AER Newsletter - The Alliance for Economic Renewal

THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC.
Spring 2015
iS
The
Alliance
for
Economic
Renewal,
Inc.
Spring 2015
KEEP MONEY LOCAL, KEEP MONEY GOOD, KEEP MONEY FLOWING
AERMarks
by Mark Hancock
Have you ever been a part of a
behavior was monitored. Some
creates then lends money to
very scary things happened
banks that then lend money to
and the experiment was ended
people. The money plus
early.
interest is obviously expected
system and wondered "why do
we do it this way?" We know
We all participate in our
from experience that systems
financial system. There are
can be good for our
elements in this system that are
development- think of aspects
wonderful- without money, if
of being part of a church,
we only could barter and trade,
school, or a good group of
we would have very human
friends. There are elements in
interactions in our commerce,
these systems that let a part of
but the complexity that is
us develop and unfold. But can
demanded for some great
there be a corrupt system that
things in civilization would not
does the opposite? The
be possible, or would seem
Stanford Prison Experiment is
very complicated at the least.
perhaps the best scientific
But our financial system is not
example of this. In 1971
benign- it is not just a thing out
student volunteers were
there without forces inherent in
experimentally divided into
it. Our system is interest and
prisoners and guards and their
debt based. The central bank
to be paid back. This creates
one problem in the system.
There is always less money
created than is expected to be
paid back to someone. Scarcity
is built into this system. Our
financial system has dollars
that are supposed to stand for
value in the world. A dollar is
worth a dollar next year, but a
potato is decayed and moldy
next year. The problem of
Artificial Permanence of value
is built into our system.
If you add scarcity to artificial
permanence what happens?
We get people naturally
looking out for themselves. It
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC. SPRING 2015
may even make sense to be
goods" approach to its value.
greedy. It may not be
When the AERMark is quite
impossible to do good things
widespread this step can be
with money in this system, but
taken.
it sure takes superhuman
character strength.
How do I participate in
AERMarks? At the moment we
The AERMark (Æ) is a new
are testing our online system
currency that remedies the
out. If you are interested in
problems in our financial
joining the testing phase you
system. AERMarks are equal to
may contact us. We are
US dollars in value and can be
especially looking for a
spent interchangeably at
network of businesses to join in
participating businesses.
this endeavor.
Artificial permanence is
remedied by a demurrage- a
devaluing of the AERMarks.
As time passes 100Æ lose value
like a potato would get old.
Each month 1% of Æ is lost.
The member's account is
credited Leaven on a one to
one basis. The Leaven (L) is
also a new currency. Leaven
cannot be spent on a purchase.
Leaven can be given to a local
social or cultural mission- this
can be a nonprofit, an artist
with a defined purpose, a
Can I cash out my AERMarks?
school. These members can
Yes, but the community of
exchange Leaven for
members is better off with
AERMarks. Money ages and
more people and money in the
dies, and is re-born in future
system. There is a 15% tariff for
good works. The AERMarks
cashing out AERMarks.
thus addresses scarcity in our
financial system, but the
scarcity problem can only be
finally solved with a "basket of
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Has this idea been tried
before? Yes! Starting in the
Great Depression the idea of
money with a demurrage
(decay factor) was started with
stamp script. This had a
rejuvenating effect on the local
economy. Currently the
Chiemgauer in Germany is a
working example of a
demurrage currency- and it is
the first we know of to tie the
demurrage to gifting of
charities. Its velocity of
exchange has been shown to be
several times higher than the
Euro.
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC. SPRING 2015
Meet Your 2015
Organizing
Board Members
Mark Hancock
I was born and
grew up as a
young child in
Indiana. I
believe the
landscape has an intimate
effect on our development.
