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by Leo Hickman

Tomorrow the Transition Town movement launches a currency designed to boost local trade and bring communities closer together

A Brixton market stallholder . . . ‘It’s Monopoly money,’ says one. ‘I won’t be having anything to do with it’. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

It has all the makings of a taxing pub quiz question: what links dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, environmental scientist James Lovelock, black civil rights activist Olive Morris and comedian Chris Morris with David Bowie, the Clash, Harold Macmillan and Sharon Osborne?

The canny among you will have spotted that they are all one-time residents of Brixton in south London – but the more astute answer is that they have also all been in the running to appear on one of Brixton’s new bank notes, a local currency that is officially launched tomorrow night at Lambeth town hall. The results of an online poll to determine the most popular local celebrities will be revealed at the event, as will the designs of the £1, £5, £10 and £20 Brixton notes. Notaphilists – or bank note collectors – are said to be breathless with excitement.

The Brixton pound is the latest local currency to be launched under the umbrella of the Transition Town Network, a rapidly growing global movement that urges local communities to “respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of peak oil and climate change”. The movement – essentially a rebranding of the 1970s permaculture philosophy of self-sufficiency, sustainability and working with nature – began in Kinsale, County Cork, in 2005 and has since spread across the planet from the US and New Zealand through to Chile and Italy. Even Ambridge in Radio 4’s The Archers signed up last year.

The aim in Brixton is to “support local businesses and encourage trade and production,” says the team of volunteers who have spent the last year preparing for the Brixton pound’s introduction into the local economy. “It’s a complementary currency working alongside, not replacing, pounds sterling, for use by independent local shops and traders.”

By nurturing this highly visible sense of localism and civic pride, the organisers hope to show that self-reliant communities can not only thrive, but be better prepared for looming environmental threats and the resulting social stresses. It’s one thing, though, launching such a currency in well-to-do market towns such as Totnes in Devon, Lewes in East Sussex and, just last weekend, Stroud in Gloucestershire; quite another to try such a bold measure in the heart of one of the world’s largest and most diverse urban environments.

Where do local boundaries and identities begin and end in London, if they truly exist at all? And how do you convince the myriad communities and ethnicities to (literally) buy into the idea of a local currency, let alone much loftier ambitions connected to peak oil and climate change?

Tim Nichols, the Brixton pound project manager, moved to the area a year ago after completing a masters degree in Sweden focused on climate change adaptation. He’s had to do some adapting of his own, admitting that as a “white, middle-class guy”, he has found it challenging approaching some of the local businesses to sell the idea of the Brixton pound.

“You have to establish trust with the community,” Nichols says. “It is crucial we engage all ethnicities and social classes; we don’t want it to be ‘us and them’. But the currency is a good way to introduce the concept of Transition Towns to a community. It’s something concrete for people to understand – a bit like being part of a secret club.”

Is it about strengthening community bonds and boosting the local economy, though, or spreading the environmental message? Both, says Nichols. “We want to hit home the idea of localism, which is at the heart of the Transition Towns idea. All the other ideas and issues should come naturally after this.”

Convincing Brixton’s community of shopkeepers and stall holders in the market – arguably, the very thing that has given Brixton such a strong identity – hasn’t always been easy. “We’ve worked really hard to get the market stall holders on board; they are our frontline. One of our early supporters told us that Jamaicans are naturally sceptical, so we’ve worked really hard trying to convince them about the merits of the Brixton pound, visiting some businesses up to four times. Now the likes of Blacker Dread Records, a well-known music shop on Coldharbour Lane, have signed up, and that’s been important to us as the owner is very influential in the local community. We haven’t reached the hair salons yet, though. There seems to be one salon for every two people in Brixton, so reaching that tipping point is crucial.

“One of the main concerns shopkeepers have had is that they will end up with lots of surplus notes. So we have arranged for two exchange points in Brixton, one of which will be in Morley’s [the family-owned department store]. Lewes and Totnes have also given us advice to pass on to businesses about the impact on ledgers and accounting. ‘Don’t run out of cash’ is their biggest tip. In an ideal world, we would like to see people paid, in part at least, in Brixton pounds.”

The system works like this: whenever you purchase a product or service from a participating business, you are offered the opportunity of receiving your change in Brixton pounds. These may then be spent at any other participating business, either as an alternative to sterling or in combination with sterling. By “sticking” to Brixton, the notes will, in theory, help to boost local trade and reduce the reliance on “external” economies. Some participating businesses have also pledged to offer discounts to anyone paying with Brixton pounds.

