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How You Can Get Started Building a New Economy

This is part of a series of blogs based on excerpts adapted from the 2nd edition of Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth (link is external). I wrote Agenda to spur a national conversation on economic policy issues and options that are otherwise largely ignored. This blog series (link is external) is intended to contribute to that conversation. —DK

For those of us already engaged in bringing the New Economy into being, daily news headlines provide ample reason to feel discouraged. Even major successes seem insignificant relative to the scale of the disruption wrought by the death throes of the Wall Street system.

It is essential to step back from time to time. Take a breath. Look out beyond the immediate horizon to gain perspective on the less visible but inspiring phenomenon of millions of people engaged in building the foundations of local living economies all around the world. Read their stories in YES! Magazine (link is external) and reflect in awe and wonder at this epic phenomenon of human commitment to transformation.

If you are new to the movement and looking for ways to engage, you might begin by declaring your personal independence from Wall Street. Shop at local independent stores (link is external) where possible, and purchase locally made goods when available. Make similar choices as to where you work and invest (link is external). Join the voluntary simplicity movement (link is external) by cutting back on unnecessary consumption.

Pay with cash at local merchants to save them the credit card fee. Do your banking with an independent local community bank or credit unio (link is external)n that will invest your money back in your community. Coop America provides a useful free Investing in Communities (link is external) guide.
If you are drawn to engage with others, keep in mind that there is no magic bullet solution and no one individual is going to resolve the dysfunctions of Wall Street’s misadventures by themself. The key is to find opportunities to contribute that fit your distinctive skills, passion, and connections.

I recall the counsel of a wise elder who told me in my youth, “It is possible to tack a sail boat into the wind, but only once it is in motion.” Get started with the opportunities you find near at hand. Be open to new possibilities and let your engagement evolve naturally over time. In the words of Myles Horton (link is external) and Paulo Freire (link is external), “We Make the Road by Walking.”

Be prepared to stay the course. I decided to devote my life to changing the world in the last term of my senior year of college in 1959. I was just 22 and armed with little more than youthful enthusiasm. I began to make a meaningful contribution in 1992 at age 51. I began to really find my stride about age 70.

The “Three-fold Change Strategy” I outlined in my blog, "How Change Happens" (link is external) provides a useful framework for focusing your energy:

1.    Change the Story. 

Keep in mind that every transformational social change begins with a conversation around a vision of possibility. Take advantage of every opportunity to engage in conversation about the realities of Wall Street, the difference between phantom wealth and real wealth, and the nature and possibilities of the New Economy. Consider inviting a group of friends or neighbors to discuss Agenda for a New Economy. The Living Economies Forum (link is external) website provides a group discussion guide  (link is external)and links to other New Economy 2.0 discussion resources (link is external), as does the New Economy Working Group (link is external) site. Join or form a Resilience Circle (link is external)for mutual education and support in dealing with the economic crisis

2.    Create a New Reality. 

Get involved with groups like the American Independent Business Alliance (link is external), the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (link is external), and Transition Towns (link is external) that are working to create a new economic reality on the ground.

3.    Change the Rules. 

Get involved in political action campaigns that support the transition to living indicators, community-based financial institutions, an equitable distribution of wealth, living enterprises with living owners, real markets and real democracy, self-reliant bio-regional economies, and global rules that favor people power over corporate power. These are the “Seven Interventions (link is external)” outlined in an earlier blog. Join the American Dream Movement (link is external), which is mobilizing support for the Contract for the American Dream—a visionary New Economy policy agenda.

Here is a useful checklist for assessing the potential contribution of initiatives that reach out to others. 

Does it:

• Communicate a vision of possibility?

• Develop new connections between people who share common interests?

• Create and expand liberated social spaces (link is external) in which people experience the freedom and support to experiment with thinking and acting in creative new ways?

• Provide a public demonstration of the possibilities of the New Economy?

• Build a support base for constructive policy action?

If your initiative contributes to any one of these, then it is probably making a positive difference in the world.

Don’t be discouraged if the world looks much the same tomorrow, despite your heroic effort today. It took 5,000 years to create the culture and institutions of Empire (link is external) that we must now put behind us. It will take a few years and the contributions of millions of people to bring forth the new cultures and institutions that will set us free.

David Korten (livingeconomiesforum.org (link is external)) is the author of Agenda for a New Economy (link is external), TheGreat Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (link is external), and the international best seller When Corporations Rule the World (link is external). He is board chair of YES! Magazine (link is external) and co-chair of the New Economy Working Group (link is external). This Agenda for a New Economy blog series (link is external) is co-sponsored by CSRwire.com (link is external) and yesmagazine.org (link is external) based on excerpts from Agenda for a New Economy, 2nd edition.
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Interested?

• Building a Resilient Economy (link is external)
  Today’s economy relies on a globalized supply chain—where a single broken link can lead to widespread financial catastrophe. It doesn’t have to be that way.
• 7 Steps for Action Toward a New Economy (link is external)
  Rather than turning again to increased global competition to mend our failing economy, we must instead steer our focus toward cooperation and equality.
• Building Community: An Economic Approach (link is external)
  David Korten: What economic transformation has to do with building stronger, happier communities.

YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps (link is external). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (link is external)

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