Karl König the founder of
Camphill Communities for
adults and children with
special needs, often spoke
about this relationship. A flat
plain will strengthen qualities
of planning and getting the
general picture. So I feel my
childhood among the flat
cornfields in Indiana
predisposed me to look at
systems and their effect on
people. I felt the calling to
become a physician early on in
life. Through college I became
determined to find another
world view than the
materialistic one which we
mostly take for granted. I
majored in philosophy with a
special interest in epistemology
(the science of how we know
anything). I had a timely
meeting with the work of
Rudolf Steiner and wrote my
thesis on The Philosophy of
Freedom. I travelled to
Switzerland and studied
painting at the
NeueKunstshule, a training I
am grateful for to this day. I
went to public health school
then medical school at Saint
Georges University and
completed residency at
University of New Mexico in
Albuquerque. I currently am
honored to work at a small
hospital in northeast Georgia
as a hospitalist.
It was in the small town where
I work that I noticed how
many people get sick due to
poverty and social conditions
despite being hard working
law abiding citizens. Many
small businesses have closed
and the economics of our small
town, not unlike others, is that
big box stores act as a vacuum
cleaner sucking money out of
the local economy. It simply
does not circulate healthily
from the butcher, to the baker
to the candlestick maker as it
once did. I decided to find likeminded people who wanted to
change the system and create a
human fellowship in
relationship to money. It soon
became clear we needed our
own form of money. I learned
about stamp script created
during the Great Depression
era transforming communities
and decreasing
unemployment. I also am
inspired by the ChiemGauer, a
modern German local currency
started by a group of high
school students. I am honored
to be on the board of The
3
Alliance for Economic
Renewal.
Tammy Smith
I grew up 2 hours
north of Atlanta in the small
town of Toccoa. After
graduating high school, I
decided to attend the local
technical school and this is the
same town that I have raised
my family in.
Over the years I have watched
our small town struggle as big
box stores came in and small
stores closed. I have such fond
memories of "window"
shopping our Main Street. Yet,
in the recent months I have
watched as the downtown area
is starting to come alive, a sort
of rebirth. The locals seem to be
hungry for something more
than the big box stores can
offer. The "shop local" signs are
starting to pop up. Small
businesses are coming back.
That’s what has brought me to
The Alliance for Economic
Renewal; I am interested in
helping create a different form
of money that will transform
communities. I look forward to
helping in any way I can.
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC. SPRING 2015
Elizabeth Roosevelt
Growing up in
Selma, Alabama,
I was
surrounded by
the echoes of the
Civil Rights
Movement.
Such tremendous courage for
cultural change planted seeds in
my heart for what could be
possible out of communities built
on love. The more challenging
aspects of our country's history
spoke to me with what I would
later recognize as the call, "Know
thyself." Finding an honest and
right relationship to the world
around me would require selfknowledge and moral
development.
I met the work of Rudolf Steiner
while in college in Tennessee,
where I majored in German and
minored in philosophy. My
encounter with anthroposophy
led me into Waldorf teaching and,
eventually, school leadership. It
also offered a broader picture of
cultural renewal that would
inspire my work from that time
forward.
My interest lies in cultivating
healthy community and
encouraging initiative.
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I am currently the eighth grade
class teacher and the Faculty
Chair at the Waldorf School of
Atlanta. I also serve on the Core
Group for the Youth Section of the
School of Spiritual Science in
North America, and I am an
active member of the local branch,
Anthroposophy Atlanta.
A healthy economy reflects a true
spirit of brotherhood, of
mutuality. With this ideal in
mind, it is fitting that this new
initiative is coming forward here
in Atlanta, the birthplace of Dr.
King. I am excited to be a part of
the Alliance for Economic
Renewal and have great hope for
the future.
Nathaniel Williams
I grew up in the
tri-state area of
Georgia, Alabama
and Tennessee,
mostly in rural
parts. At the age
of 16 I had the
chance to accompany my mother
to Germany for a year with very
little idea of the precedent this
was beginning. After high school
I moved to German speaking
Switzerland, studied visual art
and anthroposophy and then
learned and worked in a
European marionette-theater.
After 5 years in Europe, upon
returning to the USA, I created
puppetry performances, art
exhibits and became involved in
education. I taught puppetry
acting, drawing and painting, to
high school students and to
adults.
