Today, I’m writing to invite you to submit your ideas and recommendations for presenters and sessions for this year’s Rural Renaissance Roadshow. Local control requires local leadership, and it’s a critical time for us to work together as neighbors and colleagues to pick our paths well at the data center crossroads.
Our histories will be written by our choices, and we’ll see the impacts at the kitchen table and on our land, water, and energy systems within our lifetime.
Collectively, within ourselves and across our networks, we have the wisdom, experience, and expertise that our communities, states, regions, and nation need to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape. In that spirit, we have structured this year’s Roadshow program to cover four tracks across four themes that emerged from the ideas and concerns you raised last year in Opelika.
To go a little deeper with a few examples to inspire your submissions, some of the session topics members of the Roadshow community said they wanted to talk about more – a lot more – included:
- Energy financing models and rate structures that enable economic development but keep bills low for residents
- Zoning solutions for energy and data centers
- Solutions for water competition, including water reclamation and reuse strategies
- Equitably building generational wealth and community prosperity
- Local Control vs. Nationalization Attempts
- Public Power vs. Privatization Attempts
- Soil Health and Stewardship
- Watershed Stewardship and Food Security
We’ll be accepting your submissions for presenters and sessions until Thursday, April 23. You can include yourself, or you can recommend your colleagues – it’s up to you.
Let us know if you have any questions in the meantime. We are here, and we are listening.
With gratitude,
Michelle is author of “Rural Renaissance,” CEO of Groundswell, and a former board member of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power utility. Her work is rooted in her faith and the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Take the Stage: Call for Presenters
Would you like to speak at this year’s Roadshow? Or would you like to nominate someone to speak? If so, click the link below and fill out the form. We’ll see you at the Roadshow!