"Money alone sets all the world in motion."
-    Publius Syrus, 42 B. C.

“Yet habit -- strange thing! What cannot habit accomplish?”

So wrote Herman Melville in his epic novel Moby-Dick. More than 150
years later his face would appear on  currency near his home in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and his quote would become relevant not only
for describing a captain in search of an elusive whale, but also for a
group of citizens searching for an elusive economic vision.

Like many towns in Vermont, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
(population 15,000), has a strong sense of community identity and a
spirit of self-reliance. Maintaining that vibrancy and independence is
a challenge, with local stores competing in a national economy that
drives business and life itself out of downtown, and often results in
ownership that is disconnected from locale and people who are
disconnected from each other. The national economy seeks only
expansion; nationally based businesses do not concern themselves with a
stewardship role in local communities.

To return economics, our communities, and ourselves back to the
center of things requires more than a change in thinking; it calls for
a change in habits that strike squarely at the heart of the systems
that bind us. Great Barrington is using a local currency to try to do
that.

Begin with habits, which keep us in our comfort zone and create
a story that we live every day. The collective economic story we are
living today is a particular kind of corporate capitalism. For many, it
has superseded other historical stories founded upon religion, for
example, or nationality, or ethnic identity. Capitalism is the measure
and meter of our lives. Our individual economic habits conglomerate to
create the economic systems we rely on, live within, and sometimes
fight to oppose. Like Georges Seurat's masterpiece – in which millions
of dots of paint, each individual and unique, add up to, say, a Sunday
afternoon by a lake – our individual stories contribute to the
landscape of economic life. And from our small, private places it is
difficult, if not impossible, to see the larger picture.

Unlike our individual stories, the story of the capitalism we
practice has no end, no moral. It is a story built upon perpetual
growth, not unlike cancer cells. The habits that perpetuate both cancer
and capitalism will sacrifice the life they are built upon to drive
their growth. The larger corporate capitalistic economy puts up
barriers that obstruct anything other than the economic monoculture we
have now. When we wake up and realize that this is a system that simply
cannot continue without eventual collapse, we will seek another way of
being and living.

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread each day, and at last we cannot break it.  ~ Horace Mann

As we consider local currencies, acknowledge that at the
epicenter of the decentralist economic movement has been the E.F.
Schumacher Society in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Founded by
Robert Swann in 1980 and currently led by Susan Witt, this organization
has been stewarding the personal library of E.F. Schumacher (author of
Small is Beautiful) and advancing work on community land trusts and
local currencies. Great Barrington’s local currency, known as the
BerkShare, has been in operation for two years. The goal of the
currency is “to initiate, encourage and administer educational and
practical programs for the furtherance of regional economic
self-reliance....” BerkShares’ supporters envision nothing less than
“the formation of small businesses, cottage industries, farms and
cooperatives that would enable local communities to develop greater
self-reliance,” as well as “the development of alternative exchange
instruments and of community associations which would foster and
support initiative in these areas.”

Our economic system creates money through loans granted with
interest, which fosters a cycle of seemingly unending growth. Why? As
our current Wall Street mess reminds us, it is because the total sum of
money owed is always greater than the amount of money in circulation to
repay the issued loans. Our economic goals and habits stem from this
currency-issuing system. The good news: there exists more than one way
to create a monetary system. One of capitalism’s better qualities,
something we have become accustomed to, is consumer choice. By offering
a different monetary standard, beyond just a new means of payment,
people who realize that they wish to break certain economic habits now
have a means of doing so.

Picture this: A BerkShare is a colorful note about the same size
as a U.S. Federal Reserve Note with the faces of local heroes such as
Herman Melville, W.E.B. DuBois, Norman Rockwell, Community Supported
Agriculture movement founder Robyn Van En, and the local Mohican tribe.
The BerkShare comes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50. The
BerkShare system has continued to grow and prosper since they began
circulating in late 2006. As of June 1, 2008, more than 1.6 million
BerkShares have been issued from local banks, with 165,000 notes
remaining in circulation. A BerkShare finds its way into the local
economy when a citizen in Great Barrington goes to one of 11 branches
of five local banks in town and exchanges $9 in federal notes for 10
BerkShares. The consumer then spends those BerkShares at one of the
more than 300 business that have signed up to accept BerkShares in the
area. Another 300 businesses will accept the currency even though they
are not listed in the directory.

While many local currencies have come and gone – Ithaca HOURS,
Burlington Bread, and thousands more during the Great Depression and in
recent memory – BerkShares enjoy the greatest circulation,
participation, and publicity of any currency to this point. The
BerkShares system has succeeded where many other local currencies have
stumbled for a few important reasons.  First, the BerkShare enjoys
incredible support from the business community; members include
restaurants, grocery stores, art galleries, accountants, medical
services, farms, construction companies, and even a funeral home. 
Many local currencies find difficulty reaching a critical mass of
businesses that allows them to trade with each other in that currency.
BerkShares also has a clear, focused, and web-based training module for
businesses. Helping a business plan for the small amount of additional
accounting that is necessary to support handling multiple currencies is
critical.
While businesses and citizens can't currently deposit BerkShares into a
bank account, local banks serve as the exchange point for citizens and
businesses to acquire or redeem the notes. Susan Witt of the Schumacher
Society points out that having “Main Street storefront representation”
keeps BerkShares easily accessible and in the public eye. She adds that
redeemability – being able to convert your BerkShares to Federal
Reserve notes with ease – has been a key reason for the success of the
program. It lowers an individual’s or business’ risk factor for
participation.

