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BY EB C0LL0N, }0BITB N. LASKER ANB C0RINNE
KYRIAC00. FARNBAN: ASBuATE P0BLISBINu LIN-
ITEB, 2u12. PP. XI + 2u8; INBEX. SS.uu. ISBN
97814u9449u41 ANB 97814u9449uS8.
9
This book was wiitten to "pioviue an in-uepth investiga-
tion of Time Banking in the 0niteu States". All thiee con-
tiibutois have been involveu in ieseaich into, anu woikeu
closely with, vaiious Time Banks in the 0SA. They chose
Time Banking fiom among the cuiient systems of commu-
nity cuiiencies, in the knowleuge that Time Banks aie the
most populai type, aie moie flexible than otheis, anu theii
exchange uata aie moie ieauily available as they aie ie-
coiueu electionically. Bowevei they can be veiy challeng-
ing to launch anu sustain, so it is hopeu that the infoima-
tion anu examples pioviueu heie will enable long-teim
success in the futuie. All ieaueis woulu gain both knowl-
euge anu inspiiation fiom the wealth of well-oiganiseu
infoimation, though ieaueis with an acauemic backgiounu
in the fielu of sociology will appieciate moie of the uetail
than the oiuinaiy ieauei.
Theie is an account of the place of Time Banks among the
community cuiiencies useu in the 0SA, incluuing such as
LETS (Local Exchange anu Tiauing Systems), anu Bouis
(papei cuiiency linkeu to the national uollai). All Time
Banks follow the coie values outlineu by Eugai S. Cahn,
founuei of the Time Bank iuea: ASSETS - we aie all assets;
REBEFININu W0RK - some woik is beyonu piice; RECI-
PR0CITY - helping woiks bettei as a two-way stieet; S0-
CIAL NETW0RKS - we neeu each othei; RESPECT - eveiy
human being matteis. Aftei collating infoimation fiom all
Time Banks, the wiiteis then selecteu thiee paiticulai ex-
amples, focusing on theii special systems, theii chaiacteiis-
tic stiengths, as well as theii weaknesses.
The fiist is "a stanu-alone Timebank, that has bioau goals
anu no specific constituency, Boui Exchange Poitlanu
(BEP) in Naine"; the seconu, "Community Exchange (CE),
in the Lehigh valley iegion of Pennsylvania, was staiteu by
a hospital-sponsoieu collaboiation among non-piofit oi-
ganizations"; anu the thiiu "was launcheu by a social BN0
(Bealth Naintenance 0iganization, foi non-0SA ieaueis)
(Elueiplan) to pioviue neeueu seivices to oluei membeis
anu help them iemain inuepenuent, Nembei to Nembei
(N2N) in Biooklyn, NY." Thus we can ieau of a iange of
types anu the uiffeiences in theii methous anu iesults.
Then, in Chaptei S "Why anu Who: Notivations foi }oining
Time Banks anu a Piofile of Paiticipants", we ieau the in-
puts, the uetails of the ieseaich, incluuing chaits anu
giaphs, anu finu gieat uiveisity of motivation, anu a wiue
vaiiety of types of people, besiues the genuei factoi (most
membeis aie female). Chaptei 4 "Time Bank 0iganizations:
Nembeiship Size anu Seivices Exchangeu" conceins ex-
changes, showing the vaiiations in giowth anu stability of
membeiship anu oiganizations; anu the wiue vaiiety of
seivice types, incluuing the selling of goous foi Time Bol-
lais. Chaptei S "Time Bank Nembeis: Paiticipation anu its
Beteiminants" uevelops exchanges fuithei, at the inuiviu-
ual level, within the uiffeient types of netwoiks. Chaptei 6
"The 0utcomes of Time Banking" ieveals the benefits to
inuiviuuals, oiganizations, anu communities, which aie not
iuentical, vaiying with the goals, the membeis, anu the
seivices offeieu. Chaptei 7 , "Conclusion: The Impact anu
Futuie of Time Banking" emphasises the auvantages of
Time Banking ovei othei foims of 0S local cuiiencies,
thiough its flexibility, its politically neutial natuie, its egali-
taiianism, anu its iauical uemociacy in a woilu wheie lo-
calism is making an impact.
