f. Local Energy Banks

Local Energy Banks

Thanks to the current economic crisis, combining with great use of powerful global communications systems, thousands of people are beginning to understand about the real functioning of the economy.

The lack of ethics in a system which has growth as its primary commandment and the great danger inherent in the creation of debt-money & the destructiveness of the resultant currency speculation, combined with peak oil and the attack on the environment from driven consumption are the roots & real causes of the crisis.

The Transition & Décroissance movements are citizen initiatives which are creating a planetary network that resolves the contradictions inherent in the existing globalization system, although for their effective development a good integral design will be needed.

They foster local economies within a planetarization framework, in which ideas, knowledge, culture and social benefits are freely exchanged at international level, but where the greatest possible quantity of goods required to satisfy basic needs are produced locally.

The result: care of the environment, less use of transport, employment creation and more security. A strong & independent regional economy allows us to be masters of our own lives, not being so vulnerable to the decisions of distant politicians or market forces.

We can create our own banks instead of putting our savings into the hands of international speculators, who, more often than not, invest this in multinationals that destroy the environment and exploit people.

We can invest our money in a local way, under our own control and criteria, investing in profitable projects which in addition to providing us a better rate of return, increase the quality of life in our neighborhood, for ourselves and for future generations.

We not only can but we must create local economies, because - who if not the people of a locality will invest in it, since they will be the major beneficiaries?

In this article some tools & pathways are proposed, from a integral permaculture design perspective.

Draft article .. work in progress

based on a spanish article here

comments & suggestions to stella(at)finca-luna(dot)com

See TRANSLATION of original spanish (briefer) article

in progress

end article will be some combination of what's on these two pages

(this page + the translation)

(translating ... originally written with Adriana in Spanish)

Bancos de Energía Local

A raíz de la actual crisis económica, miles personas comienzan a conocer el verdadero funcionamiento de la economía.

La carencia de éticas en un sistema que tiene el crecimiento como mandamiento básico, el gran peligro inherente a la creación del dinero-deuda y lo destructiva que resulta la especulación monetaria, combinada con el pico del petróleo y el ataque al medio ambiente son las raíces y verdaderas causas de la crisis.

Los movimientos de Transición o Decrecimiento son iniciativas ciudadanas que están formando una gran red a nivel mundial que resuelven las contradicciones existentes en el vigente sistema globalizador aunque para su desarrollo es necesario hacer un buen diseño integral. Fomentan las economías locales dentro de un marco de planetarización, en las que se intercambian libremente ideas, conocimientos, cultura y bienes sociales a nivel internacional pero produciendo en el ámbito local, la mayor cantidad de productos posibles para satisfacer necesidades básicas.

El resultado: cuidado al medio ambiente, menos uso de transporte, creación de empleo y más seguridad. Una economía regional fuerte e independiente nos hace más dueños de nuestras vidas, no siendo tan vulnerables a las decisiones de políticos o fuerzas de mercado.

Podemos crear nuestros propios bancos en lugar de dejar los ahorros en manos de especuladores internacionales que, a menudo, lo invierten en entidades multinacionales que destrozan el entorno y explotan las personas. Podemos invertir nuestro dinero de forma local, bajo nuestro propio control y criterio, invirtiéndolo en proyectos rentables que además de aportarnos un mejor interés, aumentan la calidad de vida de nuestro barrio, para nosotros y las futuras generaciones.

No solo podemos si no que debemos crear economías locales, porque ¿quién más que las personas de una localidad van a invertir en ella teniendo en cuenta que serán los principales beneficiados? A través del siguiente artículo, se propondrán algunas herramientas y caminos desde una perspectiva de diseño de permacultura integral.

ANTECEDENTES I:

Hace apenas 80 años, familias de un pequeño pueblo en las Islas Canarias, solían ir a buscar agua potable a las fuentes porque no había ni de galería ni del ayuntamiento. Se recogía el agua de lluvia en los estanques pero si no había suficiente o no estaba limpia para beber, se iba a buscar a las fuentes.

Ante la apatía de los distintos gobiernos, algunos vecinos proactivos del pueblo apostaron por organizarse creando las llamadas 'comunidades del agua' mediante las cuales pusieron en marcha un suministro de agua de galería, financiado por participaciones abiertas de los propios usuarios.

Hasta el día de hoy, las comunidades de agua no solo han sobrevivido sino que aseguran el control comunitario y son los dueños de su propio suministro de agua.

Músicos tocando a la inauguración de la central eólica de Earlsburn

Otro ejemplo inspirador lo protagoniza la comunidad de Fintry, en Escocia. En 2003, un grupo de ciudadanos tuvo la idea de comprar una turbina de la nueva central eólica de Earlsburn, que se estaba construyendo cerca.

En la actualidad, la turbina produce más de lo que la comunidad necesita y los vecinos ganan dinero, exportando la energía que no utilizan. Con lo recaudado han financiado mejoras para ahorro energético en las casas y edificios comunales del pueblo. (Más detalles sobre el proyecto en http://www.fintrydt.org.uk)

ANTECEDENTES II:

Participantes de la 1º Conferencia de Monedas Complementarias en España

En marzo de 2007, el NodoEspiral de la Academia de Permacultura organizó la 1º Conferencia de Monedas Complementarias en España. Durante varias jornadas, más de 70 personas analizaron alternativas a la economía convencional, en las que el respeto al medio ambiente y al ser humano fueron los ejes centrales de los nuevos planteamientos.

Cuatro años más tarde, continúan funcionando iniciativas de monedas locales en toda España aunque todavía queda camino por recorrer en lo que respecta a lograr el suficiente control de la economía en manos de las comunidades locales.

PROTESTAR PERO TAMBIÉN CREAR

***(imagen de la Plaza del Sol)

El último desastre nuclear que se ha producido en Japón despertó miles de conciencias sobre la locura que representa dejar a los gobiernos y a las empresas multinacionales tomar decisiones vitales o la búsqueda de soluciones para encontrar energía barata y centralizada.

Pero conciencia significa también ser coherentes: no podemos protestar contra las centrales nucleares y a la vez, oponernos a la subida del coste de la electricidad, una consecuencia inevitable y lógica del pico del petróleo. Si las energías renovables fueran más baratas estarían por todas partes. Por ejemplo, sería más económico para la gente tener sus propios paneles solares que enchufarse a cualquier compañía de suministro eléctrico. En temas de energía como en otros de economía básica, la interdependencia es mucho más rentable y sostenible que la independencia pero el factor de escala de esa interdependencia es realmente crítica.

