“At UN Happiness Summit, A Coal Pile in the Ballroom”

Here’s a quote:

Here are some of the many examples of how economic growth policies directly destroy the essentials of happiness. Economic growth turns social reciprocity and gift relationships (two components of GNH) into paid services. It converts pristine ecosystems into sources of timber or minerals. It converts silence into noise, starry skies into urban lights, kitchen gardens into supermarket purchases, mom’s cooking into fast food takeout. It replaces the village storyteller with the TV cartoon, mothering with day care, outdoor play with video games. A society that still has these former things intact, and meets its needs without much money, is called, by economists, an “undeveloped market.” The process of liquidating social and natural capital is called “development.” Clearly, our conception of sustainable development is begging for scrutiny.

The notes from the discussions have been written up and placed in the Forum section of this site so that discussion can continue. A new Group on the Forum called the “Project Incubator” contains a section for each potential project. Everyone is welcome to join in the discussion, make comments, suggestions, offers of or requests for help, etc. There’s also a section for “More Potential Project Suggestions ” if you have more project ideas that you’d like to put out there.

Anyone can read the TTPR forums but in order to keep out the spammers you need to register to post, here:
http://transitiontownpowellriver.ca/wp-login.php?action=register

OK, here are the projects:

Property / Garden Sharing

Car Free Day

Tools and Building Materials

Fruit Tree gleaning

Food Bank

Eco / alternative / energy building tour

Ride-Sharing

Entrance into Agriculture

Vegan Vagon

Car Co-op / Car Sharing

DIY Bike Shop

Upgrading Buildings for Energy Saving

Bees & Trees / Pollinators

Community Orchard

Sustainability Toolbox (SD47 program)

Food Forest

More Potential Project Suggestions

Please come on over and add your thoughts!

Every student made a serious attempt at every activity and we really enjoyed their interest and energy. Such a great group to work with!

Many thanks are due to:

• The fiber folks who came and shared their time, skills and equipment with the students: Fran, Danika, Kevin, Val, Joanne and Johanna
• The Fine Arts Association for allowing us to use the clubhouse at Timberlane on Tuesday
• Great Balls of Wool and the ladies at the Loopy Lounge for donations of needles and yarn

We also held a Silent Auction which raised money to keep TTPR going into 2012. Many thanks to those who donated items to the auction:

Alfred Bolster
Breakwater Books
Deb Diduk
Great Balls of Wool
Jacqueline Huddleston
Julie Thorne
Kevin Wilson
Kingfisher Books
Lisa and Mike Daniels, Windfall Farm
Lowell Morris
Maggie Poole
Maureen Simmons
Meghan Hildebrand
Ron Berezan
Springtime Nursery
Wendy Pelton

And thanks and congratulations to all the lucky auction winners who went home with great stuff!

On display at the feast were info sheets on different forms of local currency which Powell River might be able to benefit from, and signup sheets for individuals, businesses and non-profits to express interest in getting involved n a local currency. We’ll making it possible for everyone interested to sign up online very soon, so stay tuned!

Friday evening Meet & Greet

We had two display tables for this, from Powell River Sustainability Stakeholders and Vancouver Island University (as well as our regular TTPR display), plus about 25 people who came and went, chatted, shared info, and enjoyed great snacks supplied by Wendy Pelton. Contacts were made and later meetings suggested – all useful stuff.

Friday “Community Currencies” presentation by Michael Linton, with help from Pieter Vorster.

Michael and Pieter came over from Courtenay to tell us about money, local currencies, community currencies, and the “Community Way” model they have been using in Courtenay/Comox for the last few years. There was a good deal of enthusiasm in the audience for getting a community currency project started sooner rather than later, and we hope to build on this to get things off the ground.

Saturday “Natural Business” all-day workshop with Dave Pollard

A small but enthusiastic group attended Dave’s workshop, based on the methods laid out in his book “Finding the Sweet Spot”. He led us through assessing our own gifts, passions, and purpose; showed us how to find potential partners whose capacities complement our own; and gave us hands-on practice in doing face-to-face market research for our potential business ideas.

