Money and Sustainability

In 1972, the first Report for the Club of Rome - The Limits to Growth - famously spelled out the unsustainable consequences of an economic system that demands infinite growth in a finite world. Just as The Limits to Growth exposed the catastrophic flaws in our economic system, this new Report fr [...]
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In 1972, the first Report for the Club of Rome - The Limits to Growth - famously spelled out the unsustainable consequences of an economic system that demands infinite growth in a finite world. Just as The Limits to Growth exposed the catastrophic flaws in our economic system, this new Report from the Club of Rome exposes the systemic flaws in our money system and the wrong thinking that underpins it. It describes the ongoing currency and banking crises we must expect if we continue with the current monopoly system - and the vicious impact of these crises on our communities, our society as a whole and our environment. Our money system is outdated, brittle and unfit for purpose. It is responsible for the endless cycle of boom and bust, it systematically widens the gap between rich and poor, it creates unemployment and multiplies other extremely adverse social effects of any financial/economic crisis, it undermines sustainability initiatives, it disables vitally-needed national and international action to limit multiple threats to the environment and the biosphere. It is the single structural cause common to all financial and monetary instability.Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link - Report from the Club of Rome proposes an alternative: a monetary 'ecosystem' with complementary currencies working alongside the conventional one. This is more flexible, resilient, fair and sustainable. Societies worked like this in the past. So can we. The book first explains these systemic problems in detail. It's written in a way that's clearly accessible to the general public (although it references at length a wide range of technical topics: economics theory, the history and institutions of banking, the physics of complex flow networks, the science of sustainability, and population trends and climate change). This gives a framework for understanding the present money system. The authors then describe their proposal for an alternative money ecosystem which systematically addresses and resolves the problems created by the present system. Finally, this practical proposal is illustrated by nine case studies of different complementary currencies which are either running now, in development or could be implemented at short notice in individual cities and regions around the world.