co*create 26

The "Strong Sustainability" Paradigm

2009-06-30T04:53:00.002+10:00

Recently I've been motivated to think about what peak oil and money systems have to do with where we need to focus our efforts for a better future. Here is what I've come up with:

The Strong Sustainability Paradigm

The current economic crisis is not about the conflict between capitalism versus socialism, left versus right or about questions of globalisation versus social justice. The current crisis happens at a time when we start feeling the impacts of climate change and the degradation of the biosphere on a large scale. It has become an opportunity to examine our perceptions of our personal and economic relationships with the natural world. The current crisis gives us an opportunity to move from the business as usual of economic growth to an understanding and adoption of ecological economics.

How can we find a real response to the needs of climate change and challenges of our times? In terms of current popular culture, a fundamental realignment of approach and priority and a culture shift is needed. We need an approach of Strong Sustainability. Changing the conventional order of things, this approach postulates that the economy is a subset of society (humanity) and that society is a subset of the ecology. All activities therefore ultimately need to conform to ecological limits.

Ecological systems operate in cycles and are self-regenerating. Consumption and the use of biosphere services need to happen within the limits of this regenerative capacity.

A successful reorientation is possible and it requires that we adopt a new set of ethics. In the new set of ethics, we leave the purely utilitarian approach behind and adopt a set of ethics that values life and the integrity of all systems that support life above all else.

The Ecology
The success of this approach and the the application of policies can be measured by a set of specific indicators. What must be measured, first and foremost, is the health and quality of the ecology/biosphere. Among the available indicators to measure this are the ecological footprint, biodiversity indicators, air, water and soil quality standards.

Society
The next priority must be the quality of life and the development of human society. There are indicators that can be used for hat purpose, like the Human Development Index, and other Quality of Life measurements.

Economics
“The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment.” What does that mean? Not only does it mean that economic institutions and systems need to function in accordance with nature, but it also means that economic indicators come in third priority only, after the more important ecological and societal indicators. Since a strong sustainability approach cannot accommodate an ever and exponentially growing economy, a set of indicators must be adopted which reflect the quality of economic activity, rather than just its size and trough put. One such such indicator may be Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI).

Economic Transformation
Following the principle of perceiving the economy as a subset of ecological activities, economic systems, institutions and policies need to be designed in a way that they permit and promote a steady state and ecological economy which flexibly adapts to natural cycles of growth and decline. Economic activity can be steered by ecological taxes, a social safety net that promotes social justice and a raft of other policies. Institutions like the financial and money system and values that are built on the premise of unending growth need to be abolished and replaced with systems that can usefully act within the natural limits of nature.

The financial system needs our special attention because it is the 'operating system' of the economy. The global economic growth imperative is inherent in the nature and integral to our current money system, and as a result one of the main drivers of global warming and environmental destruction. Any challenge to the established economic growth paradigm must not just include the regulation of the financial industry, but extend to a fundamental reform of the money system. Invention and transformation can draw on countless experimental as well as established and proven alternatives to the current financial infrastructure which is based on bank issued debt money with compound interest.

Conclusion
Such an approach is a significant departure from the conventional way of thinking. It will not only provide a new vision for the future, but also require workable ways of transitioning from the current economic thinking to a new economy. Because in current practice economics and financial profitability and safety are the final bottom line, any vision of ecological economics and the policies for transitioning to it must be able to address any economic concerns individuals and the business community might have. We must be clearly able to show that the welfare of people is guaranteed even if we work within the ecological constraints of the planet and the land and abandon the growth imperative, and that overall we will be better off this way, rather than when we keep ignoring the ecological limits.

Understanding 'Zero'

2009-03-28T19:34:00.003+11:00

We have a dire need to expand our thinking around the understanding of money and currency. We also need to escape the box of the perceived need for never ending exponential growth. Using a mutual credit system could give us just about what we need to expand our thinking. Here, the concept of 'Zero' is an essential ingredient. Here it's not about the flow of money, or about having more and more – here it is all about relationships!

(Image from FreeFoto.com)

What does “Zero” stand for?
- Zero stands for the sum of all currency in the system. In other words, if one adds up all the negative account balances and then adds all the positive account balances, one should arrive at zero. This will be true as long as a foolproof accounting system is used where every transaction is recorded on both the credit side and the debit side.

- Zero stands for balance. However, that balance won’t be guaranteed if the Zero point is shifted by giving away “free” Points or if the balance is upset by granting larger credit limits than debit limits. As long as balance is kept, Green Dollars in circulation keep their value.
Zero stands for the dynamic centre. In order for a mutual credit system to work, everyone needs to engage in equal and balanced giving and receiving. There are always enough points in the system for trading. Participants need to trade through Zero at least once per year, or even better, several times per year.

- Zero stands for the fact that relationships are more important than numbers. We’re conditioned in this society that “more is better” and we need to “get rich.” Both propositions are meaningless in the context of a mutual credit system. In such a system we find economic security not because we accumulate, but because we build relationships with other people.

- Zero is also the symbol of a circle, which stands for the community of which the participant is a member. In the conventional economy, we must all fend for ourselves in competition with everyone else. In a mutual credit system, we’re all in it together. When creating the means of exchange (Points, Green Dollars or any other unit), we do so ourselves in a transaction with another community member. What counts are only three positions in relation to the system: we’re either in dedication to the community because we’ve consumed ahead of providing something, or we’re in “recognition” to the community because we’ve provided before consuming. We also stay within the limits that we as a community have all agreed to. The community needs all three, and therefore both dedication (debit) and recognition (credit) are valued equally. The only other necessary ingredient is solidarity with the community: when we seek to trade to fulfil some of our needs and wants, we need to look within our own community first (buy local, so to speak) before going into the dollar economy. A mutual credit exchange suffers seriously if members abandon their solidarity with the community.

- And finally, Zero is our balance when we join and Zero is our balance when we leave. We enter the system at Zero, and the only acceptable way out is at Zero again. Otherwise, a convenience to the individual creates a problem for everyone else in the circle.

Understanding and living the concept of Zero require a culture of “we,” a culture of community. Calling the unit of currency in a mutual credit system a “dollar” is unhelpful, because it tricks us into thinking and behaving according to our mainstream competitive consumer culture. Applying the concept of Zero helps maximise trade while preserving equilibrium within the community and supports functional, fulfilling relationships between individuals and the community. By making everyone a winner, a well-maintained equilibrium increases the quality of life for the whole community.

What can we expect from Obama?

2009-02-10T18:56:00.005+11:00

A declaration of independence from Wall Street

Since we have so much money to bail out banks, why don't we have a fraction of it for education, healthcare and environmental restoration?

TIME Magazine & CNN report on alternative currencies

2008-12-14T15:13:00.000+11:00

Alternative Currencies are growing in popularity - even the TIME magazine is writing about them:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1865467-3,00.html

Where from here?

2008-10-12T09:40:00.000+11:00

Even though we are in the worst financial crisis in decades, it is still very seldom one comes across anyone who can actually see the big picture of what is going on, someone who dares looking at the long term and recognises the money system for what it is. Most people are oblivious to the mechanics of our financial system and its profound influence on human behaviour!

Here is one of the rare articles that clearly outlines the predicament we are in, and that also doesn't sink into doom and gloom, but actually points a way out! I've noticed that so far all solutions to the financial crisis that are being proposed aim to extend the life of the current system. All those solutions will ultimately fail, if we don't start looking outside the box.

The elephant in the middle of the room, that everyone keeps ignoring, is the mechanism of debt-based money with interest, that set in motion the need for an ever and exponentially growing economy. That means that ultimately all social, cultural, natural and any other capital will need to be converted into money, to feed the system. A good example is the creation of tradeable emission rights, where we even convert pollution into money and create yet another opportunity to make profit.

The system is is like an all-devouring monster on the loose. But the borrowing of new money to pay for old debts and interest cannot go on for ever. There are natural limits to growth on this planet. Sooner or later we have to face bankruptcy and collapse.

What are the solutions, what is the way out? The only solution that will ultimately work is to abolish the bank-run interest-incurring debt-money system. A partial solution could be to reform the money system and restore the ability of government to spend currency interest-free into circulation. But, looking at the wide spectrum of how trade and exchange can happen, it would probably be very wise to move away from a monocultural approach of "one currency rules the whole economy", to an approach of diversity, where a host of systems and currencies take care of balancing out all the giving and receiving that is constantly occurring.

The diversity of systems would include local currency systems as well as national and international systems running concurrently, alongside each other. Time banking and various forms of gift economies would offer even more freedom of choice for all participants in our society. This would provide for a smooth running of the economy, even if one particular system, as right now, is in deep crisis.

To restore the social and environmental damage that has been inflicted on the planet, many other accompanying improvements could be implemented, like taxing the 'bads' instead of the 'goods' (an ecological tax reform) and the restoration of the commons. There are probably quite a few other measures that need to be taken to restore balance in both the economy and in our relationship with the environment. In short: to create a balanced, sustainable and empowering economy - based on and respecting the living systems of our planet.

Money – why isn't there ever enough?