An obvious question that arises, not just in Brixton but any community introducing its own local currency, is the issue of crime: what’s to stop counterfeiters scuppering the whole scheme? Transition Towns Brixton has spent £2,000 designing and printing the bank notes, which will be available in £1, £5, £10 and £20 denominations. Much of this sum has been paid for by supporting businesses and organisations such as Lambeth Council and Morley’s in Brixton High Street. They will be compensated by having their names on some of the notes.

“We’ve invested in high-security paper,” Nichols says. “Our notes are as safe as the Bank of England’s; the notes have holograms and foil strips. And we’ve printed lots of £1 and £5 notes, as we want the currency to be as liquid as possible to help deter crime.”

‘Notes have already been offered to collectors on eBay’

In addition to the threat of crime, Totnes and Lewes have also reported problems with “leakage” with their local currency, whereby souvenir hunters keep hold of the money. “Notes have been offered to collectors on eBay,” says Nichols. “To try and avert this, we’ve already designed a collectors’ pack of the notes to please that market.”

The idea of the Brixton pound resonates far beyond Electric Avenue, Atlantic Road and Brixton Hill, and will be closely watched by all those interested in improving the way that inner-city communities co-exist.

“You are always searching for the ties that bind people together,” says Harris Beider, a professor at the Institute of Community Cohesion in Coventry and former adviser to the prime minister’s social exclusion unit. “It is important to build the economic base and social capital of any community. If the Brixton pound can aid integration, that would obviously be a good thing. And if it can achieve the local multiplier effect [the number of times money is circulated within a community] that would be good, too.”

But Beider has his concerns. “The organisers need to demonstrate to the different communities in Brixton how it will aid social interaction. The black community can sometimes sense a missionary zeal from white communities with initiatives like this. Will Caribbean cafes such as the legendary Negril on Brixton Hill be involved? [The Brixton Pound Facebook page says it is.]

“Brixton pounds could be a catalyst for both interaction and exclusion. Wi
ll it be seen by the black community as white, middle-class liberals doing their stuff? It could act as a wedge between the communities if not done right. Community cohesion is about creating shared spaces and values . The Brixton pounds scheme will need the black community to buy into it, or else it will be seen as a white pursuit.”

The view from Brixton market by Jon Henley

Brixton Wholefoods on Atlantic Road is, on the face of it, the kind of place you’d expect to be backing the Brixton pound all the way. It sells (as the name might suggest) wholefoods, exotic spices, responsibly-sourced candles, organic fruit and veg, fairly-traded aromatherapy oils, 100% natural toothpaste, eco-friendly soap – the lot. And its window is a de facto noticeboard for the local right-on, filled to overflowing with postcards advertising alternative therapy classes and posters for the Green party.

So it comes as a shock to hear the man (bearded, obviously) behind the counter dismiss the whole scheme as pointless, parochial and – most damning of all – twee. “I don’t see the point of it, except perhaps as a bit of a marketing gimmick,” says Tony Benest. “I don’t like the way it promises to make a difference to Brixton. And I really don’t like the way the organisers are telling retailers it’ll be good for business, and customers they’ll be getting a nice discount. How’s that going to work, exactly?”

Further up the road at O Talho, the Portuguese butcher’s and delicatessen, Manuel Fernandes reckons the scheme “sounds like a nice idea, keep the money in the community. But when you think about it, it gets complicated. Too confusing. My customers come from all over, even far outside London. What’s in it for them?”

Behind the counter at Marsh’s the fishmongers, the man wouldn’t give his name but would say it was “hard enough to get proper money going through the till these days, let alone fake”. And behind his stall in the market, Stephen Victor, a Brixton trader for 20 years, reckons it’s “just not realistic”.

What purpose, Victor demands, will the Brixton pound really serve? “Time was, 15 or 20 years ago, people came to Brixton because they couldn’t get what they wanted anywhere else. They had to come here. Now you can get what you need to cook West Indian in any supermarket – and people don’t come to Brixton any more. This place needs some real regeneration, some real money spending on it, not its own currency.”

Victor’s view is echoed all over the market: “It’s Monopoly money,” says a man who gives his name as Wazobia. “I won’t be having nothing to do with it.” He gestures at his display: yams, plantains, sweet potatoes. “How do I pay my suppliers with money you can only spend in Brixton? There’s nothing in it for me, man.”

