From james.samuel at transitiontowns.org.nz Thu Apr 3 08:36:54 2008 From: james.samuel at transitiontowns.org.nz (James Samuel) Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 01:36:54 +1300 Subject: [LE] Towns to drive local economy with own currency Message-ID: http://transitionculture.org/2008/04/03/towns-to-drive-local-economy-with-own-currency/ Towns to drive local economy with own currency *[image: steen pound]From the Western Mail. April 2nd 2008. By Stepffan Rhys. Original here. * IT WOULD be cash but not ? quite ? as we know it. A group of Welsh towns is pushing to have its own currency as it tries to create a micro- economy, the Western Mail can reveal today. The aim? To strengthen links between local businesses and consumers while reducing reliance on big business. The scheme would be the first of its kind in Wales and would involve the production of banknotes which could only be used in participating towns and businesses in a bid to stop money "leaking" out of the area. It is hoped the cashflow plan could be launched by as early as the end of the year in Lampeter, Llandeilo and Llandovery, with the banknotes' design possibly being based on that issued by the 18th century Black Ox Bank ? later incorporated into Lloyds Bank ? set up by drover David Jones of Llandovery in 1799. There are already some examples of towns and regions setting up their own currency in a bid to keep money circulating locally. The Totnes Pound was launched by a group of volunteers last year at an exchange rate of 1TP for ?1. There are now 6,000 Totnes Pounds now being spent at 70 participating businesses. And BerkShares were launched in the Southern Berkshire region of Massachusetts in the US by a non-profit organisation working in collaboration with the region's Chamber of Commerce. Somet 1.43m BerkShares, worth $1.29m, were issued in the scheme's first 17 months and there are more than 300 businesses registered to accept them. In both schemes, every unit of local currency is legally backed by an equivalent in official currency. The idea is to encourage people to spend their money locally. Listed businesses are identified by window stickers and joint promotional material and businesses can restrict the amount of goods that can be bought with local currency. "Local currency puts money back into local businesses whereas ordinary money takes it out," said Rhiannon Rowley, of Transition Towns Llandeilo, an organisation working towards making Llandeilo a self-sustainable town in the face of climate change and rising oil prices. "The intention is to try and re-localise as much as possible and to encourage this re-localisation by introducing new currency. "They are hoping to launch in Lampeter by the end of the year and we will hope to follow suit in Llandeilo sometime after that." Nigel Topping, who runs the Totnes Pound scheme, said he was now looking at introducing 5TP notes and ways of transferring the currency electronically. "Companies do this all the time in the form of Air Miles or Clubcard points ? those are equivalent to money because you can buy things with them," he said. BerkShares organisers say on their website, "The purpose of a local currency is to function on a local scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scale ? building the local economy by maximising circulation of trade within a defined region. The currency distinguishes the local businesses that accept the currency from those that do not, building stronger relationships and a greater affinity between the business community and the citizens of a particular place. The people who choose to use the currency make a conscious commitment to buy local first. They are taking personal responsibility for the health and well-being of their community by laying the foundation of a truly vibrant, thriving local economy." The currency scheme is an extension of the Transition Town programme operating throughout the UK. Llandeilo became Wales' first transition town last year but there are now similar initiatives in Bro Ddyfi, Rhayader and Presteigne. Transition towns focus on sustainability through renewable energy, allotments and farming but also aim to explore possibilities of water supply, waste recycling and "new economics". "One of the really interesting things about the whole transition movement is that it's developing differently in different areas because the people driving the schemes forward have different priorities," said Ms Rowley. "It's a real grass roots movements that is inspiring people to get involved." -- 09 372 8737 0274 372 082 www.transitiontowns.org.nz www.yesterdaysfuture.net www.transitionculture.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080403/d20e220c/attachment.html From paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com Thu Apr 10 15:02:26 2008 From: paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com (Geoff. Waterhouse) Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:02:26 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [LE] Walzing Inflation Message-ID: <544694.9351.qm@web30607.