La economía actual no contabiliza la totalidad de los costes, y es solamente por eso que las grandes centrales de energías no renovables parecen rentables. Este modelo está destruyendo la Tierra, nuestra salud y la de nuestros hijos, robando el futuro a miles de especies y a las futuras generaciones. Nada de esto tiene precio.

La buena noticia es que a medida que expande nuestra conciencia colectiva, podemos re-diseñar el sistema para aportar respuestas racionales, responsables y compasivas para todos. Hay que aportar soluciones y activar propuestas mejores que las existentes, más creíbles, factibles, íntegras, útiles y justas para todos. Y es necesario ponerse en marcha ya, porque el tiempo es justamente lo que nos está empezando apremiar.

¿POR QUÉ SON NECESARIAS LAS FUENTE RENOVABLES?

Las centrales térmicas que usan petróleo, gas, carbón o material radioactivo, como en el caso de las centrales nucleares, incluso, las propuestas de energía de los residuos causan contaminación. Almacenar cualquier tipo de material radioactivo o inflamable de forma concentrada es potencialmente peligroso. Solo hace falta un detonador provocado por un ser humano o un desastre natural para hacer de cualquier almacén de energía concentrada un verdadero artefacto explosivo.

A la mayoría de los grandes inversores como las empresas multinacionales o los gobiernos no les interesan las tecnologías limpias porque no se dan tan bien como otras para masificar, ganar dinero ni para controlar los recursos. Sin embargo, esta situación abre la oportunidad para empezar a trabajar con más energías en rellenar el vacío político y energético que esto ha dejado y apostar por la energía local. Todos los seres humanos tenemos la posibilidad de cambiar la situación y frenar las consecuencias del cambio climático.

Las energías renovables no son nada perfectas a nivel de sostenibilidad, todavía dependen de un sistema industrializado y ese destruye más de lo que produce. Pero son un paso en la dirección correcta porqué crean muchas menos polución y también son técnicamente incapaces de causar el tipo de peligro que significan las centrales nucleares o térmicas a base de combustibles fósiles.

Una característica importante de las fuentes renovables es que, en casi todos los casos, no se almacena. Se tratan de formas de usar la energía dispersa en nuestro entorno, aceptando la que llega, sin ir a buscarla o moverla de un sitio a otro, usando lo que nos toca de la luz y el calor del sol, los flujos de viento y del agua.

CROQUIS DE UNA ECOECONOMIA

Ante todo, es necesario conocer las distintas piezas del puzzle de una EcoEconomía. Se necesitan todas esas piezas para crear una economía alternativa funcional o 'des-globalizada' que realmente pueda funcionar y sostener a una comunidad local.

Imagina que las piezas violetas y naranjas del puzzle representan los dos tipos principales de monedas complementarias: las piezas violetas son las monedas sociales y las naranjas las monedas formales. También se pueden denominar monedas 'yin' y 'yang', porque las primeras fomentan la cooperación y las segundas, la competición.

Pieza Violeta: Representa a las monedas sociales y son creadas por una comunidad en base a un criterio de necesidad: se emite una cantidad exacta teniendo en cuenta qué se precisa, ya que son respaldadas por bienes y servicios que se intercambian dentro de una región. Algunos ejemplos son las Redes de Trueque, los Bancos del Tiempo o los Círculos de Intercambio.

Su característica técnica más importante es que son siempre suficientes ya que se crean ahí dónde se necesitan. Aporta humanidad, cercanía y sentido de ayuda mutua que caracteriza las comunidades sanas. (Más información en la sección EcoEconomía de www.PermaCultureScience.org)

Pieza Naranja: Desempeñada por las monedas formales, como las monedas regionales y el dinero Nacional. Generalmente, se usan en zonas geográficas más amplias y son más seguras para el comercio porque son las monedas y billetes que basan su valor en su declaración como dinero por el Estado o cualquier otra organización que tiene la confianza de la comunidad.

Al contrario de las monedas sociales, que son respaldadas por algo muy real como los bienes y servicios, las monedas fiduciarias son respaldadas por fe, aunque sea por fe en la ley. Las monedas regionales son vales creados por comunidades de una zona que se pueden intercambiar por la moneda del Estado y constituyen una herramienta importante para fomentar la economía local, especialmente a nivel de negocios.

Se mantienen artificialmente escasas y uno de los resultados es de promover la competición y aumentar la eficacia pero solo si están bien equilibradas por la cooperación como es el caso en la Naturaleza. Una buena combinación entre monedas sociales y formales puede mantener un equilibrio sano para una economía, ya que se asegura que todas las personas tengan cubiertas sus necesidades básicas y que también haya suficiente tensión competitiva para promover la innovación y la excelencia.

Pieza Verde: Representa a los almacenes de energía, esenciales en el sistema para liberar energía o recursos. Son el equivalente de los depósitos de grasa en el cuerpo o de azúcares necesarios para mover y construir cosas. Los bancos convencionales son un ejemplo de ello y liberan energía en forma de dinero.

Pieza Roja: Hace referencia a productos y servicios ecológicos de alta calidad que son esenciales para que exista una base real de materia prima que permita el intercambio y fomente la sostenibilidad.

Ahora que conocemos las piezas que integran el puzzle y como se relacionan entre sí, podemos apreciar que cada componente es necesario, y más aun, cada una de las conexiones que entre ellas se generan.

Lo que sigue a continuación es un ejemplo de cómo se pueden resolver de una forma integral los problemas climáticos, energéticos y de economía en un solo diseño, y al mismo tiempo unir y empoderar a las comunidades locales, poniendo en marcha una nueva acción colectiva de aprendizaje e innovación.

¿CÓMO CREAR UN BANCO DE ENERGÍA LOCAL?

Un banco de energía es, literalmente, una central eólica y/o solar que permite el abastecimiento de las personas de un pueblo o pequeña región. Se necesitará la contribución de expertos, mano de obra, una buena facilitación y fondos locales que permitan financiar la obra.

El nivel Social:

El primer paso consiste en reunir un pequeño grupo de personas con inteligencia, ganas y determinación suficiente para movilizar el proyecto. Como dijo Margaret Mead: Nunca dudes que un pequeño grupo de ciudadanos considerados pueda cambiar el mundo. Verdaderamente, eso es lo único que lo ha logrado.

