Show Me the Community Money!

#27, October 20, 1999

Money. We earn it, we spend it, and most everyone wants more of it. But what is money, really? The source of all happiness, or the root of all evil?

Money is basically just information. Ultimately, it's a representation of some stranger's promise to exchange it for something of real value, like food or Nintendo. Money originally grew out of barter ("I'll trade you my ox for that violin"), making possible increasingly complex chains of transactions ("Well, I don't need an ox, but the well digger does, and the tailor needs a new well, and I need a new suit, so if we… heck, how about if you just give me some gold?")

But our money has evolved away from universally valuable substances, like clams or precious stones. Our coins are no longer silver but cheap silver-colored metal; greenbacks are not backed by gold, but by a debt of monstrous proportion. Today, money "changes hands" mostly through transactions made at the speed of light, marked only by the tiniest of electrical charges captured in a matrix of silicon or iron.

This abstraction of value, its detachment from what we truly need as human beings, has empowered the distortion of priorities so evident in the world around us. Eco-economist Carol Brouillet writes: "Western civilization has confused money with wealth. Most of the world's money is chasing other money in the cyber-casino of the global financial markets, oblivious to the devastation being wreaked upon the world's ecosystems and people." Our system of banking and credit allows corporate owners like Charles Hurwitz make as much money in ten hours of clearcutting ancient redwoods as your neighbor makes in ten months of teaching children to read.

So how do we bring money down to earth? One way is to start using local currency. For over a year, a growing number of local folks are exchanging Hours, the primary denomination of Sonoma County's new Community Cash. The Community Cash "institution" is run by volunteers (who don't charge interest like the banks!), and here's how it works: you sign up, offering up to three goods or services you're willing to sell for Sonoma Hours. You are listed in their directory (there are currently over 1000 listings, conveniently sortable on the Web by name, type, and location. See sonomacash.bellanet.com). You are issued five Hours to get you started. You then buy from and sell to the people and businesses on the list. And they buy from and sell to you. Simple.

Local currency was pioneered by Ithaca, New York in 1991, and has since expanded to over 70 locales. It's designed for local transactions-- it won't replace the dollar for buying that Toyota. But it is intended to encourage local trade, keeping more money circulating in town. It benefits the community in the same way as the "Shop in Petaluma" programs advocated by local merchants.

But Community Cash goes further in healing our economy. It enables people to discover new sources of wealth all around them-- the wealth of their useful talents, and the rewards of doing work they love. They discover the riches of mutually beneficial relationships as they meet and trade with their Sonoma County neighbors. And by setting an exchange rate at $20 per Hour while putting a human element in the transactions, Community Cash will help levelize the disparity in hourly rates, and give the traditionally underpaid workers a chance to earn a living wage.

Joining the Community Cash economy is an easy form of Y2K insurance-- these local "suppliers" are the least likely to be disrupted by breakdowns in financial and distribution systems. The Community Cash membership roster also reflects a commitment to ecologically sustainable and spiritually rewarding living. It's no coincidence that the Sonoma Hour is printed on recycled dollar bills, and pictures acorns and Live Oaks rather than Federal Buildings and dead presidents.

If you want to "cash in" on this worthy venture, call Patricia Haramati at 763-1419, or email mreins@svn.net. As for me, I'm asking the Argus to start paying me in Sonoma Hours!