Since I published TRUE WEALTH: How You Can Create Local Currency Systems and Why You Must Start Now, people have been asking me what complementary currencies are, and how they can be of practical help in this time of economic downturn. So I decided to write a short introduction for you.
First, I have to say that I am not an expert in this area, I’m simply the messenger. If you want to hear direct from the experts, please read the e-book which is packed with information and inspiration.
Complementary currency systems are not new, we humans have invented all sorts of ways to exchange and barter without money since we began all those eons ago. And many of the complementary currencies which are being used now in local communities have been tried and tested over several decades.
The system we use in my local community Golden Bay, for instance, is one of the most well established in New Zealand. It’s called H.A.N.D.S.: How About Non Dollar System, and it’s a form of Local Employment and Trading Systems or LETS, which are used all over the world. It’s simply a way of trading goods and services without exchanging money. Often the trade involves part complementary currency and part $$. HANDS now has a paper currency like money and also the transactions can be recorded via a website.
H.A.N.D.S. was created, along with the other LETS systems, to help people with their personal and household finances, and people have used HANDS for paying part of their rent or buying a used car. Just about any goods and services can be traded for HANDS. When I was creating the e-book, TRUE WEALTH, for example, I paid for half the editing, the book cover design, the inner layout and most of the web work with HANDS, so this now makes a real difference to me in developing my business as some of the web based services can be very costly. Others exchange home grown food, household items, rides to other towns, plants and seedlings, computer parts, workshops and courses of all kinds, clothes.. you name it and you can probably trade it.
Another whole benefit of H.A.N.D.S. beyond financial help is in terms of valuing people’s skills. Everyone has something to offer that’s of value to someone else and even if you can’t earn $$ for what you offer you can certainly earn through the complementary currency system. Through regular email newsletters, a local directory and, in our case, through a wonderfully helpful co-ordinator or HANDY messenger, people are put in touch with one another, find things they are looking for and find buyers for the products and services they have to sell.
This is a fabulous way to build and strengthen community. This ability to survive and thrive outside the disintegrating consumer culture is the basis for a new culture emerging now around the planet as the old world crumbles. Complementary community currencies are local currencies which operate alongside the banking system and stimulate the flow of exchange in the local community. They are built upon principles of abundance: flow, trust, balance, giving and receiving, and are models for the new economy. Think of what the word currency really means: a current flows energy, whether that current is water, electricity or people power. To be current is to be here and now.
A community currency enables us to flow our people power here and now, creating a common abundance, or common wealth from our gifts.
There are many other forms of complementary currencies beyond H.A.N.D.S. and the LETS system. In TRUE WEALTH you can read about timebanks, local food exchanges, lending pools, as well as some of the systems being developed by local authorities.
I have to admit that when I first came across these local systems of exchange nearly 20 years ago, I was skeptical but now, in today’s economic climate and especially living in a small rural community, far away from the engines of commerce, I really see this as the way forward. Complementary currencies make a real difference in my life and in the community I’m part of, and wherever you live, they could help you too. If you want to know more reading TRUE WEALTH is a good first step. http://www.awholenewworld.net/true-wealth-currencies.html
Rose Diamond
October 7th 2012
