Last week I attended a very inspiring 4 day conference on "strategies for
global economies and local currencies" in the San Francisco Bay area. It
was attended by a stimulating mix of economic experts, local currency
proponents, Y2K organizers and activists of various kinds. A very new civ
kind of thing, and I was happy to meet some of you NCN members there, such
as Bruce Baumrucker, Paul Swann, Walter Szykitka, Sarah van Gelder, John
Pozzi, and Carol Brouillet who organized the gathering.
Some of the notable folks who were there were Michael Linton, the
originator of the LETS system of local currencies
(www.gmlets.u-net.com/go/cc99/); Bernard Lietaer (www.transaction.net),
formerly of the Central Bank of Belgium, who's working on creating an
online clearing house for any kind of currency, including local currencies;
John Pozzi, the instigator of the Global Resource Bank (www.grb.net); Tom
Greco, author of "New Money for Healthy Communities" and more
(azstarnet.com/~circ/); Genevieve Vaughan, founder of Foundation for a
Compassionate Society and author of "For-Giving, a Feminist Criticism of
Exchange"; Elisabet Sahtouris, evolutionary biologist, author of
"EarthDance, Biology Revisioned" (www.ratical.org/lifeweb/). And, well,
everybody there were doing something very inspired, so the list gets kind
of long.
Several themes were particularly significant to me.
First of all how local currency systems are popping up in many communities.
A better term seems to be "Complementary Currencies", as they usually don't
replace national currencies, but rather they allow people to conduct a
percentage of their business exchanges in the local currency, allowing more
value to be kept in the local community, making the local community more
self-sustainable. Complementary currency systems are very much based on
trust and usually work best amongst networks of people who know each other.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, a local currency
system is essentially that a community is creating its own money. Instead
of depending on each of us going out and earning or borrowing dollars
before we can exchange services with each other, we rather do the exchange
as we agree is appropriate, and we account for the exchanged value in an
accounting system. We debit the buyer and credit the seller, essentially.
And the person with the credit can now spend his earned value elsewhere,
and the person with the debit needs to think of something he can do for
somebody else to make up for it.
There are variations of this, with some systems being based on centrally
issued currencies. For an excellent comparison of different systems, check
out Bernard Lietaer's transaction.net website.
Sergio Lub introduced a new local currency system at the conference, called
"Friendly Favors". It caught on so quickly that at the end of the weekend
most people took Friendly Favors as payments for their books and services,
etc. Sergio is a fairly well-known jeweler, and as a fine demonstration of
the system working, as quite a few people there, I walked away having
bought a copper bracelet from him for the sum of 40 Friendly Favors. The
system is set up as discount coupons. Essentially one buys something with a
percentage of cash and 10-100% of Friendly Favors discount. It works a
little similar to frequent flier miles. One can then spend the units that
one earns elsewhere, essentially transferring one's accumulated discounts
as a currency.
Its not all about money or currency, of course. It seemed to be generally
accepted that we eventually wouldn't need any such thing. And some
sentiments for focusing on that sooner rather than later. For example,
Genevieve Vaughan is a strong voice for the Gift Economy, simply giving
what you have to give where you perceive the need.
Another theme at the gathering was Y2K organizing. I found it very
inspiring to hear about the efforts taking place to make local communities
more self-sustainable in terms of energy, food, money, communication, etc.
I'm happy to see the positive angle that is developing on the Y2K
phenomenon. Personally, I'm still rather skeptical as to whether the Y2K
computer problem in itself will lead to a breakdown of society as we know
it. But I'm also rather confident that the industrial age centralized
systems of the old civilization WILL break down sooner or later, from one
thing or another. So, starting to organize things in a more sustainable
fail-safe community-oriented way is a VERY good idea, I'd say. The Y2K
phenomenon has everybody's attention and is as good a motivation for doing
so as anything that has come along.
See www.y2kcommunity.com for an excellent resource in that regard.
Below is a news article mentioning the conference.
- Flemming
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Christian Science Monitor Article- Friday, February 26, 1999
GETTING BACK TO A BARTER AND TRADE ECONOMY
* Advocates gather in California to discuss ways to keep local
money from seeping into global economy.
By Paul Van Slambrouck
Staff Writer of the Christian Science Monitor
SAN FRANCISCO - If globalism has got you down, take heart.
