Why We Need Evolver

For the paperback edition of his new book Life Inc., Douglas Rushkoff asked me to write a couple of pages about Evolver. Here's a draft of the text. It'd be great to get your comments, especially as we're trying to refine our language for describing Evolver for the launch of the Evolver Social Movement.

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Evolver

Evolver is a global network of inspired evolutionaries -- the growing movement of people who know that consciousness expansion is a necessary part of social change. Evolvers are hope fiends, ecological activists, and utopian pragmatists who see this time of creative chaos as an opportunity to rethink, reconnect, and reinvent our lives. Meeting both online and off-line, Evolver is an experiment in the creation of a new society with communities and institutions that favor collaboration over competition, sustainability over throw-away consumerism, spirited engagement over spectator entertainment, and transparency over opaque hierarchy. The effort itself is a kind of living artwork; in the words of Joseph Beuys, it is "a social sculpture."

A great many of us are aware of the critical challenges that face us, and of the inadequacy of society's institutions to adequately address them. Through Evolver, members of the transformational community are connecting to find one another, share knowledge and resources, and participate in projects that are models for change that others may follow.

This movement began with a web magazine, Reality Sandwich. Launched in May 2007, Reality Sandwich gives voice to the consciousness community, covering topics from sustainability to shamanism, alternate realities to alternative energy, remixing media to re-imagining community, holistic healing techniques to visionary technologies. Writers range from established and bestselling authors -- such as Daniel Pinchbeck, Douglas Rushkoff, Starhawk, and Stanislav Grof -- to emerging voices -- like Charles Eisenstein, Anya Kamenetz, and Adam Elenbaas -- to college students publishing their first articles. RS has no "editorial positions" to uphold. Rather, the site offers a variety of perspectives on subjects that matter to its readers, and which are largely ignored, even distained, by the mainstream media. It is a platform of possibilities and alternative realities meant to de-hypnotize readers from the deadening drumbeat of the corporate culture machinery.

Reality Sandwich quickly grew a loyal readership. Not only were people attracted to the articles, they also wanted to connect with one another. So the comments areas on the site gave birth to a dynamic online community. That community was given its own long awaited home in the summer of 2009 on Evolver.net, an online social network for conscious collaboration. It provides a platform for individuals, communities, and organizations to discover and share the new tools, initiatives, and ideas that will improve our lives and change the world.

Soon after the Evolver.net site launch, the community felt it was as important (maybe even more important) to meet in physical space as it is to connect in digital space, which led to the creation of Evolver Regionals. By early 2010, over 30 active groups were founded in cities from Boston to Seattle, Capetown to Sidney, Baltimore to Long Beach. Each month they hold Evolver Spores: presentations, panel discussions and film screenings about the topics discussed on Reality Sandwich. Once the Regionals were established, Evolvers came together to hold Evolver-themed festivals, develop permaculture gardens, and establish community spaces, among other projects.

Looking ahead, our aim is build this movement into a powerful force by providing platforms where people can connect and take action. By uniting our voices into a larger movement, we can create a “tipping point” that shifts the debate on climate change, the War on Drugs, corporate overreach, economic disparity, renewable energy, preservation of wilderness and natural resources, and more. We will keep improving Evolver.net's online tools to enable collaboration, while giving support to grassroots initiatives taken by the Evolver Regional groups. Other activities include publishing books, offering educational programs, and producing media (including podcasts and videos) and events.

A project of this kind, which emerged organically from the unique community it serves, should not be expected to have a conventional organizational structure. Following the public radio model, it is made possible by paying members in an Evolver Social Movement (E+SM). Their contributions cover operating costs so that most offerings are available for free to all comers. A small paid professional staff handles the editorial and administrative tasks that maintain and grow the Evolver movement's infrastructure (like managing the flow of content and information on Reality Sandwich, Evolver.net, and the monthly Spores), while hundreds of volunteers provide content for the websites and take part in grassroots initiatives. The staff acts as facilitators, coordinating efforts and consulting with the community about how resources should be channeled, which grassroots projects to support, and how best to grow the movement.

As the community expands, Evolver will offer new services -- modeling cooperative systems aimed at shifting society away from an endless emphasis on competition and the abuse of the natural world. These include the introduction of a complimentary currency, the cooperative acquisition of socially responsible goods and services, as well as barter and exchange networks. We will also produce more ambitious events, including conferences, Regional festivals, and Evolver shamanic retreats in South America. Unlike many mission-driven operations, Evolver is incorporated as a socially responsible business rather than as a not-for-profit. This is a deliberate attempt to transmute the extraordinary ability of the corporation to act with speed and efficiency to effect change, redirecting its energies toward serving the public good. In this way, Evolver is an alchemical enterprise, with a firm commitment to transparency and to being responsive to the movement we serve.