Una vez acordada la visión llega el momento de difundir el proyecto entre todas las personas que integran la comunidad para que lleguen a sentirlo como suyo y realmente, se convierta en un éxito. Este sentimiento crece con una activa participación de expertos y vecinos, creando empleo y más auto confianza a nivel local. Asimismo, es necesario formalizar un contrato social creando una cooperativa, fundación o comunidad de bienes para que el proyecto quede legalmente respaldado.

El nivel Económico:

El segundo paso es conseguir financiación económica. Para ello, se lanza una campaña con el objetivo de recaudar fondos para la construcción de una central de energías renovables en el pueblo.

Esta fase incluye la creación de una moneda local en un proceso muy sencillo que pero necesitará constancia y paciencia (para explicar?). Básicamente cada inversión en dinero (por ejemplo, en euros) se intercambia por vales (moneda local respaldada por los euros, creada por la comunidad) y a su vez, estos vales son solo utilizables en el pueblo o región, que se irá abasteciendo de la energía producida por la futura central de energía local.

Veamos una representación: María invierte 500 euros en el Banco de Energía Local. La cooperativa que legalmente respalda el proyecto deposita los 500 euros en una cuenta de un banco ético y a cambio, le devuelve a María 550 euros Locales (€L), que será dinero que podrá intercambiar por la electricidad de la futura central eléctrica (que sólo se podrá comprar en esta moneda local) más un 10% de ganancia como agradecimiento por ser una miembro fundadora del proyecto.

De esta forma, María tiene la opción de guardar ese dinero y usarlo para pagar sus futuros gastos de energía o puede empezar a gastarlo en su comunidad como forma de pago de productos y servicios locales.

María decide comprarle productos ecológicos a su vecino Pablo, un responsable agricultor local que no tiene ahorros suficientes para invertir en la central eléctrica. Pablo está encantado de conseguir €L para pagar su futuras facturas de luz, vendiendo quesos de cabra y verduras a María.

A su vez, si Pablo gana suficientes €L puede ahorrar una parte para pagar su futura factura de la luz y utilizar otra parte para comprar un par de zapatos a Julio, un artesano local que trabaja el cuero de forma respetuosa. Y así el dinero local se distribuye pero siempre quedando en la economía local.

Esta propuesta ofrece una recompensa inmediata a los inversores locales, estimula la economía de forma permanente y multiplica el efecto de la inversión en energía local en todos los sentidos. Asimismo, si hace falta fomentar en mayor grado el espíritu comunitario, se puede recurrir a las redes de trueque o los bancos del tiempo.

El nivel Ambiental:

Una vez que se haya juntado el presupuesto necesario, comienza la obra de la central eólico-solar que en un futuro abastecerá a todo un pueblo o región de energía limpia y para siempre.

Abastecer a un pueblo solo con energía renovable supone un gran logro para el entorno pero añadir una moneda local al proyecto, aumenta varias veces más el beneficio ambiental integral.

CONCLUSIÓN

Esta iniciativa propone la creación de un Banco de Energía Local, una moneda regional y el fomento de productos locales. La confianza y las relaciones creadas por llevar adelante proyectos comunitarios con éxito originan a su vez, una moneda social que fomenta el intercambio de confianza y amor.

El libro-e de Permacultura Integral (www.PermaCultureScience.org) será un gran manual de diseño para crear economías sostenibles y entre todos cambiar la sociedad.

¿Te animas a encontrar cinco personas que te acompañen a diseñar un proyecto en tu comunidad?

Artículos y referencias interesantes

Imagine the violet (1) and orange (2) pieces of the puzzle are the two main types of complementary currencies. Currency' comes from the latin 'correr', meaning 'to flow'. Currencies are literally anything that we exchange in order to get goods & services to flow through the whole system.

If they are well-designed we get optimal flow, and to get optimal flow it is useful to have different types of currencies, as different kinds of flows are needed, in much the same way that our body has several quite different types of currents flowing through it, like the blood, lymph & respiratory systems.

So the violet piece here represents social currency systems and the orange piece the formal types of money. Note these are just two broad categories within which different types of currencies exist (and have yet to be invented no doubt).

They can also be described as 'yin' and 'yang' types of currencies, as the former foster cooperation and the latter competition. When designing currencies we need to be clear about what function they need to perform.

1) the Violet piece: represents social currencies and these are created by a community based on a criterion of necessity: an exact amount is created according to what is needed, and they are backed by goods and services that are exchanged within a region. Some examples are LETS schemes, Time Banks & a multitude of types of barter networks.Their most important technical feature is that social money is always sufficient as it is created where & when needed. Apart from vital goods, they provide humanity, closeness & the culture of mutual help that characterize healthy communities.

(More information & examples of these in the EcoEconomy section of www.PermaCultureScience.org)

2) the Orange piece: these are the formal currencies, such as regional money and national money.

Generally they are used in wider geographical areas and are felt to be safer for trade because they base their value on their declaration as money of the State, which you can pay taxes in, or any other organization that has the confidence of the wider society.

They are also called "fiat" currencies from the latin "let it be done" because, unlike social currencies, which are created when goods and services are exchanged, these currencies are created by an institution & backed by faith, not by products or services.

Regional come under this category because they are tokens created by some trusted institution of a particular area that can be exchanged for the currency of the State and as such retain the same kind of faith, but are designed to stay within the locality. They can be an important tool to promote the local economy, especially at enterprise level.

Normally these formal currencies are kept artificially scarce and one results of this is to promote competition and increase efficiency but only if they are well balanced by cooperation, as is the case in nature.

A good combination of social and formal currencies can maintain a healthy balance for an economy, as this ensures that everyone can meet their basic needs but that there is also sufficient competitive tension to promote innovation and the striving for excellence.

3) The Green puzzle piece: represents the storages that are essential in the system to release energy or resources on demand. They are the equivalent of deposits of body fat or sugars needed to move and build things.

Conventional banks are an example of this and are vital to the extent that they fulfill the function of releasing immediately usable energy (liquidity), in the form of money, ideally to create more vital infrastructure.

In an eco-economy we'd be very strict about only investing in infrastructures which work in harmony with the most basic social, economic & environmental needs of the area, such as eco-businesses, clean energy sources, restoration of ecosystems, holistic education & life-enhancing art & culture.

4) the Red piece refers to ecological products and services of high quality that are essential if there is to exist a real base of value to enable the exchange of vital goods and promote sustainability.

