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Local Economies Kurt reads "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and a Durable Future" by Bill Mckibben When exploring an ideal community, structured in a sustainable, renewable fashion, it is easy to overlook the significance of the economics of local scale. Sustainable communities must be as efficient as possible and there's nothing efficient, at the local level, of sending millions of dollars of money and thousands of man hours to wall street New York, or Washington D.C. Despite Iowa's undisputed title of most fertile land in the world, it is still forced to import %80 of it's food to eat. This is not tenable. In addition, banks, loans, and currency all function in ways that in the end taxes regular producers. The model of farmer's taking on new debt in order to keep up with international corperations with massive resources is unstainable, especially in an energy starved future. What are the solutions to this complicated problem? At the CFC, this section will focus on some of the biggest and perhaps controversial reforms for a sustainable future. Local currencies, strengthening local markets, keeping the banking system local will all be discussed. How to keep the economy on an even keel and strong as well as flexible ad infinitum? Suggested readings: http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?t=966 - This is about real estate rumblings, but is a great primer for banking question in general http://www.feasta.org/documents/shortcircuit/contents.html Book format "Short Circuit" by Richard Douthwaite |