Not only are BerkShares backed by federal dollars, but also by
the reputation of the board members of BerkShares and of the E. F.
Schumacher Society.  They have a nearly 30-year track record of
finding innovative ways to improve economic development opportunities
for Berkshire County businesses and citizens. They promote community
land trusts, have started micro credit lending programs for small
businesses, and launched a different currency (called Deli Dollars) a
number of years ago to help relocate a small restaurant. Witt has
served on local boards and written numerous articles and essays
promoting progressive economic ideas, as well as identifying the
obstacles that stand in the way, chief among them the power of habit to
shape thought and behavior. “Our patterns of monetary use are so deeply
established,” she explains, “that even clear recognition of the
necessity for system change doesn't ensure breaking of old habits.”

Few understand how difficult it is to launch a new local
currency project better than Witt, and she is up-front about the
challenges. One challenge is that the fires of a new idea must be
constantly stoked through publicity, education, and orientation. 
A directory is being designed to fit around the notes themselves, which
can double as a money holder.

They have learned that the
on-line directory was less useful to users than paper directories. A
recent discovery was that marketing the economic design of the currency
proved less successful with prospective participants than emphasizing
the values of the currency.   Special occasions such as
parties and auctions tend to drive circulation because they serve both
as a reminder and as a community event. They've also found that they
need an employee to facilitate everyday transactions, and funding for
that position can only come when there is financial sustainability.

Future plans for BerkShares include checking accounts, debit
cards and electronic exchange, an extension of the circulation from
city-wide to county-wide (at the request of the banks that have adopted
the program), and a fund-raising campaign to hire an employee.

The Latin root for “habit” derives from the concept of “holding”
or “possessing.” A habit is something we carry with us. It is not a
coincidence that the word “habitat” comes from the same root. The
concept that we carry our places with us – through our language, or the
lens through which we see the world – extends to the notion that our
habits shape our habitats. Empty downtown storefronts replaced by big
boxes in fields where cows used to graze is evidence of this. Our
habitats hold the physical evidence of our individual habits. It is
often the shock of such physical change that awakens us.

How do we move from the place of awakening to the need for a new
way of operating to actually living it? If it is the story of the
values our capitalism espouses – survival of the fittest, competition
over cooperation, growth at the expense of all else – then we must look
to change our individual actions in the place where the greatest and
most powerful change can occur. The medium that holds these values
throughout all the economy’s manifestations is... money, and how we
both create and use it.

In other words, where money is concerned, the sum of our individual habits ties us to a common future.

Ultimately, the life, success and impact of a currency doesn't
depend on the founders, but on the people and businesses who use it
every day. Witt has gained a perspective on how people use BerkShares
and how easily (or not) it folds into their lives. She has noticed that
usage tends to follow income level. The higher-income-level users have
the luxury of holding the local currency in their wallets with no
immediate spending plans, and do so. They are less likely to need to
budget and track expenses as might happen with credit/debit card usage
or by writing checks.  Those with less income, who primarily use
the cash economy anyway, also have a relatively easy time making the
transition to BerkShares. They are accustomed to using cash to pay for
daily needs, and using a different piece of paper, if it can buy the
same things, doesn't seem to be a hurdle.  

But the real
challenge lies in the middle class, where most reside economically. It
is too easy to use a credit card, to earn airline miles, to shop
online, and to put our bills on automatic payments. Witt notes that
even the greatest supporters of BerkShares are often not in the habit
of carrying it in their pockets to do the daily shopping. She says that
habits are what must really be overcome to see the full reality of what
is possible for a local currency.

Local Currency in the Green Mountains

In Vermont, a new breed of local currency is taking hold. 
There are now three “time bank” systems in place – Burlington,
Middlebury, and Montpelier. A time bank is an accounting system that
allows neighbors to trade services at equal rates of value. A lawyer
can earn the same amount of hours for giving legal advice or mowing her
elderly neighbor’s lawn. Anyone with any level of ability can
participate in earning and spending these credits. Also, a new
business-to-business trade system, Vermont Sustainable Exchange, will
allow businesses statewide to trade with each other through an online
marketplace, with issuance of local paper currency planned for the
future. Previous paper currencies – in Burlington, Hardwick, and
Montpelier – have all ceased operations, echoing many of the challenges
mentioned by Witt.

The role of trust and the credibility of currency organizers
cannot be underestimated. A local currency is a financial instrument
that only has as much power as the people who use it. We put our trust
in banks with cherry furniture and marble counters. The measure of the
strength of a local currency is not its physical assets, but the
dignity and connectedness of those who lead and participate.

"Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about.
Suppose your side had won and you had the kind of society that you
wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start
living that way now!" - Paul Goodman

Sometimes we hear a new story, a revolutionary idea, that awakens us
and causes us to reframe our notion of what our story is. How does a
changed thought become a changed life? How many changed lives does it
take to change a culture? Most local currencies exist in the world of
novel schemes – short-lived but catchy, they are born quickly and die
just as fast.  But what it takes for an idea to go from ephemeral
to sustainable is the ability it has to weave its way, organically and
irrevocably, from what we determine is important in our lives. Then we
must enforce that thought by changing our habits to take in a new way
of being.

History hinges on small actions leading to incredible changes.
Howard Zinn writes, in You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, “We
forget how often . . . we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling
of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by
unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick
collapse of systems of power that seemed inevitable.... Small acts,
when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”

How can we support local currency efforts? Start today. If there
is a local currency where you live, start integrating it into your
economic habits immediately. Join or start a time bank where you can
trade with your neighbors. There is a tipping point. When we equate
earning and spending a locally produced, issued, and managed currency
to throwing a bale of English tea in Boston harbor, we are in a
position to ask ourselves, as Melville did, what could we possibly
accomplish?