Thomas,
thanks for your reply. There are several sources worth checking out. One
that I've written appears as Chapter 5 in "Eco-city Dimensions: Healthy
communities, healthy planet," edited by Mark Roseland of Simon Fraser U (New
Society Publishers, Gabriola Is. BC, 1997). Tom Greko has self published a
book on alternative currencies that I recommend highly for its readability
and good stories: "New Money for Healthy Communities." Tom's address is:
P.O. Box 42663 Tucson, AZ 85733. Bernard Laitaer, an economist who was
instrumental in developing the Eurodollar (by way of establishing
credentials), is writing very strongly in favour of local currencies as a
necessary countervailing force to the global economy. And so on. They are
popping up like mushrooms all over the place, as community responses to
globalization. Mushrooms may not be a bad metaphor, actually, because the
mycelia travel underground in all directions, and grow where ever the soil
is suitable, but remain connected.
I could give you lots of anecdotes, but where do I start? Perhaps a good
place is a listserv on LETS in English (there's a comparable one in French
as well). Address is "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" and the joining command is
"join econ-lets <your name>"
Let me know if I can supply more info.
David
At 09:25 AM 1/31/98 -0500, Thomas Lunde wrote:
>Dear David Burnam:
>
>I read your post with interest and though I have only a cursory knowledge
of alternative money - what little I do know leads me to believe that it
could provide a number of solutions in the area of community employment,
local exchange of services and an increased quality of life that is
controllable by local communities. I have read Hazelton and she speaks very
highly of LETS and other local currency initiatives.
>
>I am surprised that your posting did not elicit some comment from FW but we
seem to be in a bit of a lag here. Perhaps if you could detail your
experiences and theoretical background references on this concept, I and
others could look at this in more depth. The fact that it was well received
in South America surprises me, but then our news media is very limited in
what they publish, for example the recent Team Canada trip to Latin America
has hardly been mentioned in terms of content, contracts or effect.
>
>Theory is fine, but anecdotal stories are very important to flesh out
theory. I look forward to reading some of the success of these ideas.
>
>Respectfully,
>
>Thomas Lunde
><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
><HTML>
><HEAD>
>
><META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type>
><META content='"MSHTML 4.72.2106.6"' name=GENERATOR>
></HEAD>
><BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Dear David Burnam:</FONT></DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>I read your post with interest and though I
have
>only a cursory knowledge of alternative money - what little I do know leads me
>to believe that it could provide a number of solutions in the area of
community
>employment, local exchange of services and an increased quality of life
that is
>controllable by local communities. I have read Hazelton and she speaks
>very highly of LETS and other local currency initiatives.</FONT></DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>I am surprised that your posting did not
elicit
>some comment from FW but we seem to be in a bit of a lag here.
Perhaps if
>you could detail your experiences and theoretical background references on
this
>concept, I and others could look at this in more depth. The fact that it
>was well received in South America surprises me, but then our news media is
very
>limited in what they publish, for example the recent Team Canada trip to Latin
>America has hardly been mentioned in terms of content, contracts or
>effect.</FONT></DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Theory is fine, but anecdotal stories are very
>important to flesh out theory. I look forward to reading some of the
>success of these ideas.</FONT></DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Respectfully,</FONT></DIV>
><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT size=2>Thomas Lunde</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
>
