By Katy Spada
When: March 27, 5:00 -7:00pm
Where: Yount 100 and webcast: http://www.thunderbird.edu/wwwfiles/sites/webcasts/guestspeaker.html
Did you know? “Our current monetary system was designed some 300 years ago, during an era that knew nothing of natural limits and had a completely different set of objectives and priorities. It’s a tool that should be serving us, rather than being our master. And since it is a man-made construct, it can be re-thought, re-imagined, and redesigned.”
“Rather than saying, that there aren’t enough inches to build the world we want for ourselves and our children, we could, equipped with a new understanding, create new currencies that link unused resources with unmet needs…Not only can we attain sufficiency but also we can reach the inherent human goals of cooperation, community, and even contentment.”
“The on-going financial crisis results not from a cyclical or managerial failure, but from a structural one: more than 96 other major banking crises occurred over the past 20 years, and these crashes have happened under very different regulatory systems and at different stages of economic development. We submit that such a systemic understanding is available, and that a technical solution can now readily be implemented that would ensure that the devastating effects of banking and/or monetary crashes become a phenomenon of the past.”
These are excerpts from the book Rethinking Money: How New Currencies Turn Scarcity into Prosperity by Bernard Lietaer, an architect of the ECU (and Euro Currency) and Jacqui Dunne. Bernard and Jacqui are travelling the US to speak to communities about the development of complimentary currencies. They have 3 events scheduled for the Tuscon area before the highlight of their USA Tour- The Conversation at Thunderbird.
The entire Thunderbird community is participating in the March 27 event. Alumni are coming from Tucson and Phoenix and will be plugged in from Beijing to Singapore to Paris to Chicago by webcast. We will be receiving over $100,000 in high value, in kind advice from Bernard and Jacqui. The recent announcement of the MOU with Laureate Education Inc., is a strategic partnership that will broaden our horizons and impact. The idea of a Thunderbird currency being exchanged on campuses around the globe is an exciting prospect.
4,000 communities around the world have already started to monetize the invisible economy. Is Thunderbird next? Please join us to discuss how to monetize the Thunderbird Mystique into a complimentary currency and strengthen our global community.
This is an exciting opportunity for all of us to participate!
Here are three 3 minute videos on the subject that might make things more concrete.
1. This 3 minute video shows the internet based infrastructure to trade among trusted associates today.
2. This 3 minute video takes a step back and introduces the concept of Complimentary Currencies in general
3. This 3 min video is of Bernard Lietaer contrasting patriarchal/matrifocal societies in economic terms: http://vimeo.com/41960492