Holistic Economics

Moving...

2009-01-24T23:51:00.001-08:00

I've decided to move my blog...I conducted a review of the academic literature on LETS last term and I wrote a paper on my findings. I've been wanting to share the information with those working on creating LETSystems and the easiest way for me to do so would be to share my paper...I couldn't figure out how to post a pdf to blogger, so I moved to wordpress. My new blog location is: Holistic Economics. The newest post contains a link to a pdf version of my paper. I hope it aids in your creation of LETSystems and other local currencies.

Adventures into the World of Dried Beans

2009-01-13T00:30:00.000-08:00

Now, some of you may be wondering how beans tie into economics. Yet, beans are an amazing protein source and food is one of my largest monthly expenses. Recently, I've been trying to cut back on my spending for a variety of reasons. Partly economic and partly due to the fact that I don't want to have such a large ecological footprint. The more money I spend on products each month, the more carbon emissions I am responsible for.

Since food is one of my largest expenses, I have decided to reevaluate my choices in an attempt to cut costs. I have also decided to shift even further towards a whole foods diet for health and ecological reasons. Since I am unwilling to give up organic food for many reasons, I have decided to cut costs by cutting out the can (and eating less cheese). In doing so, I am decreasing my footprint as I recycle less (from using less) metal each month. (A side note for those of you interested in the health benefits of not eating canned food: Canned foods contain the chemical bisphenol-A, which has been found to cause breast cancer, birth defects in male and female reproductive systems, and more. For more info: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/bi sphenol-a-in-cans.php, http://www.ewg.org/reports/bispheno la. Not all cans contain it, Eden Organics don't, but in Canada that means $2 for every can of beans, which adds up. Plus, unless you live near the cannery and the beans are grown right near the cannery, the food isn't local.)

So, I've decided to once again venture into the world of dried beans. Now, dried beans and I have not had the best of luck in the past. I had never experienced cooking with dried beans until 2 years ago and except for the period of time during which I had a haybox, which I'm about to describe, I have failed miserably at my attempts to cook dried beans. Usually this has ended up in a pot of burnt beans as I got distracted and forgot about the pot simmering away in the kitchen. More recently, I had the unfortunate situation of making myself ill from the uneven cooking of beans. I made split pea soup, I let the peas boil for an hour, I tasted some and they were nicely cooked, so I pureed the soup, ate a mug full, went on to my second mug and then got a crunchy bite. Apparently, the peas did not cook evenly and I was eating pureed partly undercooked beans. An incredibly unpleasant experience, I highly recommend testing multiple samples of your split peas before you puree them into soup.

Now, hopefully I haven't scared you off of cooking with dried beans. The haybox I am about to describe is an incredibly useful tool for making perfectly cooked beans (and saving energy too!). I've also developed some tricks for cooking beans without a haybox, as my quest for creating a haybox in an urban envrionment has been longer than desired and I have continued my adventures with dried beans and come up with solutions in the meantime.

So what is a haybox?
A haybox is an insulated box that is used for cooking. Traditionally it was a wooden box lined with hay. Basically, the idea behind haybox cookery is. 1) Bring a pot of pre-soaked beans to a boil 2) Remove from heat and place inside haybox 3) Do whatever you want for the next few hours 4) Come back to a perfectly cooked pot of beans (or rice or whatever else you choose to slow cook). The insulated box keeps in the heat and keeps the food cooking while you do your thing. There's no need to worry about pots boiling over, simmering away all of the water and burning the beans, not having time to watch over a pot of beans. With a haybox you can start a pot of soup in the morning, go to class (or work), and come home to lunch ready and waiting. (Note: While most means are safe to cook in a haybox, red kidney beans contain a natural toxin that is killed at high temperatures. It is recommended that you boil them for 20 minutes before using a slow cooker. Additionally, chickpeas are a very hard bean, so they may require some additional pre-boiling time as well).

For a more in-depth description of a haybox, check out: http://www.lostvalley.org/haybox1.html. Lost Valley is where I first discovered the wonders of a haybox (and dried bean cooking. As my above stories show, I've been lost since).

So how do you make a haybox?
Making a haybox is incredibly, incredibly easy.
- You can build one out of wood and hay or insulation (the more complicated, but more attractive method).
- For those with space, but no tools, a great description of how to make a haybox out of a cooler can be found here: http://www.selfsufficientish.com/hayboxcooker.htm.
- Now, for those of you who live in small apartments without tools, space to keep a large cooler, or money to buy a cooler (if you are to use a cooler I recommend trying to find a used one, but as I have learned that can be challenging as I have yet to find one big enough), I have finally found the solution: Cardboard boxes and old towels. At first I was a bit skeptical, which is why I spent weeks trying to find an old cooler. I had contemplated the idea, but didn't think a cardboard box would retain heat well. But, they do!

So, how do you build a haybox out of a cardboard box? It's easy. All you need is:
- A cardboard box
- Old towels (preferably washed first)
- Some duct tape to seal holes or put the box back together
- Something to help keep your box closed, depending on the type of box you are using. (If you are using a traditional four flap box, you can just fold the flaps together. The box I had on hand was slightly irregular shaped, so I used because some velcro I had on hand.)

