moving forward

[Kevin Parcell]

Some of our core collaborators have joined here already, and I suspect
that this is an expression of some agreement with me on the thrust of
the Occupy Movement, and also a confirmation of support for the new
and improved model presented as Reconomy.

I've begun to engage in some discussion about this group at Occupy
Cafe http://www.occupycafe.org/, which has several hundred members.
I will attempt to present our strategy there and here (and elsewhere)
as concisely as possible, answer questions, and leave it to those
interested to look to our webpages (reconomy.net and sunmoney.org) for
further information.

So, let me press on here, and as I go I'll look to create an
introduction to our work, a journal, and a dialogue with all of you
that permits us all to contribute our ideas to this endeavor.
(And this group will also be an open forum that I will moderate to
intercept off-topic posts but otherwise not censor.)

Matthew Slater has written to me that he has learned from his
engagement with Occupy London that the Movement "will not be co-opted"
and that "macroeconomic proposals aren't going to get very far" unless
presented on the ground by those physically engaged in the "tortuous
process". I agree with Matthew that it is for those on the ground to
lead that effort.

So why create this group?

The Occupy Movement generally expresses a growing awareness that
people must reclaim power at the local level, and there is also a
growing awareness that while we must reinvent the marketplace we
needn't start from scratch but instead might identify powerful
existing strategies. IMO, Reconomy is such a strategy, and so I've
created this Occupy:Reconomy group to help bring this model to the
attention of those whom hope to see this movement grow by absorbing
such info.

We also have long needed a forum in which to transparently track and
discuss our ongoing progress -- ever since Acumen Fund reconfigured
their community site as their fund-raising tool more than 18 months
ago. The One Bicycle per Person group http://community.acumenfund.org/group/1bpp
that I launched at Acumen Fund Community two years ago became the
umbrella for my People Power Stations project, which focused on
establishing pilots in undeveloped and developing communities. That
project and SunMoney.mobi, which developed later and aims to adapt
that model to developed marketplaces, together comprise Reconomy, a
term I stole to describe the global economic renaissance that they
describe.

My hope is to return to India in December or January for perhaps three
months to advance our pilot there, and from India to travel to Costa
Rica to begin a similar project at the Rancho Mastatal Environmental
Learning Center. I plan to be at that location for nine months for
training in creating and operating sustainable agricultural systems
followed by training and experience managing their business. While in
India and Costa Rica, I'll be writing a book that presents our
projects and reasoning in considerable detail in the context of those
ongoing experiences.

(Acumen Fund generously continues to host 1BpP on their site -- the
only non-AF project they grant that privilege -- but One Bicycle per
Person also needs a new home where it can build support because the
group is prohibited from fund raising there...a topic for another
day....)