http://www.berkshares.org/whatareberkshares.htm
BerkShares are a local currency for the Berkshire region. Dubbed a “great economic experiment” by the New York Times, BerkShares are a tool for community empowerment, enabling merchants and consumers to plant the seeds for an alternative economic future for their communities.
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RC JOURNAL: Food Security + Local Currency http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2009/03/rc-journal-food-security-local-currency.html
Jason Bradford, has an excellent story on his group’s efforts to start a local currency for his town of Willits, California. Worried about local food security (as in one day after a systemic breakdown, the grocery store’s shelves are bare), they devised an excellent scheme to build up local reserves. They founded a reserve currency backed by specific quantities of dried rice and beans called the Mendo Credit. The story provides an excellent description of the bootstraping process required to get this type of effort off of the ground and rolling.