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Greetings all I found this little titbit in my in box this morning. I suppose the Aussies think that if global warming is going to finish them off, they might as well go out rich. "Steel prices are poised to rise further after an Asia steelmaker yesterday agreed to a tripling in price of its supply of coking coal in a settlement that is likely to set the benchmark for the steelmaking industry. South Korean steelmaker Posco said it had accepted a 205-210 per cent rise for its supplies from Australian miners. Analysts said that the agreement was likely to be followed by other steelmakers in the region and in Europe, resulting in higher inflation in emerging economies. The increase in the cost of coking coal as set by the Posco settlement was larger than the level expected by the market and the industry and comes on top of a 65-71 per cent rise in iron ore prices this year. Iron ore and coking coal are the two main expenditures for the steelmaking industry. Analysts said that steel prices might need to rise up to 20 per cent to cover the jump in coking coal cost. ? Financial Times" I really did start to wonder yesterday when and where will it all end, especially as far as our friends the Arab oil producers are concerned. One the one hand, we have the Arabs sitting on oil but no food and on the other hand there are the likes of Argentina sitting on a load of food, but no oil, and taxing wheat exports at 49%. We now, apparently, have China, India, Egypt and I forget who else, stopping rice exports! Soooooooooo, I guess the Arab oil producers will charge even more for oil to buy higher priced food and the food producers will charge more to buy the higher priced oil, and so it will go on until????????? Closer to home we have Winston Peters being lambasted by big business for telling truth about the Free Slave Trade Agrrement.I do have to wonder, being just a little suspicious of all politicians, how much his comments are "principle" and how much just "plain politics," since it is an election year. Whatever his real reasons, at least he came out and said it and he will probably get my vote since there probably won't be any Social Credit candidates around anyway. Regards Geoff. Waterhouse __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080410/c7fc2378/attachment-0001.html From paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com Thu Apr 10 16:36:16 2008 From: paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com (Geoff. Waterhouse) Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:36:16 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [LE] Fw: Walzing Inflation (I hadn't seen this,honest!) Message-ID: <238906.24763.qm@web30605.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hello again!! I honestly hadn't seen this when I sent my "Waltzing Inflation" e mail earlier. Maybe the name of the deal should be changed to the NZ-CHINA FSTA! (Free Slave Trade Agreement!) Regards Geoff. Waterhouse Provider navigation: Summary | AAP | AFP | Newstalk ZB | NZPA | Yahoo!Xtra Friday April 11, 07:49 AM FTA encourages slave labour - Amnesty Amnesty International believes New Zealand's free trade agreement with China encourages slave labour. It says the agreement excludes an important standard of reference to prevent the importation of products of prison labour. Acting campaigns manager Margaret Taylor says the agreement comes at a time when China is increasing its prison and child labour camps. "I think that it's a poor precedent to set when it had the opportunity to set a global precedent for trade and human rights." She says the agreement undermines the international labour standards that New Zealand has committed to uphold. ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Geoff. Waterhouse To: Members Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 7:02:26 AM Subject: [LE] Walzing Inflation Greetings all I found this little titbit in my in box this morning. I suppose the Aussies think that if global warming is going to finish them off, they might as well go out rich. "Steel prices are poised to rise further after an Asia steelmaker yesterday agreed to a tripling in price of its supply of coking coal in a settlement that is likely to set the benchmark for the steelmaking industry. South Korean steelmaker Posco said it had accepted a 205-210 per cent rise for its supplies from Australian miners. Analysts said that the agreement was likely to be followed by other steelmakers in the region and in Europe, resulting in higher inflation in emerging economies. The increase in the cost of coking coal as set by the Posco settlement was larger than the level expected by the market and the industry and comes on top of a 65-71 per cent rise in iron ore prices this year. Iron ore and coking coal are the two main expenditures for the steelmaking industry. Analysts said that steel prices might need to rise up to 20 per cent to cover the jump in coking coal cost. ? Financial Times" I really did start to wonder yesterday when and where will it all end, especially as far as our friends the Arab oil producers are concerned. One the one hand, we have the Arabs sitting on oil but no food and on the other hand there are the likes of Argentina sitting on a load of food, but no oil, and taxing wheat exports at 49%. We now, apparently, have China, India, Egypt and I forget who else, stopping rice exports! Soooooooooo, I guess the Arab oil producers will charge even more for oil to buy higher priced food and the food producers will charge more to buy the higher priced oil, and so it will go on