This book's gieatest stiength is the cleai oiganization of a
huge amount of mateiial, so that both the piofessional
ieauei anu the less well-infoimeu will be able to finu what
they want. Each chaptei's content is cleaily oiganizeu un-
uei sub-heauings, incluuing its Intiouuction, outlining the
puipose anu plan of the chaptei, anu a Conclusion, biiefly
tying togethei the main points aiiiveu at, anu inuicating
the content of the next chaptei. If any ieauei has stiictly
limiteu time, ieauing only each chaptei's Intiouuction anu
Conclusion woulu give a cleai unueistanuing of the book,
anu easily enable fuithei seaiching foi uetail.
1
1
Email: julietiuthauamsgmail.com
Auams, }. (2u1S) 'Equal Time, Equal value' book ieview, !"#$%"&#'("&) +(,%"&) (- .(//,"'#0 .,%%$"10 2$3$&%14 17 (C) 1-2, <www.ijcci.net>
ISSN 1S2S-9S47
International Journal of
Community Currency Research
Volume 17 (2013) Section C
BOOK REVIEWS
Foi the piofessional ieauei, the many figuies anu tables
suppoiting the text woulu be invaluable; as woulu the final
section of each of Chapteis 2 to 6, the Nethouological Ap-
penuix, pioviuing an oveiview of the ieseaich, uesciibing
the methous useu anu types of uata collecteu. This woulu
be paiticulaily useful foi anybouy planning to uo similai
ieseaich. The Bibliogiaphy, of 12 pages, pioviues a wealth
of iefeiences to wiiteis on ielevant topics, incluuing books,
jouinals anu online infoimation. The 6-page Inuex is cleaily
cioss-iefeienceu, assisting the ieauei to finu mateiial un-
uei alteinative keywoius.
As a piactical mattei, the book is heavy, with tight binuing,
so its fiist ieauei woulu be well-auviseu to have a stiong
bookstanu, anu avoiu haiu woik foi the hanus, while mak-
ing it moie comfoitable foi the latei ieaueis. The piint,
while cleai, is iathei fine foi ieaueis with less than peifect
eyesight, but laigei piint woulu have maue the book even
heaviei. These factois may uetei some potential ieaueis
who woulu then miss out on valuable infoimation. Foi oi-
uinaiy ieaueis simply wanting to finu out about cuiient
systems, without ieauing eveiy page, the Inuex may seem
iathei limiteu. Foi example, if they wanteu to know how
the inteinet is useu, they woulu neeu to know about Com-
munity Weavei softwaie to finu the infoimation.
This book is extiemely useful foi both "acauemics" anu
"activists". What woulu be seen as stiengths foi acauemics
might be seen as weaknesses by ieaueis new to this kinu of
mateiial. Although quite a lot of the infoimation will be less
accessible to the oiuinaiy ieauei, thiough the use of spe-
cialist language, sociologists anu those stuuying health
policies, inequality anu the cieation of community anu sus-
tainability will finu uetaileu, well-suppoiteu infoimation to
woik fiom.
People in any countiy consiueiing staiting up some kinu of
community cuiiency woulu be well auviseu to ieau this
book fiist, although if they lack specialist knowleuge they
may finu that, aftei the seconu chaptei, they will gain suffi-
cient valuable infoimation by ieauing simply each chap-
tei's Intiouuction anu Conclusion, leaving asiue the tables
anu figuies anu each Nethouological Inuex. Those who aie
alieauy involveu in Time Banking woulu also gain fiom
ieauing this mateiial, as they woulu uiscovei iueas anu
methous that coulu help them to impiove anu sustain theii
own systems, wheievei they aie. Theie woulu also be ieas-
suiance fiom these case stuuies that theie aie ways to ueal
with pioblems that seem to thieaten the suivival of a Time
Bank.
The chaptei on 0utcomes pioviues a lot of ieassuiing
statements, such as "It is not the numbei of houis oi quan-
tity of membeis' paiticipation that matteis foi outcomes,
but the quality of that paiticipation." Nowauays, many non-
piofessional people who woulu like to finu out moie about
Time Banks simply woulu not choose to ieau such a com-
piehensive, uetaileu book. 0nline infoimation is much
moie attiactive to many, so peihaps the authois
publisheis woulu consiuei making a uocumentaiy, pief-
eiably animation, anu seen on youtube, outlining the main
iesults of this ieseaich, anu theiefoie piomoting the book
itself.