2008-09-28T19:06:00.000+10:00

Our economy is drifting into increasingly difficult times. The media is full of headlines about failing finance companies and investment banks, rising food and fuel prices, unaffordable mortgages, high exchange rates and the 'credit crunch'. After months of assurances that the problem is over, it is getting worse. The American government is preparing to bail out the finance industry on Wall Street with a trillion dollars.

Alongside that, we also notice that the inequality between rich and poor is not being addressed and will likely keep increasing. Further more, we are in an election year, and the main parties are out in force with easy answers - tax cuts, apparently the panacea for our economic woes.

It might be time to explore a bit further what is underlying all those symptoms we are experiencing. At the core of our economic system is something we call money and the financial industry. Most people never think about how money works, except that we will hurt if we don't have it, and therefore the best thing is to have as much of it as possible. The amount of money in circulation is rising rapidly - between 10% and 15% any given year, which is far beyond the increase of population in New Zealand - and this is far beyond the growth of the economy. Yet there never seems to be enough.

If we take a closer look at how the money system works, then we see that the current difficulties were entirely predictable. Price rises across the board are caused by different things. There are at least three major reasons for why everything becomes more expensive: a) offer and demand in the international market place, b) expectation of profits and c) the cost of money.

We are currently experiencing significant increases in the cost of basic items we need in life, like food and fuel. For both of these necessities, and for many other items, we depend on the global market. Peak oil and political uncertainty in many regions drive commodity prices up, fuel and food get more expensive because of higher transport costs, export restrictions and speculation. The demand and supply mechanism of the world markets is further enhanced with exchange rate uncertainties, with the highly valued NZ$ making imports even more expensive.

The second reason for expensive prices is the expectation of profits. Oil prices, after hitting a high of almost $150 in July, have come down to below $100. Why is that in such a short period of time? Has there been a significant change in production – or is this rather a result of speculative trading with investors taking profits? In any case, those variances have a significant impact onto the prices we have to pay as a consumer. The same applies for food items.

The third reason why prices (and mortgages and rents) keep rising ia the cost of money! There is hardly any property in the country that doesn't have a mortgage on it and most businesses operate on borrowed money as well. Despite the recent lowering of interest rates by the Reserve Bank, mortgages and other loans are still really expensive. At today's mortgage rates, one pays about 1.5 times the price of a house to the bank for the service of creating the money – that makes the buying of a house more than twice as expensive than the price advertised by the real estate agency. The cost of money creation – interest – is factored into all prices we pay, for everything, not just for major items like houses.

This takes us right to the heart of how our money is created. It is a fact that about 98.5% of our money is loaned into existence by a bank that is collecting interest for the privilege to do so. Nowadays, money doesn't represent the value of gold anymore, as it used to do in the past. Today's currencies are 'fiat' currencies – money is just created by a key stroke on a computer – out of nothing!

The only protection (or value!) money has, is the law that makes it 'legal tender' – that means that the government requires you to use a particular kind of 'money' to pay taxes. At the same time, if traders cannot agree to use another means of exchange among themselves, the law requires that one uses legal tender to settle any outstanding debt.

When money is loaned into existence, the banks are required to balance the numbers keyed into an account with a balancing account entry – in the case of a mortgage the value of the property mortgaged. This is how the 'sub-prime' crises arose at the first place, when money was created for people who could not service the mortgage and didn't have enough property value to cover the loan. This all got worse when the real estate bubble burst and property values slumped. Since we live with a 'financial monoculture', where we have only one kind of money to run our economy, we all are extremely vulnerable to any upsets in the financial industry.

Well then, what is being done about it? Having only one kind of currency to oil the economy, there are not many means to guide it. Reserve Banks in many countries believe that they only need to adjust interest rates to guide the economy. Currently the main aim seems to be to create a lot of money, by lowering interest rates, to keep the economy oiled – especially the speculative stock and currency markets, which far exceed 95% of all economic turnover.

And still - why is there never enough money? Simply because the system is designed to be that way on purpose!

What can we, the people, do about it? Maybe there is a great opportunity in this crisis! We've been putting all eggs into one basket: bank-issued money. Now, with the financial industry in dire straits, we might start looking at other solutions. Maybe it is time to transition from bank created money to community created money, from money created for private gain to money created for the common good, from money which is very expensive to money which is an almost free medium.

There are many thinkers and economists who have developed concepts of monetary reform and monetary transformation. Monetary reformers usually call on government to retake the power of money creation and to do so in the service of the people. Monetary transformers, often coming together in community groups, go ahead and create their own means of exchange and use it to empower and grow local communities, insulating them somewhat from the ravages of globalisation and insensitive government policies. Both have in common that currency should be issued without interest, and therefore radically reduce the cost of money.

More and more people are discovering that we have a multitude of ways at our disposal of trading and exchanging services and goods among each other. Money was invented because direct barter is often inconvenient. Money that is universally acceptable is a tangible form of trust – trust that we will receive something back for what we have provided on one hand, and trust that we contribute for what we have taken and consumed on the other hand. This trust could very well and easily be expressed in the form of complementary community currencies, timebanks and other non-exploitative exchange mechanisms. Trust could also be an implicit part of a culture of a community or nation. Such a culture would provide naturally occurring opportunities to share in the abundance that exists, unconditionally, without fear of lack. Ultimately, every individual human being can come to the realisation that we are all part of Nature, and that Nature and its intricate and interwoven systems will not stop providing – except of course if we destroy it in the process of satisfying and 'servicing' our current scarcity based money and economic system.

Transition Aotearoa

2008-09-07T17:04:00.000+10:00

I haven't been very active on this blog recently, though quite busy elsewhere. I've been discovering social networking - though in a more sensible fashion than I usually get with Facebook and Co.

My current online social network of choice is Transition Aotearoa, a ning application that has managed to gather 372 members since 18 April this year, attracting 5 new people every two days.

A lot of my online activities went in there! Transition to a new culture of doing this - a promissing start!

The car that runs on water

2008-06-22T10:29:00.000+10:00

Chainsaw massacre on World Environment Day

2008-06-05T12:58:00.000+10:00

http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4573334a6009.html

The Christchurch City Council has ordered the destruction of six trees along City Mall on World Environment Day.

The trees were removed early this morning from an area between Colombo Street and the Bridge of Remembrance as work progresses on Project City Mall.

Concerned residents, who contacted The Press to report the destruction, said it made a mockery of the idea of sustainability on what was World Environment Day.

The Christchurch City Council said the trees were identified for removal either because they were in decline or because their root systems would be affected by the construction of a new service lane planned for the area.

Project director Sean Whitaker said removal of the trees would also open up the mall to create a clear view of the Bridge of Remembrance.

New Zealand has been chosen to host this year's World Environment Day, which was aimed at raising awareness around the wiorld about climate change.

More than $100!

2008-06-01T17:11:00.000+10:00

Last week, for the first time, I paid more than $100 to fill up my tank. Suddenly, it seems, filling up my car changed from being a casual payment to a major expense. It was this additional digit in the price that made peak oil suddenly all real in my personal life.

Of course, high oil prices have been a big problem for many people around the world for some time now (Shocked! How the oil crisis has hit the world.)

The oil price has been creeping up for a long time now. It's been at $135, and is currently at $127 as I'm writing this post. It will continue to rise, and together the price of petrol will rise, too!

What consequences does this have for me? What options do I have to reduce my petrol use? There are several options, though there are also constraints. The obvious constraint that comes to mind is family: currently we are taking our two little girls to the preschool. It would be an inconvenient and time-wasting procedure if we didn't have a car. This, simply, because the way our city is built and the way public transport operates. For my way to work I have a convenient direct bus line, and I suppose I could take up bicycling again - even though I don't feel particularly safe riding a bike. Again, that is mainly due to the way our roading system is built. And yes, of course, we could down-scale the car we are driving, to something more modest, more modern and more fuel-efficient.

However, putting those personal actions into the big context, I realize that it won't bring about the change we need. Nor does government policy that spends millions for transport, where only a tiny little fraction of the budget goes to public transport and bicycling. Because of the general increase of living costs, certain voices call for the reduction of taxes on fuel - that would be a futile move as well, as the temporary relief it gives to the consumer will be voided by further oil price increases in the short term, while government would be permanently losing a source of income. I'm convinced, only radical change really make a difference.

Given our culture of mobility and the layout of modern settlement, it is likely that we will continue to depend on individual personal transport. The only way out is if we finally disconnect our transport modes from the consumption of fossil fuels. It is about time that we develop alternative car engines, and mass-market them.

For years now I've been intrigued by the idea of an air powered car. It seems that now, finally, the Indian company Tata is starting to build them. How long will it take until they come to New Zealand? I hope we don't have to wait for very long ...!!!

It is slowly sinking in ....

2008-05-21T05:45:00.000+10:00

An interesting little video on YouTube ....

Still a long way to go ...

2008-03-30T07:53:00.000+11:00

This is a letter sent the to The Press, in response to the Earth Hour.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4456988a6009.html

The Earth Hour in Christchurch was a success, far exceeding the expectations of the organisers. Yet, it was a small step on a long path. In order to succeed, our society needs to transition to a culture of sustainability. The 12.8% of reduction in electricity use during one hour, preceded by a long media campaign needs to lead to comprehensive Energy Descent Plans for each village, town, city and country. Our mentality of 'more is better' will have to be replaced with the common sense of 'less is better' and our economic systems and ideology need to turn away from the need of constant growth at all costs. Still a long way to go, indeed ...