until????????? Closer to home we have Winston Peters being lambasted by big business for telling truth about the Free Slave Trade Agrrement.I do have to wonder, being just a little suspicious of all politicians, how much his comments are "principle" and how much just "plain politics," since it is an election year. Whatever his real reasons, at least he came out and said it and he will probably get my vote since there probably won't be any Social Credit candidates around anyway. Regards Geoff. Waterhouse __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080410/2cdef593/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ LE-Members mailing list LE-Members at wji.com http://list.wji.com/mailman/listinfo/le-members From P.J.North at liverpool.ac.uk Fri Apr 11 05:27:46 2008 From: P.J.North at liverpool.ac.uk (North, Peter) Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:27:46 +0100 Subject: [LE] GLOBAL CREDIT CRUNCH References: <238906.24763.qm@web30605.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <27EAF64BC4AA6F4690E79EC123BF9CC8B02C84@EVSSTAFF1.livad.liv.ac.uk> Hi I havn't seen much discussion on this list about the global credit crunch. This week the markets in the UK seemed to have flipped into a collective assumption that house prices are to crash and there is 1 in four chance of a global depression as bad as that in the 30s. Others say this is irrational herd behaviour, and the fundamentals are fine. But the reality is that in the UK the number of mortgage deals available has gone from abiurt 15000 to about 4000, with deals beeing weithdrawn hourly. The rate at which banks lend to each other, LIBOR, is staying sky high, irrespective of what the Bank of England or Fed do. Bankers are saying that they are goint to go back to the old days of lending from reserves only to 'responsible' people they know - their current customers. What does this mean about the ability of Banks to create money through issuing loans? They seem to be prevented from doing so only as they do not trust each other. Or are they prevented from doing so as they have bought dubious financial packages in which loans to people who cannot affort to pay them back are chopped up and repackaged so much that now no one knows which invetsments are good (the people who owe the debt CAN afford to pay it back) and those which are bad (the people who owe the debt CANT affortd to pay it back). This suggests that at the end of the day there are real market restiants on the ability of banks to issue money - their reputations, the ability of the people they lend to to pay it back 9which is linked to their real world jobs and incomes), and the rate at which banks lend to each other. Have we juct come to the end of an era of cheap,. irresponsible credit, and the real world - people's ability to get a job and pay back their loans - is back again? I also wonder if we are now going to see an envireonment much more amenable to community currencies which mean that while people can't get bank credit, even though the fundamntals are no different from before the crunch, they will want to use other forms of currency, perhaps on a large scale, as they did in Argentina? Just bouncing ideas around out loud. Shoot me down, someone? Peter North Department of Geography University of Liverpool -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080411/b086fb67/attachment.html From helend at contact.net.nz Sun Apr 13 06:22:49 2008 From: helend at contact.net.nz (Helen Dew) Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:22:49 +1200 Subject: [LE] Rob Hopkins on local currency Message-ID: <006901c89d50$535c46c0$0201a8c0@IBMKEKR55A> Hi Everyone, The excerpt below is taken from near the end of a recent RNZ interview with Rob Hopkins, initiator of the Transition Towns movement. See attached for full interview. RH I think realistically, we're still a long, long way away from it (becoming a truly resilient town) really, I mean, as everywhere is. But what we've been doing quite effectively I think is to start to really engage people in thinking about the issues very seriously. We've started to put in place a number of projects which - I mean something like the Totnes pound, you know, in Argentina when their economy collapsed a few years ago, things like the Totnes pound spontaneously sprung up all over the country. BC That's right, they did, didn't they. People just used their own currency because they lost faith in the official stuff. RH. Exactly. But what we're trying to do here is to bring a currency like that in at a point when our economy here is still growing and is still booming - although actually that is just starting to turn at the moment. So, if we can get it in now, and we can get people familiar with shopping in a different currency, we have the shops who have their systems set up to be able to use it, they feel excited about using their own currency, and as well, in the same way - we've produced a local food directory, so that's about linking people with their local food producers - you know, that kind of stuff, it's about starting to get that in place. And also I think it's about starting to weave the social networks that will really be as important as the windmills - you know, whether the Chamber of Commerce are happy talking to all the different groups, and - so we're doing a lot of that work which is