About the WE Store
The WE Store is a place where you can feel GOOD about shopping. WE have a variety of vendors that have partnered with us to help showcase their products.
All of our vendors & products support one or all of the 11 Campaigns for Global Change that is the cornerstone of WE, The World activism. Proceeds from this store go directly towards funding local and national programs to help a wide variety of needs. Want to volunteer and help spread the word about WE? Learn how to get involved!
Helping Create An Economy That Works All
This project of the WE Economic Justice Campaign is focused on contributing to the world wide effort to create an alternative/new economy, an economy that works for all. It derives from the perception that if we want a world that works for all (the central theme of the WE, The World mission statement) then we will need an economy that works for all. And, if WE want an economy that works for all, we are going to have to craft something together that is much different than the systems that currently exist which are outrageously inadequate in that regard.
The first phase is to focus on supporting those who are already doing it (what is already working) – a tried and true permaculture tenet. Our initial focus is on those doing business, selling goods and services. Many of them could use investment capital like grants, donations, loans, etc. Of course, most of us do not have a lot of investment capital at our disposal, but we do spend (again, most of us) tens of thousands of dollars a year on goods and services, wants and desires. This is where our ‘wealth’ lies, and if handled properly, this is where our ‘investment capital’ can lie as well.
WE also recognizes that a central factor bearing on our ability to create a world or economy that works for all is how organized, coordinated and collaborative the movement towards a better world can get. So WE decided to propose something major to organize around that WE believes is also a central aspect to us being able to construct a new/alternative economy. A similar concept to voting with our dollars. Basically it comes down to reaching out to our Natural Constituency ( All of us working on ‘A World that Works For All’) and encouraging us to patronize conscious, ethical businesses that are also trying to create an economy/world that works for all, and doing it in a very focused, organized and committed way – if we want significant results.
Most of us recognize it is a good thing to vote with our dollars and do it when we think of it and it’s convenient, but experience tells us that we, for the most part, do not do it very consistently or in an organized fashion. It is often hard to figure out who’s who, and how to locate the appropriate businesses, and it is often inconvenient and many of the things we need and desire are simply not ethically out there, at least not in sufficient quantity and/or convenience, etc.
So There it is! A Niche for a new Project! Most, if not all, of us would love to patronize ethical businesses in a way that could significantly contribute to a world that works for all. So the first phase of our endeavor to help create an economy that works for all: locate ethical sellers and buyers and get us together.
Of course we need to do more than bring folks together. The bigger challenge is to make the process convenient, easy, effective and efficient and we have to do that if we want this project to fly. So, to that end:
WE are excited to announce the launch of the WE Store, (what WE call the Loving, Caring alternative to Amazon) designed to facilitate the joining of ethical buyers and sellers to make this effort more effective, convenient and efficient. The Store, among other things, will invite socially conscious businesses to display their products and services and will include space for movement groups to sell their merchandise like T-shirts and coffee mugs to raise awareness and funds. WE are also adding a Directory of Social Action, so even if you are not selling products in the store customers will still have access to what you have to offer and your contact information and we are hoping this will result in an increase in buying locally.
It doesn’t take much imagination to visualize the giant potential leap forward this could be to increase our patronization of appropriate businesses and move us down the road towards an economy that works for all. The thinking here being, if we make it easy enough, lots of folks will jump on the bandwagon. The store is being designed to handle the large number of buyers and sellers necessary to have tangible impact.
For more information about the WE Store, email westore@we.net.
Although the store is phase 1, there are other important aspects to this project: outreach, databases, research, etc. Perhaps the most formidable task is to increase the number – in a big way – of ethical businesses. There are nowhere near enough currently in existence to handle the activity this project hopes to engender. Once we get some momentum built up a plethora of ethical businesses we are not aware of will burst forth, so WE invite you to invite your network to join us!
To build up these numbers and increase the variety of goods and services available, surveys will be conducted as to the kinds of products and services people want and are willing to commit to purchasing if they are made available. A benefit to this is a person could start a business knowing that there would be a customer base on day one. This would greatly increase the number of people willing to start a business and this could include promises to invest. An example would be a person starting a coffee shop because enough people promised to frequent it to make the effort essentially risk free.
Another action we will undertake when appropriate will be to establish an international trademark or brand name so shoppers can easily find ethical providers. This allows us to build up such a positive reputation of quality, fairness, ethicality and treating customers like family that people wanting to purchase a good or service would deem it worth their while to spend some time and effort locating a business displaying the trademark.
If you’re looking for partners in the business arena, a good way to attract their attention is to patronize them! And do it in a focused, organized, and committed way.
And we would like your thoughts on how to get a large number of folks working towards a better world to, exclusively as realistically possible, patronize businesses working on a better world.
For more information contact:
Jack Strasburg jackStrasburg@we.net
Campaign For Economic Justice
We, The World and the WE Campaign at WE.net
The Mission, Vision, Values and Guiding Principles of WE
Mission
The mission of WE, The World is to maximize social change globally – until we have a world that works for all.
Vision
Our society’s collective wellbeing depends on the health and wellbeing of each person, as well as the wellbeing of the plants, animals, other life and eco-systems that we are part of and that sustain us all. The concurrent pandemics of COVID-19, Intolerance, Inequality and Environmental/Climate Degradation have made this interdependence crystal clear.
Consciously acting on this interdependence is the essence of a WE based culture. WE can no longer afford to live in a ME-based society where people’s actions don’t consider the consequences for others. Rather, we wish to achieve a cultural shift towards “WE Consciousness” where, from individuals to CEOs, from politicians to all forms of Media, people begin to expand their circles of caring, concern and empathy, and prioritize the Common Good and the wellbeing of all.
It’s All About WE
WE is a Consciousness
The idea is to promote the shift from “I” to “WE” in our individual actions and attitudes as well as in our societal priorities and policies. WE is about expanding our circles of caring, concern and empathy to the entire Web of Life, including eco-systems, to prioritize the Common Good.
WE is a Collaboration
Our ever-expanding WE Change Agent Network (WE CAN) includes some of the world’s largest transformative organizations, networks and movements, plus 1000s of smaller socially conscious groups, as well as the millions of people that are the constituents of all these groups
WE is a Campaign
Ongoing coordinated awareness and action activities, such as 11 Days of Global Unity, and our 11 Campaigns For Change are designed to build a Movement of Movements with millions of Change Agents. We anticipate that this unprecedented cooperation and coordination, along with prioritizing making the cultural shift towards WE Consciousness and the Common Good, will result in societal transformation for a Livable Future.