Understanding 'Zero'

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.

TIME Magazine & CNN report on alternative currencies

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?

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?

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.

Understanding Complementary Currency

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.

Swiss Election Results

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

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

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.

A community bank with its own currency

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

More on Local Currencies

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.

Why do we need Complementary Currencies?

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.

How do we change the system?

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 ...