Gettin it Goin (mtg thursday!)

[Richard Schulte]

Hey this is Richard Schulte, just getting things going with our
listserv here. If you are receiving multiple emails, let me know
immediately and I can fix the problem. Google apps can be a bit of a
pain.

So what are we up to? What can you do to help? Theres going to be a
plethora of things, just get involved and come to the meetings!

<b> Columbia Exchange Circle - Community Development Extension </b>

At the last meeting we started planning a skillshare project we are
tentatively describing as the CEC, or the Columbia Exchange Circle.
It will operate as a basis for establishing a robust LLE (Local Living
Economy). Beginning in the Benton Stephens neighborhood, Kip has
helped to begin building a database of the skills of community
members, which will provide an awesome resource for hosting workshops,
doing work projects, getting help here and there, and finding folks
for help with volunteering and micro-businesses. Basically, to create
a distributed network of friendly neighbords. The idea is to
eventually integrate hours systems, local currencies and a LETS (Local
Exchange Trading System) into this kind of a project. This project
has had much success in places like Boulder, CO, Corvallis, OR,
Boston, Asheville, austin, etc. In boulder at least 50 some request
and 50 some offers are made a day, just in their hours system.(http://
www.skillsharenetwork.org) The most important thing is that it
provides neighbors with an opportunity and a vested interest in
getting to know eachother through the exchange of valuable skills.
Awesome stuff. Kip, who has already started the project, is a
visionary community leader in Benton Stephens who has helped get
community gardens going and hosts a regular coffee shop out of his
home.

This will be a fun and empowering project that many people can
undertake. Here are some prospective ways to help (however we still
have visioning to complete and nextsteps, as well as an action plan.
Subcomittee meetings will be regularly established soon):

Skill Collectors (door to door, informal survey)
Web Designers
Web Programmers
Community Outreach (fliers, rotary club meetings, PSAs, etc.)
Workshop Coordinators
Leadership Trainers (for self replication in other neighborhoods. get
one started on your own side of town!)


<b> Other things? </b>

We've got educative opportunities (presentations, workshops), outreach
opportunities, we've thrown around the idea of setting up an
appropriate technology workshop. We also need to do documentation of
some of the sweet stuff folks are doing around town for
appropedia.org. Even some of the folks out west that i met at OSN are
surprised and amazed at what we are doing here in columbia. We have a
lot of assetts, a lot of capacity, and there is only room for more.

opensourcecology.org needs to be developed. this should be fun! we
need a portal for the web nexus, and to set up a better interface for
collaboration. Also OSE needs to settle itself properly into the Open
Sustainability Network in general. We also need brochures, pamphlets,
and whitepapers for project proposals and grantwriting.

We also need to start encouraging more service learning, internships,
capstones and research projects in appropriate technology,
agroecology, earth building and open knowledge systems and re-emergent
economic systems for LLEs. A lot of this can come from educating the
campus and surrounding community, but much can be done talking one on
one with faculty and extension staff. Lots of opportunities here (and
you can make awesome connections in the process!). Though
collaboration in these projects with Factor E would be nice, this is
about creating a microclimate for open sustainability on campus,
whether Factor E is involved or not.

This is about extension, and catalyzing the necessary changes. There
is much we can do to collaborate with OSE in general, and many options
we need to explore for urban open sustainability as well. Factor E is
one model, lets create another right here in Columbia. Retrofitting,
appropriate technology, gardening, LETS.. lets do it! The wonderful
thing about this stuff is it is so easy that all you need to do is
envision it and plan it and do it. Much of the info is there, and
what you learn you can add.

There is also Factor E Farm collaboration as well, on and off site.
They need projects planned, funds raised, and service learning and
research projects set up for next year, as well as helpers in the
spring on some pretty neat projects.

Hope to see everyone at the next meeting, thursday 7:00 Gwynn Hall
room 106. Lots of fun stuff to do, bring interested friends!

Richard Schulte

[mer...@mizzou.edu]

Richard---
Obama!
TIME CONFLICT!
want to move the meeting?
Maggy

On Oct 27, 12:16 pm, Richard Schulte <dikjo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey this is Richard Schulte, just getting things going with our
> listserv here.  If you are receiving multiple emails, let me know
> immediately and I can fix the problem.  Google apps can be a bit of a
> pain.
>
> So what are we up to?  What can you do to help?  Theres going to be a
> plethora of things, just get involved and come to the meetings!
>
> <b> Columbia Exchange Circle - Community Development Extension </b>
>
> At the last meeting we started planning a skillshare project we are
> tentatively describing as the CEC, or the Columbia Exchange Circle.
> It will operate as a basis for establishing a robust LLE (Local Living
> Economy).  Beginning in the Benton Stephens neighborhood, Kip has
> helped to begin building a database of the skills of community
> members, which will provide an awesome resource for hosting workshops,
> doing work projects, getting help here and there, and finding folks
> for help with volunteering and micro-businesses.  Basically, to create
> a distributed network of friendly neighbords.  The idea is to
> eventually integrate hours systems, local currencies and a LETS (Local
> Exchange Trading System) into this kind of a project.  This project
> has had much success in places like Boulder, CO, Corvallis, OR,
> Boston, Asheville, austin, etc.  In boulder at least 50 some request

> and 50 some offers are made a day, just in their hours system.(http://www.skillsharenetwork.org)  The most important thing is that it

[dik josef]

right.  obama is quite a hefty time conflict for this meeting... hadnt thought about it... we will need to figure out a better time, friday would be nice but i doubt anyone would want to, so how about sunday afternoon?  i will be back by then...

Richard