In a culture where we have been carefully conditioned to consume far more than we need, and to want things which are destructive for the environment and for ourselves & our communities, physically or emotionally, this is not as simple as it may at first seem. This could, in fact, be the trickiest piece to get right.

Therefore much careful consideration needs to go into what would constitute truly ecological products & services of high quality, not simply assume that if there's demand for something, then it needs to be supplied.

Fortunately, as basic ecosystem literacy steadily increases, however unfortunately caused by more & more obvious destruction of our health & environment, citizens increasingly can by-pass the consumer conditioning & make wiser, more ethical & smart choices about what we really want.

Now that we know the basic parts that make up the puzzle and how they relate to each other, we can begin to appreciate that each component is necessary, & that indeed, it is the inter-connexions which are generated between these, that constitute an economy.

"Economy" originally means "management of the home": we manage it well by ensuring an optimal flow all these basic elements.

What follows is an example of how we can resolve in an integral way the problems of climate, energy and economy in a single design, whilst uniting and empowering a local community by launching a new collective action in learning and innovation, using this model & re-inventing a little the concept of 'bank' (which is something that seems to be needed at this time).

How do we create a Local Energy Bank?

An energy bank includes a wind and / or solar power plant that supplies people of a village or small region, but it is much more than that, as it can regenerate an at social, economic and environmental levels all at the same time.

At Social level

The contribution of experts, labour, good facilitation and local funds to finance the work will all be needed, so the first step is to gather a small group of people with sufficient skill, willingness and determination to mobilize the project. As Margaret Mead said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, that's the only thing that ever has". We need that small group to start.

Once the basic vision is agreed the time comes to share the idea amongst the people of the community and adapt it in such a way that all come to feel it as their own so that it can become a success. If this is done well, this can translate into a great increase the social capital of the area.

The need for all kinds of project-management abilities (& thus opportunity to learn them on the job) grows with the active participation of experts and neighbors, creating employment and more self-confidence locally. It is also necessary to formalize a social contract by creating a cooperative, foundation or community trust to legally back the project.

Engaging the community into creating such an ambitious inter-dependant project, which can be proudly passed onto future generations, can increase self-esteem, community-spirit, eco-awareness & eco-entrepreneurial confidence many times over, and these have the tendency to spill out in many more unpredictable social benefits, down the road.

Economic level

The second step is to get funding. To this end, a campaign is launched with the objective to raise funds for the construction of a renewable energy plant in the village or area.

This phase includes the creation of a local currency in a very simple process that however may need some study and patience to explain.

Basically each investment of money (for example, in euros) is exchanged for vouchers (a local currency created by the community, backed by the euro) and in turn, these vouchers are only usable in the village or region, that will be supplying the future energy produced by the local power plant.

Here is an example: Mary invests 500 euros in the Local Energy Bank. The cooperative/trust etc. which legally backs the project deposits the 500 euros in an ethical bank account, and in return, gives Mary 550 Local euros (€L) which is the money she will be able to buy the electricity of the future power plant with (which one can only buy in this local currency) plus a 10% profit in appreciation for being a founder member of the project.

In this way, Mary has the option to save that money and use it to pay her future energy costs, but she may also begin to spend in her community as payment for local products and services, if she wishes to.

Mary decides to buy organic products from her neighbor Paul, a senior local farmer who does not have enough savings to invest in the power plant. Paul is delighted to get € L to pay his future utility bills, selling goat cheese and vegetables to Mary.

In turn, if Paul gains enough € L he can save a part to pay his electricity bills and use another part to buy a pair of shoes from Jon, a good local leather artisan.

And so the local money created by the need to raise cash for a major infrastructure project for the longer-term good of the community is in this way effectively doubled in real value, circulating locally in the form of local money vouchers, even as it sits in an ethical bank to be later spent as official currency, to build the power station.

Incidentally, this is how all very rich people have ever got rich, only their 'tokens' are usually called 'shares'. It is about time communities got rich, and not just privileged smart individuals.

This proposal offers an immediate reward to local investors, stimulates the economy permanently and multiplies the effect of the local energy investment in every way.

Likewise, if we need to generate more community spirit, we can also introduce a barter network or time bank.

Environmental level

Once the necessary budget is gathered, the construction-works for the renewable energy plant which will supply the entire village or region with clean energy in the future, for the very long term, can begin.

Supplying a village with renewable energy is a major achievement for the environment in itself, but adding a local currency & energizing the local community to do something so significant for itself, can increase many times the overall environmental benefit.

This is because the regional money produced helps to divert wealth away from the 'black holes' of the globalized economy, toward building up local economies.

The 80% of money that can 'bleed' out of our local areas at every shopping turn in great part goes to finance multinationals which are typically enormously destructive in the production of 'cheap' mass-made industrial products (like food, clothes, energy, water, materials, etc.).

These cheap products then under-cut local smaller-scale (& usually better-quality) production so much that local businesses disappear as they simply cannot make a living.

Less employment locally means people are driven to seek ever cheaper goods, so effectively keep 'voting' for and subsidizing the destructive global economy instead of supporting their constructive, more localized economy.

This apparently unstoppable destructive spiral reflects very directly in the erosion of vital ecosystems everywhere, to the extent that we are now 'consuming' some 200 species per day.

Precedents

Only 80 years ago, families in a small village in the Canary Islands, used to fetch drinking water from far away springs because there was no municipal or other water supply on site.

Rainwater was traditionally collected into tanks but if there was not enough in the dry season, or it wasn't clean enough to drink, they would need to go to the nearest springs, several hours walk away.

As the various governments weren't resolving the situation, some proactive neighbors began to self-organize, creating the so-called 'water communities' through which a spring-water piped network was built, funded by share-holders: the users themselves.

To this day, the water communities have not only survived but ensure community control of this vital resource by retaining ownership of their own water supply.

Musicians playing at the opening of the wind farm in Earlsburn

Another inspiring example features the Fintry community in Scotland. In 2003, a small group of citizens had the idea of ​​buying one of the turbines of Earlsburn wind farm which was being built nearby.

Currently, the turbine produces more electricity than the community needs and neighbors make money by exporting energy to the grid.

The proceeds have funded improvements in energy efficiency in homes and community buildings in the village.

(More details on the project http://www.fintrydt.org.uk)

There are many more such examples all over the world, of 'citizens doing it for themselves' and empowering their local communities with the supply of vital resources, like water, energy, food, money, education, etc.

