Local Money
How to Make it Happen in Your Community

Local Money: How to Make it Happen in Your Community by Peter North (Paperback) (ISBN: 9781900322522)

"Whoever controls money controls our lives. Taking back that power for good, not harm, has to be at the heart of new thinking after the crash. Without change, the next one could be Armageddon. This book tells every community everywhere how to make local money work for local good." Polly Toynbee, Guardian columnist

"A local currency is essential for greater local resilience. Peter North's comprehensive and well-written survey of local money systems is the best guide by far for communities planning to launch their own currency." Richard Douthwaite, author, The Growth Illusion and The Ecology of Money

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. Avoiding dangerous climate change means cutting as much carbon out of our economies as we can, and we can do this by cutting unnecessary transport through localisation. How can local money facilitate this?

An inspiring yet practical new Transition Book, Local Money helps you understand what money is and what makes good and bad money, and reviews how people around the world and in the past have experimented with new forms of money that they create themselves.

The book draws on the track record of experimentation with local money to show those in the Transition movement and beyond 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, which work within communities, to paper currencies such as Berkshares, German regional currencies and Ithaca 'hours', which circulate between local businesses as an alternative to their losing trade to the national chain retailers. Currencies like Ithaca 'hours' can also easily be used to enable people to exchange services locally at agreed hourly rates.

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.

Peter North teaches Geography at Liverpool University. He first heard about local currencies while doing a Masters in Peace Studies in 1992, and has been exploring local currencies worldwide since then. He is one of the founder members of Transition South Liverpool.

"Whoever controls money controls our lives. Taking back that power for good, not harm, has to be at the heart of new thinking after the crash. Without change, the next one could be Armageddon. This book tells every community everywhere how to make local money work for local good." Polly Toynbee, Guardian columnist

 

ISBN	1900322528
ISBN13	9781900322522
Publisher	Transition Books
Format	Paperback
Publication date	13/05/2010
Pages	240
Weight (grammes)	758
Published in	United Kingdom
Height (mm)	220
Width (mm)	220

Foreword by Rob Hopkins





Introduction

The vision





PART ONE: THE JUSTIFICATION

Chapter 1





The money we have











Chapter 2





What is money - and can we change it?

Chapter 3





Localisation

PART TWO: ALTERNATIVE CURRENCY MODELS

Chapter 4





A brief history of alternative currencies

Chapter 5





Local Exchange Trading Schemes






Chapter 6





Time banking


Chapter 7





Ithaca and other 'Hours'







Chapter 8





Argentina's barter networks











Chapter 9





German regional currencies












Chapter 10



BerkShares




PART THREE: TRANSITION CURRENCIES

Chapter 11



The first Transition currency: the Totnes Pound by Noel Longhurst



Chapter 12



Build the world anew: the Lewes Pound







Chapter 13



The Stroud Pound Co-op: a local currency for the Five Valleys with Molly Scott Cato


Chapter 14



Local money in a global city: the Brixton Pound







Chapter 15



How to do it: starting and building a local currency




PART FOUR: TOWARDS RESILIENT LOCAL ECONOMIES

Chapter 16



Towards a deeper ecosystem of currencies and local finance










Chapter 17



Some closing thoughts









References





















Resources

Peter North teaches Geography at Liverpool University. He first heard about local currencies while doing a Masters in Peace Studies in 1992, and has been exploring local currencies worldwide since then. He is one of the founder members of Transition South Liverpool.