In 2008 I moved to Columbia
County in upstate New York and
co-founded an arts and education
initiative called Free Columbia
with a painter named Laura
Summer. The initiative is an
ongoing experiment in
independence, community
support and accessibility. The
funding for the project is much
like public radio. We have funddrives and ask regularly and in
turn all our programing is
accessible to all. Running a
tuition and non-fee project that
was not sponsored by the state
was a challenge, in ways more of
a challenge than the art
instruction and performance.
Working on Free Columbia
opened a new area of interest for
me that eventually led me to
Graduate School at the University
of Albany where I am currently
pursuing studies in civil society
and volunteerism.
All along the way I have found
that working toward a more
healthy future will require more
consciousness of money culture
and use, which is why I admire
currency projects like the
BerkShare and the Chiemgauer.
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC. SPRING 2015
Bert LeVert McDert
I am an Atlanta
Native who grew
up Unitarian (then
Presbyterian) and
attended DeKalb
County public
schools. Thus I was exposed to a
wide range of worldviews early on
in life and, ultimately, those
experiences gave me an abiding
sense that there are many valid
ways of being in the world. My
passions have always had to do with
understanding and improving the
systems we live in.
This fascination with systems and
cycles was sparked early on by a
field trip to an aluminum recycling
facility. At the time I just became
obsessed with crushing cans, but
when I later learned the concept of
Industrial Ecology, it all made sense.
Another turning point came in
college. In my second year at the
University of West Georgia, that
latent eco-zealotry was reawakened
by a chance encounter on campus
when a fellow student asked me to
pick up some litter as I passed by,
and then thanked me on behalf of
Mother Earth. That got me really
noticing litter, and realizing what
simple acts of caring could do to
positively impact my surroundings.
After that, I would bring trash bags
with me everywhere to pick up as
much litter as possible, sift through
the dumpsters to extract recyclables,
and ultimately even created a job
for myself where the school paid me
to manage the on-campus recycling.
This shift in my focus led me to
UGA, where I studied
Environmental Econ. That felt like
finally finding my element, and still
strongly affects how I view the
world to this day. Finally, after five
and a half years, a marriage, and a
baby, I was given my degree and
unleashed upon an unwitting world.
My first couple of 'environmental'
jobs out of school involved cleaning
up toxic contamination. And while
this was important work, it was not
what I had in mind when I got into
the field. I needed something I
could do that I could feel really
good about, and no business-asusual technician job was going to
provide that. As luck would have it,
I saw "What a Way to GO: Life at
the End of Empire" at the right
moment. As much as all of it was
(and is) important, the one thing I
really needed to hear right then
was: "Take a permaculture course".
So I did!
In permaculture I found a system
that approached ecology and
economics as essentially the same
study-- just like their shared Greek
root would suggest. And even
though permaculture is about much
more than just gardening or
landscaping, that was the aspect that
really appealed to me. I imagined
myself remaking Atlanta as an
interconnected web of food forests,
community gardens, and urban
homesteads. And for the next three
years I tried…with limited success.
Upon accepting that I needed a
more reliable source of income, I
found a job working outdoors in the
North Georgia Mountains. I got to
help adolescents learn how to
survive in the wilderness and also
cope with being a teenager, and get
paid in the process! In many ways it
was the dream job I had imagined it
to be, and it gave me a succession of
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stunning setting in which to
consider all of these big-picture
questions I had been asking. From
there I started getting into Wendell
Berry and Joel Salatin, and
envisioning a permie-agrarian
cultural and economic renaissance
throughout the South, which might
as well be headquartered in Georgia.
But I wasn't going to be able to
participate in that project
meaningfully if I was gone all the
time.
It had occurred to me that in order
to really design functional
homesteads and communities I'm
going to need to know how to
design and build better houses.
Ideally, these would be houses that
support a homesteader's goals of
catching rainwater, harvesting solar
power, and staying comfortable
with huge inputs of energy. This has
led me to attend school for
sustainable design-build, with the
goal of starting a business to offer
tiny home, energy efficiency
retrofits, and Passive house-certified
home at competitive rates, along
with permaculture landscaping.
