Industrial Roots: Designing a Circular Economy and Creating Homespun Wealth

<p dir="ltr">In this episode, Dr. Dawn takes us on a trip to find her roots in rural North Carolina. She is the granddaughter of an orphan who worked in the NC textile mills in the 1940s. Without much to go on, Dr. Dawn leans on insights from James Benton, author of <a href= "https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p086724">Fraying Fabric</a>, and Jimmy Warlick, historian and documentarian of the <a href="https://www.workerslegacy.org/">Workers’ Legacy Project</a> to fill in the gaps.</p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">Dr. Dawn gives us the context of the industrial past only to introduce us to the inspiring efforts of a new generation of North Carolinians. In this episode, we meet <a href= "https://www.thematerialreturn.com/">Material Return</a>, a worker co-op that has created a profitable and sustainable way to deal with textile waste. We visit the factory and learn all about the concept of <a href= "https://youtu.be/mEfAzV4jqw0">circularity</a>.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Material Return is powered by the <a href= "https://theindustrialcommons.org/">Industrial Commons</a>, a nonprofit organization working to incubate and support co-ops like this in Morganton, North Carolina. These tireless entrepreneurs are using the lessons of the time-tested <a href= "https://www.mondragon-corporation.com/en/">co-op ecosystems of Europe</a> to imagine a way to develop working-class wealth right here at home. </p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">Dr. Dawn leaves us with her reflection on the past and hopes for the future as she drives back north to the studio in Washington, DC. The first exit on the way is the <a href= "https://henryrivermillvillage.com/">Henry River Mill Village</a>, the location where Hollywood filmmakers crafted the dystopian community featured in the <a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games">Hunger Games</a>. A warning.  In the rearview– <a href= "https://www.morgantonnc.gov/">Morganton</a>, an inspiration. </p> <p dir="ltr">__________</p> <p dir="ltr">Check out <a href=