Life in an 'Occupy Wall Street' camp: thermal undies and Porta-Potty please

It takes more than clever placards and rousing chants to foment revolution. Sometimes, it takes a clean Porta-Potty.

It may be the more prosaic needs that keep the "Occupy Wall Street" movement afloat. After all, everyone needs to eat and sleep – even while changing the world.

Whether it's beans in Boston or birthday cake in Los Angeles, Occupy Wall Street activists, currently in more than 1,300 cities worldwide according to OccupyTogether.org, are learning what takes day by day.

How are they doing it? From the start, the media-savvy cohort manning this movement has harnessed the digisphere to organize daily logistics for the occupiers, tweeting requests for everything from black pepper and recyclable soup cups, to solar panels, thermal underwear, and tents.

In Los Angeles, a recent list of needed items reads like a supply list for an invading army: tents, LED flashlights, solar lights for tents and Porta-Potties at night, hanging storage units, blankets, sleeping bags, laptops, gas cans, generators, power tools, screw drivers, and saws.

Instructions for newcomers to Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Ala., say to “come with a poncho and a backpack with ready-to-eat food, water and appropriate clothing."

The instructions continue: "If you cook, the police may stop you and you can't build a campfire in the middle of a national monument. Please be able to keep from starving to death. Bring whatever light you can and some trash bags and a sign. Keep in mind anything you bring may be taken by police or someone else.”

In Boston, weather is big on the organizers' minds as cooler nights loom. Sleeping bags and blankets are high on their lists of requested items, as are small space heaters and generators. Warm clothes are happily accepted, although after a tweet requesting socks generated an outpouring of warm footwear, they rescinded the request. They are also looking for more power. They have a few generators and are looking at alternative energy sources.

“We have some pedal power,” says Stephen Squibb, referring to teams of volunteers on specially fitted bikes to generate electricity. “We welcome anyone who wants to donate any clean, green, sources of alternative power,” he says, adding that they already have a few solar panels. “We’re still figuring out how to use them,” he says.

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