Local Economy Network Monthly Meeting

The economy isn't just a global or national thing - it's local as well, and strong, resilient communities need strong local economies. If you're interested in how this can be done, join us for our monthly Local Economy get-together!

For our next meeting, I have a couple of ideas for potential discussion topics:

1. Brainstorming session: Just how local can we get? What "imports" into our communities can reasonably be substituted with local inputs, and how? Let's look at everything from food to energy to entertainment to credit to furniture! Such a brainstorming session could tie in nicely with our community currency projects, helping identify additional ways in which community currencies can strengthen the local economy by stimulating local production, consumption and trade patterns.

2. Community microcredit: The idea of redirecting our savings and investments towards useful community investments is popping up a lot these days, and Victoria now has a neat organisation enabling just that. Take a look at www.communitymicrolending.ca. Another interesting model is the SHARE Microcredit model developed by the E.F. Schumacher Society (see www.smallisbeautiful.org/share_microcredit.html). Could we start something similar in Vancouver?