We begin this edition with the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as he signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935. In celebration of the 90th anniversary of its enactment, Big Sky 55+, an organization composed of Montanans 55 years old and over, which works to bring people of all ages together to work on solutions that make life better for Montanans of all ages, is sponsoring a ten-stop road tour that will take place between August 11th and August 14th. As part of this celebration, National expert on Social Security, Alex Lawson, who is the Executive Director of Social Security Works, will be speaking in Bozeman, MT on the actual date of the 90th anniversary at noon, on August 14, 2025, in the Masonic Lodge at 14 S. Tracy. He will speak about the successes of the program, as well as the very real threats to accessing it; and the harm occurring to the system that disproportionately affects rural people.

We invited Alex Lawson to join us on Ecotones, and we spoke with him on July 29, 2025 via Zoom.