Sola Roof Wiki
OPEN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SOLAROOF WEB COMMUNITY
The Sola Roof Wiki is here as support to people everywhere to take action to change their lifestyle and adopt a new pattern for living that is ecological and will be sustainable for generations into the future. This is a new Eco Living pattern that we need to express in "concrete" form; in our built environment; our human habitats - this is how we can change the world by transforming our own homes and communities. Our community is not waiting on governments, universities or professionals to bring forward the needed solutions. We are a worldwide community of enthusiasts that will take direct responsibility for rebuilding and reshaping our own world. Together, we in this vast grass roots initiative will turn around the trends that are currently leading to disaster for everyone. For this purpose the Sola Roof Tech are methods that are accessible, affordable and adaptable to each community and cultural context.
Even so, our community recognizes that specific action is needed so that the vast majority of people are not stranded in devastating poverty. We need a mechanism to bridge the divide that now separates world communities into have and have-not populations. Thus we are building a community that will create a Common Heritage? for all and that especially directs its resources to those who are most in need. This is a Gift Economy mechanism rather than "aid". The financial power of this system is the Pay It Forward ethic of our global community. This ethic looks upon the value received by our Sola Roof Members as a tangible good that should be "recognized" and this is done by voluntary Pay It Forward contributions to individual Grass Roots Projects - those projects that are undertaken by families and communities that lack financial means and face barriers of exclusion and educational disparity.
The Sola Roof Community is sponsoring a Grass Roots initiative for the collaboration and sharing of know-how for DIY (Do It Yourself?) projects that individuals and families undertake to build sustainable homes and communities. Under the Grass Roots Initiative, our Sola Roof Members — as individuals and businesses — will contribute to the funding of Grass Roots Projects by the members of our worldwide community who are most in need and have the least means. Our Members are encouraged to form Teams to implement these projects at the local level.
HERE IS OUR GOAL:
I wish the Team Members to be able to collaborate and communicate with the general Membership through Sola Roof Wiki that provides a medium for the individuals to publish their project plan and report progress (See: Sola Roof Projects} using a Group Wiki, which is then accessible to other Members who can give advice, feedback and financial support. We will look for opportunities for Teams to work as North South? collaborations with Advisors selected to join the Team by polling the members of the Team. These interactions are essential to the vision of supporting multitudes of wide spread projects and for the provision of the necessary GLOBAL support and encouragement to the LOCAL Team Members as they implement the Grass Roots Projects.
WHAT WE WILL ACHIEVE WITH YOUR SUPPORT
Many of the Sola Roof Members in the developing world may not be able to afford the cost of internet services to author and publish Web Pages? that will permit the collaboration as envisioned above. Therefore, the kind of services described below would be ideal for the expansion of the Sola Roof community in all parts of the world, reaching those in the developing world with a mechanism that can be self funding by our community. Not wanting to make a distinction between Members I would like to be able to offer the same access to these services to all Members of the Sola Roof Community. What I will propose is that those who can afford a payment for these services will make a voluntary contribution to cover the costs of these services and the funds surplus to our costs can flow through to meet the internet services provided to Team Members that have a GrassRootsProject underway or in a planning stage.
These internet services are now available to all the Members of the Sola Roof Community and would be accessed through the Grass Roots Projects page on the Sola Roof Wiki where visitors may sign up to become members and then register and use these internet services. Individuals will be able to find fellow collaborators and advisors and Teams will poll their existing members to accept new team members and advisory members. Having established a working group, the Teams would then begin the planning and implementation of their projects.
Near term goals for the further development of our Wiki:
Visitors and other Members of the Sola Roof Community will be able to view, rate, and contribute to the Grass Roots Projects. They can offer advice and comments and provide direct financial support to the project. A project budget and a target for financial support will be established as part of the published Project Plan?. Direct financial contributions (by any visitors) and votes by Members will create a non-administrative and strictly merit based evaluation of the existing projects by the entire Membership and the public at large. All Grass Roots Projects(with unfunded financial needs) will then receive an allocation prorate from any indirect contributions (from our commercial Sponsors and Partners, for example) and from any surplus general revenues. After costs have been covered, all contributions will flow through to the Grass Roots Projects covering each project up to the stated goal amount. The method for the handling of funds would be decentralized and made transparent as a published data base; possibly using a mechanism similar to the payments system of paypal.com. Sola Roof is seeking collaboration from organizations that could assist the implementation of this vision.
With appropriate support, these components would be incorporated into the Sola Roof Members services (most are now actively supported as of 04 year end):
A Wiki including these features:
- A personal e-mail system - low priority
- Personal and Enterprise Web Sites - Done
- Facilities for document management (creation, editing, storage and commenting) known as “conferences” - Done
- Facilities for forums, business networking, private & public chat - Developing
- Facilities for establishing and posting documents to Grass Roots Projects (for Team Leaders)- Done