I used some velcro to help keep the sides closed (and the heat in)

Using the haybox is easy. Bring pre-soaked beans (that have been rinsed and put into fresh water) to a boil. Remove beans from stove and add to your box that is lined with a layer of towel. Cover beans with more towels, ensuring that you pack the pot in as tight as possible, and close the box. Let sit for a few hours and come back to perfectly cooked beans! You can then season the beans and eat. Or, you can do all the prep work/seasoning first and come back to a perfectly cooked meal. You can also use a haybox for rice or a rice and beans combination. The possibilities are endless!

Other methods
One other method I have found besides the haybox is the rice cooker. Now a haybox is much more energy effecient than a rice cooker, but if you are going to use the stove to cook rice a rice cooker may or may not use more energy. I love my rice cooker, it makes delicious rice, so at this point in time I am not willing to part. I have, however, figured out ways to cook my beans with my rice; therefore, slightly saving energy (and saving me the trouble of having to watch over a pot of beans!)

When cooking beans in a rice cooker, you do have to boil the beans on the stove first for about 30 min, until they start to become soft. Then you can add them in with you rice, as well as twice as much water as beans (on top of the water you would normally add for the rice). When the rice is done, you will have a pot of perfectly cooked rice and beans.

Whether in the haybox, on the stove, or in the rice cooker, cooking rice and beans in the same point is a great time and energy saver. It's a simple easy meal with some steamed greens and a sprinkle of soy on top and it can be used for some great creative leftovers:

To make the delicious rice patties pictured above mix your leftover rice and beans with some diced onion, frozen (thawed out) corn, and some ripped up corn tortillas (or bread crumbs for those who eat wheat). Season with salt and pepper and form into patties. Cook in a pan with a small amount of oil and enjoy! I ate mine with some oven baked parsnip fries, roasted garlic, whole grain mustard, and sauerkraut. Delicious!

Articles on Local Currencies

2009-01-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

Local currencies have been in the news a lot lately. Since, I'm a bit behind on blogging, I thought I'd share some articles that I've come across in the past few weeks:

When It Comes to Cash, A Thai Village Says, 'Baht, Humbug!' by James Hookway
This is a really interesting article about a physical local currency in Thailand that has been very effective. It also touches on the non-economic benefits of local currency - the cultivation of community.

Local Currencies Grown During Economic Recession by Ben Block
An article that mentions a lot of physical local currency initiatives around the world. They focus a bit on BerkShares, which is a really successful initiative in Massachusetts that I hope to write more about soon.

Alternative Currencies Grow in Popularity by Judith D. Schwartz
Another overview article that mentions not only physical currencies, but LETS and Time Banks as well. (more details on each of those coming soon...)

All of the articles above mention BerkShares, which I'm not going to write about now, but I found a bunch of news clips about them. They definitely appear to be receiving the most news attention out of all of the local currency initiatives in the US.

BerkShares on ABC News
News on BerkShares and holiday shopping.

Good News: Make Money to Make Money (don't watch the last 30 sec - it's a car ad)
This clip talks about the limitations of local currencies as well as the increased usage due to the downturn in our economy. However, it fails to explain the limitation. BerkShares is a physical currency that is tradeable for USD. There are multiple banks in the region that will exchange USD for BerkShares and BerkShares back to USD. The exchange rate is 90 cents for 1 BerkShare. This is how they help to keep money local. Businesses accept BerkShares at an on par level to USD, so people who spend BerkShares receive a 10% discount on their purchases. Businesses are willing to accept BerkShares and offer that discount becuase it helps attract customers. This also encourages businesses to buy from other local businesses because if they spend the BerkShares locally rather than trading it in for USD they don't lose that 10%. The limitation of the BerkShares that is briefly mentioned in the clip is that, unfortunately, most businesses are not sourcing their products locally. So, if a hardware store that sources most of its tools from manufacturers in China accepts BerkShares they have to trade the BerkShares in for the 10% loss to buy more products. If the store sourced its products locally, they would keep that 10% because they could purchase their products in Berkshares rather than in USD. So, I guess I did end up giving you that explanation...

One last article...
Community as Financial Safe Haven in Troubled Times by Catherine Austin Fitts
I stumbled upon this today. It doesn't deal with local currencies, but it falls under the holistic economics tree, as it discusses the need for staying local and investing in our local communities .

Local Currencies

2008-12-22T01:15:00.000-08:00

I have spent a fairly large amount of time over the past year researching, starting, and writing about local currencies. Last spring, I set up a LETSystem in LA based out of LA Eco-Village. I have since moved and am currently working with Village Vancouver on the creation of a local currency for Vancouver. I've managed to combine my work in Vancouver with my course work at UBC, which has meant more research and the writing of some incredibly boring papers (for those of you who do not know me and have somehow stumbled across this blog, I do not think academic papers are an effective means of disseminating knowledge.)

People have been asking me to share my findings, so I will begin to attempt to share the results with you in a less boring manner. But first, a brief history of local currencies (with a focus on LETS), excerpted from one of my papers...