Juliet Adams
Librarian, Project Lyttelton
34A Voelas Road, Lyttelton, New Zealand
Julietruthadams@gmail.com
:!.:%! )./!0; '8! :1.)(3! .< 1!7(./$%
-#11!/-(!3 BY NARuRIT KENNEBY, BERNARB
LIETAER ANB }0BN R0uERS. AXNINSTER, BEv0N:
TRIARCBY PRESS, 2u12. PP. vI + 2S1; INBEX. L2u
(PAPERBACK) ISBN 97819u8uu976u
=
This book is the long-awaiteu tianslation of Naigiit Ken-
neuy anu Beinaiu Lietaei's 2uu4 woik, Regionalwhiun-
gen - Neue Wege zu Nachhaltigem Wohlstanu (2uu4) - but
to say only this is to uo it a seiious injustice. }ohn Rogeis
has been auueu as a thiiu authoi, anu the book has been
thoioughly upuateu to incluue examples anu iefeiences
fiom as late as the miuule of 2u12, just a few weeks befoie
publication.
The book compiises two paits. The fiist makes the case foi
iegional cuiiencies, while the seconu, which takes up ap-
pioximately twice as much space, looks at iegional cuiien-
cies in piactice, giving numeious examples of successful
cuiiencies fiom many places in the woilu.
By "people money" the authois mean any foim of money
(oi facilitatoi of exchange) that is not cieateu by govein-
ments oi banks. uoveinments issue notes anu coins (anu
also bank ieseives, which the authois neglect to mention);
banks cieate money thiough fiactional ieseive banking
(pp.16-17). The authois take people monies to be iegional,
but this is to confuse two uistinct things: non-goveinment
money can tianscenu iegional oi even national bounuaiies.
Business cuiiencies, which the book ueals with faiily
biiefly, can easily go beyonu national bounuaiies. The aii
miles phenomenon is a goou example of a highly successful
piivate global cuiiency.
It is tiue, howevei, that most non-business people monies -
community cuiiencies - aie limiteu in theii ciiculation to a
paiticulai iegion (anu, inueeu, often to just a single town),
anu fiequently only to a paiticulai gioup of people within
the aiea in which they ciiculate. Such cuiiencies have the
auvantage of keeping economic value within a paiticulai
International Journal Of Community Currency Research 2013 Volume 17(C)
2
2
Email: jonathan.waineiquestu.ca
Wainei, }. (2u1S) 'People Noney: The piomise of iegional cuiiencies' book ieview, !"#$%"&#'("&) +(,%"&) (- .(//,"'#0 .,%%$"10 2$3$&%14 17
(C) 2-S, <www.ijcci.net> ISSN 1S2S-9S47
aiea, making it moie uifficult foi iesouices to uiain away.
}ust as cieuit unions stiive to souice theii loans locally anu
suppoit local businesses by lenuing to them, community
cuiiencies keep tiansactions local, as they aie geneially
acceptable only within that aiea.
The categoiization of cuiiencies foi the examples in the
seconu pait of the book uses two axes - that of the main
puipose of the people money, anu its coie mechanism. The
foimei looks at the majoi objectives of the cuiiency (pio-
mote the local economy, oi to giow community); the lattei
looks at the way the cuiiency woiks (as a foim of commu-
nity cieuit, oi as cuiiency backeu eithei by goous oi na-
tional cuiiency. Attempts to categoiize community cuiien-
cies (foi example, those by }eiome Blanc anu }ens Nai-
tignoni in the I}CCR - the lattei was tianslateu into English
by }ohn Rogeis) have yet to yielu a fiamewoik on which
ieseaicheis aie agieeu, laigely as the appiopiiate point in
tiaue-off between categoiy anu complexity has not been
iesolveu. (The gieatei the numbei of categoiies, the moie
complex the scheme: the less the complexity, the smallei
the ability to make uistinctions.) It is theiefoie a ieason-
able choice to use the classification system they uo, but it
uoes have the uiawback that theie aie quite a few inteiest-
ing iueas (at the enu of chaptei seven) which uon't fit well
with the typology.
