The Future of Money


Currency

 World Experts Speak on a Fairer Economy to Build a Strong Local Community

A Seminar hosted by the Narara Eco Living Network

Book now for this thought provoking event

We would like to acknowledge the support of the Working Journey in making this event possible.

Saturday September 5, 11am – 5pm (PLEASE BRING A PICNIC LUNCH WITH YOU)

(part1 scheduled for Aug 28 has been cancelled and folded into Sept 5)

Shann Turnbull:

“Building a sustainable Fair Share Society: What it would be like and how to get there?”

“What politically attractive policies can provide the means for perpetually nurturing the environment and establishing a fair share society? Learn how inequality is created in ways not reported by accountants nor noticed by economists. Equality and sustainability requires the processes found in nature to be applied to the ways we own and control land, buildings, firms and money. Communities introducing ecological forms of money, ownership and governance can also initiate the transition from the bottom up.”

The seminar will conclude with a discussion on how we can use such ideas to nourish a more robust, resilient and sustainable Central Coast economy.

Jonathan Dawson will give a talk titled “Tools for Building Resilient, Fair and Low-Carbon Economies ” Jonathan will join us from England via skype.

Increasingly, ecovillages and Transition initiatives find themselves as key nodes in networks of activities aimed at building local economic development and resilience. Their role in initiating community currencies, community share-offers, renewable energy generation, organic food systems and so on is increasingly catalysing wider transformation in their surrounding areas. This talk will explore both the specific design features of these various community-based initiatives; and also how ecovillages and Transition initiatives have built alliances with wider solidarity networks, both governmental and non-governmental, for wider economic impact.

We need a serious rethink of our economic systems at both global and local levels. As we face the immense challenges associated with ongoing global economic crises, austerity measures, climate change impacts, the decline of fossil fuels, increasing biodiversity loss and ever increasing levels of inequality, the need for deep economic change has never been greater.

But what would this economic change look like? How would an economic system centred on concepts of social justice and ecological sustainability work? How can we produce, consume and exchange in ways that are fair and sustainable? What would it mean to have greater economic resilience at a local level?  And what experiments are happening locally and globally that are seeding the paradigm shift so many are seeking?

Keynote speakers:

jonathan dawson

Jonathan Dawson is a sustainability educator, currently working as Head of Economics at Schumacher College in Devon. Until recently a long-term resident at the Findhorn ecovillage and a former President of the Global Ecovillage Network, he has around 20 years’ experience as a researcher, author, consultant and project manager in the field of small enterprise development in Africa and South Asia.

Jonathan is the principal author of the Gaia Education sustainable economy curriculum www.gaiaeducation.org, drawn from best practice within ecovillages worldwide, that has been endorsed by UNITAR and adopted by UNESCO as a valuable contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

  • Dr Shann Turnbull – Author and public policy creator, co-founder of Sustainable Money Working Group in UK

Shann TurnbullDr. Shann Turnbull obtained an MBA from Harvard in 1963 and a PhD from Macquarie University in 2001. He published The Management of Capital in 1965 to promote modern financial analysis in Australia and in 1975 his first book on Democratising the Wealth of Nations. The novel ideas in his book led to consulting assignments for multi-national corporations, United Nations, World Bank, and governments, including in 1991 the Peoples Republic of China and Czechoslovakia.

Shann has been a prolific writer on reforming the theories and practices of capitalism. In 2002 he was commissioned by the London based New Economics Foundation to write a public policy booklet on A New Way to Govern: Organizations and society after Enron. He taught risk analysis to graduate students at the University of NSW in 2007 and at Sydney University in 2008. In 2011 Shann co-founded the Sustainable Money Working Group in the UK to provide liquidity for small and medium sized enterprises in the event of another financial crisis. Group members represent 25% of the UK population

Book now for this thought provoking event

Local speakers

John Shiel

John SheilWhat is a local currency? Examples of successful local currencies from Australia and abroad and how they have led to local economic development and resiliency.

 

 

 

John Talbot

John Talbott

John will tell us about the Ekopia Resource Exchange, a community benefit co-operative located in Findhorn, Scotland, raising funds to support local community enterprises

 

 

 


Deborah Bagot

Deborah BagotDeborah will speak about the Central Coast’s own local currency.

 

 

 

 

Nicole Moly

Nicole MoleyNicole will speak about CES Australia, Hunter LETS, and her broader interest in using sharing economies and complementary currencies.