This is the first of a series of scenarios. The starting standpoint we took was that a currency should be backed up by ‘real’ value. In the past this used to be the case with gold. Gold has some good properties which make it very valuable as a trading currency, and has been used as this for over 4000 years in a almost all cultures.It is not possible to get more through manipulation, and is thus a very good way to measure wealth.
In his talk at TED Oxford in July 2009, Geoff Mulgan explains how he believes our economical system should focus on social and human growth since the current focus on economical growth is no longer sustainable. Although most governments currently spend huge amounts of money to fix the failing economical system, they should actually use the crisis to jump forward towards a different type of economy which is not about consumption or credit but about things with actual value.
In order to successfully implement our eco-currency, we have to have an overview of the world we are living in. In our case there are two very important ecologies that we have to include in this view: the economical/financial system, and the environmental world – the biosphere.
Adding monetary value to CO2
This is an overview of the carbon credit system as it was formalized in Kyoto (1997). The aim is to understand what we can learn from this system with respect to proposing an eco currency. Both try to introduce a non-material good into the financial market in order to keep it from being overrun by current economy.
Tonight at the Eco-Currency Night four programs will be shown about inspirations, backgrounds and economical scenarios. Tonight we will show:
The Ecosystem Marketplace, a project of Forest Trends, is a leading source of news, data, and analytics on markets and payments for ecosystem services (such as water quality, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity). We believe that by making accessible information on policy, finance, regulation, science, business, and other market-relevant factors, markets for ecosystem services will one day become a fundamental part of our economic system, helping give value to environmental services that, for too long, have been taken for granted.
Hans Rosling talks at TED about the difference about the way we think of the world and how it really is. He says that the traditional we (Western countries) and them (Third world countries) attitude is not a correct model of reality anymore.
Yochai Benkler explains using many examples emerging on the internet that collaboration is much stronger than traditional organizations. In an information economy in which we live, it’s a very powerful fact that almost anyone in this most advanced economy has a computer. Benkler argues that a computer is in fact the one most important building blocks in this economy, opening up the way to true collaboration in a what he calls ‘open source economics’.
While a lot of things posted on this site are very serious in nature, this is an example that is a little less serious. This massive LEGO creation is a self-sufficient sustainable crawler town, according to the builder. I can’t believe how much hours went into it, and the level of detail is astonishing.
“We must not fail the billions who look to the international community to fulfill the promise of the Millennium Declaration for a better world. Let us meet in September to keep the promise.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
A new agenda by Ban Ki-moon shows what steps to take to reach the Millennium goals by 2015. Estimated is that annual funding needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals is of the order of $50 billion, a Tobin tax could fund this for a 0.05% tobin tax (based on currency transaction figures from 1995) would already revenue between $134 billion and $149 billion annually.