So, what makes foi a successful community cuiiency. As
chaptei foui points out, each iegion is uiffeient, anu so a
one-size-fits-all appioach to piouucing a iegional cuiiency
is unlikely to be successful. The case stuuies (chaptei
seven) captuie the iich vaiiety of people monies that exist,
fiom suivivois fiom the 19Su's (Switzeilanu's WIR paiallel
banking system), thiough the business baitei netwoiks
fiom the 198u's, to the issues of papei anu electionic fiat
monies fiom the past uecaue. In oiuei to place the exam-
ples in context, chaptei six pioviues a shoit analysis of
what is necessaiy to succeeu, using a foimat that woulu be
familiai to people piouucing business plans. People Noney
follows }ohn Rogeis' 0RBER piocess - get youi team to-
gethei anu woik out what the goals of the community cui-
iency will be (0wneiship); Reseaich what kinu of cuiiency
might woik in youi community; Besign an appiopiiate
foim (physical, electionic, time-baseu oi national cuiiency-
baseu), then launch it (Engagement); finally, continually
Review what's happening, anu aujust as iequiieu. The iest
of chaptei six explains these elements in gieatei uetail.
The fiist iequiiement in }ohn Rogeis' list is veiy well
uocumenteu in chaptei seven, which fiist piesents a piofile
of effective oiganizeis of people monies anu then moves on
to ovei a uozen examples; oiganizeis of vaiious kinus of
people money weie inteivieweu foi this chaptei, which, at
almost 1uu pages, is by fai the longest in the book. Nany
olu favouiites aie heie: BeikShaies, Ithaca Bouis (both
0SA), anu the Chiemgauei (ueimany), along with moie
iecent aiiivals such as the Biixton Pounu 0K). Two fuithei
examples involving banking (WIR anu Banco Palmas, fiom
Biazil) aie piofileu in chaptei two. Nany of the stoiies at-
test to the patience, skills anu iesilience of the oiganizeis
who kept going, uespite eaily setbacks.
But apait fiom the ueteimination of the cuiiency's oigan-
izei, what else can be gleaneu fiom the case stuuies. Chap-
teis nine anu ten uiaw out some common significant fea-
tuies fiom the case stuuies. It's cleai fiom chaptei nine,
which enumeiates seveial empoweiing aspects of local
cuiiencies, what success woulu look like; but it's not cleai
to what extent community cuiiencies as a class have
achieveu these goals. Nany cuiiencies piofileu in chaptei
seven neeu ongoing outsiue financial suppoit (to pay foi
the consiueiable amount of woik that the oiganizeis uo);
in auuition, much volunteei effoit goes into keeping the
cuiiency ciiculating. Foi the committeu iuealist, this is
puie joy; but foi otheis it may giow olu fast, leauing to the
failuie of the cuiiency.
0ne uiawback of examining only successful cases is that it
ignoies what can be leaineu fiom faileu expeiiments. Chap-
tei six uoes stait with the example of the Rossle Pioject
(Stuttgait, in southein ueimany), which faileu. Accoiuing
to a membei of the coie gioup, this was uue to a combina-
tion of buin-out in the oiganizeis, too few paiticipants, a
lack of awaieness anu the uispeision of paiticipants
(meaning long jouineys to finu businesses that woulu ac-
cept the cuiiency). Cleaily, iemeuying these factois is nec-
essaiy, but it is not cleai that uoing so is sufficient to guai-
antee success. As with many novelties, community cuiien-
cies may stait with a ieseivoii of goouwill, but this can
soon be uiaineu if the auvantages of the cuiiency take a
while to manifest. The use of BeikShaies (piofileu on pages
1S8-14S) "was huge, with eveiy fouith customei at the
banks buying BeikShaies out of cuiiosity (p. 141), but then
saw a uecline which testeu the cuiiency's cieuibility. Salt
Spiing Islanu's cuiiency was launcheu in 2uu1, is not fea-
tuieu in the book, apait fiom an illustiation of one of its
notes. (This is on p.19, anu, fiom context was piobably
iefeienceu in the ueiman text.) At fiist this was veiy well
ieceiveu, but ovei the past few yeais it has seen falls in
ciiculation so, although it is ieauily accepteu on the islanu,
it seems touay to be useu almost exclusively by visitois.
The table of contents anu inuex aie helpful anu thoiough -
one quiik of the inuex is that people aie inuexeu by the fiist
name, iathei than by suiname. The book is not quite a
hanubook oi how-to guiue to community cuiiencies, but it
comes close. Foi anyone wanting to leain moie about the
potential of community cuiiencies oi who is inteiesteu in
ieauing stoiies of successful ones, this is a most valuable
iesouice.
