![]() The Bend Bees system will seek to emulate the success of the BerkShares - the currency used in the area of the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. Both benefit from wide business participation and local interest. In Detroit they have Cheers notes in Ithaca, New York they have Hours. Local currencies are not a new idea, but they have recently seen a resurgence as communities, including regionally in Ashland and Corvallis, look to save their small businesses in the face of the increasing corporatization of Main Street and the challenges of the ongoing recession.įirst used during the Great Depression, many alternative currencies have come and gone without finding the support needed to make an impact on an area's economy. Local currencies have a philosophical reasoning alongside the practical - a desire to turn the divisive nature of money on its head and humanize those transactions, proponents say. It's about more than finding an alternative to the almighty dollar at a time when many banks aren't lending and many consumers aren't spending. And if globalism was the buzzword of the last decade, then maybe localism will be the buzzword of the next decade, and if folks like Anderson and Bettger have their way, maybe the next century. Both have taken inspiration from communities that have already initiated programs, like local currency and trading networks, in so-called transition towns. Ethan Anderson, a real-estate agent, will be releasing a local currency, Bend Bees, and Nate Bettger, who works with BridgeWORKS, a community education non-profit, has recently launched the Tool Lending and Service Trading Switchboard. In the next couple of months, this community will join an increasingly popular movement with two new initiatives. ![]() Locally there are a few folks who want to take a practical approach to problems we're facing and make a step towards getting Bend back on track. A dire situation as this either brings communities closer together or pushes people further apart, getting us to hole-up-alone-in-a-bunker mentality. The economic crash has ushered in more doom and gloom with massive numbers of unemployed and homeless. ![]() The Apocalypse used to be so far off, now it's always just around the next corner. FOX News feeds a diet of disaster - the swine flu epidemic, nuclear arms in North Korea - into our living rooms. That got your attention, right? Apocalypse sells. We're just polishing the brass on the Titanic. ![]()
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