The scheme’s backers admit thatBrixton’s market stall holders are likely to be the last to be convinced of its virtues. “Theirs is such a cash-based business,” says Maynard Eziashi, manager of the The Lounge bar and eaterie, which has signed up to be one of the first businesses to accept the new notes. “But I’ll certainly try and pay my suppliers on the market in Brixton pounds. It’s got to be a good idea to encourage people to shop locally, keep that money here in Brixton. It’s not like we’re refusing sterling. And if anything, people from outside who have Brixton pounds are more likely to come back and spend them!”

For Karen Salandy, acting manager of the Diverse gift shop and gallery, “It’ll show the local community we really rely on them spending their money with us. It’s a great idea; we’re going to be taking Brixton pounds, no question.” It may also, she hopes, “bring more quality shops into Brixton. There really aren’t enough at the moment. Morley’s is on board, and that’s a really good start.”

Back at Brixton Wholefoods, though, Benest reckons Morley’s is only on board “because their competition is in the West End. For them, it makes a kind of sense. But these schemes were designed for small, rural communities which actually produce things. No one produces anything in Brixton. We’re in a multi-cultural, multiracial world. This is a green shop, but people want to be able to buy Brazilian juice; that’s just the way it is. And if it’s cheaper at the supermarket, that’s where people will go.”

The Brixton pound, he reckons, “is a bit parochial. A bit twee. Overtones of the League of Gentlemen, you know? ‘Don’t shop anywhere else, for that way dragons lie.’ It won’t make a serious difference to anyone or anything. Just more work for my staff – who aren’t in the least interested in being paid in it.”

Related posts in the Worldchanging archive:
Create Your Own Currency
Local Currencies Grow During Economic Recession
“Complementary” Currency Helps Local Communities

This piece originally appeared in The Guardian.

Help us change the world – DONATE NOW!

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Stuff at 11:25 AM)

• Stroud Pound to be Launched in Threadneedle Street
• Supporting a local economy….some observations
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Following a suggestion by Rasmus Fleischer, a leading member of the Pirate Bureau, Torrentfreak concludes:

“The Pirate Bay will dissolve, but in its place many “new TPBs” will return, just without the familiar domain name and pirate ship logo.

This is very similar to a concept Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde had in mind for the new Pirate Bay. A decentralized setup through which the ‘torrent site’ controls only a tiny part of the ’sharing’ process.

At the basis of this new scheme are two services that have launched in recent months, all run by people close to the original Pirate Bay crew. On the one hand there is the new OpenBitTorrent tracker that does not have a searchable index of torrents, but is simply used as a standalone tracker handling communication between peers.

To decentralize even further, friends of The Pirate Bay have launched the new torrent hosting service Torrage. This new service is open to other torrent sites and can be accessed through an API. When Torrage and OpenBitTorrent are combined everyone can run a BitTorrent site of their own with minimal resources.

There is little doubt that The Pirate Bay as we know it will cease to exist, but with OpenBitTorrent and Torrage it is easy enough to build new ones – and there are already a few promising projects in the making.”

• Hyperlocal file sharing: The Pirate Kiosk brings the Pirate Bay to the streets
• My del.icio.us bookmarks for January 14th through January 16th
• Cor! – UK Pirate Party's Smart Move
• Pipped to the post
• CEB Prototype II Finished

	Strawbale prefab building timelapse – Strohballen Vorfertigung Zeitraffer This clip is part of film material for a new film about strawbale building: "Houses of straw – Part 2". Become a sponsor for this project! More information about this film: www.ecofilm.de This timelapse clip shows the build-up of a prefab-strawbale building in Germany, in the ecovillage Siebenlinden. Architect: Dirk Scharmer. The wall elements were built in a hall nearby, transported to the spot and built up within 2 weeks. DEUTSCH: Dieser Clip wird Teil eines längeren Films über Strohballenbau – "STROH IM KOPF – TEIL 2" (Arbeitstitel). Mehr Infos zum Film auf www.oekofilm.de Zu sehen ist im Zeitraffer in einer Minute, was in zwei Wochen passierte: vorgefertigte Wandelemente aus Holz, Stroh und Lehm werden zu einem zweistöckigen Strohballenhaus aufgebaut. Das Haus steht im Ökodorf Siebenlinden. Es wurde von Dirk Scharmer entworfen. Die Vorfertigung wurde ausgeführt von u.a. Zimmerer Peter Paul Munzert.	From: ecofilm Views: 30 1 ratings
	Time: 01:20	More in Education

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Sheet Mulching

by Craig Elevitch and Kim Wilkinson - Permanent Agriculture Resources

Why Mulch?