Jonathan Warner
Tutor In Economics
Quest University Canada
International Journal Of Community Currency Research 2013 Volume 17(C)
3
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5(1'8 .< 4!).-1$-0 $/4 %.-$% !-./.)(!3
>93' !4?@ BY }0BN B0IK. IRvINE, CA: SITEF0R-
CBANuE, 2u12. PP 17u. $16 (PAPERBACK). ISBN1u:
147u12u968 ANB ISBN1S: 978147u12u962
A
}ohn Boik, a cancei biologist fiom Los Angeles, is couia-
geous anu oiiginal. Be faces the big issues of oui time-
financial, enviionmental, economic, social, anu even tech-
nological thieats - anu piesents a bluepiint to solve them
by opt-in giassioots solutions. Boik's iueas aie iuealistic
anu iefieshing anu some of them have a piactical appeal. A
who's who of the complementaiy cuiiency anu uemociacy
movements commenu the book anu Beinaiu Lietaei wiote
the pieface. Boik auvocates a token exchange system, a
piincipleu business mouel anu collaboiative goveinance
anu applies uemociatic piinciples to each. Be envisages a
netwoik of piincipleu businesses anu a netwoik of policy
makeis.
Bis bluepiint coulu have a piofounu effect on national sys-
tems anu whole populations. Be uesciibes an appioach anu
technology that woulu allow citizens to voluntaiily coopei-
ate at the metio level in uemonstiating new, sustainable
financial, economic, anu goveinance systems. The pioposal
foi uemociatic self-goveinance can be uemonstiateu in a
pilot scheme in a small gioup in one city. If it is successful
he hopes that the iuea spieaus quickly to eveiy metio aiea
in the 0.S. anu to cities in many othei countiies. Be expects
that the iueas on which it is baseu woulu stait to influence
state anu national politics.
The book contains an excellent section on wiiting legisla-
tion, wheie he applies uecision making piocesses of open
souice softwaie uevelopment anu his knowleuge of genet-
ics, with each iounu being moie sophisticateu than the last.
Though he auvocates pilot schemes he is piobably awaie
that top uown solutions aie pait of the mix anu when these
solutions aie cieative anu benign they aie veiy poweiful.
0ne of the pioblems with ieinventing society is that so few
incluue iesouice-baseu taxation in theii agenua.
The cuiient political piocess has a lot going foi it anu we
shoulu ietain what is effective. The piocess by which a new
policy comes into being is fiist by public auvocacy, contio-
veisy anu finally by legislation. While Boik unueistanus the
giowing iole of the Inteinet in shaping public opinion, he
uoesn't mention the iole of the meuia in this mattei. Ele-
gant anu simple legislative solutions always tiump a patch-
on solution. Politics at its best can be the most cieative
enteipiise of all. The iight policies senu signals to busi-
nesses anu avoius the aitificiality of exceptions anu of pick-
ing winneis.
Boik is an Ameiican in an Ameiican society. While some
states have iefeienua, the 0S uoesn't have piopoitional
iepiesentation. ueoffiey Palmei's intiouuction of Select
Committees was a huge auvance in uemociacy. This is not
yet, I believe, emulateu in the 0S. While New Zealanu has
much fuithei to go in achieving bettei uemociacy, we at
least aie a small countiy anu can constantly iefine anu im-
piove what we have. Suu people actively paiticipateu in
iewiiting the constitution of Icelanu, a countiy with only
SSu,uuu people.
Bis iuea of a local cuiiency is the Token anu he believes
some shoulu be uiveiteu into investment anu some into
loans. Bowevei, the feasibility of this iuea will uepenu on
the scale of the cuiiency anu maybe he unueiestimates its
potential size. 0f couise we shoulu use uemociatic means
to choose which business to invest in. Some publicly owneu
banks aie uoing this alieauy to some uegiee. Beie again the
iole of legislation is unueiestimateu. uoou legislation will
biing goou investment uecisions, just as well uesigneu cui-
iencies will.
Be acknowleuges that housing accounts foi 42% of con-
sumei spenuing anu that his pioposeu Tokens won't help
much with this.