A Brief History of Local Currencies
The presence of alternative and/or local currencies far outdates that of the national dollar. The idea of a single currency did not even come into being until the 19th century (Tibbett, 1997). In the United States, local paper currencies first appeared in the form of municipal currencies during the ‘Free Banking’ era of 1837-65 (Jayaraman & Oak, 2005). Local currencies regained popularity worldwide in the 1930’s during the Great Depression with the issuance of scrip (non-legal tender, which acts as a substitution for currency often in the form of credit) (Jayaraman & Oak, 2005).

Barter became a popular alternative for businesses in the 1970s, accounting for an estimated 25 percent of East-West trade transactions. (Tibbett, 1997) The use of barter increased in the 1980s and 90s, as did the development of smaller scale local alternatives. One such local alternative is the LETSystem (Local Economic Trading System), developed in 1983 by Michael Linton in Comox Valley, BC, Canada (North, 2006; Collom, 2005). After an initial success in Comox Valley, Linton took his idea on the road, promoting LETS in Australia and the UK. In the mid 1990s there were an estimated 164 LETSystems in Australia (North, 2006) and in 2006 there were over 300 LETSystems in the UK (LETS Link UK, n.d.). Other forms of local currencies that emerged since the 1980s include the Ithaca Hours, Time Banks USA, and the BerkShares (Greco, 2001).

The type of people involved in the local currency movement has varied over the years. During the Great Depression, many of the currencies created were started by businesses that used them to pay their employees (Greco, 2001). Newer local currency initiatives stem from the Green Movement of the 1960s (North, 2006). While both the older and newer generations of local currencies work to address scarcity of national currencies, Helleiner contrasts the local currencies that emerged in the 1980s to those created in the 1930s stating that, "these kinds of currencies are not entirely new phenomenon, but previous currencies have existed temporarily…supporters of local currencies today by contrast are part of a more sustained transnational movement that aims to use this monetary structure as a tool for permanent social change" (Helleiner, 2000, pg 36).

Most recent local currency initiatives emerged as a means of creating alternatives to globalization. (Glover, 1999; Helleiner, 2000; North, 2006). They are created by people who are unhappy with the effects of the current monetary system and are working to create more inclusive alternatives (Seyfang, 2001; Tibbett, 1997).

Sources:
- Collom, E. (2005). Community currency in the United States: the social environments in which it emerges and survives. Environment and Planning A, 27, 1565-1587.
- Glover, D. (1999). Defending Communities: Local Economic Trading Systems From an Environmental Perspective. IDS Bulletin, 30, 75-82.
- Greco, T. (2001). Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender. Canada: Chelsea Green Publishing Company.
- Helleiner, E. (2000). Think Globally, Transact Locally Green Political Economy and the Local Currency Movement. Global Society, 14(1), 35-51.
- Jayaraman, R. & Oak, M. (2005). The Signalling Role of Municipal Currenices in Local Development. Economica, 72, 597-613.
- LETS Link UK: Homepage (n.d.). Retrieved Nov 19, 2008, from LETS Link UK website: http://www.letslinkuk.net/.
- North, P. (2006). Alternative Currency Movements as a Challenge to Globalisation? A Case Study of Manchester’s Local Currency Networks. Burlington: Ashgate.
- Seyfang, G. (2001). Working for the Fenland Dollar: An Evaluation of Local Exchange Trading Schemes as an Informal Employment Strategy to Tackle Social Exclusion. Work, Employment & Society, 15(3), 581-593.
- Tibbett, R. (1997). Alternative Currencies: A Challenge to Globalisation? New Political Economy, 2(1) 1997).

Honoring Ourselves Financially

2008-07-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

Recently, the topic of honoring oneself has come up a lot for me. This idea of honoring oneself is one that I've heard a lot within the ecovillage/intentional communities world. However, most of the time, it hasn't been related to issues of finance. Yet, honoring oneself when it comes to financial matters is just as important as honoring ourselves by taking the care to put nourishing food into our bodies, rest when we are tired, and taking actions that respect ourselves and others.

Part of honoring ourselves is realizing our worth, both intrinsically and, yes, even financially. While writing that last sentence a part of me shuddered - when I imagined my financial worth, my mind jumped to scenes of corporate America and the question of "how can you put a financial value on oneself?" I then thought back to my economic classes and some of the questions raised about accounting for externalities: how can we put a price on the impact business has on the environment? Ideas that in the past have made me want to just leave our current economic model, start an ecovillage and my own alternate economy.

But, for now, we are stuck with the existing system. And, while we can create our own economic experiments, unless we want to segregate ourselves from the rest of the world, we can't leave the system entirely. And, if we live in the US, we can't even completely abandon the system because we would still have to create some sort of income to pay the taxes on our land. And, what kind of world changers would we be if we segregated ourselves from the rest of the world. Maybe we'd be living the good life, but we wouldn't be helping anyone else but ourselves.

Since we are stuck in this system (for now), we need to learn how to thrive in it. We need to learn how to separate our dislike for corporate America from the idea of money.

In this blog, I will explore different ways that we can manifest financial abundance in our lives. I will explore ways in which we can create economic abundance in our lives, both within and outside the current economic system.