going on under the surface, which is hard to quantify, hard to see when you come, but I think has been doing a lot in terms of resilience-building. ***** Helen Dew 06 379 8034 Living Economies www.le.org.nz Transition Towns Wairarapa http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/index.php/Wairarapa/Wairarapa Our town, Our future, Our choice -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080413/fe230883/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rob Hopkins_RNZ-transcript.doc Type: application/msword Size: 51712 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080413/fe230883/attachment-0001.doc From P.J.North at liverpool.ac.uk Sun Apr 13 07:01:06 2008 From: P.J.North at liverpool.ac.uk (North, Peter) Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:01:06 +0100 Subject: [LE] Rob Hopkins on local currency References: <006901c89d50$535c46c0$0201a8c0@IBMKEKR55A> Message-ID: <27EAF64BC4AA6F4690E79EC123BF9CC8B02C94@EVSSTAFF1.livad.liv.ac.uk> My understanding is that the Totnes Pound is doing well in terms of the number of businesses using it, and the number of people spending them with those businesses, but there is a marked reluctance for people to accept the Pound as change. As it is not obvious how the shops that accept the pounds can pass them on to their suppliers, the shops that accept it seem to be starting to silt up with Pounds they can't pass on. They can go back to the Totnes Pound issuers and cash them back at a discount, but don?t seem to be. Perhaps is it needs a special trip? The result is the loop is closing. In Great Barrington, they have locally-owned banks that the shops that accept local currency can go to, to change it back into dollars, and active brokers who make sure this happens. This isn?t an option we have in the UK, but we could use a Credit Union as local ?banker of last resort?. If the Totnes Pound concept becomes much more widespread given the credit crunch I hope they will avoid the problems of Argentina, which were caused by centralised over-emission of the notes, leading unsurprisingly to inflation and forgery, followed by a financial crisis when the press accused barter of being a 'scam'. Where the notes were locally managed and issuance was controlled, things were better, but the 'bad' centrally-issued notes took the well-run local notes down with them. Peter North Department of Geography University of Liverpool -----Original Message----- From: le-members-bounces at wji.com on behalf of Helen Dew Sent: Sun 13/04/2008 11:22 To: le-members at list.wji.com Subject: [LE] Rob Hopkins on local currency Hi Everyone, The excerpt below is taken from near the end of a recent RNZ interview with Rob Hopkins, initiator of the Transition Towns movement. See attached for full interview. RH I think realistically, we're still a long, long way away from it (becoming a truly resilient town) really, I mean, as everywhere is. But what we've been doing quite effectively I think is to start to really engage people in thinking about the issues very seriously. We've started to put in place a number of projects which - I mean something like the Totnes pound, you know, in Argentina when their economy collapsed a few years ago, things like the Totnes pound spontaneously sprung up all over the country. BC That's right, they did, didn't they. People just used their own currency because they lost faith in the official stuff. RH. Exactly. But what we're trying to do here is to bring a currency like that in at a point when our economy here is still growing and is still booming - although actually that is just starting to turn at the moment. So, if we can get it in now, and we can get people familiar with shopping in a different currency, we have the shops who have their systems set up to be able to use it, they feel excited about using their own currency, and as well, in the same way - we've produced a local food directory, so that's about linking people with their local food producers - you know, that kind of stuff, it's about starting to get that in place. And also I think it's about starting to weave the social networks that will really be as important as the windmills - you know, whether the Chamber of Commerce are happy talking to all the different groups, and - so we're doing a lot of that work which is going on under the surface, which is hard to quantify, hard to see when you come, but I think has been doing a lot in terms of resilience-building. ***** Helen Dew 06 379 8034 Living Economies www.le.org.nz Transition Towns Wairarapa http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/index.php/Wairarapa/Wairarapa Our town, Our future, Our choice -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080413/547917e0/attachment.html From cmhensch at gmail.com Mon Apr 21 00:41:45 2008 From: cmhensch at gmail.com (Christoph Hensch) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:41:45 +1200 Subject: [LE] concept for a transition town currency Message-ID: <480C1B09.5090707@gmail.com> I've been giving the idea of a transition currency for transition towns a throught. Here is the result of my deliberations: regards, Christoph *** This is a concept idea for a transition currency. A transition currency is needed to enable economic activities of a transition town initiative, without the obstacles of lack of conventional money. It