Beyond that, and my economic
empowerment work with AER, I
am preparing to take on fulltime
responsibility for my son, who is
turning 11, while maintaining an
active relationship with my
daughter, who is 8. In the near term
I will be moving back into metro
Atlanta from the boonies, and
looking for my next home--which I
hope to renovate and sell, lather,
rinse, repeat. Someday I'll have one
that's too perfect to let go of, and
then I'll stay put. In the meantime,
there's lots of tinkering to do with
the existing housing stock in this
town!
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC. SPRING 2015
6
Downtown district of Little Five
Points.
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Little Five Points
By Tammy Smith
Little Five Points is located on
the east side of Atlanta,
Georgia, just minutes from
Downtown Atlanta. It is
famous for its Alternative
Culture. While boosting a
thriving business district that
includes a wide range of
alternative businesses like
radio stations, coffee shops,
bookstores, skate shops,
records stores, new-age shops,
natural foods stores and
several restaurants and bars.
Little Fives Points is also home
to three theaters (7Stages,
Dad's Garage Theatre
Company and Horizon
Theatre).
FAST FACTS
100+
According to Wikipedia over 100
alternative currencies have been
created in the USA
So what a better place to
launch our Alternative
Currency than in the epi-center
of all things alternative!
According to Forbes, Little Five
Points has earned the #16
ranking of American's Best
Hipster Neighborhoods. A visit
to this community will leave a
lasting impression on you and
you will want to visit again.
So be sure to visit Little Five
Points if you are in the Atlanta
area. And look for AERMarks.
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC.
iS
Across
1. extension of modern medicine understanding of the human being
Down
1. grew up in Selma Alabama
2. taught puppetry and acting
3. alternative community
4. decay factor
5. a new currency that remedies the problem in our financial system
6. is remedied by a demurrage
7. cannot be spent on a purchase but can be given
8. is our life body
9. this is the physical-mineral body
10. "I" of our individuality
Spring 2015
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC. SPRING 2015
Business Spotlight
The Martin Clinic
The Martin Clinic is an
Anthroposophical medicine clinic
serving the Decatur area. Founded
by Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman,
Anthroposophical Medicine is an
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For more information or to schedule
an appointment or visit
www.martin-clinic.com
The Astral Body- is our soul- it is
connected to our sensing, desires
and general consciousness. This is
intimately related to air in the
human organism. In an asthma
attack the astral body is trapped and
cramped. Anthroposophical
remedies can work on this at a
higher level, instead of treating
symptoms only.
The Etheric Body- is our life bodyresponsible for growing,
maintenance and repairing. In the
plant the etheric body is working in
the plant, in a crystal we see the
effects of etheric formative forces
working from the outside in.
The Physical Body- this is the
physical-mineral body we
conventionally know.
extension of modern medicine- it
applies a scientific approach to an
extended spiritual understanding of
the human being.
We have four aspects that make us
up as human beings.
The Ego or "I" of our individualitywe are able to reflect and direct our
life. I always think of Plato's chariot
allegory- our ego is the charioteer.
The Ego manifests itself as warmth
in the human body. Childhood
febrile illnesses are the child's ego
transforming and sculpting the
developing body into a vessel it can
fully call its own.
The Martin Clinic has a community
approach to business. We strive to
be community supported without
being a concierge practice. Thus we
have a very reasonable fee that
encompasses all visits for one year.
This is currently $300 payable in only
AERMarks so that the money is
locked into the community to
circulate and create abundance.
There are no copays and we do not
accept any insurance (mainly to keep
overhead down). Once the AERMark
system is fully operational we hope
to have a Leaven (gift money) based
grant program to cover costs for
those who need help with our fee or
with medicines.
Our location is currently in a
beautiful sublet office in Decatur. We
are currently accepting patients.
F
THE ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL, INC. SPRING 2015
The
Alliance
for
Economic
Renewal,
Inc.
Spring 2015
9