Agriculture with mulch in the tropics promotes plant health and vigor. Mulching improves nutrient and water retention in the soil, encourages favorable soil microbial activity and worms, and suppresses weed growth. When properly executed, mulching can significantly improve the well-being of plants and reduce maintenance as compared to bare soil culture. Mulched plants have better vigor and, consequently have improved resistance to pests and diseases.

“Mulch” is a layer of decaying organic matter on the ground. Mulch occurs naturally in all forests; it is a nutrient rich, moisture absorbent bed of decaying forest leaves, twigs and branches, teeming with fungal, microbial and insect life. Natural mulch serves as a “nutrient bank,” storing the nutrients contained in organic matter and slowly making these nutrients available to plants. All forms of plant life from the ground layer to shrubs and trees thrive, grow, shed organic matter, die and decay, in a complicated cycle of nutrients.

Mulch forms a necessary link in nutrient cycling vital for our soils. When mulch is absent for whatever reason, the living soil is robbed of its natural nutrient stores, becomes leached and often desiccates. Natural environments without a litter layer are usually deserts. Non-desert plants grown in bare soil require constant fertilization, nutrient amendment and water, not to mention the work required to keep the soil bare.

Sheet mulching as described here is a suggested method for controlling weeds and improving soil and plant health with mulch. The process mimics the litter layer of a forest floor.

more

• Why use Compost Tea?
• The Case Against Organic Food Does Not Stand Up
• Flat vegetables.
• Permaculture Principles
• Soil Pulverizer Annihilates Soil Handling Limits

Last night I attended a gathering of merchants, service providers and others who support local independent businesses in our town. It was a festive affair of about three dozen featuring a pot luck dinner, good conversation, and a few announcements about the emerging organization. From both a personal and professional perspective, I wholeheartedly support and advocate for this type of group and the movement of local “Indies” as they are called. This particular group is aligned with the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) while other similar organizations may be associated with groups like the Business Alliance for Living Local Economies (BALLE) and they advocate for local independent businesses as the backbone of the local economy.

Our local Concord, MA group calls itself the Concord Independent Business Alliance or CIBA and membership is approaching 100 merchants and other businesses. Other groups in the region include Nashoba Local First, Cambridge Local First, and the Independent Business Alliance of Western MA. CIBA is working on several campaigns including the Ten Percent Shift which asks residents to shift at least ten percent of their expenditures to local independent merchants. This effort is a part of a larger effort in New England sponsored by the New England Local Business Forum (NELBF) who cite numerous studies on local spending as justification and reasoning for the program. They are also implementing a $2 bill campaign whereby a number of specially embossed bills will be distributed to merchants and circulated to customers with the purpose of encouraging local spending. This may or may not have been patterned after presidential candidate Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty but is certainly part of a larger movement to consider the establishment of local currencies similar to Berkshares or Totnes Pounds (see Yes! Magazine article entitled “31 Ways to Jump Start the Local Economy” which includes local currency at #23).

It is encouraging to see the momentum grow for local independent business advocacy organizations like CIBA since it is a critical component of relocalization efforts. Keeping dollars and other forms of exchange (e.g. local currency, barter, etc.) circulating locally is an important means of developing local resilience, becoming less dependent on the national and global economy and its cyclicality and lack of redundancy, and the benefit to local businesses and residents generally. It is also a key focus of the Transition Town movement that is spreading across the globe from its origin in the UK. I consider the economic component of relocalization and local sustainability efforts to be among the most significant within my own urban planning practice.

If I had any concerns related to these buy local or independent business advocacy campaigns, it would relate to two areas: the product mix and the perspective on consumption. As the need for local sustainability has become all too obvious, the types of products and indeed services that we consume is under greater scrutiny. While it would be impossible to develop these types of membership organizations without the widest and most comprehensive membership reach of local independent businesses, it is hard to reconcile support for products and services that reflect or promote wasteful consumption, products that are not themselves sustainably produced or manufactured locally, products that are expected to end up in the waste stream in short order (especially plastics), and products that are focused on needs rather than wants.

I would also suggest that a local economy be cognizant and provident of the needs of the full range of incomes within a community before full advocacy of a buy local program. Providing a comprehensive range of affordable basic human needs such as groceries. medicines, hardware, and dry goods within a walkable distance is a reasonable goal of any such program and as such, should reciprocally receive a positive reception by the local market of residents and visitors. I am not suggesting that high end goods and services cannot be an integral part of a healthy local economy. But no such economy can be healthy and balanced without meeting the needs of the fullest range of citizens in the community.

