[Scpg] TONIGHT!/May 6/Future of Money/Creating Sustainability & Abundance with Complementary Currencies/Bernard Lietaer Evening Talk 6:30pm

Sun May 6 06:18:21 PDT 2012

We are fortunate to have author and economist 
Bernard Lietaer with us.  It is an incredible 
honor to have an international speaker of this 
caliber decide to come to SBCC and the Center for 
Sustainability while in our region, another unexpected opportunity.

As we see all the changes happening, even to 
institutions and infrastructure we thought would 
always be there (community colleges, post 
offices, government agencies), we realize an 
understanding of the topic of money and monetary 
systems needs focus and understanding by all for 
a more sustainable future.   Please join us!
The SBCC Center for Sustainability Presents:
The Future of Money:
Creating Sustainability & Abundance
  with Complementary Currencies
[]

with Bernard Lietaer
  Sunday May 6, 2012
6:30-9pm
Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College, West Campus
$10 General -$5 SBCC Students

"Money is like an iron ring we've put through our 
noses. We've forgotten that we designed it, and it is now leading us around"
                                                                                                         Bernard 
Lietaer

         According to Bernard Lietaer, scarcity 
doesn't need to be a guiding principle of our 
economic system.  He also suggests that money 
should work for us, not the other way around, and 
unlike the weather, wasn't created by Nature, it was created by us!

Monetary systems have existed throughout human 
history, and with the centuries-old model that 
currently exists, has been the culprit for many 
of the negative economic and environmental issues 
we face today.  But what most have forgotten is 
that money is a human designed construct that we 
absolutely have the ability to redesign for a 
more abundant and sustainable future.

Join the SBCC Center for Sustainability for a 
talk with Bernard Lietaer, author of the newly 
published book, "New Money for a New World" on 
Sunday, May 6, 6:30-9pm, as he discusses radical 
but proven ideas about complementary currencies 
and their ability to strengthen local communities 
and their economies, while buffering them from 
the ups and downs of the global economy.  Using 
innovative new systems of exchange, along side 
existing national currencies, Lietaer suggests we 
move away from single currency monocultures, with 
their inevitable boom and bust cycles, to 
multiple and diverse systems of exchange.  When 
one exchange system goes down, another one is in 
place for welcome stability, with a resilience 
and diversity that mimics natural ecosystems.

Sharing compelling examples of successful 
complementary currencies used around the globe 
today and those from past eras of history, 
Lietaers ideas are less revolutionary than they 
appear.  Using creative initiatives such as 
airline frequent flyer miles (a form of 
complementary currency promoting customer-loyalty 
in exchange for free travel), Time Banks, 
commercial barter, carbon currency and mutual 
credit systems, communities can empower 
themselves and flourish in spite of the current 
economic crisis, by simply rethinking how money works.

For learning institutions such as colleges that 
currently leave many students in enormous debt 
and others left out of the system altogether, an 
exemplary complementary currency model is the 
Brazilian Saber, where funds from a small tax on 
cell phone usage is used to create "sabers" 
officially redeemable for teaching other students 
or tuition payments, thereby creating a "learning 
chain and learning multiplier" effect.  The 
University of Missouri, Kansas City, introduced 
an innovative complementary currency called 
Buckaroos, that students can earn while 
performing community service activities.

Bernard Lietaer is a former Belgium banker and 
the author of several highly acclaimed books 
including The Future of Money: Beyond Greed & 
Scarcity; and Creating Wealth; Growing Local 
Economies with Local Currencies, and his most 
recent, New Money for a New World.  He has been 
active in the realm of money systems in a wide 
variety of functions for almost 40 years, 
including being one of the principle architects 
of the European euro.  Formerly a professor of 
international finance at the University of 
Louvain, Lietaer was a fellow at the Center for 
Sustainable Resources at the University of 
California, Berkeley.  Lietaer co-founded one of 
the largest and most successful currency 
management firms, GaiaCorp.  He is co-founder of 
ACCESS Foundation, an educational non-profit 
organization whose goal is the re-alignment of 
sustainability and global financial 
interests.  Business Week magazine named him "the 
world's top currency trader" in 1992.

Faye Cox, local currency expert, will introduce 
and facilitate the talk, which will include an 
interesting discussion of how complementary 
currencies might be used to address critical 
social and economic issues in our region.

The evening talk takes place on Sunday, May 6, 
6:30pm-9pm, 2012, at the Fe Bland Auditorium, 
Santa Barbara City College West Campus, 721 Cliff 
Drive, SB, 93109. $10 general/$5 SBCC students. 
No reservations required. More info: 
(805)962-2571, email: sbpcnet at silcom.com, 
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/. Campus parking is free on Sundays.

Sponsored by:
The SBCC Center for Sustainability
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/
Co-sponsors: Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, 
Santa Barbara Time Bank, & the Santa Barbara Slow Money Chapter

Read More:

Bernard Lietaer website: http://www.lietaer.com/

Santa Barbara TimeBank:
http://santabarbara.timebanks.org/

International Journal of Community Currency Research (IJCCR):
The online forum for disseminating knowledge 
about community and complementary currencies around the world.
http://www.ijccr.net/IJCCR/IJCCR_Home.html

Quotes:

"National currency is cold and selfish by itself. 
So let's create community currencies with which 
we can warm up our communities as New Money For A New World recommends."
~Tsutomu Hotta
Former Minister of Justice and Supreme Court Judge in Japan
Chairman, Sawayaka Welfare Foundation
Founder of the Japanese "Fureai Kippu" currencies
"Bernard Lietaer and Stephen Belgin compel us to 
rethink our assumptions about money, economics, 
and commerce today. Their analyses and historical 
insights are incisive and provoke thought about 
what's gone wrong with economies all over the 
world. But more importantly, they provide 
tangible solutionsillustrated in real-world 
examplesto challenges we face with building more 
just, prosperous and sustainable global societies."
~Martin N. Davidson, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor at Darden Graduate School of Business
Author of The End of Diversity as We Know It

"Every so often, something comes along that 
changes our perceptions, turning our world 
upside-down and inside-out. New Money For A New 
World will shatter the views of anyone who uses 
money, and show how we can make money work for 
us, creating greater prosperity and possibility, 
while bringing balance to our greatest social and environmental problems."
~Nitin Gadia
Videographer of Creating Our Own Money
Facilitator of the Central Iowa Currency Initiative

Margie Bushman
Program Coordinator, SBCC Center for Sustainability
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/
PPlease consider the environment before printing this email.
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