permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

*/

/*
*The SBCC Center for Sustainability Presents:
*/ The Future of Money:
Creating Sustainability & Abundance
 with Complementary Currencies
/
with Bernard Lietaer

Sunday May 6, 2012
6:30-9pm
Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College, West Campus
$10-$5 SBCC Students

/"Money is like an iron ring we've put through our noses. We've 
forgotten that we designed it, and it is now leading us around"
/ Bernard Lietaer


/ / /A/ ccording to Bernard Lietaer, scarcity doesn't need to be a 
guiding principle of our economic system.  He also suggests that money 
should work for us, not the other way around, and unlike the weather, 
wasn't created by Nature, it was created by us!

Monetary systems have existed throughout human history, and with the 
centuries-old model that currently exists, has been the culprit for many 
of the negative economic and environmental issues we face today.  But 
what most have forgotten is that money is a /human designed construct/ 
that we absolutely have the ability to redesign for a more abundant and 
sustainable future.

Join the SBCC Center for Sustainability for a talk with Bernard Lietaer, 
author of the newly published book, *"New Money for a New World"* on 
*Sunday, May 6, 6:30-9pm,* as he discusses radical but proven ideas 
about complementary currencies and their ability to strengthen local 
communities and their economies, while buffering them from the ups and 
downs of the global economy.  Using innovative *new systems of exchange, 
along side existing national currencies*, Lietaer suggests we move away 
from single currency monocultures, with their inevitable boom and bust 
cycles, to multiple and diverse systems of exchange.  When one exchange 
system goes down, another one is in place for welcome stability, with a 
resilience and diversity that mimics natural ecosystems.

Sharing compelling examples of successful complementary currencies used 
around the globe today and those from past eras of history, Lietaers 
ideas are less revolutionary than they appear.  Using creative 
initiatives such as airline frequent flyer miles (a form of 
complementary currency promoting customer-loyalty in exchange for free 
travel), Time Banks, commercial barter, carbon currency and mutual 
credit systems, communities can empower themselves and flourish in spite 
of the current economic crisis, by simply rethinking how money works.

For learning institutions such as colleges that currently leave many 
students in enormous debt and others left out of the system altogether, 
an exemplary complementary currency model is the Brazilian Saber, where 
funds from a small tax on cell phone usage is used to create "sabers" 
officially redeemable for teaching other students or tuition payments, 
thereby creating a "learning chain and learning multiplier" effect.  The 
University of Missouri, Kansas City, introduced an innovative 
complementary currency called Buckaroos, that students can earn while 
performing community service activities.

Bernard Lietaer is a former Belgium banker and the author of several 
highly acclaimed books including */The Future of Money: Beyond Greed & 
Scarcity/; *and* /Creating Wealth; Growing Local Economies with Local 
Currencies/*, and his most recent, */New Money for a New World/*.  He 
has been active in the realm of money systems in a wide variety of 
functions for almost 40 years, including being one of the principle 
architects of the European euro.  Formerly a professor of international 
finance at the University of Louvain, Lietaer was a fellow at the Center 
for Sustainable Resources at the University of California, Berkeley.  
Lietaer co-founded one of the largest and most successful currency 
management firms, GaiaCorp.  He is co-founder of ACCESS Foundation, an 
educational non-profit organization whose goal is the re-alignment of 
sustainability and global financial interests.  Business Week magazine 
named him "the world's top currency trader" in 1992.

Faye Cox, local currency expert, will introduce and facilitate the talk, 
which will also include other community members for an interesting 
discussion of how complementary currencies might be used to address 
critical social and economic issues in our region.

The evening talk takes place on *Sunday, May 6, 6:30pm-9pm, 2012, at the 
Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College West Campus*, 721 Cliff 
Drive, SB, 93109. $10 general/$5 SBCC students. No reservations 
required. More info: (805)962-2571, email: sbpcnet@silcom.com, 
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/


Sponsored by:
The SBCC Center for Sustainability
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/
Co-sponsors: Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, Santa Barbara Time 
Bank, & the Santa Barbara Slow Money Chapter




_Read More:

_*Bernard Lietaer website*: http://www.lietaer.com/

*Santa Barbara TimeBank:
* http://santabarbara.timebanks.org/

*International Journal of Community Currency Research (IJCCR):
*The online forum for disseminating knowledge about community and 
complementary currencies around the world.
http://www.ijccr.net/IJCCR/IJCCR_Home.html



Quotes:

   "National currency is cold and selfish by itself. So let's create
   community currencies with which we can warm up our communities as
   /New Money For A New World/ recommends." 
   ~Tsutomu Hotta 
   Former Minister of Justice and Supreme Court Judge in Japan 
   Chairman, Sawayaka Welfare Foundation 
   Founder of the Japanese "Fureai Kippu" currencies 
   "Bernard Lietaer and Stephen Belgin compel us to rethink our
   assumptions about money, economics, and commerce today. Their
   analyses and historical insights are incisive and provoke thought
   about what's gone wrong with economies all over the world. But more
   importantly, they provide tangible solutions­illustrated in
   real-world examples­to challenges we face with building more just,
   prosperous and sustainable global societies." 
   ~Martin N. Davidson, Ph.D., 
   Associate Professor at Darden Graduate School of Business 
   Author of /The End of Diversity as We Know It

   / 
   "Every so often, something comes along that changes our perceptions,
   turning our world upside-down and inside-out. /New Money For A New
   World/ will shatter the views of anyone who uses money, and show how
   we can make money work for us, creating greater prosperity and
   possibility, while bringing balance to our greatest social and
   environmental problems." 
   ~Nitin Gadia 
   Videographer of /Creating Our Own Money/ 
   Facilitator of the Central Iowa Currency Initiative







Margie Bushman
Coordinator, SBCC Center for Sustainability
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.