is also needed to connect up different initiatives throughout the country and internationally. A transition currency needs to correspond to other principles applied in transition towns, mainly it needs to be sustainable and it needs to be free (not interest bearing). The currency needs to be able to mediate trade in small amounts as well as in large amounts. Building on the experiences with existing community currencies here in NZ and elsewhere in the world, I'd like to propose that a transition currency is: - a mutual credit currency, without a central issuing authority. (The Internet-based CES could serve as the central accounting system.) - a currency that is available in different forms, electronically and in paper (or any other physical form like coins,etc.). - a currency that is indexed against the Kiwi$, starting at 100 at the time of the start, and then appreciates according to RBNZ inflation index. In order to extend the capacity of the currency, I propose that: - individual limits are restricted to $500 or so (this is really up to the local administrators). - individual limits can be extended by making a collateral available in the form of goods (to be warehoused or sold by the system) or service vouchers that the issuer must honour on presentation. - individual limits can be extended by the deposit of Kiwi$'s, which will be kept in trust. The depositor can withdraw them at any time against TransitionCurrency, at the indexed (exchange) rate. While many communities could use existing Green Dollar/LETS systems, I would not recommend it: - Green Dollars/LETS have its baggage from the past, often they are derelict, have unresolved issues from the past and unsettled accounts (bad debt) - Green Dollars/LETS were set up in a different era with a different mindset - Green Dollars operate according to strict LETS criteria, while a TransitionCurrency needs to be more flexible to enable trading in larger amounts. The learning gained with Green Dollars now need to be applied in a newer generation of currencies. Such a currency would always be available in sufficient quantity. The usefulness depends entirely on how many people participate with the system. Using vouchers would enable people to participate in one-off transactions, and give them hopefully a taste of how this works. -- Skype me at: cmhensch http://cocreate26.blogspot.com From paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com Mon Apr 21 01:56:13 2008 From: paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com (Geoff. Waterhouse) Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:56:13 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [LE] HELEN HARVEY speaks to a prophet Message-ID: <807076.17423.qm@web30604.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear Madam, Kevin Moore sent a copy of your article to me, among other people. Your comments about Kevin to me, at least, are typical of the "establisment press" and politicians who try to con us into thinking that everything is fine and we have nothing to worry about. I doubt kevin sees himself as a "prophet," more as a "watchman," I fancy. I doubt that he has said that "the end? is nigh," more like "The end of the world as we know it is near." He is not alone in his belief. I suggest you read the article below. I have spoken to some "ordinary people" who study and read and they too, to my surprise I might add, agree with Kevin's views. Ther ARE "non sheeple people" out there who don't believe the politicians' and media spin. There ARE still some good sources of HONEST (not many?I grant you) reporting out there but the "other side" news is, at worst,?largely ignored or, at best, ridiculed by those with big mouths, deep pockets and vested interests. Consider this for a moment. What do the ARABS have? Oil and a whole lot of sand. What do countries like Argentina and India have? A whole lot of food and no oil. SOOOOOOOO, the Arabs jack up?the price of oil and the Argentinians and the?Indians?jack up the price of wheat and rice to pay for the higher priced oil , then the Arabs jack up the price of oil again for the higher priced wheat and rice, and so it goes on. We have New Zealand, in hock, not up to its eyeballs, but up to the top of its head, on a par with Latvia and Bulgaria- how about that for company!?!?!?! We are conned into an FTA with China, with whom we already have a trade deficit of over $3 Billion a year WITHOUT the FTA. Who knows what it will be WITH the FTA!?We export logs to China, we import paper from China ( and probably borrow money from them to buy the paper) and we have New Zealand paper mills closing down! WOW! what economic brilliance. I can understand Kevin changing the subject and going of on tangents, the problems we face are of such enormity it has to be difficult to stay on one subject. I will say this, at least he got the message out in your article even though you, in all probability, think he is some kind of nut case. Today I saw a video clip of Condi rice, sha said something about it shouldn't take a day's wages for a loaf of bread-probably coincidence that in Revelation 6:6 it says "And?I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say "A measure of wheat (enough for a loaf of bread) for a penny (a day's wages) and three measures of barley for a penny" makes you think a bit doesn't it? There is