A flourishing movement that seeks to supplement the almighty dollar
with an all-local currency is providing refuge around the country, and
world, for those who feel that mega-economic forces are stripping
individuals and communities of control over their own affairs.
"There is tremendous interest and energy" in the movement to establish
local or community-based currencies, says Susan Witt, director of the E.F.
Schumacher Society of Great Barrington, Mass.
The Schumacher Society is a firm supporter of the concept, and Ms.
Witt says there is "revival" under way right now.
The concept is simple: Establishing a local currency within a town or
region allows residents to exchange goods or services in a way that
guarantees the currency will stay local and not seep out into the great sea
of global commerce.
In communities with local currencies, the US dollar continues to
circulate and remains the backbone of the local economy. But as seen by
advocates, local money provides a powerful tool for community cohesiveness
and rejuvenation.
SEED MONEY
The north coast hamlet of Mendocino, Calif., plans to launch a local
currency called Seed in the next few days. Further down the coast, a Time
Dollar system that allows community service organizations to trade services
is about to begin in Santa Cruz. And last year, local currencies became
available in places as diverse as Toronto and Berea, Ky.
All this activity follows already well-established programs like the
Ithaca Hours in New York and the Local Economic Trading System (LETS)
pioneered in Canada and now operating in Great Britain, Australia, New
Zealand, and in several European countries.
There are about 2,000 local currency systems in operation around the
world, according to Bernard Lietaer, a former Belgium central banker who is
now setting up a clearing house for community currencies from his base as a
research fellow at the University of California at Berkeley.
Local currencies flourished in the US following the Great Depression,
when jobs and money were scarce. Over the years, stressed communities have
often created local currencies or scrip as a means to allow people to trade
skills and goods, even when they're unemployed and have no traditional
dollars to spend.
FIBERS OF A COMMUNITY
But today, the motivation behind local currencies stem more from a
view that communities are losing their sense of interconnectedness among
residents, who don't know each other and who buy goods that are imported
with dollars that are often earned from a distant corporation.
"It's a counterpoint to globalization," says Lewis Solomon, a law
professor at George Washington Law School and author of "Rethinking Our
Centralized Monetary System: The Case for a System of Local Currencies."
Local currencies have proven themselves viable, says Mr. Solomon, but their
prevalence depends, ultimately, on "how much antipathy builds to the global
economy."
The movement itself is diverse, blending primarily environmentalists
and community activists, but with a sprinkling of Libertarians, Y2K bug
alarmists, and even survivalists who fear a major financial meltdown is
inevitable.
But at its core is a yearning for more control, less seeming
vulnerability, and greater interaction among people of the same geography.
"Community is becoming a vacant term. We're not really even trading with
each other any more," says Michael Linton, one of the founders of LETS in
Canada.
While local currencies may appeal to some as a return to simpler
times, it's quite modern in terms of taking advantage of technology.
Mr. Linton has been working on a smart card that would allow people to
make purchases with local and even regional currencies, automatically. And
software needed needed to begin a LETS system can already be downloaded
from the Internet.
Local currency systems are usually set up and run by volunteers.
A TYPICAL PROGRAM
The BREAD program, begun in Berkeley in 1997, is typical. Members
apply to join, must be able to provide a good or service to the community,
and must agree to honor the local currency.
Once admitted, members are listed in a local directory, which now
includes about 350 listings, including gardeners, restaurateurs, artists,
and auto mechanics.
Each member is initially issued paper currency worth four BREAD hours,
valued at $12 per hour. There is about $15,000 worth of Bread currency in
circulation right now.
"We have quite a cross section of members," says Miyoko Sakashita,
Bread co-founder. "Most are middle to low-income, and from all age groups."
As one sign of the movement's current vigor, advocates from all over
the country and world began meeting this week in the Santa Cruz mountains
at a church-owned retreat site.
Called simply "The Gathering," the aim is to "connect the local
currency movement, and create the infrastructure for a new, more just
economy," says organizer Carol Brouillet.
While some critics question the logic of a system that encourages
buying local goods, even when better or cheaper goods may be available
elsewhere, advocates say that kind of math is simplistic.
"Things may be cheaper over the hill," says Margaret Howe, one of the
organizers of the new Seed program in Mendocino, Calif., "but there is a
cost to the community in buying over there, instead of here."
o o
/ \------------------ Flemming A. Funch -------------------/ \
/ * \ New Civilization Network / Synchronicity Networks / * \
/ * * \ ffunch@newciv.org / * * \
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