John Knapen

Born 1941 in Amsterdam, Holland. Migrated to Australia in 1961.

I have worked as an electronic technician for a good part of my working life and also managed my own service company. Have also owned and operated a greengrocer shop, a takeaway restaurant, a fruit tree nursery. I have also published a number of magazines and have worked for some time in health as registered nurse.

Over the last 30 years I have spend a lot of my time working with a variety of community organisations focusing on the environment, education and community development.

My main interest, as a community development worker, has been in improving the economic viability of micro and small enterprises specifically targeting underemployed people at a local level.

In 1992 this surfaced as EcoMart strategy version 1. A more detailed EcoMart version 2 emerged in 2002. At the time it was difficult to muster wide scale support for the project as it was generally considered to be to big and to far ahead of its time.

Today, in 2010, more and more people are expressing great concern about the effects of climate change, peak oil and the global economy. The urgent need for fundamental change in the way we satisfy our every day needs has now become unmistakable. Hence, EcoMart strategy version 3 with even more detail.

I believe that EcoMart has enormous potential for contributing towards fundamental economic change in our local communities. The ultimate aim of course is, strengthening community resilience.

Wayne Wadsworth (Watzy)