Chuck Collins, a nationally acclaimed, Guilford, Vermont based writer and economic inequality activist, shares the story of how 'the seeds were planted' for his lifelong interest in uprooting the growing economic inequality that is subverting American democracy. The piece includes an overview of his family history. He details the books he's written, organizations he's formed such as Inequality.org and his program at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Collins describes how the Covid pandemic 'supercharged' the wealth gap and how climate change and inequality are 'webbed together.' He speaks of his early work helping mobile home owners in Western Mass buy the land under their homes and the fruits of these housing efforts. He also discusses his ties to the southern Vermont and western Massachusetts area and shares a bit of life on Springs Farm along with its history as a 'water-cure' and water bottling facility in the past. He discusses the need to 'rewire the economy toward shared prosperity' and how 'wealth dynasties' are increasingly undermining everything we care about.
Collins has published his first novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun, Green Writers Press, in May 2023.
Our theme music is by Ty Gibbons. Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Vermont Arts Council and the hundreds of volunteers and community members who support this work.