SOOOOOOO much more, but i may keep changing the subject and going off on tangents! Regards Geoff. Waterhouse? End of the world as we know it You might feel fine, but high oil cost, scarcity mean American Empire is about to come crashing down Guy R. McPherson University of Arizona professor Apr. 6, 2008 12:00 AM Peak oil spells the end of civilization. And, if it's not already too late, perhaps it will prevent the extinction of our species. M. King Hubbert, a petroleum geologist employed by Shell Oil Co., described peak oil in 1956. Production of crude oil, like the production of many non-renewable resources, follows a bell-shaped curve. The top of the curve is termed 'peak oil,' or 'Hubbert's peak,' and it represents the halfway point for production. The bell-shaped curve applies at all levels, from field to country to planet. After discovery, production ramps up relatively quickly. But when the light, sweet crude on top of the field runs out, increased energy and expense are required to extract the underlying heavy, sour crude. At some point, the energy required to extract a barrel of oil exceeds the energy contained in barrel of oil, so the pumps shut down. Most of the world's oil pumps are about to shut down. We have sufficient supply to keep the world running for 30 years or so, at the current level of demand. But that's irrelevant because the days of inexpensive oil are behind us. And the American Empire absolutely demands cheap oil. Never mind the 3,000-mile Caesar salad to which we've become accustomed. Cheap oil forms the basis for the 12,000-mile supply chain underlying the 'just-in-time' delivery of plastic toys from China. There goes next year's iPod. In 1956, Hubbert predicted the continental United States would peak in 1970. He was correct, and the 1970s gave us a small, temporary taste of the sociopolitical and economic consequences of expensive oil. We passed the world oil peak in 2005, and we've been easing down the other side by acquiring oil at the point of a gun - actually, guns are the smallest of the many weapons we're using - paying more for oil and destroying one culture after another as the high price of crude oil forces supply disruptions and power outages in Third World countries. The world peaked at 74.3 million barrels per day in May 2005. The two-year decline to 73.2 million barrels per day produced a doubling of the price of crude. Later this year, we fall off the oil-supply cliff, with global supply plummeting below 70 million barrels/day. Oil at merely $100 per barrel will seem like the good old days. Within a decade, we'll be staring down the barrel of a crisis: Oil at $400 per barrel brings down the American Empire, the project of globalization and water coming through the taps. Never mind happy motoring through the never-ending suburbs in the Valley of the Sun. In a decade, unemployment will be approaching 100 percent, inflation will be running at 1,000 percent and central heating will be a pipe dream. In short, this country will be well on its way to the post-industrial Stone Age. After all, no alternative energy sources scale up to the level of a few million people, much less the 6.5 billion who currently occupy Earth. Oil is necessary to extract and deliver coal and natural gas. Oil is needed to produce solar panels and wind turbines, and to maintain the electrical grid. Ninety percent of the oil consumed in this country is burned by airplanes, ships, trains and automobiles. You can kiss goodbye groceries at the local big-box grocery store: Our entire system of food production and delivery depends on cheap oil. If you're alive in a decade, it will be because you've figured out how to forage locally. The death and suffering will be unimaginable. We have come to depend on cheap oil for the delivery of food, water, shelter and medicine. Most of us are incapable of supplying these four key elements of personal survival, so trouble lies ahead when we are forced to develop means of acquiring them that don't involve a quick trip to Wal-Mart. On the other hand, the forthcoming cessation of economic growth is truly good news for the world's species and cultures. In addition, the abrupt halt of fossil-fuel consumption may slow the warming of our planetary home, thereby preventing our extinction at our own hand. Our individual survival, and our common future, depends on our ability to quickly make other arrangements. We can view this as a personal challenge, or we can take the Hemingway out. The choice is ours. For individuals interested in making other arrangements, it's time to start acquiring myriad requisite skills. It is far too late to save civilization for 300 million Americans, much less the rest of the planet's citizens, but we can take joy in a purpose-filled, intimate life. It's time to push away from the shore, to let the winds of change catch the sails of our leaky boat. It's time to trust in ourselves, our neighbors and the Earth that sustains us all. Painful though it might be, it's time to abandon the cruise ship of empire in exchange for a lifeboat. Guy R. McPherson is a professor of conservation biology at the University of Arizona. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080421/87ce5032/attachment-0001.html From deirdre.kent at gmail.com Mon Apr 21 06:33:25 2008 From: deirdre.kent at gmail.com (Deirdre Kent) Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:33:25 +1200 Subject: [LE] concept for a transition town currency In-Reply-To: <480C1B09.5090707@gmail.com> References: <480C1B09.5090707@gmail.com> Message-ID: The first reading of this only. But let me respond to say how great it is that you picked up the collateral bit, just as I did from Miquel's description of the rural Argentinian LETS. We are starting to learn from bitter experience and get businesslike about LETS. Yea well done. Will think about the rest but too tired now. Deirdre On 21/04/2008, Christoph Hensch wrote: > > I've been giving the idea of a transition currency for transition towns > a throught. Here is the result of my deliberations: > regards, > Christoph > > *** > > This is a concept idea for a transition currency. > > A transition currency is needed to enable economic activities of a > transition town initiative, without the obstacles of lack of > conventional money. It is also needed to connect up different > initiatives throughout the country and internationally. > > A transition currency needs to correspond to other principles applied in > transition towns, mainly it needs to be sustainable and it needs to be > free (not interest bearing). The currency needs to be able to mediate > trade in small amounts as well as in large amounts. > > Building on the experiences with existing community currencies here in > NZ and elsewhere in the world, I'd like to propose that a transition > currency is: > - a mutual credit currency, without a central issuing authority. (The > Internet-based CES could serve as the central accounting system.) > - a currency that is available in different forms, electronically and in > paper (or any other physical form like coins,etc.). > - a currency that is indexed against the Kiwi$, starting at 100 at the > time of the start, and then appreciates according to RBNZ inflation index. > > In order to extend the capacity of the currency, I propose that: > - individual limits are restricted to $500 or so (this is really up to > the local administrators). > - individual limits can be extended by making a collateral available in > the form of goods (to be warehoused or sold by the system) or service > vouchers that the issuer must honour on presentation. > - individual limits can be extended by the deposit of Kiwi$'s, which > will be kept in trust. The depositor can withdraw them at any time > against TransitionCurrency, at the indexed (exchange) rate. > > While many communities could use existing Green Dollar/LETS systems, I > would not recommend it: > - Green Dollars/LETS have its baggage from the past, often they are > derelict, have unresolved issues from the past and unsettled accounts > (bad debt) > - Green Dollars/LETS were set up in a different era with a different > mindset > - Green Dollars operate according to strict LETS criteria, while a > TransitionCurrency needs to be more flexible to enable trading in larger > amounts. The learning gained with Green Dollars now need to be applied > in a newer generation of currencies. > > Such a currency would always be available in sufficient quantity. The > usefulness depends entirely on how many people participate with the > system. Using vouchers would enable people to participate in one-off > transactions, and give them hopefully a taste of how this works. > > > -- > Skype me at: cmhensch > http://cocreate26.blogspot.com > > _______________________________________________ > LE-Members mailing list > LE-Members at wji.com > http://list.wji.com/mailman/listinfo/le-members > -- Deirdre Kent http://ranuiorchard.blogspot.com http://localcurrencies.blogspot.com My Skype name is waikanae 202 Otaki Gorge Road RD1 Otaki New Zealand 5581 Ph +64 6 3647779 +64 21 728852 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080421/eb4f8195/attachment.html From paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com Wed Apr 30 17:16:48 2008 From: paihiaradisecabs at yahoo.com (Geoff. Waterhouse) Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:16:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [LE] New Zealand Living beyond Its Means!!!!!!!!!!!! Message-ID: <723598.73740.qm@web30605.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear Members, I found this yesterday. I wonder how long it took this guy to figure it out and what his first clue was. Was it the $50 Million March deficit? Mr. Goldsworthy says that "New Zealand is basically living beyond its means." I think he has a great gift of understand, seems to me that New Zealand is living totally beyond its means, but then, what do I know? Regards Geoff. Waterhouse NZ living beyond its means Economy in for a hard landing say employers; EMA says interest rates should not move, in order to slow consumer demand 30 April 2008 Employers fears the economy is in for a hard landing. New Zealand's trade performance in March was worse than expected, with a deficit of $50 million in the trade balance. Employers and Manufacturers Association spokesman Bruce Goldsworthy says New Zealand is basically living beyond its means. He says it is important to keep interest rates where they are to help slow consumer demand and reduce the deficit. 08 NZCity, NewsTalkZB ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.wji.com/pipermail/le-members/attachments/20080430/f381fef8/attachment.html