'Official Status' of Transition Towns

2008-03-23T08:47:00.000+11:00

'Transition Towns' is a new movement that has arisen in response to climate change and peak oil (and peak other stuff). People and groups in the UK have been pioneering the ideas and concept.

They've also started to formalize processes in some ways, and one of them is setting out criterias of what is to constitute an 'official' transition town. This of course has stirred up some discussions, notably on the New Zealand discussion list.

Here is my response to the thread:

Thank you very much for bringing this up. I think this is a very important issue. It is important because in order to succeed with transitioning to a better and sustainable future we need to be
grounded in our local environment. This not only in terms of food and energy production, but also in terms of economics, culture, philosophy and worldview. I noticed that we had some discussions in our Christchurch group on the same subject of this business of 'official status' as well, without coming to a final conclusion on what that is supposed to mean of us.

While things like an 'official status' are clearly hangovers from our current traditional culturally imperialist midset, I also have an explanaition from the permaculture point of view. One of the
permaculture principles my teachers tought me was put into following words: "everything gardens". Every participant in the system is trying to influence its immediate environment in a way as to create more livable conditions for itself to survive and spread. Applying this principle to the social and economic sphere helps me understand a lot of what is going on.

Everyone is constantly engaged in manipulating his or her environment and relationships with others in a way that suits his/her own character and purposes. This is neither good nor bad - this just is. All, everyone and everything is doing it all the time. But just because someone/something else is in the process of remodelling his/her/its systemic environment to suit its own purpose/character doesn't mean that we have to submit to those efforts ourselves.

As far as I'm concerned, if someone declares his/herself as 'official' - then this is just their own problem and not mine. I only have to decide what I need to do in order to stay true to myself. In terms of the Transition Towns movement this might mean: Engage in networking to learn from others, if they have to teach us something useful. Yet on the other hand we might ignore what comes across as cultural imperialism and we should not feel obliged to submit to some 'official
guidelines' that are handed down from some gurus on the other side of the world.

To me, the Transition Town's movement is about more than just energy descent. In order do succeed, we also need to create a new culture that is steeped in the systems' approach, rooted in the local environment of our planet and has evolved to embrace cultural and spiritual diversity.

So, Gail, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I think is it absolutely necessary that we are clear on why we are engaging the transition process as well as how we are relating to others who are
engaged in the same process, locally as well as internationally. While we are often engaged in discussing and learning the nuts and bolts - developing an understanding of the big picture of underlying dynamics is often more challenging.

Tiny village sues big oil and power companies over global warming

2008-02-28T06:14:00.001+11:00

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/294294.html

A tiny Alaska village eroding into the Arctic Ocean sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies Tuesday, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threatens the community’s existence.

The city of Kivalina and a federally recognized tribe, the Alaska Native Village of Kivalina, sued Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PL C, seven other oil companies, 14 power companies and one coal company in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco.

Kivalina is a traditional Inupiat Eskimo village of about 390 people about 625 miles northwest of Anchorage. It’s built on an 8-mile barrier reef.

Sea ice traditionally protected the community. But sea ice that forms later and melts sooner because of higher temperatures has left the community unprotected from fall and winter storm waves and surges.

Relocation costs have been estimated at $400 million or more.

Understanding Complementary Currency

2008-02-25T22:29:00.001+11:00

Here is a good introduction into the understanding of what a true complementary currency is. I'm quoting Tom Greco's post from the CC Open Collective Skype channel.

***

[3.Feb.2008 04:59:16] Thomas H. Greco (USA) says: A recent email exchange prompted me to write the following, which i think may be helpful to some of those on this chat:

Because of legal tender laws, the "dollar" has come to have two meanings -- (1) as a medium of exchange or payment (a currency), and (2) as the standard of value measurement or pricing unit.

An alternative currency must eventually decouple from both "dollars" but the more urgent need by far is decoupling from the dollar as a means of payment.

As I've pointed out in my books, an alternative currency that is issued on the basis of a national currency paid in (e.g., sold for dollars), amounts to a "gift certificate" or localized "traveler's check." (See Money Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender, Chapter 14, pp 145-163). It essentially amounts to prepayment for the goods or services offered by the accepting merchants. As such, it substitutes a local, limited use currency for a national, universal currency.

That approach provides some limited utility in encouraging the holder of the currency to buy locally, but the option of redeeming the currency back into dollars without penalty raises the question of how many times it will mediate local trades before being redeemed and leaking back to the outside world.

To truly empower a local community, a currency should be issued on the basis of goods and services changing hands, i.e., it should be "spent into circulation" by local business entities and/or individuals who are able to redeem it by providing goods or services that are in everyday demand by local consumers. Such a currency amounts to an i.o.u. of the issuer, an i.o.u. that is voluntarily accepted by some other provider of goods and services (like an employee or supplier), then circulated, then eventually redeemed, not in cash, but "in kind." In this way, community members "monetize" the value of their own production, just as banks monetize the value of collateral assets when they make a loan, except in this case, it is done by the community members themselves based on their own values and criteria, without the "help" or involvement of any government, bank, or ordinary financial institution, and without the need to have any official money to begin with.

This is what I mean when I talk about liberating the exchange process and restoring (some part of) the "credit commons" and bringing it under local control. In this way, the community gains a measure of independence from the supply of official money (dollars) and the policies and decisions of the central bank (which in the US is the Federal Reserve) and the banking cartel. That is the primary mission
that needs to be accomplished if we are to transcend the destructive effects of the global monetary and banking regime, devolve power to the local level, and build sustainable, economic democracy.

With regard to the second meaning -- the "dollar" as a measure of value, we need to understand that a standard becomes established by common usage. We in the United States are accustomed to valuing things in dollar units. We know from our everyday shopping experiences what the value of the dollar unit is in terms of the things we buy and in terms of our own earning power. Any new "language of value" will have to be translated into the dollar "language" that we already understand. How we measure value is a separate question from that of how we create our own payment media. In the process of monetizing local production as
described above, we can choose to give our credit unit any name we wish, but it makes sense initially to define the value of that unit as being equivalent to that of the national currency unit. In the exchange process, large balances will not be held for long so the debasement of the dollar unit through will result in only slight losses for users of the community currency.

It is when we begin to hold long-term claims denominated in our own new value unit that we will need to define it in concrete, objective terms to avoid following the dollar into the abyss of worthlessness.

The US dollar was originally defined as a specified weight of fine silver, then later on, gold, but those objective definitions were obliterated by laws that made paper currency "legal tender" that must be accepted in payment of "all debts public and private." So now the value of the dollar unit of measure of value depends entirely upon the value of the dollar currency, but the value of the dollar currency is
continually declining as more of it is issued on an improper basis, particularly on the basis of government debts that will never be repaid and that bring no concomitant value into the market.

A stable value unit will then need to be defined in terms of some commodity or group of commodities that are commonly traded. Such definition will then provide the "Rosetta stone" that enables us to relate, from day to day and minute to minute, our value unit to the old dollar language. That process is explained in my first book, Money and Debt: A Solution to the Global Crisis, Part III and Appendices.

***

Examples of Complementary currencies that still depend on the conventional national currency are the Chiemgauer or Berkshares. Examples of true complementary currencies that do not depend on a conventional currency are LETS, Timebanking and CES.

We are all One!

2008-02-02T19:32:00.000+11:00

There are things that have always been known. One of it is that we are all One!

Many have expressed that throughout history. An example I came across recently is in the writings of the Persian poet Sa'adi, where he writes in 'Bostan':

All human beings are in truth akin;
All in creation share one origin.
When fate allots a member pangs and pains,
No ease for others members then remains.
If, unperturbed, another's grief canst scan,
Thou are not worthy of the name of man.

(http://www.farsinet.com/poetry/saadi1.html)

A journey around the world, powered by the sun

2008-01-30T08:43:00.000+11:00

About a week ago, Louis Palmer, a Swiss national, traveled through Christchurch with his sun-powered Solartaxi. Unfortunately I missed the occasion and only read about it in the paper the next day.

On his website (http://www.solartaxi.ch) Louis states that "Global warming can be stopped. Solutions are available." I couldn't agree more!

Here is his mission statement:

“On 3 July 2007 I set off on my first journey around the world with a solar powered vehicle. Admittedly, as a regular citizen I cannot change the world but I can demonstrate to the world just how dire the global climate situation has become and how many sophisticated solutions to lower the greenhouse gases already exist, which bring with them many other advantages. So that we can have a better world and a more secure future. The solar taxi should rekindle hope and a zest for life, set an example to counteract resignation and stimulate reflection. And show that every single one of us can take a step towards preserving our planet.”

Words of Wisdom: Patents

2008-01-28T12:15:00.000+11:00

"If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. ...

The solution is patenting as much as we can. A future startup with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high. Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors."

Attributed to Bill Gates, 1991

Therefore don't underestimate the danger posed by patents in anyone industry!

Was there a crash, and nobody noticed?

2007-11-10T20:29:00.000+11:00

Was the so-called credit crunch more than just another fleeting economic alarm?