Participants of the 1st Conference on Complementary Currencies in Spain

In March 2007, NodoEspiral of the Permaculture Academy organized the 1st Conference on Complementary Currencies in Spain.

For several days, more than 70 participants analyzed alternatives to the conventional economy, and the way in which respect for the environment and for human beings are the cornerstones of the new approaches. More conferences followed, as this important knowledge about how to enable communities to control at least some of their own money, was propagated.

Four years later, local currencies which have sprung up all over, continue to operate in Spain but much still remains to be done with respect to achieving real control of the economy by local communities, as these systems only work optimally when integrated into a well-designed whole.

This article expands on how that can happen, and illustrates how complementary currencies need to be woven into a wider design in order to be effective.

Protest but also Create

Image of the Plaza del Sol

The latest nuclear disaster in Japan awakened a lot of consciousness of the folly of leaving governments and multinationals make vital decisions on our behalf. And more generally highlights the inherent dangers of 'cheap' centralized energy.

Around April 2011, emails campaigns encouraging us to protest against rising electricity prices, by turning off the power on a particular day & time - which can cause damage to the power station if done on mass - crossed with other campaigns calling for mass protests against nuclear power.

Yet we cannot protest against nuclear power & then also oppose the rising cost of electricity: a logical and inevitable consequence of peak oil (or rather, 'peak-fossil-fuels').

Raising consciousness also means being more coherent.

If renewable energies were cheaper, they would be everywhere. So for e.g. it would be more likely for people to have their own solar panels rather than plug into the electricity grid.

The current economy does not count the global costs, and it is only for this reason that large non-renewable energy plants seem profitable.

But this model is destroying the Earth, our health and that of our children, stealing the future of thousands of species and of future generations, all things which are in fact priceless.

The good news is that as our collective consciousness expands, we can re-design the system to provide more rational, responsible and compassionate answers for all.

Renewable energies can be economically feasible even under current conditions (of technology & wider economic context), if the factor of scale is considered: as with other basic economics issues, inter-dependence is both more efficient and sustainable than independence, and also than dependance on massive centralized infrastructure. But the factor of scale of this inter-dependence is critical.

We must provide solutions and designs that are better than the existing ones: more credible, feasible, integral, useful and fair to all. And we must get going quickly, because time is precisely what we're running out of.

Why are Renewable Energies necessary?

Thermal plants that use oil, gas, coal or radioactive material, as is the case of nuclear plants and even the proposed energy from waste plants - all cause contamination.

Simply storing any type of radioactive or flammable material is potentially dangerous. There only needs to be a trigger - caused by any human or a natural disaster - to make any concentrated energy store into a big explosive device.

The majority of large investors such as multinational corporations or governments are not very interested in clean technology because they are not as suitable as other technologies for massive scaling, to make big profits with or for centralized control of resources.

However, this situation opens the opportunity to start working with more vigor to fill the political & energy vacuum this has left open and to commit to local, small & medium-scale power generation.

We have it in our power to change the situation at local level, at the scale that the Transition Movement so well points out is an important but neglected one, and make our communities more resilient, also on the energy front.

Renewable energies are not at all perfect in terms of sustainability: they still depend on an industrialized system which destroys more than it produces.

But they are a step in the right direction because they cause much less pollution in their operation and are also technically incapable of causing the kind of health dangers that thermal nuclear or fossil fuel power plants represent.

An important feature of renewable sources is that in almost all cases, fuel is not stored. They use dispersed energy in our environment, tapping into existing flow, without accumulating or moving from one place to another, using our share of light & heat from the sun and the natural supplies of wind and water.

Energy, other vital resources & their optimal use & flow in a region is what constitutes that region's economy.

And as our economies are clearly not working very well, we urgently - but also very creatively - need to look at how we can re-design it all into what we are calling an EcoEconomy: a sustainable, just & new system that works with, not against, the wider eco-systems.

Conclusion

This initiative proposes the creation of a Local Energy Bank, a regional currency and provides helps to provide real financial support for local production of all other goods. Trust and relationships created by carrying out successful community projects originate, in turn, a social currency that promotes the exchange of trust and love.

The e-book of Integral Permaculture (www.PermaCultureScience.org) will be a great design manual for creating sustainable economies, to help us to re-design our societies, from the bottom-up.

Maybe you can find five people who accompany you to design a project in your community?

Old Draft Article

During the beginning of Japan Nuclear crisis following the earthquake & tsunami that hit the region, as the horror of the reality of the un-stoppability of radiation pollution started dawning on many for the very first time, the reaction of hundreds of thousands of people around the world was to take to the streets & demand a ban nuclear power stations.

Only a few weeks before I had received one more of a series of chain emails that have been sent around now quite a while now, calling us all to switch off our electricity for so many minutes on a particular day, as a big act of citizen protest protest. And the protest is about rising prices of electricity. What we are supposed to achieve with these 'switching off campaigns' is to send a big clear message to whoever controls the power stations - and the message is "we are not going to put up with this"!

Ironically, when people took to the streets to protest about nuclear power stations (in great part the very same ones that a few weeks ago were protesting about energy prices), the message was exactly the same, only in the opposite direction: "You! Whoever it is that controls the nuclear policy of our country: We are not going to put up with this!"

And everyone goes home happy at having done a good day's protest, presumably, probably not giving a moment's thought to the fact that nuclear power stations are installed because of the lure of very cheap energy (primarily) - and so we've all effectively been shouting in the streets for a raise in electricity prices.

This got me thinking about what the hell is it that we think we're doing. Yet again. But especially (also yet again) at why.

Why does it seem to be so popular to do these protest actions, yet when it comes to trying to get together a bunch of people to do something constructive, that would actually eliminate those same problems & more (like set up a local power station by & for the community - which would probably take, overall, the same amount of organizational skill & mobilising that the protests require), then we struggle with finding the 5 passionately motivated people that it would take to get that show on the road?

The Why is a little involved and includes going into the operating system of systems and I go into that further on, under Stocks, Flows & Feedbacks.

But the What & How, for those who would like to know of the something constructive we can all do is right here, because it really is quite simple, and every & any community can & should be doing it, if you find the 5 committed people who are more interested in doing than talking, that is.

If you really want to have a say in how your energy is produced, to ensure the safety of the supply for the environment and down future generations, if you want to hand over a resource and not a bomb to your children (with some pride & real claim to have been instrumental in creating a better future for everyone) - then get together with your community & set up your own renewables-fuelled power-station.