Saturday evening “Plugging the Leaks” session

This had such low attendance that we cancelled the session. The timing and less-intense promotion are two possible reasons for the lack of interest: we may try again later on.

Sunday morning “Really Really Free Market”

This was a great success: many people came and brought things, many people came and took things away, and a good time was had by all. Non “stuff” included custom haikus written for you on the spot, fiddle and flute players, and a demo of spinning wool fleece on a wheel. Some really great items showed up and went away with new owners. A small group has formed to make this happen again: perhaps in January.

Sunday afternoon “Save Money and put your Debt on a Diet” workshop

Here’s a review from one person who attended:

“I was really impressed with your “Getting Out of Debt” presentation.  It was well-written, covered all the bases (seemed to me, anyway), offered do-able solutions, had excellent flip charts, and exuded a calm, cheerful, respectful spirit to help alleviate the potential shame/guilt around the subject.  The latter was so effective in keeping folks ears and minds open.  Participants were actually able to have fun around this potentially dreary topic.  I know I learned things I will put to use, and it seemed the others did, too.  If we don’t get out of debt, Transition won’t be much fun from inside a travel trailer or a tent.  GREAT WORK!”

Many, many thanks to everyone who helped to make this weekend successful, including doing publicity, moving tables and other equipment around, loaning equipment, making and supplying food and drink, bringing stuff and skills to share, bringing information to display, staffing the door and the food, presenting sessions, transporting stuff, and generally digging in and helping out. We couldn’t do it without you all!

So what else can you bring along with yourself?

The most obvious thing is “stuff”… anything you want to give away that’s in good shape so that someone else is likely to want it. Jigsaws, clothes, seeds, books, firewood, toys, housewares – the kind of things you might sell at a garage sale or give away on the Freecycle. We don’t have enough space at this first market to take big stuff like furniture, most building materials, or appliances, but if it’s small enough to be portable and you think someone else would want it, bring it along. For larger stuff we’ll have a noticeboard where you can post what you have available for others to see.

Food is also a great thing to bring. It might be cookies for folks to snack on while they enjoy the market, or vegetables from the garden, or packaged foods that can be taken away. We’re trying to create zero waste at this event, so please come prepared to take home your food containers if you’re bringing snacks, or pack food you intend to be taken away in something recycled.

You can also bring things which aren’t physical objects at all.

Can you entertain or perform? Bring a musical instrument and play a few songs or tunes? Bring your voice and sing? Juggle? Organise a game? Stand on your hands? Tell a story? Then come along and do so, whether for a couple of minutes or longer, it’s all good. No amplification is available though, and if you need recorded music to dance to you’ll need to bring your own music source! There will be a dedicated spot for performers at the RRFM. Maybe it’ll turn into a jam session with whoever comes.

Another great thing to bring is skills to share. Can you show people how to make art out of trash? Knit or spin? Save seeds? Pot up a plant? Whirl a hula hoop? Anything like that where you can bring along any equipment needed and show people how to do something in a fairly limited space, we’d love to see you. Again, we’ll have a place ready for you!

Another way of sharing your skills would be to perform a service, ideally one that’s fairly quick and can be done in a small space. Some examples could be a short chair massage, math tutoring, mending a bike puncture, drawing a caricature, tarot readings, or providing a vehicle to take stuff home for people.

Here’s a look at services and skills offered for free at a recent RRFM in Toronto:

• community drum circle group
• past life regression session
• group discussion on enlightenment
• hoola hooping workshop/class/jam
• mandala painting workshop
• kripalu yoga class
• guided meditation on Awakening Your Feminine Power
• astrology discussion circle
• Gratitude Portraits
• Hugs
• Pet Advice
• Dreads
• talk on how to bring joy into your life
• crochet class
• energy channelling
• reiki treatments
• energy work

If you’re part of a community organisation or project, you can also bring information, handouts or flyers and we’ll display them on the info table.

So, there’s something for everyone to give and receive! Come and join us at the Community Resource Centre, 4752 Joyce Ave, on Sunday Sept 18th from 10am till at least 1pm: we’ll go later if the weather is fine.

There are many models for local or community currencies, but all of them are intended to solve a single problem — how to make a local economy stronger, more resilient, and less affected by external investment, income, and influence. While national, debt-based currencies are based on a model of scarcity, the best of local currencies are based on a model of abundance.