Plauuits foi his stimulating anu oiiginal suggestion of how
to change the woilu anu iescue us just in time fiom total
enviionmental anu economic collapse. Consistent with his
philosophy is publishing the book fiee as a puf anu allow-
ing anyone to publish a haiu copy of the book as long as
they give Su% to the Piincipleu Societies Pioject.
An excellent animateu viueo, the fiist of foui is now on the
w e b s i t e a s s o c i a t e u w i t h t h i s b o o k a t
http:www.piincipleusocietiespioject.oiglocal-financial-
system-animation.
Deirdre Kent
International Journal Of Community Currency Research 2013 Volume 17(C)
4
3
Email: ueiiuie.kentgmail.com
Kent, B. (2u1S) 'Cieating Sustainable Societies: the iebiith of uemociacy anu local economy' book ieview, !"#$%"&#'("&) +(,%"&) (- .(//,"'#0
.,%%$"10 2$3$&%14 17 (C) 4, <www.ijcci.net> ISSN 1S2S-9S47
'8! '(!11$ 3.%#'(./; 1!3.%+(/7 -%()$'!
-8$/7! '81.#78 )./!'$10 '1$/3<.1)$2
'(./ BY FRANS C. vERBAuEN. NEW Y0RK: C0SIN0
B00KS, 2u12. PP. XXI + SS1; INBEX. $19.99 (PAPER-
BACK). ISBN 9781614u6882?
B
Climate change has unuoubteuly been cieateu by the mou-
ein way of uoing things, both within the economic spheie
anu society in geneial. Even though theie is an incessant
uebate as to how anu to what extent the climate is affecteu
by human activity, we all know by oui meie expeiience
that natuie will face immense challenges if human societies
continue business as usual. The book "The Tieiia Solution:
Resolving climate change thiough monetaiy tiansfoima-
tion" by Fians C. veihagen contiibutes to this uebate by: a)
uiscussing the main ieasons anu main solutions to this
pioblem, anu b) piesenting an oiiginal pioposal foi an in-
teinational monetaiy iefoim in uetail; this will focus on
tackling climate change anu inteinational inequalities.
"The Tieiia Solution" is auuiesseu to vaiious auuiences,
fiom acauemics of uiffeient uisciplines (such as economics,
inteinational ielations, law, the natuial sciences, anu busi-
ness auministiation) to activists; fiom people who neeu a
geneial intiouuction to the monetaiy system anu its im-
pacts on the enviionment, to policy-makeis who neeu
biiefing in a vast spectium of issues.
The book is oiganiseu in two paits, which facilitates the
stuuy of the theoietical, histoiical anu piacticalactivist
issues uiscusseu. The fiist pait piesents the climate ciisis
anu caibon ieuuction iegimes, the inteinational monetaiy
system anu its histoiy anu pioviues a geneial oveiview of
the monetaiy justice piinciple. The seconu pait consists of
the conciete pioposal conceining the Tieiia Fee anu Bivi-
uenu System, at both national anu inteinational level.
Chaptei one piesents the climate ciisis anu its implications
on the ielations between the global Noith anu South,
wheieby the South is an ecological cieuitoi of the Noith;
something which has seiious ecological, economic anu po-
litical implications acioss the planet. The seconu chaptei
analyses the alieauy existing anu oi pioposeu methous of
ieuucing caibon emission levels, uealing with theii iespec-
tive auvantages anu uisauvantages.
Chapteis thiee anu foui aie ueuicateu to the inteinational
monetaiy system. The histoiical oveiview of the mouein
monetaiy system is infoimeu anu concise, but with numei-
ous iefeiences to events anu impoitant uocuments in case
the ieauei wants to leain moie anu caiiy out fuithei ie-
seaich on the topic. The iecent inteinational monetaiy
tienus (chaptei foui) compiise even the most iecent
events, incluuing infoimation on seveial iegions of the
woilu outsiue Euiope anu the 0SA.
The fifth chaptei bieaks with the mainstieam neo-libeial
view against the iole of the cential goveinment in mone-
taiy issues. Insteau, it uiscusses the public sectoi as the
sole cieatoi of money which neeus to assume this exact
iole in oiuei to tiansfoim monetaiy flows as well as money
management in the entiie economy.
The sixth anu last chaptei of the fiist pait of the book offeis
a uiscussion on the monetaiy justice piinciple anu how this
might be ciucial foi the inteinational monetaiy system.