Because now we can, and community-scale power is for many other reasons (apart from not having to wait on any government mammoths to move) the best direction to go anyhow.

It is more than possible, indeed an increasing number of communities has gotten fed up with governments not doing anything about climate change & so have taken things in their own hands. Where it has already been done, it it is working very successfully: in Scotland for eg. there are several communities that have set up their own windmills & some now make a profit exporting energy to the grid - which they initially spent on making their homes more energy-efficient; in Spain there are urban neighbours communities (comunidades de vecinos) that organized their solar water heating together; in the US there are even companies now that help communities set up their own power stations & there are also 'solar shares' businesses, that make this possible even where you can't or don't want to do the big job of mobilizing the whole community.

There have even been government grants set up to encourage communities to do this, but please don't get stuck in the game of waiting for some big organization like a government set up (even your local government!) to give you resources for this: it's really un-necessary and, I would argue strongly, not even desirable. This can be about your community learning how much power it can have, in all directions! Don't get tempted by the pulls to claim some rights to dependency: its a drug we're wanting to cure ourselves from. Think 'local power'. But this is not just because it will multiply your community's social capital many times over (a good enough reason in itself).

It is useful if you think of your community power station as a savings bank: you make a lump deposit & then you take out money bit by bit as you need it - and in the bank your deposited money grows a little & is useful to others, in the meantime: everyone wins.

In fact re-localising energy processing technologies, if designed well, can result in putting, quite literally, the means of production back in the communities hands: for both the production of Joules & of Euros.

This is how it would work, step by step (:

1) First you find some way of explaining all this to people - which is probably the hardest part (hopefully this article will help).

2) You ask people to invest in a local power station. So people gather their savings (from banks we are geenrally trusting less & less, scattered far & wide, where their savings are usually being put to dubious use) and put them in a community account, destined to the building of the power station.

3) Gathering the funds might take some time, so in the mean-time you also investigate local contractors of renewable energies, perhaps run some courses & get everyone thinking about what the best solutions might be (solar? wind? combination of the two? etc.), get some quotes, etc.

4) You print some tokens which you give to the people who have made a deposit into the energy-fund. These will be your Local Money. This is where it starts to get more exciting. Just with creating these Local Money tokens (LM tokens) you will have started to build a special type of money-recirculating engine in your community, which will benefit everyone, longer-term.

5) All who make a deposit in the energy fund get the equivalent + 10% in value back, in LM tokens. Or you can decide on 5% or 20%, whatever encouragement or recompense you want to work into your plan: it can be higher for the first 20 investors, for example, in order to discourage the usual "lets' wait & see what others do" syndrome (which blocks so many great ideas from making their first step ). The depositors, or community investors, will be able to pay their electricity bills with their LM tokens, eventually.

6) In fact the electricity bills from the new community power station can only be paid for in LM tokens. This creates an extra incentive for the LM to circulate & also allows others who have no savings, to enter the game. Because then it will make sense for a local cheese-maker, who maybe has no savings to invest in the community power-station, to sell her produce in TM tokens, to someone who has been able to invest a lump-sum in the power station.

you set up an incentive for everyone who needs to buy energy (ie. everyone in the community) to turn Euros (which come in & out - & mostly out - of your community) into LM tokens, which are limited in circulation to your community, & by doing that you turn make them work only in, & for, the community.

Stocks, Flows & Feedbacks

We mostly still think in linear ways in a world of systems - & this causes a lot of problems. The fact that the problems are now a lot more visible has a lot to do with our tendency to notice flows more than stocks in a system, and not quite understand the relationships between those.

Focusing on flows rather than stocks means for example, that we give most of our attention to the timber coming out of woodland & not so much on the woodland (as a resource that replenishes at a much slower rate & only if the right nutrient-rain-sun-flows balances are maintained);

we think in terms of exploiting oil wells & give very little thought - if any - to the ancient deposit as a very concentrated source of energy that only forms with the lentitude of eons;

we have no problem noticing & manipulating the flow of electricity out of a power-station, but often forget the work, embodied energy & indeed the danger that a power-station can represent in itself because of how that embodied energy is arranged (witness the Japanese nuclear disaster);

and, last but not least, it is fairly self-evident that we are quite obsessed with the flow of money, yet (all of our economic crises show) we have little or no understanding of what stocks, what resources those flows come from or go to create (but mostly, in fact, to deplete).

Interesting articles and references

Bibliography on renewable energy in the Canary Islands in particular:

1 .- Energy Self-Sufficiency Plan of the City Council: http://www.cabildodelapalma.es/servlet/SProcessCMS?idPag=194&idLanguage=1&idTypeLink=1

2 .- Energy Plan proposes to extend the power plant of La Palma to the south: http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?id=204477

3 .- The renewable energy plan does not fit Canaries La Palma:

http://www.portalsolar.com/energia-solar-plan-energia-renovable-canarias.html

4 .- Neighbourhood, solar thermal panels for hot water and photovoltaic panels for electricity:

Bibliografía sobre energías renovables en las islas Canarias en particular:

1.- Plan de Autosuficiencia Energético del Cabildo: http://www.cabildodelapalma.es/servlet/SProcessCMS?idPag=194&idLanguage=1&idTypeLink=1

2.- El Plan de Energía propone ampliar la central eléctrica de La Palma hacia el sur: http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?id=204477

3.- El plan de energía renovable de Canarias no encaja en La Palma:

http://www.portalsolar.com/energia-solar-plan-energia-renovable-canarias.html

4.- Comunidades de vecinos, Paneles solares térmicos para agua caliente y placas fotovoltaicas para electricidad:

http://infoplacassolares.com/comunidades-de-vecinos-paneles-solares-termicos-para-agua-caliente-y-placas-fotovoltaicas-para-electricidad/

XX Refs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_banking

petro-dollars doc http://vimeo.com/13223837

CC collective 12 apr11

For example, Christopher Dywer on one of our other chats:

Some people are wanting to get out of globally-invested and diversified portfolios and put their money into local community investments. How would you recommend they begin making the switch to a more locally-focused investment approach, given the seemingly underdeveloped mechanisms for and real/perceived legal deterrents to doing so? What specific investment vehicles exist and are coming into existence to support local investing?