On 9 August, all the big international banks simply stopped lending to each other, as jitters over the enormous extent of bad debts riddling world financial markets suddenly turned to tremors. It was unprecedented. It was like a run on the banks – but by other banks.

Now, three months later, people are asking if anything happened. Some say there's nothing to worry about. But others are speculating that a landslide might have been triggered – one to match the worst economic collapses of any time in the past 100 years.

It seems that the facts are still hidden from public gaze.

To understand what is happening, one has to realise how much has changed inside the marble halls of high finance. Subprime mortgages are merely a symptom of a shift far more fundamental.

Putting it simply, the first seismic shift is that credit – other people's debts – has become an asset which can be traded. The second is that trading in general has become wildly leveraged or geared. That is, most professional investing is now done with borrowed money or IOUs. ...

Read the whole article here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4251617a13135.html

Abandon the outdated ...

2007-10-31T09:31:00.000+11:00

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a NEW model that makes the existing model obsolete."

- Buckminster Fuller

* * * *

"Gandhi is an example of the power of a unified state of consciousness. He was never 'against'. His consciousness was not in a divided state. He was always 'for'. So he acted, spoke, and transmitted into the collective an undivided state of consciousness. That's what has all the power. That's really significant... am I divided?"
-- Adyashanti

Swiss Election Results

2007-10-22T15:19:00.000+10:00

Well, it is interesting to see that the election results in my home country Switzerland are so closely scrutinized here at the other end of the world. The Swiss People's Party may have achieved a resounding success, but I consider it to be a sad sign. It shows what the money backed demagoguery of a billionaire can achieve. As almost everywhere, when we are confronted with new challenges, like climate change, global integration and a declining economy, polarizing the argument and scapegoating immigrants always works - sadly. The only solutions the Swiss People's Party seems to promote is turning back the wheel of time, and kicking out the foreigners. Given the complex changes that are needed to address the problems we face nowadays, this seems to be a simple way out for many people, without having to face reality.

This is also a sad sign, because it shows that there is no real political leadership and vision from the established parties, particularly by the Social Democrats, who were the leading (largest) party for many years. The only exception is maybe the emerging Green Party, which did very well, increasing both voter percentage as well as seats in parliament. While the Greens just missed the 10% mark, it needs to be noted that a fraction that recently split off the main Green Party, the newly constituted Green-Liberal Party, also achieved 3 seats in Parliament.

While the Green emergence is slow yet steady and unstoppable, we shouldn't be worried too much by the backlash of the electoral success by the rightwing People's Party. The political system in Switzerland is very stable, and deeply rooted in local politics. This is also reflected in the Swiss economy, with the Swiss Franc being one of the most stable currencies around the planet. Switzerland is also the only country that never felt threatended by one of the Depression era local currency systems: WIR - all others, among them the JAK in Denmark, Wära in Germany and Wörgl in Austria were soon abolished by the political authorities. WIR has flurished and undergone changes over the decades and is now a firmly established player in the economy. In modern day Switzerland there are also a number of experimental local currencies, modeled on timebanking and others.

Click here for results!
and other related information.

The Future of LETS

2007-07-03T15:34:00.000+10:00

You know, I really admire all of you who made Green Dollars happen here in New Zealand! That was a good job and a lot of work. It was also a learning curve for all of us and the still existing exchanges are certainly more mature for it. Just look at what kind of stuff they are still discussing in South Africa, three years after the introduction of CES there.

However, I also realise that there is a whole generation of practitioners who is now retiring. This leaves us at a critical junction. When LETS was adapted to New Zealand the last time, there was a clear economic imperative and a lot of people in need of a complementary means of exchange. Today the situation is completely different. What is it that is at the forefront of our concerns nowadays? Social issues, though present, are somewhat in the background. To me it looks like environmental issues like peak oil and climate change are fast grabbing the centre stage of our concerns.

Those new issues will require changes to our behaviours which go far beyond what was inflicted on New Zealanders in the 1980s and 90s. If we want to go beyond the rearranging of the deck-chairs of the Titanic, a comprehensive shift of thinking is necessary. There are many who write up post-peak oil scenarios. The Natural Step has developed a science based tool for sustainable development. Yet hardly anyone notices the need to also change such fundamental economic mechanisms like the money system.

And, sadly, those who are already using a complementary money system that could actually be part of a package of solutions to deal with peak-oil and climate change, are not aware of the jewel right in their hands. This is mostly because our way of thinking still makes us blind for the values we need to espouse in order to successfully confront those new challenges.

LETS doesn't work for people who want to become rich. This is simply because 'rich' and 'poor' are irrelevant concepts when it gets to LETS trading. It is a question of 'inclusion'. Either one is included in the community or one is excluded. We need to drop some of our cherished judgements. We need to stop fearing those who might 'take too much' and not return enough. In LETS we are not moving pieces of a commodity around (as in the conventional money system), on the contrary - we are nurturing relationships. Because, at the end of the day, its only the relationships that really matter.

I feel that we might be best off looking for members who are in tune with those different kinds of values I've just listed above. For those people LETS will work. At the same time, we need to undertake an effort and explain and familiarise those who work for environmental conservation and sustainability. We need to convince them that conserving nature only works if we use economic tools that are in tune with and mimic nature itself. LETS certainly does that.

To me, LETS is not just an alternative, or a hobby. LETS is potentially a tool that, if understood correctly, and developed properly, will definitely be able to supplant the conventional money system. Every successful exchange takes us a step closer. This leads to another strongly needed change of mind: understand that 'Small is beautiful' and 'think big' are not contradictions, but actually a much needed complement for success!

Well, we are looking for a new generation of leaders to step forward. I hope they have a vision and the maturity of insight to see and undertake what is necessary!

On debt and currency

2007-06-22T05:25:00.000+10:00

The New Zealand Reserve Bank made some headline recently, when the Governor said that we are not saving enough and there is too much debt. Two days later we read that the same Reserve Bank was gambling money on the international currency markets to influence the exchange rate of the NZ dollar. I felt compelled to write a letter to The Press, but it wasn't published.

Here is a much more polished version of what I wanted to say, by Peter Luiten. His letter was published in the Auckland Herald:

Your correspondents John Elliott and Peter Kelly point out with some passion that New Zealanders are at the mercy of overseas investment bankers.

At the heart of our financial woes is that we continue, against all sense, to let private interests create our money as debt: we mortgage ourselves deep to obtain it and ever deeper to pay for it. Our economy is not fuelled on debt - it is founded on debt. We are not in danger of becoming a serfdom - we are a serfdom already.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Interest is a completely unnecessary burden. There is nothing to prevent us creating our own money, and there is no reason why it should cost us to use it.

It is true that our Government is doing nothing about it. But any local body can make a start. Councils exist solely to promote the wellbeing of their communities and therefore have a mandate to prevent precious resources going to waste.

Local promotions make little sense when profits vanish offshore. Any community keen to stop its wealth draining into distant coffers has it within its power to create its own interest-free means of exchange.

The Paradox

2007-04-03T20:39:00.000+10:00

Today we have bigger houses and smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;

we have more degrees, but less common sense;
more knowledge, but less judgment;

We have more experts, and also more problems;
more medicine, but less wellness.

We spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get to angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too often, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too little and lie too often.

We‘ve learned how to make a living, but not a life;
we’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy it less

We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour

We've conquered outer space, but not inner space.
We've split the atom, but not our prejudice;

we write more, but learn less;
plan more, but accomplish less

We've learned to rush, but not to wait;
we have higher incomes, but lower morals.

We are long on quantity, but short on quality

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion;
tall men and short character;
steep profits and shallow relationships.

More leisure and less fun;
more kinds of food, and less nutrition;
two incomes, and more divorce;
fancier houses, and broken homes

Section 59 – or what about non-violent parenting?

2007-04-01T09:33:00.000+10:00

(Will the popular childrens series Pingu be banned in New Zealand?)

Currently there is an interesting public discussion making waves in New Zealand. It is about the proposed repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act, brought before parliament by Green Party MP Sue Bradford. The purpose of this Bill is to stop force, and associated violence being inflicted on children in the context of correction and discipline.

The discussion has been noisy, even strident and unpleasant. Is this just a popular political side-show, or how deep does this issue really go? If we can believe the opponents of the bill, then a police state is being born here, and personal freedom of parents to discipline their misbehaving children is severely restricted or even being taken away. An essential part of the Kiwi way of life and culture is about being legislated away and lost – or so most god-fearing Christians like make us believe.

In our constant endeavour to create a civilised and evolved society where do we draw the line? Should it be legal to hit your children, but not your wife and animals? In the Koran, the holy book of Islam, the line is drawn in Surah IV, Verse 34, which states that if the woman doesn't obey the man, they should be beaten (though the situation is not always as clearcut). Now, we all 'know' that Islam is the enemy of our culture – they mistreat women and sanction their beatings. We in New Zealand, would never do that - yet it should be our god-given right to beat our children?

This society is still steeped in institutional violence. How otherwise would one explain the uproar at a bill that basically wants to make non-violent parenting the norm? Our violence is not just against children and a variety of other people, it is also against nature and the environment. We've abused and mistreated the planet to an extent that we are now facing global climate change.

