Local Money
Book: Local Money. Peter North. Transition Books, 2010
URL = http://www.transitionbooks.net/local-money-how-to-make-it-happen-in-your-community-by-peter-north/
Description
1.
"Local Money shows how local currency can help us unleash the financial power of our communities to build a resilient, low-carbon future.
In past recessions and depressions, a popular response from communities has been to create their own forms of money. The jobs aren't there, and the money has dried up, but needs remain. How can local money help communities in times of hardship and cut as much carbon out of their economies as possible?
An inspiring and practical new book, The Transition Guide to Money helps you understand what money is and what makes good and bad money. It draws on the considerable track record of experimentation with local money around the world and gives ideas to those in the Transition movement and beyond about what has been tried, what works, and what to avoid.
Different models of alternative currencies are reviewed, from the Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) and Timebanks that work within communities, to paper currencies such as Berkshares, German regional currencies and Ithaca 'hours' that circulate between local businesses as an alternative to their losing trade to the big box retailers.
How can local banks and bonds help us move our cities, communities and homes on to a more sustainable footing? The book suggests how groups can create future forms of local money that can deepen local resilience and support the development of more local production of the things we need, such as food and power, while also reducing a community’s CO2 emissions." (http://greenbooks.co.uk/store/transition-guide-money-p-320.html?osCsid=18cnvo8u89vaj8j0fj0iml11l3)
2. John Thackara:
"North has spent 14 years traveling the world - from Curitiba to Russia to Venezuela - to learn first-hand how different approaches actually work (or not).
North's book describes in practical ways how people have coped with financial armegeddon in the past. Following economic collapse across the world, communities have often created their own forms of money. Local Money shows how people manage to make it through even when official money disappears." (http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/06/of_apocalypse_a.php)
More Information
See also:
- Podcast: Peter North on Local Money, How to make it happen in your community, at the Transition Network Conference on 13th June 2010. [1]
- Foreword to ‘Local Money’ by Rob Hopkins http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52956
- An Interview with Peter North, author of ‘Local Money: how to make it happen in your community’, http://transitionculture.org/2010/05/24/an-interview-with-peter-north-author-of-local-money-how-to-make-it-happen-in-your-community/