Board member Alex Colket will be a featured presenter at the October 13 gathering of the SEEN (Sustainable Enterprise & Entrepreneur Network). The focus for the event is Creating a Sustainable Marketplace for a more resilient local economy. Alex is the creator of Swidjit.com, an online platform for local buying, selling, trading, sharing, renting, discussing, and networking which launched in Ithaca this summer.  Swidjit hopes to encourage a shift towards a collaborative, localized economy by improving access to people and resources.

In a recent post to Sustainability in Tompkins County Alex says “Regardless of where Occupy Wall St goes from here, it has already served to raise awareness of the many inequities and failures of our current economic system ruled by large corporations. Many more voices have joined the chorus singing for an end to the rampant greed, environmental destruction, and blatant disregard for people and communities. But where do we go from here? Can we expect big business to make sweeping changes in how they conduct themselves? Can we expect a largely stagnant and dysfunctional government to step in and rebuild the system to work for the people and the environment rather than for corporate interests? No.

“…99 against 1 is pretty overwhelming odds and if we can all work together to shift our economy they don’t stand a chance.