We may have experienced incredible technological advances over the last century. We have also learned a lot about how to educate children, and we know that hitting them is counterproductive if anything. However, we also need to match those advances with moral and ethical evolution as well. The opposition to this bill just shows that we have much more difficulty to mature ethically and morally than we have adopting new technological gadgets. And it shows that we still have long way to go until a non-violent society becomes the norm.

Mainstream Press takes up Flooding Story

2007-03-23T12:17:00.000+11:00

Today, Christchurch's main paper The Press published a story and a picture on the potential chance for half the city to be flooded by rising sealevels. It's exactly the same I reported on in this blog on 3 November last year already!

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

2007-03-10T20:50:00.000+11:00

The other day I went vegetable and fruit shopping at a market garden at the outskirts of the city...

What is Sustainability?

2007-02-03T07:04:00.000+11:00

In my understanding of sustainability it is not "if" some area of our society has relevance to sustainability - all have! To me, sustainability is a way of looking at things (and at the same time a way of life). Either you look from/through a paradigm of sustainability - or not!

In the future it will be irrelevant if you are Christian or Muslim, Chinese or American - the cultural divide will be between those who live a sustainable life-style and those who do not (at the expense of everything and everyone else on the planet)!

What is Fascism?

2007-01-08T10:38:00.000+11:00

We live in times were we risk losing many of our freedoms gained in our western democracies. When the political culture in a country turns sour, it often turns into some sort of fascism. I think it is quite important to recognize the signs of creeping fascism early! Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt studied several typical fascist regimes of the last century and found that they all had certain aspects in common. Here are 14 characteristics of fascism:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

6. Controlled Mass Media

Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed

Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Read more here!

The Seas are Rising

2006-12-30T10:59:00.000+11:00

For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas.

Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.

Read the whole article by The Independent

A community bank with its own currency

2006-12-28T12:42:00.000+11:00

See here a video from Brazil, of a small community that created its own bank and currency:

Sustainability Background Papers

2006-12-13T13:13:00.000+11:00

(picture by sillygwailo)

I'd like to point you to a series of interesting papers, posted at the website of the Parliamentary Commissioner of the Environment. They are background papers on a series of issues. They are all important, yet I'd like to emphasise a few:

* Measuring real wealth in New Zealand (0.3 MB pdf)

by Anew NZ

Significant work on progress indicators is taking place in New Zealand but the challenge is to achieve integration and comparability of the diverse indicator sets. Gross Domestic Product should no longer be used as a key indicator of society's well-being. Six action steps are recommended.

* Corporate sustainability reporting in New Zealand (0.3 MB pdf)
by Kerry Griffiths and Julia Lindesay

The emergence of triple bottom line (TBL) reporting in New Zealand, where stakeholder demands for information and transparency are not as strong as they are internationally.

* Lyttelton working towards sustainability: A case study of Project Port Lyttelton, a community group acting as catalyst (4.1 MB pdf)
by Margaret Jefferies and Wendy Everingham

Project Port Lyttelton is a grass roots community group that works to bring about a sustainable world locally. An exploration of aspects including communication, values, networking, and taking risks, and a review of several Lyttelton projects.

* Sustainability in New Zealand - Lifting the game (0.5 MB pdf)
by John Peet

Our economy's relationships with the natural environment, society and our institutional framework are not sustainable. To move forward we need a national strategy for sustainable development and policy tools including ecotaxes and tradeable permits.

* A critical analysis of sustainable development: Buildings and neighbourhoods in New Zealand (0.1 MB pdf)

by Robert Vale and Charles Eason

Sustainability seen in terms of self-reliant, resilient, and resource efficient housing, of which few New Zealand examples exist. Sustainable housing means new buildings and neighbourhoods with zero non-renewable energy consumption to suit a range of tastes and incomes.

Novye Atagi, 10 years on

2006-12-13T05:44:00.000+11:00

In a few days there will be the 10th anniversary of the massacre of international Red Cross aid workers in the small chechen town of Novye Atagi. Six aid workers, 5 nurses and a construction engineer, were killed in the early morning hours of the 17 December 1996, in a premeditated attack on their sleeping quarters. The expatriates were workers in a small war-surgical hospital. This was the single worst incident that ICRC ever experienced in its entire history. The people who lost their lives were:

Fernanda Calado, an ICRC nurse of Spanish nationality
Ingeborg Foss, a nurse from the Norwegian Red Cross
Nancy Malloy, a medical administrator from the Canadian Red Cross
Gunnhild Myklebust, a nurse from the Norwegian Red Cross
Sheryl Thayer, a nurse from the New Zealand Red Cross
Hans Elkerbout, a construction technician from the Netherlands Red Cross.

Links:

- Statement by ICRC

- CRIMINAL CASE NO. 96620018, GlobalSecurity.org

***

On the 17th and 18th December commemorative events will be held at ICRC in Geneva, Switzerland. Also at this occassion, medals will be given to those who died working for ICRC recently:

Mrs. Jeannette Waddell Fournier (who died on 2.9.2006 in Senegal)
Mr. Salih Ibrahim Hassan (who died on 16.8.2006 in Soudan)
Mr. Samir Kadhum Jwad Al-Karady (who died on 13.1.2005 in Irak)

More on Local Currencies

2006-12-02T12:08:00.000+11:00

An earlier posting on complementary currencies and its importance in a local economy created some discussions. I'd like to comment further on that. This is also in response to two messages that went over the Living Economies mailing list. You can read them here and here.

Giving it some deeper thought, it is not the actually the circulation of money locally that is ultimately important, but the CREATION of money locally.

There are several different ways that money can be created. It depends if a particular currency is cash-based or if it is wealth-based. Mutual credit currencies like LETS are created as a debt – and there is nothing wrong with that. In LETS, the debt incurred by currency creation is a debt to a community of people. In the conventional money system, the debt is incurred to a (often international) bank. The process used by banks to create money is called fractional reserve banking. This process has an additional twist: the payment of interest. It is the involvement of interest in the money creation process which is at the core of the problem, which contributes to the constant redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich, the redistribution from the fringes to the centre and, I believe, it is also ultimately responsible for our environmentally destructive economics.

Therefore the best way to address those problems is to issue money locally, in a healthy way. Give the power to issue money to the people instead of businesses.

(picture: 10 slices of Burlington Bread, USA, issued interest free)

The second posting sounded to me a bit like neo-liberal propaganda. The writer shows little or no understanding of complementary currency and how it might be applied to local economics.

It is a common misconception that when we say 'interest-free', we mean that money shouldn't give any return when invested. We may debate if getting an income without work (that is what returns on investments are), especially when little or no risks are involved, is ethical or not. The writer himself wrote that “The core problem is the human desire to get more of something for less work on their part.”

However, the real issue around interest-free money is how this money is created. He writes that 'creating alternative currencies which do not permit interest are complicated' – the actual fact is that virtually all complementary currencies are created without interest.

Again, any discussion of this topic is only meaningful if the process of fractional reserve banking is understood. When licensed banks create money by loaning it to their customers with interest, then scarcity is created, together with all the resulting negative effects. It is key to understand that more than 98% of the money supply is created by loans incurring interest (Reserve Bank of New Zealand figures). If all that money is due to be paid back, plus interest – where does the additional money for the interest come from? Fractional reserve banking has an influence on the money supply. Here in NZ we have the additional twist to the story that any reserve ratio has been abolished in 1985; monetary policy is entirely conducted by the setting of interest rates.

When credit unions loan money to their members against interest, then no new money is created, and therefore the interest charged has no influence on the money supply as a whole. Neither does interest returned on investments influence the money supply. While it is possible to issue a complementary currency without interest, it would also be possible to invest it with interest returned on investments. However, where interest is involved, one always creates a redistribution mechanism that funnels money from the poor to the rich ...

That is why it is important to note that ancient religious prohibitions against usury (interest) applied to all kinds of interest taking. From that arose the principles of islamic banking for example, which prohibits interest taking, and promotes among other things the sharing of profit and loss and joint-venture.

Breaking Ice

2006-12-01T16:41:00.000+11:00

Climate change and its effects on our planet is still high on my mind. Yesterday and today I came across a number of articles dealing with the effects of climate change.

The first one was an article in The Press reporting on the findings of a New Zealand-led drilling team in Antarctica, who has recovered three million year of climate history. The conclude that the Ross Ice Shelf, a raft of ice the size of France, could collapse quickly, triggering a dramatic rise in sea levels. History indicates that if the ice shelf collapses, it will do so suddenly and quickly. That was also proven in 2002 when the Larsen Ice Shelf extremely quickly collapsed.

In January, British Antarctic Survey researchers predicted that its collapse would make sea levels rise by at least 5m, with other estimates predicting a rise of up to 17m.

At the same time, James Lovelock, who is famous for the Gaia hypothesis, depicting the planet as a living being, predicted that large parts of the planet will become uninhabitable. He estimates that only about one tenth of Earth's population will be able to survive. He estimates that the temperatures on Earth will rise up to 8C, and that our current efforts will be mostly meaningless. Warming will be driven by a feedback loop that we cannot influence anymore. (see http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1129-05.htm)

Maybe a prospect too depressing to contemplate ...

(Photo by Yukon White Light)

Why do we need Complementary Currencies?