Adopting a local currency does not mean that good fiscal hygiene can be neglected.  “Plugging the leaks” of money leaving the community and increasing income to the community are also important.  This article discusses some ways a community can manage its own financial health.

The amount of money available to a community equals income minus outgoings plus locally generated currency.

Conventional approaches to economic development primarily address income, asking “how can we get more money into the community?”. Exporting valuable products and attracting industry, tourism and “jobs” fall into this category. It is an essential part of the picture, because income in the national currency is needed for all purchases of external products.

Outgoings include purchases of imported goods and services (food, fuel, tools, mortgages, insurance) and investments outside the community such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. This outflow of money is often not addressed at a community level, and represents a major opportunity to improve the health of the local economy.  Controlling outgoings may seem obvious, but most communities make little effort to maximize the spending of available money within the local economy before it is eventually spent on imported goods or captured by outside investments.

If the total income is greater than the outgoings, then the community as a whole is becoming wealthier. While the distribution of wealth may be unequal, as long as the holders of surplus money invest in local enterprises they can provide earning opportunities throughout the community.

Roles for Local Currencies

Models in which the local currency is convertible with the national currency (e.g. Salt Spring Dollars) don’t do much to change the picture — they are an alternative to the national currency rather than a complement to it. They do restrict the money to being spent locally, and this helps with plugging the leaks, but not with creating new wealth. The local currency is effectively less valuable because of this restriction.

Truly complementary currencies are locally generated, and backed by local value. The more service or product a person or organization provides, the more local currency they can create for their own use.  If that currency is accepted by other providers, it serves as a medium of exchange for locally created value.

When products are sourced from imported goods, the local currency is not a good vehicle for exchange, so part of the selling price may be in national currency (to cover the wholesale cost of the imported item), and part in local currency.  Local currencies encourage “local production for local consumption”, which may ultimately lead to production for export.

Types of Local Currencies

One way to categorize local currencies is as Mutual Credit or Fiat currencies.

Mutual credit models allow individuals to control the supply of local currency.  Whenever one person is willing to grant credit to another for a good or service, wealth is created.  That credit becomes a call on goods or services from other willing providers. Prices are arranged between buyer and seller, in a free market relationship. The amount of economic activity is entirely controlled by the individuals involved.

A common fear with mutual credit systems is that someone may run up a large debt, then fail to pay it back. One way to minimise this kind of problem is transparency of account status.  For example, before selling to an unfamiliar person, his “debt to activity” ratio could be checked. Also “trust ratings” could be used, as on eBay.  As you can see, this is a very different way to do business than the way we are used to, but has the potential to create and strengthen connections between people and improve community spirit along the way.

One type of mutual credit local currency is the time bank. Members offer goods or services priced in hours, and can request services as well, either using a computer bid system, or directly from other members. Transactions may be managed online, so little human intervention is required.  Checkbooks could allow offline transactions to be secure and accountable.  Each member starts with a zero balance and accumulates credits and debits as they perform services or receive them from others – called a net-zero balance system. Currency may be printed, or not, according the design of the system.

There are many different models of mutual credit systems. Another example is the Local Exchange and Trading System (LETS).  This thoughtfully designed system has “equivalence” with the national currency as a key principle, to improve its usefulness to local businesses. Yet another is the Robust Complementary Currency System (ROCS). Learn more about these at the weblinks below.

Fiat models (fiat means “by decree”, or “by command”) have a centralized structure, with an organization managing the supply.  The total money supply is controlled by the central authority.  New issues of currency are made as deemed desirable.  Individual participants in the economy cannot create additional money, but trade the limited supply among themselves.  The central authority also decides if the money is convertible with the national currency, and if so, how to fund the currency.

Some problems with fiat currencies include inflexibility of the money supply, the need to print paper currency, and potential for lack of transparency of process.

Ithaca Hours, Salt Spring Dollars, Guernsey Pounds, Calgary Dollars, and the Canadian Dollar are fiat currencies, as was the lunch scrip once furnished here by the mill.

What About Taxes?

