Here is my review of the U.N. conference on happiness and economics, convened by the government of Bhutan, that I attended on April 2.  Here is an excerpt:

Economic growth turns social reciprocity and gift relationships (two components of GNH) into paid services. It converts pristine ecosystems into sources of timber or minerals. It converts silence into noise, starry skies into urban lights, kitchen gardens into supermarket purchases, mom’s cooking into fast food takeout. It replaces the village storyteller with the TV cartoon, mothering with day care, outdoor play with video games. A society that still has these former things intact, and meets its needs without much money, is called, by economists, an “undeveloped market.” The process of liquidating social and natural capital is called “development.” Clearly, our conception of sustainable development is begging for scrutiny.

 

 

 

The title of this review, on shareable.net, is There IS an Alternative. I was immensely impressed by this book.

Here’s an excerpt from the review:

Ultimately what is at stake is the Newtonian/Cartesian conception of money as a thing, rather than as a social construct, agreement, or set of relationships. Graeber ably and thoroughly debunks the commodity theory of money that holds sway in neo-classical economics, which says that money originated from early barter economies. This, as Graeber points out, is an imaginary history with no historical or anthropological evidence. Instead, it projects our own market-conditioned behavior onto primitive people, assuming that they, like we, were calculating maximizers of their own self-interest. A universe of competing, separate selves, interacting according to impersonal economic “forces”, is the economic analog of the Newtonian physics that was so spectacularly successfully up until the 20th century. It is obsolete today, as quantum mechanics reveals the dubiousness of the subject-object distinction. If even reality might be a construct, a relationship between observer and observed, certainly money might be the same. From this perspective, rantings about “fiat money” lose their ground. The question becomes instead, “By what social and political process do we arrive at the agreements that create money?” We also might very well ask, “What invisible agreements does our present money system embody?” and, “What power relationships do they encode?” Simply knowing that money is not an immutable thing but can be changed, indeed, by our collective “fiat” is tremendously empowering. Contrary to Margaret Thatcher, there is an alternative.

Here is an article in Wednesday’s New York Times about a small town in Spain, Higuera De La Serena, that completely ran out of money. It couldn’t pay municipal employees or contractors, nor could it provide most basic services. So the townsfolk stepped up to provide for each other. The town is basically run by volunteers now, from the mayor on down.

During the recent economic downtown (which could reappear at any time), many towns and cities in the United States were nearing a similar crisis. Many were forced to cut back drastically and various city services. Higuera De La Serena offers a way forward, involving civic participation and possibly, over time, local currency. When unmet needs coexist with the means to meet those needs, it is natural to create the money to connect them. Local, city government recognized currency might seem like a hopelessly radical proposal today, but when things fall apart, the hopelessly radical becomes commonsense.

A new article in the magazine Watkins Mind Body Spirit, about the need to lower our vibrations, questioning and expanding the idea of “ascension”.

Here is a wide-ranging interview with Chris Martenson (of The Crash Course fame). I was all set for it to be more technical, but Chris is moving beyond the monetary theory realm. It will be interesting to see where this very thoughtful and creative man is going next.

I’ll be speaking at Goddard College on Friday, Feb. 17. The topic is Better Together, about the intersection of Sacred Economics with the Occupy movement and a vision of what holistic health really means. It is open to the public.
Time: 7:30-9:00
Location: Haybarn Theater, Goddard College
Cost: Free

This article comes out of various discussions I’ve been having with folks in Oakland and Philadelphia over how to launch a local currency that actually works. Design and Strategy Principles for Local Currency

FRIDAY 12/16
Bay Area Community Exchange Timebank Holiday Fair
6:00 pm
The Happiness Institute, 1720 Market St. San Francisco
RSVP at: https://www.facebook.com/events/307946732558672/

SATURDAY 12/17
Transition Activist Intensive
A day-long for leaders, healers and social activists.
9:00-5:00
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Berkeley
Cost: Self-determined. A $25 deposit is required to hold your space, refundable at event upon request. Seating is limited.
For more info and to reserve your space go to www.connectionaction.org.

SUNDAY 12/18
Sacred Economics Today
5:30 pm Optional Potluck
7:00-9:30 pm Talk
WorldCentric, 2121 Staunton Ct., Palo Alto, CA 94306
Cost: Self-determined.
For more info and to reserve your space see: http://sacredeconomics.eventbrite.com

MONDAY 12/19
Sacred Economics Today – Sonoma County
11:00 am-2:00 pm
Private location in Cotati
Registrants will be emailed location
Cost: Self determined; $10 to reserve your space, refundable at event upon request.
http://sacredeconsonoma.eventbrite.com/

MONDAY 12/19This Time of Gifts; the Gifts of this Time
An evening of sharing and deep connection
with Charles Eisenstein and Alpha Lo
7:00 to 10:00 pm
Sebastopol CA  (Location TBA)
Limited seating. Reserve a space by donation. For more information or to reserve a space, email julfire@yahoo.com.

Sound Therapy: Sacred Economics & Occupy Love with Charles Eisenstein and Ian MacKenzie

Here is a new essay about Occupy: To Bear Witness and to Speak the Truth. I wrote it mostly with an audience of people already in the movement, or at least sympathetic to it, in mind. Others mind might find it short of nuts-and-bolts details such as a set of political or economic proposals. That, I suppose, is what the book is for. Enjoy!