Also of great relevance is the need for communities and businesses to be aware of and begin to prepare for an age of energy constraints. The spike in oil prices in July 0f 2008 was just a hint of the probable wide fluctuations in energy prices and availability over the next decade. This expected volatility will make the development of alternatives risky and unpredictable and thus should not be counted on as an energy panacea. With this in mind, businesses should consider product mixes more geared toward basic needs as households may need a greater percentage of their incomes for direct energy expenditures and higher prices of other commodities and goods that have energy as a significant input in production or distribution. So in fact, challenging economies and energy constraints should be a great opportunity for local businesses and traditional town centers since they already have the physical layout best able to facilitate walking, biking, and transit instead of the 20 mile trek out to the mall or big box center.

Finally, local town centers where independent businesses are largely located serve a very important human need for community and social interaction. Residents meet each other on the street, merchants develop personal relationships with their clients over time, and social capital is more highly developed which facilitates a community spirit and enhanced quality of life that can’t be found in a sterile mall. As we move in the direction of the local again, we should keep all of these issues in mind.

Also see this in Energy Bulletin: Transition Town Local Currency (what’s it all about)

• Links for March 6th to March 7th
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Sarkozy proposes measuring happiness.

I’m starting to think that French President Sarkozy is a Sightline fan. Last week it was a killer carbon tax proposal; now it’s something else near and dear to our hearts: a national measure of happiness as a counterpoint to GDP.

Springboarding from a new report prepared by giants of the economics world, Sarkozy is calling for a more comprehensive view of economic well-being, one that puts human well-being in driver’s seat.

And he’s not alone:

U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel economics prize and a critic of free-market economists, co-authored the report.

“GDP is an attempt to measure one part of what is going on in our society which is market production. It is what I call GDP fetichism to think success in that part is success for the economy and for society,” he said.

Yep. Stiglitz’s point is obvious enough, really. The regular drumbeat of GDP — did it go up this quarter? does that mean the recession is over? — tends to drown out other measures of well-being. And that's unfortunate because "the economy," even when it's narrowly defined as GDP, should probably exist to serve the interests of us human beings, and not the other way around.

Interestingly, while you might think France would score well on a national measure of happiness owing to the country’s cultural orientation toward leisure time and amenities, it turns out that according to at least one well-regarded study of world happiness levels, France fares poorly — substantially below the happiness levels found in the US and Canada.

Which, really, is all the more reason to measure happiness. If something untoward is happening, we need careful measurements of human well-being, not the bean-counting of GDP math.

Sightline has written a fair amount on this subject over the years. Find it all here.

This piece originally appeared on Sightline Daily

Related posts:
How Happy Are You? Take the GPH Quiz
Who’s Happy and Why?
Measuring Genuine Progress

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(Posted by Eric De Place in Politics at 12:22 PM)

• A 'new' currency
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• David Korten – The Great Turning
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• Carbon Con update

[Bradford, UK - 7th August 2009] — Bradford-based CD and DVD replication company, wewow Ltd.,
have announced the launch of their dedicated ‘green' media packaging arm weEco.co.uk.  
www.weEco.co.uk will showcase wewow’s rapidly expanding range of bespoke, environmentally
friendly packaging solutions for the optical media industry.
 
wewow have proved that bespoke packaging solutions such as WowPak and WowWallet provide
added value to CD and DVD projects and as the demand for eco-friendly packaging has mounted, an
increasing need to supply a wide range of cost-effective and sustainable packaging options has
developed.

With the launch of the weEco website, wewow will be able to develop their innovative range of
sustainable packaging solutions for the industry.  Their focus will remain upon providing
cost-effective alternatives to traditional plastic based packaging and ensuring that the choices
available are plentiful.
 
The launch of weEco.co.uk will be marked by the launch of a unique packaging design competition
which seeks to encourage students and graduates to innovate sustainable packaging designs for the
media industry.  As wewow remain dedicated to encouraging the industry to ‘go green,' this
design competition will seek to encourage the next generation of packaging designers to think in
terms of sustainability as well as creativity.

• My del.icio.us bookmarks for September 8th
• Permaculture
• Links for September 29th
• Bolivian government calls for Open Source Appropriate Technology
• Agroforestry Found On Nearly Half The World’s Farms

• Sheet Mulching: Greater Plant and Soil Health for Less Work
• The Case Against Organic Food Does Not Stand Up
• Oil companies to buy the world!
• Harvesting and Preserving Medicinal Herbs
• Flat vegetables.