Bob's blog

This discussion turns to the theme of economics and the subject is Bay Bucks, the local currency circulating in the larger Traverse City region. Dave is joined by long time Bay Bucks advocate Sharon Flescher, discussing the reasoning behind the creation of a local currency, the seven year history of Bay Bucks and a look to future growth. Local currencies generate the full impact of their multiplier effect in the local economy. None of that economic value is exported to outside economic interests.  The key to that success is to get more and more of the local currency in use. Bay Bucks is set to push for another round of expansion.

Dave is joined by three active participants in the Occupy TC efforts going on locally. The discussion highlights the 'message' problem facing both the larger Occupy effort and those working locally: how to have a decentralized movement with some coherency to the message. This talk also shares numerous web-site resources and access points for those wanting to keep in touch with what's going on. Check CommonsDreams.org for links to many occupy resources.

Beginning with this show  OUTSIDE IN  becomes  ICR: Investigating Community Resilience. A new name reflecting a more direct link to our content. Bob Russell returns to look around at how the term is being used increasingly and to help clarify our focus. We also highlight web-based resources that showcase resilience work going on in other communities. This discussion also looks ahead at broad areas of success and need in resilience development locally.

Bob Russell is in with Dave this week reviewing foundation concepts that are critical to resilience thinking: adaptability, diversity, redundancy, and feedback loops. The discussion seeks to detail the connections between each concept and the idea of building resilience into our Northwest Michigan communities. Towards the end of the discussion Bob and Dave make an announcement which includes a name change. From now on these weekly discussions will be known as ICR: Investigating Community Resilience.

In this week's program Jan Shireman and Gerard Grabowski join us to tell their story of a business that is a shining example of the all-local, farm to business to consumer economic model so important to building local food resilience. These two created Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery nearly two decades ago in search of a locally made, healthy bread and in the process became national leaders in the artisan bread movement. Pleasanton Bakery today employs nearly a dozen people in direct bakery jobs. Learn what makes their bread so different. Jan and Gerard share their dream of local sustainable agriculture and of ag-to-consumer businesses to support locally grown food. Only one of the grains they currently use comes from outside of Michigan, but the rest is grown on downstate farms. Gerard argues that northern Michigan needs to grow much more grain for local use, and develop its own milling facilities to turn the grains into flour.

Andy Knott, Executive Director of the Watershed Center, joins Dave for an update on Watershed activities which include major storm water mitigation projects around the Bay and long term work managing sediment behind three dams scheduled for removal from the Boardman River. Brown Bridge Pond will see dam removal and restoration of the river bed over the next year.  Dave and Andy also discuss a presentation at the recent Fresh Water Summit in Traverse City.  We share a portion of  Dr. Gary Fahnensteil's talk on developments in the water-column food web in Lake Michigan where the Quagga mussel is changing everything at an historic rate. Fahnensteil works at the Great Lakes Research Lab in Ann Arbor and his findings are sobering.

Our second conversation with noted writer, economist, and historian Tom Greco continues with his major thesis: that our money system is built on a debt and interest structure that is corrosive and unsustainable. In this conversation Tom develops his view that the current money system mis-applies the three roles of money: to an instrument to transfer value, to be a measure of value, and to be an instrument holding value itself.  The transfer value of money must separated from the other two, argues Greco, by the development of credit clearing associations built carefully on a regional basis among mutual needs of the participants.

Tom Greco author of THE END OF MONEY AND THE FUTURE OF CIVILIZATION joins us for two half hour discussions on the history of money and the debt building pyramid- scheme modern money is based on. In this first discussion Greco puts modern money in its historic context and traces its growth to contemporary times where money is controlled by political elites through a interconnected array of national central banks. New money is created by creating debt, and interest is charged on the debt. The debt imperative of money creates a growth imperative in the economy which is destructive of our social fabric and our environment. Greco argues for creation of credit exchange associations, free corrosive effects of interest charged on debt, the topic we pick up in part two.

This discussion comes in two parts. Zach Liggett of Goldeneye Asset Management returns to update the concept of local investment clubs. Zach and Dave both participated in a webinar sponsored by BALLE focusing on one successful model of a local investment club making micro loans to small agricultural businesses: The No Small Potatoes Club of Maine.   The discussion outlines the rather straightforward process for establishing a club and micro loan model this club follows. Zach also outlines the opening discussion in the Local As Possible organization about following a  different model, one of matching small local investors with local entrepreneurs in need of capital through an educational outreach program.  Karen Browne, CEO of the TBA Credit Union comes in for the second half discussion about the role of credit unions, in keeping money local.

Outside In concludes it's replay of the plenary presentation at this year's Bioneers' Conference with the keynote address by Jay Walljasper. The theme of this year's Bioneers Conference was "Reclaiming The Commons". Walljasper is contributing editor to the web site OnTheCommons.org and author of ALL THAT WE SHARE. Walljasper sets the tone for the conference challenging everyone attending to look around and "see" the commons that are around them all and work for their preservation.