Comunities:

http://www.assyntcrofters.co.uk/

http://www.smud.org/en/community-environment/solar/pages/solarshares.aspx

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2008/may/19/wind.powered.community?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

http://newenergynews.blogspot.com/2011/03/todays-study-where-money-will-take-new.html

Money:

http://valueforpeople.co.uk/LMM2recordings

liberty dollar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKFSOjx9pAg&feature=related

http://liberty4free.com/

http://www.documentarywire.com/do-we-really-need-the-moon/

http://www.documentarywire.com/what-makes-a-genius/

http://themaiamaiaproject.blogspot.com/

http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/carbon-offsetting-is-it-time-to-retire-1104.aspx

http://www.carbonretirement.com

http://www.carbontradexchange.com/creditoriginators.php

http://www.berkshares.org/toolkit/index.htm

http://anuncios.ebay.es/inmobiliaria/parcelas-de-ecoaldea-en-formacion-finca-ecologica/8445055

http://notasdeuntecnologo.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar

XX Edited out bits

Locally we've just been treated to the news that there are plans to expand the island's thermal (petrol) plant, all within a wider plan of also increasing renewable energy options, all at the same time. So that added another layer of surrealism.

But, as we are fond of saying in permaculture, "the problem is the solution" - and in this case such a long string of evidence of the ineptitude of institutions regarding our basic needs and safety could perhaps easily translate to empowering people to take matters into their own hands.

And so then I had to ask myself, "ok, so what constructive options can I propose, for my area, that could also be useful to others". And this is it.

.......

There is a big problem - which is a direct result of the type of education system we have invented to harmonise with industrialization - with our attitude to making mistakes, overall, in the population at large. Mistakes happen when our internal models of the world, applied to real life, show us our models are wrong. So making mistakes is an essential element in learning and especially in evolving better and better models.

In a Nutshell

What if we could solve our climate, energy and economics problems with with just one elegant design, whilst uniting & empowering local communities and jump-starting the radical new type of collective action-learning & innovation-training that we need to thrive well into the next century?

Here we propose something of the kind, and challenge you to find more and better forms to do all of these things, as anything less is likely to see us sliding down the evolutionary ramp instead of taking the running jump needed to get over this historical glitch that we're facing.

It will be a looming wall if we fail, fall and so diminish in power and skill, yet it will just be a hump in the road as we look back, if we succeed, and so grow into our next bigger self as humans: not physically this time but consciously.

Introduction & Context

This article was written as news of the sarcophagus solution' was being considered for the nuclear disasters following the earthquakes of march 2011 in Japan. The "sarcophagus solution" consists of covering the unstable nuclear reactors with tons of concrete, in an attempt to trap the radiation.

This is what was done with Chernobyl and is a last resort because encasing 6 (possibly 10) nuclear reactors in a stone 'tomb' means, for the nuclear company and possibly the industry also, admitting defeat. And it means not just the irremedial loss of those reactors, it probably means shutting down all the other ones as well - a financial catastrophe.

There is a great deal to be said for human ingenuity. We are certainly a phenomenally creative species.

Only a few weeks before this I received - yet another - email campaign calling on all of us to switch off the lights for a given time on a particular day ... in protest at electricity prices going up. The very same people are now the ones sending out another 'mass-call-out': to take to the streets and protest against nuclear power.

Something is way off here...

What is worrying about these 'popular protests' is that they not only show up the depths of powerlessness that we have, on-masse, seemingly got stuck into, but also the profound confusion that exists in our minds (and sadly also in many ecologists' and 'alternatives' heads) regarding basic science, basic economics and perhaps also basic common-sense.

I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if a fraction of that 'call for action' and (very probably) genuine deep concern for safe, clean & affordable energy futures, could be channelled into positive - and coherent - creation of alternatives instead of just reactive and very contradictory protest.

The current reality simply is that nuclear energy exists because it is considered one of the cheapest or most convenient options, by the people & institutions that have (take) the power to decide our energy futures. And it is 'cheap' or 'convenient' in a particular context: and the context right now is a kind of suicidal economy, which values share-holder profits (and so price-competitiveness, also) way above human or ecosystem health.

It is nearly always pointless to rage against what is: reality always wins. But it is possible to change reality, with some good design. And that always involves lots of knowledge but also creativity, ingenuity & a willingness to step out of comfortable ways of seeing and being in the world.

In this context this means that if we want to change our energy futures, we need to change the economy. Both are quite uncomfortable subjects to delve in for the average person, deeply conditioned as we are to consider both science and economics as 'too complex' subjects best left to 'experts' (the same experts who are making such a mess of things at present).

Fortunately there are ways of understanding both science & economics in new and much more accessible, integral & interesting ways ... and it turns out we can very creatively combine both science & economics to re-design our way out of some messes we've created as post-industrial era humans.

This article proposes one way of doing this.

About the Authors

Stella - I am primarily a community activist, permaculture designer, and increasingly dedicated to teaching permaculture design frameworks & tools because I believe they are the ABC of future rational societies - ones in which every person is engaged in thinking and acting (designing) intelligently in harmony with thriving ecosystems.

Energy economics has been a major interest of mine ever since I discovered the wonders of physics as a child, a passion which only increased & developed after I attended my first permaculture design course in my late twenties.

What I find enormously exciting about it is that the whole universe is driven by energy economics - and to the extent that we've understood how (where we have good working models), humans have achieved amazing things. And where we haven't is where we are deeply in trouble: these are the parts am particularly interested in.

Looking at things in this way can explain a very puzzling conundrum: how a race that is so brilliant at making bridges, planes, satellites & computers is so dangerously incompetent at living in harmony with other species, and indeed with the very life-support systems that we depend on. I believe that our modelling abilities can (and must) be transferred across disciplines - and indeed, that we are moving into a big re-design of what 'disciplines' might mean, which is very hopeful.

I also believe (because we have solid models that show this to my satisfaction) that there is nothing inherently defective in humans: just like any other creature, if you put us in an environment that supports our nature we will thrive, and if you put us in an environment at odds with our nature we will struggle. And society as it is designed now is clearly a big struggle for most of us.

A Type 1 Error

There is something very elegant, because so basic, about permaculture design theory. It is beyond the scope of this article to go into details but we will give some pointers of the theory on the way, with references at the end for those who want to study further.

A very useful concept we use in permaculture design is the idea of the "type 1 error". A type 1 error is a mistake that, once made, leads us, inevitably, into increasing problems. So it is advised to just start again, rather than waste time & resources trying to fix a systemic problem, in vain.

