots activism is not a thing of the past, but still has an important role in shaping our future. |