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


         A ccording 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@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/
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.