One common question about a local currency is “How does that work with taxes?”  The Canadian Government says that taxes should be paid on income earned in local currencies just as on the Canadian Dollar. So, if a transaction would be taxable if it was carried out in Canadian dollars, it is taxable if it is carried out in a local currency. Transactions which would not normally be taxable are still not taxable in a local currency.

Income in currencies which are convertible with the national currency would be converted to Canadian dollars and taxed on that value. If there is a commonly accepted value of one “credit” in the system, that would be used as a basis for calculating taxes.
For a time-based currency, goods or services are assumed to be sold at “fair market value”, and taxes are due as if the same transaction  had occurred in Canadian Dollars.

Other transactions carried out in local currencies, such as charitable and political donations, may also be tax deductible if they would be so if carried out in Canadian dollars.

When community currencies increase economic activity and income in a community, the local and national governments will benefit since their tax income will increase. So it would be in local government’s interest to accept some part of fees or taxes in a local currency.

Options for a Local Currency Project

There are many other options, issues, and concerns which come up when designing a local currency.  In fact, a community is not limited to a single currency option. Different parts of the community may be  best served by different types of currency, so there is no reason not to have as many as needed.

Designing an effective local currency is not a process to be undertaken lightly, but it is important to building a truly resilient local economy.  Conventional wisdom says that a local currency is most important when the national currency is in short supply.  When an economic shock happens, having an alternative currency allows trading and services to continue in spite of a shortage of national currency.  The right local currency would also be useful now, to allow people whose products and services are underused to turn their abilities into credits, thus increasing local economic activity.  Also, to have a community currency system in place when it is needed, we have to build it now, when it is not.

For more information on these and other local currency models, you can visit :
http://www.transaction.net/money/

LETS pioneer and Community Way $ organiser Michael Linton from Courtenay will be in Powell River on Friday Sep 16th to give a Local Currency presentation. Join us at 7pm at the Community Resource Centre for Michael’s talk, or come earlier (from 5:30 pm) to the Meet & Greet and share information about Powell River’s local economy.

To discuss issues related to the Powell River local economy, and help design the perfect local currency for our community, please join the Transition Town Powell River local economy discussion list here:
http://transitiontownpowellriver.ca/mailing-lists/#Economy

Here’s the draft schedule, which is still subject to minor time changes:

Fri Sep 16th
5:30 – 7pm: meet & greet and community info fair (local economy related groups)

7 – 9pm: Local Currency presentation featuring Michael Linton (inventor of the LETS system, and one of the organisers of the Community Way local currency in Courtenay/Comox) (cost: $5 Register here)

Sat Sep 17th
9:30 – 4:30: Natural Business workshop with Dave Pollard (of Bowen in Transition, self-employment and small business consultant for many years, author of “Finding the Sweet Spot: The Natural Entrepreneur’s Guide to Responsible, Sustainable, Joyful Work”) (workshop cost:$30 Register here)

7pm – 9pm: “Plugging the Leaks” workshop (identifying where money leaves the local economy, how to slow the outflow and make it circulate locally for longer)

Sun Sep 18th
10am – 1pm: Really Really Free Market (a cross between a garage sale where everything is free, and an in-person Freecycle)

2 – 5pm: workshop “Save Money and put your Debt on a Diet” (getting out of debt, reducing expenses, frugality, etc) (cost: $5 Register here)

Sep 10 – 18: local business “treasure hunt” sponsored by PR Sustainability Stakeholders. Get your entry form here and return it by noon at the Really Really Free Market on Sunday 18th.

As you can see, we have a pretty ambitious weekend laid out with segments of interest to lots of different people. Some will be free, others will have a small cost attached. Everything will happen at the Community Resource Centre on Joyce. We’ll be needing volunteers for several jobs but especially for setup and rearrangement of the venue between segments. If you can help, even just for an hour, please let me know by replying to this email.

We’ll also be needing a few in-town billets for our speakers and possibly out of town visitors who don’t bring cars: many thanks to those who offered billets already but who live out of town making the no-car option a bit difficult.

There will soon be a registration page on the TTPR website for you to sign up to attend those segments you’re interested in. You don’t need to come to everything: just whatever piques your interest and fits with your schedule.