Our recent Triple Bottom Line (3BL) Forum, titled “The Power to Change Things,” highlighted many avenues our community can pursue to change the very nature of the businesses we own, work for, and aspire to be. One such theme that arose from several presentations discussed the rise of the emerging local economy here in the Detroit metro region.

In earlier articles, we discussed the concept of Localism and the notion of “human scale” economics. Michael H. Shuman, economist, attorney, entrepreneur, and author has become a leader of the local economy movement. He boils the discussion of local economy down to a simple notion, “relationship-driven economy as opposed to an anonymous-driven economy.” In other words, in the spirit of 3BL principles, a local economy cares about the social and environmental impact as well as the economic bottom line. Where we shop, who we support, and how, matters.