Nonetaiy justice has seveial piactical implications because
it is connecteu to: values anu value-baseu planning to
tackle economic inequalities at national anu inteinational
level; enviionmental anu social sustainability, with a focus
on bioiegionalism anu low-caibon economies; an ethical
stance inteitwineu with sustainability piinciples; anu the
actual goveinance of the inteinational monetaiy system,
with public institutions iun accoiuing to monetaiy justice
anu its satellite piinciples.
The fiist chaptei of the seconu pait of the book, chaptei
seven, offeis a basic explanation of what the Tieiia Fee anu
Biviuenu (TFB) system is. It is a caibon-baseu monetaiy
stanuaiu which is pioposeu to be intiouuceu at inteina-
tional level. The stanuaiu woulu iequiie ievaluation of
national cuiiencies accoiuing to each state's enviionmental
peifoimance anu its ecological uebt-oi-cieuitoi position.
The system will be iun by a global cential bank anu a
monetaiy couit to aujuuicate any emeiging conflicts.
Chaptei eight piesents peispectives of the TFB system in
ielation to the cuiient inteinational monetaiy situation to
the Kyoto anu post-Kyoto global situation. The TFB system
will have climatic, economic anu financial impacts, anu will
also affect inteinational tiaue anu goveinance.
The ninth chaptei is mostly auuiesseu to activists who
want to piesent the pioposal in favoui of the TFB, giving
instiuctions on how to effectively piesent the iuea anu its
main axes. The next chaptei (chaptei ten) is even moie
specific, biiefly piesenting ciitiques, questions anu an-
sweis in ielation to the TFB. It also piesents some possible
positive uevelopments of auopting this monetaiy system.
Although the book is ueuicateu to a ceitain monetaiy pio-
posal anu attempts to peisuaue about its valiuity, it ie-
mains well infoimeu as to all ielateu anu oi alteinative
monetaiy iefoim pioposals anu institutions. The selecteu
bibliogiaphy anu extensive notes (with website infoima-
tion) incluueu offei goou ieauing suggestions to anyone
wishing to ieau moie on the subject.
0n the one hanu, the book is not focuseu on complemen-
taiy oi local cuiiencies as such. The centialising appioach
might be shocking foi those who focus moie on boosting
local economies. 0n the othei hanu, howevei, local cuiien-
cies anu economies aie nevei isolateu fiom theii geneial
International Journal Of Community Currency Research 2013 Volume 17(C)
5
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Email: iiene.sotiiopoulougmail.com
Sotiiopoulou, I. (2u1S) 'The Tieiia Solution: Resolving Climate Change Thiough Nonetaiy Tiansfoimation' book ieview, !"#$%"&#'("&) +(,%5
"&) (- .(//,"'#0 .,%%$"10 2$3$&%14 17 (C) S-6, <www.ijcci.net> ISSN 1S2S-9S47
economic enviionment. The geneial issue about the neces-
sitateu iefoimations of the institutions which inteiconnect
local economies is something that no one in the alteinative
cuiiency theoiy anu action fielu consiueis to be a minoi
uiscussion. Accoiuingly, even if the ieauei is not peisuaueu
oi uoes not ieally finu the TFB pioposal satisfactoiy
enough to be piefeiieu ovei othei climate-sustainability
iueas, this book cannot be omitteu fiom ieauing. Auuition-
ally, it is veiy infoiming in teims of its analysis of climate
change anu alteinatives to monetaiy systems anu, of
couise, it gives a thoiough piesentation of one moie altei-
native economy pioposal. Noieovei, it shows that even if
one uoes not enu up suppoiting the TFB, heshe is able to
finu inteiesting uiscussions anu aiguments to face the
mainstieam monociacy conceining monetaiy issues.
Finally, it is a book which contiibutes impoitant infoima-
tion, aiguments anu piactical pioposals to a pioblem no
one can put asiue anymoie. Iueas like the South-Noith eco-
logical uebt flows, the public sectoi's iole conceining
money, oi the sustainable value-baseu monetaiy stanuaiu
can be fuithei elaboiateu by othei theoiists anu activists in
oiuei to collectively finu the best solutions to the cuiient
ecologically uestiuctive situation. In othei woius, "The
Tieiia Solution" book has justifiably become pait of the
alteinative sustainability uiscussion.
Irene Sotiropoulou
International Journal Of Community Currency Research 2013 Volume 17(C)
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