<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>very interesting!</div><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>From: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Katie Quinn-Jacobs <<a href="mailto:kqj@quinn-jacobs.org">kqj@quinn-jacobs.org</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">October 2, 2011 7:08:11 AM EDT</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Sustainability in Tompkins County <<a href="mailto:sustainable_tompkins-l@list.cornell.edu">sustainable_tompkins-l@list.cornell.edu</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>[sustainable_tompkins-l] Bartering on the rise in Greece</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Reply-To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">"Sustainability in Tompkins County" <<a href="mailto:sustainable_tompkins-l@list.cornell.edu">sustainable_tompkins-l@list.cornell.edu</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </div> <div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Interesting article today in the NYT on the emergence of bartering networks in Greece in response to the Greek economic crisis.<br> Source: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/world/europe/in-greece-barter-networks-surge.html?ref=global-home">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/world/europe/in-greece-barter-networks-surge.html?ref=global-home</a><br> <i><br> "Part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market, the Volos network has grown exponentially in the past year, from 50 to 400 members. It is one of several such groups cropping up around the country, as Greeks squeezed by large wage cuts, tax increases and growing fears about whether they will continue to use the euro have looked for creative ways to cope with a radically changing economic landscape."</i><br> <i><br> "...if Greece does take a turn for the worse and eventually does stop using the euro, networks like hers are prepared to step into the breach. “In an imaginary scenario — and I stress imaginary — we would be ready for it.<br> <br> The group’s concept is simple. People sign up online and get access to a database that is kind of like a members-only Craigslist. One unit of TEM is equal in value to one euro, and it can be used to exchange good and services. Members start their accounts with zero, and they accrue credit by offering goods and services. They can borrow up to 300 TEMs, but they are expected to repay the loan within a fixed period of time. "</i><br> <br> This echoes back to Cuba during the oil crisis in the early 1990's:<br> <br> <i>"In an e-mail, the mayor of Volos, Panos Skotiniotis, said the city was following the alternative currency network with interest and was generally supportive of local development initiatives. He added that the city was looking at other ways of navigating the economic situation, including by setting aside public land for a municipal <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/a/agriculture/urban_agriculture/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about urban agriculture." class="meta-classifier">urban farm</a> where citizens could grow produce for their own use or to sell. "</i><br> <br> -- Katie Q-J<br> <br> <br> </div> </blockquote></div><br></body></html>