Help Send a Message of Transition to President Obama

We just got a request from our friend and TTM member Skip Shuda requesting TTM input on a proposal he hopes will be selected for presentation to Barack Obama. We love the idea, but wanted to cast the TTM net a little further and get ideas from any and all of our membership. So, what Transition vision do you want to share with our President and hope that he will share with our country. Please, speak up!

Hi TTM friends –

During the presidential campaign season, I became involved with a web-based, Integral effort at www.integralObama.com . They solicited brief (1-3 paragraph) proposals to present to a second Obama administration and I submitted one that built on the work of Transition Town and related initiatives. I asked, “what could be accomplished if we had the ultimate community organizer helping to energize local communities and a meshwork of community activism across the country?” The text is below.

Early next week, all of the proposals are being presented on the IntegralObama website and people will be asked to vote. I’ve been given the opportunity to amend my proposal up until Sunday night.

Long story short, I would welcome your feedback, ideas, statistics talking points and critiques of this approach. In looking at some of the other proposals, it would benefit from factoids and references to strengthen its tone. If chosen, the follow-up would be to build a whitepaper and/or presentation that would be directed to the administration. Its not clear what kind of attention, if any, the Obama administration will give any winning proposal – but the IntegralObama site represents a $40,000 donation block to the campaign – and they are hoping to be received as an emerging voice in America.

I’d love a little TTM mind-meld to juice the movement! I’ll integrate whatever I have sometime on Sunday and submit an updated version of this.

Talk to you soon.

Skip
Sustainable Economic Practices

President Obama has demonstrated that he is one of the most effective community organizers that the USA has ever seen. Why not harness the President’s community building prowess, the bully pulpit and emerging “communities within communities” that focus on sustainable economic practices? Forward thinking economists are coming to realize that “growing our way” out of the current economic malaise may not be the only path forward. Developing more sustainable local economies that have smaller footprints but big impact on families and individuals could provide a long term relief net as US economic transition plays out. As transition towns, timebanks, CSAs, cooperatives and work-shares are tetra-emerging, a second term Obama team could harness them as a powerful ally in re-visioning America for the 21st century (and beyond).