2006-11-19T20:48:00.000+11:00

A few days ago I got confronted with the following statement:

If a conventional currency turns enough times in a local economy, it has much the same effect as a complimentary currency.

I think that there is some truth to this statement - and at the same time it serves to illustrate why we need to use complementary currencies.


Local circulation is indeed the main purpose of complementary currency. This is best exemplified by a type of currency that is called 'Regio', mainly implemented in Germany. There, the local currency is a cash-based extension of the national currency. People by intention can only spend it locally, and participating businesses in turn can only use it to source goods and services locally. The consumer who intends to 'buy local' will find it is easy to do. It might be more challenging for participating businesses, as they consciously have to 'buy local', too. It might not matter much what coins and pieces of paper currency look like, but if they look differently, they are a constant reminder of our commitment to local economy and community. Something we can easily forget when we go shopping in our 'local' supermarket.

(The Chiemgauer, the most famous of German Regio currencies!)


As for other types of complementary currency, like LETS/Green Dollars/Timebanks, even more ties to the local community come into play. A cash-based currency is still a commodity, issued by an organisation. Green Dollars however are obligations and commitments between people in a community. They resemble a relationship, and the 'promises' behind those relationships are backed by the people who participate. A promise from one person to other people within a community is something very personal. This is entirely different from an anonymous piece of commodity that is handed from person to person, signifying some sort of 'value'.

(HANDS: A New Zealand example of a LETS also using vouchers!)


While it is absolutely correct that if national money circulating 10 times in the local community would do the job, we are not aware of how pervasive the leaks in our local economy really are. A complementary currency will help us to be aware, it will also help us remedy the situation.

Is Maslow's Pyramid upside down?

2006-11-15T15:17:00.000+11:00

When I first time came across Maslow's Pyramid many years ago I intuitively felt it was not correct - it seemed upside down. But who am I to argue with a respected scientist?

Recently I saw that others must be thinking the same way as me:

Maslow's upside down world is not surprising, given that modern western science doesn't perceive and recognise the metaphysical - how would it ever guess that self-realisation is actually the at the core of human experience, and not just a comfortable add-on once we have satisfied all our physical needs.

Satisfying physical needs is only a means to get to the core of what it means to be human: self-realisation. Once having understood this, we need to ask ourselves to what extent we need to reorganise our culture and civilisation, and put the real needs into the centre and not the physical (consumer) needs and wants.

How do we change the system?

2006-11-11T08:18:00.000+11:00

Catherine Austin Fitts made some very pertinent remarks in her review of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Mainly she pointed out that Gore didn't mention a word of why we got there at the first place, and who would be responsible for driving the current system. She rightly points out that in order to be able to effectively do something about climate change we need to understand what causes it, and she points the finger at our current economic system which she calls "The Tapeworm".

I agree that our economic system is as unsustainable as it can get, driven by a money system that absolutely requires endless (and exponential) growth. It needs change!

The big question is: How do we change the system?

Well, what if the only thing that is needed is a better system that people could adopt?

What if we set up a network of a multitude of complementary currencies which will serve the purpose of an economy for people and the environment?

And what if we then personally just make this small decision and take this small step of not using the conventional dollar anymore in favour of using those new currencies to conduct our business(es)?

Maybe we don't need more than just countless individuals making a decision to change the way they do things. It happens all the time - new things are invented, and old things become obsolete. That is really the only thing that needs to happen with the current money system. Uruguay was the most recent country to pay back all its debts to the IMF, ahead of schedule. If all countries do that, then the IMF will soon be obsolete, too ...

7 Questions for the Winners of the American Elections

2006-11-09T10:05:00.000+11:00

- When will you make peace in the Middle East?
- What are you going to do about your president and those who design, support and execute his policies?
- When will you stop being the biggest rogue state on the planet?
- Are you going to stop using 'terrorism' as a political tool to scare people and justify un-democratic policies?
- Will you finally submit yourselves to the International Court of Justice and the Geneva Conventions?

But much more important:
- When do you intend to address the huge and bloated ecological footprint of the American life-style?
- When will you finally be joining the rest of the world in their efforts to curb climate change?

And I'm sure there are lots more questions that need asking ...

New Zealand's Cult of Cold

2006-11-08T12:35:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, the Parliamentary Commissioner of the Environment published its latest report 'Healthy, Wealthy and Wise', claiming that up to one third of New Zealand's homes, housing more than 1 million people, are cold, damp, causing sickness and keeping people in poverty. The report call s on government to take radical action.

This reminds me of a report I wrote at the end of July this year. It is reproduced below:

(The temperature measured in our bedroom, on 28 Jul at 7.57am: 6.5 degrees!)

It is not that the winter is especially cold in New Zealand. But it is a rather nasty experience! More so since we are experiencing one of the coldest winters for a longtime this year. Where we come from, the winter is much colder than here, but so much easier to experience ... Residential housing elsewhere is nice, warm and cosy – but not so in New Zealand. Buildings have wafer thin walls, no double glazing and construction that seems to be designed to let as much heat escape as possible.

In New Zealand, many people worship a cult of cold. One can see people walking around in t-shirts in the middle of the winter. With 5 degrees Celsius, many children go to school in shorts. The other day, a frosty morning, an 11 year old even boarded the bus with bare feet.

According to the MetService, this year is the coldest since 1972, and some people told me that they didn't remember anything as cold as that since 1951 when they moved here. This chill highlights some uncomfortable facts: cold homes may be killing hundreds of people each year. A staggering 500 more people over 80 die in July than in February, and death from respiratory disease in children is three times more likely to occur in July than January. Compare this with the country's road toll of 366 for the past year. Also, compare this to colder countries like Sweden and Russia, where the jump in deaths during winter is much less severe.

The average temperature in New Zealand homes lies just below the point the World Health Organisation warns can threaten health (16 degrees). The recommendation is that homes be heated to 18 degrees. Most New Zealanders put up with such conditions without complaints. They seem to consider insulating and heating their homes a waste of money. Never mind the consequences. This is an aspect of local culture I don't think we ever will adapt to!

We, for our part, have huge electricity bills. Even though we only heat our daughter's room, and sometimes put on an electrical oil column heater beside the breakfast table, as eating breakfast there with 10 degrees is neither enjoyable or acceptable. The only fixed installed heating in the building is a logburner in the kitchen. Burning enough wood, it will heat the kitchen and the dining area nicely, but not the rest of the house. We have abandoned the master bedroom during the winter, as we regularly measure 5 or 6 degrees there at the end of the night. Who wants to get up in the morning in such freezing cold conditions?

Urban Development Strategies

2006-11-06T16:58:00.000+11:00

At the end of last week I wrote about the threat of rising sea-levels to our city because of climate change. A map shows that possibly large areas of the city could be underwater as soon as 30 years from now, maybe a little bit further down the line. Most scientists seem to agree that climate change is inevitable, though there are always a few sceptics. At least it looks like climate change has finally become a mainstream political issue.

Yet it was rather odd to read in the paper today that the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy, which is now open for the next round of submissions, seems to completely ignore climate change. Somebody must be dreaming: is it those who predict rising sea-levels or is it those who are planning high-density developments in New Brighton, right at the coast?

What can YOU do about climate change?

2006-11-04T06:16:00.000+11:00

Not quite convinced yet? Maybe watch this short contribution by Leonardo Di Caprio! (Click here!)

Do you want to get some solid scientific explanation? I certainly recommend watching Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'. There is no doubt: Climate Change is happening.

Today is the Global Day for Action on Climate Change. http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org/ gives you an overview of what is happening around the world, to coincide with the UN Climate Talks in Nairobi, Kenya.

The time to wait for government and big business to act has passed. Now it is up to us to take action. There is a list of things we can do that goes with the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth'. Those things are simple, however, they are helping us change our habits.

To have a real impact, we need to re-evaluate many of our actions, in the economic, political and cultural spheres of our society. George Monbiot sets out a plan for drastic action by government, with 10 affordable measures that can be taken fairly quickly to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 90% by 2030. It starts with simply using the latest science when talking about greenhouse-gas emissions. Then it goes from adapting building code regulations, to redirecting defence spending, to supporting public transport, to the closure of out-of-town superstores, etc.

Here in New Zealand you can support the Greens who have just announced a 6-pack of bills that could reduce NZ's greenhouse gas emissions. Both of the ruling mainstream parties (Labour and National) haven't been very proactive in acknowledging climate change or doing something about it.

Dont' forget: Political will is a renewable resource! And we will need lots of it!

Climate Change for real

2006-11-03T14:50:00.000+11:00

Tomorrow is the International Day of Climate Change

It seems that now almost everyone agrees that climate change is an issue. The question is now what and how much we need to do about it. In the UK, the Stern Report concluded that climate change is bad for business. However, climate activists warn that this 700-page analysis offers a dangerously inadequate and deceptive plan that will lead to inevitable global warming catastrophe if its recommendations are followed. Instead an international commitment to a drastic eg 60 - 90% reduction in emissions would be required.

As this picture shows, half of the city of Christchurch, including the area where I'm currently living, would be submerged if the sea rises 7m above the current level. Given that Greenland ice and large parts of Antarctica are melting (because in those areas now already higher than normal temperatures are making themselves felt), seven meters is probably no exaggeration. Did you want to know how your area might look like? Go here: http://flood.firetree.net/

One of the solutions that is talked about a lot is called 'Contraction and Convergence', however, I'm having my doubts that we will be able to reach an international consensus that will achieve such a feat.