Although just common sense, perhaps, this is an invaluable concept because - being an often short-sighted but enormously inventive species - in practice what we usually end up doing is the equivalent of finding more and more ingenious ways of getting water out of a sinking ship, instead of blocking up the hole the water is rushing in from. Or, indeed, wondering whether we should be in that ship in the first place.

And this, I will suggest, is exactly what has been happening with our human-designed economies. There are some big type-1 errors right at the base of those designs, and so we have centuries, millenias-worth of ingenious struggles to work our way around them.

I believe (together with great thinkers like Buckminster Fuller and Howard Odum, to mention just two fairly known ones) that one very core of the problem with our human economic systems is that, unlike nature's economic systems, we've almost never respected nature's 'energy standard' for our currencies. And this standard is way more important that the gold-standard, or most of the 'indexes' that (for very understandable reasons) have distracted us in our wild and increasingly frantic attempts to (basically) get back in line with nature's laws.

Nature (or reality) always wins, therefore any kind of human design that doesn't work in harmony with the laws of nature is simply doomed. The few notable attempts we do know of where this basic standard was at least approximated are today used as examples of innovative wealth-building currencies. Like the 'wheat standard' of ancient Egypt or the 'hour standard' of modern Bali.

Ultimately all costs (what something costs to make, move, trade, etc.) can be broken down to energy expenditure. There are so many joules needed to create a cloud, so many joules to grow a tomato, to build a shelter, to brake down a molecule, to create a fuel, to make sound, ... etc. We might create a better model some time in the future, but so far it's the most basic and - so far - workable model we have at present, so we might as well use it.

When you look at the world in terms of energy-flows so many things make a lot of sense. Scientists describe good models as 'elegant', because they enable us to cut through a lot of waffle and grapple with the essence of things, and so create useful tools and technologies.

In terms of energy, a technology is the application of science, and also something that changes energy-matter from one form to another. Commerce essentially is all about transforming energy (services) & matter (products) from one form to another, and one of the crucial technologies that enables this is money, or currency.

Selling the Family Silver

A whole other article could be written about the delightful-horrendous ironies of how this phrase became the most popular expression for what is possibly the core mistake we are busy making on a planetary level: we are destroying the capital resources which - if designed into a rational system - would enable us to effortlessly & permanently harvest (turn into revenue) the great quantities of incoming energy we are blessed with daily, from the sun.

What the energy model enables us to see is that there is a finite & fixed quantity of energy stored in many different forms in and on our planet's surface, and also a finite but flowing quantity of energy flowing onto our planet every day (in the form of solar radiation). An energy vision & some basic understanding of embedded energies gives you a quick & graphic view into the madness we are currently engaged in, which under-pins our western economies.

If and when we learn to budget wisely with these two quite different types of finite resources, we will have designed a sustainable economy. It is that simple. That is why in permaculture we often summarise the meaning of 'sustainability' with the phrase "harvest only sunshine".

Anything that "sells the family silver" (is there an economics term for this?) or using instead of investing capital (usually some kind of concentrated energy: whether a fuel or a powerful technology) is generally recognized to be bad management, certainly at a household level (where the family silver expression comes from)

28 march 11

got a bit stuck here ...

maybe best to stick to the original article,

currently translating here

combine with this one ...

Definitions of Capital

1.Cash or goods used to generate income either by investing in a business or a different income property.

2. Thenet worth of a business; that is, the amount by which its assets exceed its liabilities.

3. The money, property, and other valuables which collectively represent the wealth of an individual or business.

Read more:http://www.investorwords.com/694/capital.html#ixzz1Hh1RHePW

not relating price to cost (and nature measures everything in energy costs), will inevitably bring chaos into our human-designed economies, making the likelyhood of injustice very high (if price and costs do not correspond in some healthy way, exploitation is happening) and big mis-management issue as, in practice, we make no logical connection between cost and price, so mis-budgetting wildly and (quite literally, as events are showing now) we end up living beyond our means, oblivious.

This is the goose of the golden egg story: and that story, like all popular stories, serves to remind us of something we have an unfortunate tendency to forget.

And the poignant message here, as with the story, is that we could really have it all, if only we could get our goose-care skills sharpened-up, instead of our knives.

Nature, our wonderful big mother-goose of the abundant golden eggs, is not quite dead right now, but definitely not healthy, and here in this short article I hope to suggest some useful & basic goose health-care.

I find it useful to think of the local economy as one key unit of health and to simplify it, structurally, as six basic inter-locked blocks, or sub-systems that fit together, much like puzzle-pieces.

Here are four of them and quite usefully represented in three dimension as it helps to illustrate another of several important blind-spots.

We tend to think of local economies (indeed, any economies) in terms of the blue piece that stands out at the back. That is the formal economy system, represented by the stocks & flows of scarce, government-backed inter-national money (euros, dollars, etc.) plus the banks & complex set of agreements that enable it all.

This is the part that stands out of current economic set-ups, indeed it's often the only part we see of it & it is a piece that is essential for businesses to work well - or indeed at all, if we wish to conserve the standards of quality (ensured by market competition, as well as much cooperation).

However we re-design the economy, some equivalent of this formal, international-agreement, scarce currency sub-system will need to exist.

So it is understandable & possibly also right it should stand out, as it is in some ways the height of abstraction & also of achievement of our advanced economies - it is the piece that makes possible the type of productive & international division of labour that supplies us with cars, computers, mobile phones & power stations of any kind.

So (unless you're happy to go back to a pre-industrial kind of lifestyle) you will agree that we damage or devalue this part of the system at our peril, but it is also a big error to forget that it is a sub-system & that it is built on, & totally dependent of other sub-systems which, although not as flashy, are actually more basic.

"Basic" meaning they can survive (however much changed) without this formal economy piece, but the formal economy system cannot survive without them.

The red puzzle piece represents the social fabric: it is the complex web of relationships, mostly held together by what we call the gift economy, that our basic social structures are made out of. It is the system that directly nurtures people's well-being, raises children, looks after the elderly, enables our learning & emotional as well as physical, cultural well-being.

Your mobile phone would be useless if you had nobody to ring & businesses can't thrive without a healthy community of people to buy & produce the goods, so the formal economy could simply not exist without the social fabric to support it, but on the other hand the formal economy can greatly support & enable social structures (although not always in a healthy way).

We tend to get even more confused when it comes to feedback loops.

The honey, where the 'real gold is'. ...