My conclusion: Move to higher grounds! The major (and minor) governments of this world will probably not do anything before it is too late (and many say it is too late already). Maybe this is just basic human nature, the need to feel our personal lives threatened before we act. The majority (nor even a sizeable minority) has risen yet to a consciousness that cares for the globe and Life as a whole and that would make us do something NOW.

Money is still the holy cow, and valued way above Life. No wonder, most people still don't know the inner workings of our money system and what its core responsibility for the climate change disaster is we are approaching.

'Second Life' – what happened to the First Life?

2006-11-02T10:12:00.000+11:00

Second Life (SL) is a privately owned, partly subscription-based 3-D virtual world. SL is one of several virtual world, only existing in cyberspace. It is a user-defined world of general use in which people can interact, play, do business, and otherwise communicate.

Second Life is also called a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG or MMO) is a computer game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously, playing on the Internet. In SL players are called 'residents', and recently the population of Second Life hit 1 million.

Second Life has its own economy and a currency referred to as Linden Dollars (L$). Residents receive an amount of L$ when they open an account if they supply credit/debit card details. Additional L$ are acquired by selling objects or services within the environment. L$ can also be used to purchase (virtual) real estate. Linden Dollars can be purchased against USD. The ratio of USD to L$ fluctuates daily as residents set the buy and sell price of L$ offered on the exchange, and it has fluctuated between L$240/USD and L$350/USD over the past 12 months (October 2005 to September 2006).

Since this artificial space creates an enormous economy (US$583,496 spent over 24 hours on 1 Nov), it has drawn the attention of a U.S. congressional committee, which is investigating how virtual assets and incomes should be taxed.

It is obvious that with increasing information technology we would sooner or later create artificial worlds, where we are supposedly freed from our earthly restraints. I wonder what is happening to our Frist Life – what most of us consider to be the 'real world'? Creating 'second lives' in virtual worlds looks like an escape from the real issues we are facing in our physical world. Why are we afraid of slaying the dragons we are facing here? Maybe because it would need a real commitment to change one's habits? In a virtual world, when things get too hard, we just log out, or create a new player and restart...

I wonder if our virtual worlds will turn out to be that different from the First Life world anyway? When things get as real as in Second Life, then economic stress and other social pressures like in the culture we've created here will not be that far away ...

Links:
Second Life: http://secondlife.com/
Reuters: US Congress launches probe into virtual economies
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_life

A new child born

2006-10-31T07:55:00.000+11:00

A few days ago, my second child was born – a daughter. What can she expect from life on this planet? I suspect she will be in a privileged position compared to the vast majority of (boys and) girls born on this planet this year.

According to Statistics New Zealand she's got a life-expectancy of over 81 years. The average of the over 2 billion children on the planet can only expect to live for 67 years.

According to UNICEF she'll live in a world

where on 58% of the population has access to adequate sanitation facilities,
where 21% of the population lives on less than 1 US$ a day

where 5% of government expenditure goes to education and 11% to defence

Even in New Zealand, 24% of the population are condemned to live a life characterised as having some level of 'hardship'!

She'll live in a world where she soon will be the prime target of the advertising industry, that will attempt to instill 'brand loyalty' at an age as early as 2 or 3. They'll try to make her feel like a loser if they'll lack an advertised product and cannot indulge in material excess. The average American child is exposed to more than 40,000 television commercials every year. (And incidentally it is generally the American culture that we all strive to emulate!)

I'm not even talking about how many murders and other violent acts she will have witnessed on TV by the time she turns 18.

What to do about this? Besides throwing out the television from my home, I'm concerned how I can help her achieve a level of conscious awareness that will prevent her from being trapped by the artificially created needs and wants of our consumer society. I also hope that she will not ever experience the fear most people share today that prompts them to spend more on armaments and weaponry than on the education of our future generations.

Eco-Credits and Eco-Debits

2006-10-25T06:52:00.000+10:00

Eco-debt and Eco-credit - this looks a little bit like a mutual credit system. Some take more, some take less and in the end it all balances, right? I wish! We look pretty green here in New Zealand and Australia, but that is certainly an illusion. In a true mutual credit system all accounts add up to Zero and to a perfect balance - our use of the environment doesn't. Only recently we celebrated the day when we went into ecological debt for this year.

As the lastest Living Planet Report 2006 points out, the ecological footprint increases and the living planet index decreases steadily. According to the report "Terrestrial species declined by 31 per cent, freshwater species by 28 per cent, and marine species by 27 per cent".

New Zealand is also right up there with the countries that have the largest footprint per capita:

Countries of over a million people with the largest footprint, in global hectares per person, are the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Finland, Canada, Kuwait, Australia, Estonia, Sweden, New Zealand and Norway. China comes mid-way in world rankings, at number 69, but its growing economy and rapid development mean it has a key role in keeping the world on the path to sustainability.

How about if we and the politicians running this country (and the planet!) would pay more attention to this kind of indicators, instead of only worshiping a growing GDP!

Read more on BBC Online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6077798.stm

What is Abundance?

2006-10-23T09:34:00.000+10:00

abun·dance
1 : an ample quantity : PROFUSION
2 : AFFLUENCE, WEALTH

While I was writing the previous post about the display of reckless consumerism in a recent new age film, I was wondering how many people really do understand the concept of 'abundance'? This seems to be one of most difficult concepts to grasp, more so since we live in a civilisation that has at the core of its defining story the concept of scarcity.

Our minds are constantly exposed to the message of there is 'not enough', daily reinforce by mass media, advertising and political propaganda. The definition of economics “is the study of human choice behavior and how it effects the production, distribution, and consumption of scarce resources.” We are trained from a young age that we need to compete, otherwise we lose out in this world. And if you don't believe that there isn't enough, just look at those between 1 and 2 billion people on this planet who are unfortunate enough to be forced to live on 1 Dollar or less a day ...

How would one ever be able to grasp (and trust!) the concept of abundance? How can we get out of our collective trance of 'scarcity'? Bernard Lietaer believes that there are archetypal forces at work: of all the major archetypes at least one is thoroughly suppressed in western thought and culture - the one he calls the 'Great Mother', the unconditional provider of nurturing. Instead we experience it's shadow instead: fear of scarcity and greed.

How can we change our cultural story of prosperity from one of fear of scarcity to one of abundance where everyone is cared for? It is not the carrying capacity of our planet that is in question here. Even today, if all resources were distributed equitably, everyone would have enough. Poverty and deprivation are first of all signs and indicators of failure of a capitalist neo-liberal market economy.

How would we characterise an economic story that provides for all? The biological systems of life work constantly in an abundance mode. For one thing: nothing is wasted, every thing is recycled and of use and value for somebody/something else. Furthermore, abundance is when we have the ability to both share and conserve energy and matter, and when we freely share information in order to grow the potential of the whole.

True abundance depends on frugality, mutuality, and sharing. True abundance is possible if we recognize that we are all part of a community and that healthy communities depend on healthy individuals, and vice versa.

"The Secret" - New Age Economics of Abundance

2006-10-21T04:33:00.000+10:00

"This is 'The Secret' to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted."

"The Secret" is the latest hit-movie sweeping the New Age-community. It comes hot on the heels of “What the Bleep” which introduced us to what was long known to science, that our universe is not a static construct that works according to the Newtonian laws of cause and effect only. The Secret now takes us into the area of personal success, and how one can achieve it using the universal Law of Attraction.

It is telling that we still see 'success' mostly in terms consumerism and of how much stuff we can buy. Watching that movie, I several times felt I was watching a long and extended commercial for luxury cars or real estate.

I'm all for applying the Law of Attraction and working with Intentions set to achieve personal goals in life: I myself have experienced incredible results with it. However, I wonder: When do we move away from individual desires and reckless consumerism to a planetary family with a concern for a collective welfare that is ecologically sustainable?

I always felt that the new age 'economics of abundance' is a bit one-sided and naive. Just 'attracting' (monetary) wealth to a particular person does nothing to change the much deeper problems of a flawed money system and economic ideology that prevents goods and services to be distributed fairly among the people at the first place.

The Nobel Prize

2006-10-20T07:00:00.001+10:00

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker and economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, won this years Nobel Peace Prize (together with the Grameen Bank) "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below."

Yunus is said to be the developer of the concept of microcredit, giving small loans to entrepreneurs who are too poor to qualify for a conventional bank loan. The Grameen Bank (literally, "Bank of the Villages", was founded in 1976 and has issued more than US$ 5.1 billion to 5.3 million borrowers.

His stated vision is to reduce world poverty by 50 percent by 2015.

“Poverty is not created by poor people,” advocates Yunus. “It is created by the concepts and institutional arrangements under which people live.”

It is interesting that he received the Nobel Peace Prize, and not the Nobel Prize for Economics. Might this be because this person has actually done something concrete and helped real human beings - and not just formulated yet another theory based on some abstract concepts that are totally divorced from most people's reality - as most economic theories and concepts invariably seem to be ....?

Our current impact on Planet Earth

2006-10-17T13:22:00.000+10:00

One way of looking at the devastating effect our civilisation is having on Earth is to look at it in terms of what would happen if we did suddenly disappear from this place.

This timeline gives a visual view of how long it takes for nature to regenerate. Within 3 months the air would be mostly clean again. Within 250 years most buildings collapse. Within 1000 years most buildings are gone.

However, it takes 50,000 years for plastics to degrade, many man-made chemicals will disappear only after about 200,000 years, and nuclear waste will grace our planet for up to two million years. Quite a legacy!

Well, here is the challenge: develop and live a sustainable life-style that doesn't bequest a toxic legacy for the next two million years into the future! One that allows us and our decendants to live here indefinitely!

Read more in the New Scientist!

Bicycling in the City

2006-10-16T18:52:00.000+10:00

The city where I live is flat and really perfect for cycling. However, I'm not doing it. Why? because I haven't found a bicycle that is comfortable to ride. Because what I would like is a city bike for 'utility' cycling. The only bicycles that are available for sale in the city are racing and mountain bikes.

I enjoy slow biking. I'd like to sit upright in the saddle and enjoy the view. I don't need 25 gears, I'm not interested in being an athletic hi-speed cyclist - I like to be able to use a cycle to go to work ... very simple one would think. But all this is really quite outside of our local cultural frame of reference. We seem to be geared towards speed only, and therefore also city council planning for bicycle lanes, etc. is only geared towards speed cycling.

Unfortunately, cycling will never be what it could be: a great, healthy and non-polluting way of moving around in urban areas. What a shame! Unless, we start changing our cultural obsession with speed and start appreciating slow modes of transport ...

There are some great city bicycling cultures, like in the Netherlands or Japan. See a great website on utility cyclism at http://utilitycyclism.blogspot.com/.

The Day when we started eating into the planet

2006-10-14T15:03:00.000+10:00

It was on Monday this week, 9 October, when we human beings started to eat into the capital of this planet. When we started using more resources than than the planet can replenish.

This is a disturbing situation. Who do we borrow this capital from? Who is ultimately going to pay for our over-expenditure? This is not like in finance, where money is mostly credit as a matter of fact. Here we are talking about the world of our children we are consuming, ahead of time! It is going to be our children and their children who will be paying the bill...

As the New Economics Foundation reports

The day that we begin living beyond our environmental means is creeping ever earlier in the year as human consumption grows:
* humanity first went into global ecological debt in 1987, with the first ecological debt day on 19 December that year;
* by 1995 it had jumped a month forward to 21 November;
* now, new estimates based on the latest available data indicate that in 2006, we run out of ecological resources today, Monday 9 October.

It has been called the ‘the biggest issue you’ve never heard of’.

What can one do about it? Become aware of the Ecological Footprint you are producing and readjust your consumption patterns. And, start doing things in ways that are in accordance with the natural patterns of the planet, not against it ...

Unemployed?

2006-10-12T15:00:00.000+10:00

The New Zealand Social Report 2006 reports that in 2005 3.7% of the labour force were unemployed and actively seeking work. Sounds really good, eh?

But what does that really mean?

On the next page of the same report it says that in 2005, 74.6% of 15-64 year olds were employed for one hour or more per week. Wouldn't that mean that effectively 25,4% of all 15-64 year olds were unemployed?

Measuring unemployment seems to be a very dodgy thing. It is only indirectly connected with the number of people who are actually not working at all or working without pay. Many people seem to fall through the cracks of this statistic, like:

Those who have lost their jobs and have become discouraged over time from actively looking for work.
Those who are self-employed or wish to become self-employed, such as tradesmen or building contractors or IT consultants.
Those who have retired before the official retirement age but would still like to work.
Those on disability pensions who, while not possessing full health, still wish to work in occupations suitable for their medical conditions.
Those who work for payment for as little as one hour per week but would like to work full-time. These people are "involuntary part-time" workers.
Those who are underemployed, e.g., a computer programmer who is working in a retail store until he can find a permanent job.

And what about those people who do essential community work, like raising children, helping their neighbours and volunteering for a local not-for-profit organisation? This kind of activities are completely igonored by our social and economic reporting methods.

Solidarity Economics

2006-10-08T17:31:00.000+10:00

But what exactly is this "solidarity economy approach"? For some theorists of the movement, it begins with a redefinition of economic space itself. The dominant neoclassical story paints the economy as a singular space in which market actors (firms or individuals) seek to maximize their gain in a context of scarce resources. These actors play out their profit-seeking dramas on a stage wholly defined by the dynamics of the market and the state. Countering this narrow approach, solidarity economics embraces a plural and cultural view of the economy as a complex space of social relationship in which individuals, communities, and organizations generate livelihoods through many different means and with many different motivations and aspirations—not just the maximization of individual gain. The economic activity validated by neoclassical economists represents, in this view, only a tiny fraction of human efforts to meet needs and fulfill desires.

* * *

At its core, solidarity economics rejects one-size-fits-all solutions and singular economic blueprints, embracing instead a view that economic and social development should occur from the bottom up, diversely and creatively crafted by those who are most affected.

* * *

Unlike many alternative economic projects that have come before, solidarity economics does not seek to build a singular model of how the economy should be structured, but rather pursues a dynamic process of economic organizing in which organizations, communities, and social movements work to identify, strengthen, connect, and create democratic and liberatory means of meeting their needs.

* * *

This is, perhaps, the heart of solidarity economics—the process of networking diverse structures that share common values in ways that strengthen each.

* * *

This, to me, sounds like an approach to economics that allows for a natural evolution of a healthy and diverse society, and that allows for happy people!

If you want to read more about this topic, go here:
- http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2006/0706emiller.html
- http://www.geo.coop/SolidarityEconomicsEthanMiller.htm
- http://www.jesuit.ie/ijnd/SolidarityEconomics.pdf

Start asking the right question: "What is the economy for, anyway?"

2006-10-06T05:31:00.000+10:00

Maybe we need to start learning to ask the right questions! All that is asked nowadays, is "But what will that do to the economy?" - usually putting us into the defense right away - because of course nobody wants to do anything that is bad for the economy!

However, what "economy" are we talking about? It's the one of unlimited exponential growth and stock market speculation. It's one where the only measure of success is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or stock prices.

What about an economy that would give us health, knowledge, kindness, equality for the greatest numbers, access to opportunity, a healthy democracy, a sustainable environment and happy and fulfilled people?

Read this inspiring article by John de Graaf: What's the Economy for, Anyway?

The Passive House

2006-10-04T13:18:00.000+10:00

What is a 'Passive House'?

A Passive house is a building in which indoor air temperatures above the WHO recommend minimum of 18°C are maintained year round without the need for heating appliances.
http://passivehouse.org.nz

This makes sense, in a time of cold winters, rising electricity prices and anti-airpollution measures.

How does it work? Insulate the building well (airtight) and maximise passive heat gain. Install double glazed windows and ventilate your building. To gain heat, align it northfacing. Also appliances and the body heat of the occupants will warm it up. Install solar panels for your hotwater needs.

It all sounds simple, and it probably works, too! At a time of climate change, can we afford not to build in this way?

For more and detailed information, visit http://passivehouse.co.nz

Grow up, America! - Sept. 11th analyzed in Jungian terms

2006-10-03T18:36:00.000+10:00

"A collective problem, if not recognized as such, always appears as a personal problem... [T]he cause of disturbance is ... not to be sought in the personal surroundings, but rather in the collective situation." -- Carl Jung

This article, written by Cal Simone, is maybe the most fundamental analysis of 9/11 I've ever come across. It goes beyond trying to figure out if the terrorists where independently operating or if they were government sponsored. It looks at the event as an invitation and opportunity of initiation of the soul of America.

And sadly, today more than ever, we have to recognize that this opportunity was missed and ignored. Maybe that is only normal for a country that has been "regressing from young adulthood, into adolescence, into childhood, America now teeters between an entitled 3-year-old, expecting to get whatever it wants whenever it wants, and a 2-year-old who sees only its own perspective as valid or important, the only one that matters or even exists."

Such a country will face almost insurmountable problems when it is finally forced to face peak oil, global warming and a few other major cataclysms that are likely headed its way. What is needed is taking ownership of the situation and doing the inner work necessary to develop into a mature and conscious nation.

Read the whole article here: http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=71&Itemid=2

Venezuela's Oil Wealth Funds Gusher of Anti-Poverty Projects

2006-10-03T14:51:00.000+10:00

While the Venezuelan president has caused international controversy with his angry denunciations of the Bush administration, this is where the rubber meets the road for Chavez's radical rhetoric. He is spending billions of dollars on anti-poverty programs, in what experts say may amount to the largest such effort in a developing nation.

Read the whole article at Commondreams.org!

Will be interesting to see how successfully Venezuela will be able to make good use of the oil millions ...

Our pockets just got so much lighter again ...

2006-10-03T14:27:00.000+10:00

Our wallets are suddenly so much lighter. Away from the heavy old 'silver' (which hasn't been silver for a long time), to light little coins. A by-product is that the 5c coin was scrapped. Conveniently prices are now rounded up to the next 10c. Also, the 10c coin now looks like the 1c coins used to look - just shows how money keeps losing its value ...