Why Must We Pay to Live on The Planet We Were Born On?

p nbsp;/p p/p p class="MsoNormal" On September 29, 2011, the Ecology Center in Berkeley, CA hosted a program organized by Transition Albany and Transition Berkeley, called Rebuilding Village Economy Through Local Exchange. The Transition groups are part of the larger Transition Movement, which began in the UK. The mission statement of Transition US is: Transition US is a resource and catalyst for building resilient communities across the United States that are able to withstand severe energy, climate or economic shocks while creating a better quality of life in the process. We will accomplish our mission by inspiring, encouraging, supporting, networking and training individuals and their communities as they consider, adopt, adapt, and implement the Transition approach to community empowerment and change./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" The primary purpose of the evening was to promote the usage of time banks as an alternative to monetary transactions. Mira Luna, a co-founder of the San Francisco Time Bank, talked about the workings of that institution and fielded many questions from the audience of around 35 people. But the evening began with me making a speech about why the economy CANNOT work for us all. I was actually the person who brought the idea of this speech to Transition Albany but the meeting#39;s purpose grew beyond my original plans. It is obvious that the Transition groups wanted to focus on ldquo;the practical side of reforming the economy and the Ecology Center#39;s publicity flyer added to that focus. But even in a planning teleconference for this event, someone mentioned that the last time they tried something like this, people did not really follow through with the steps they said they would take. I was not surprised. Even liberals think the system can be changed from within or reformed at the edges./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" The purpose of my speech was to tell those people NO. I do not believe that people who are calling for more job creation are barking up the ldquo;rightrdquo; tree. I also think that people do not follow through with projects in alternative economics because they don#39;t really understand the necessity for a revolution in thinking in order to make revolutionary alternatives truly take root./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" I am a span data-scayt_word="demonetarist" data-scaytid="13"demonetarist/span, a person who believes that monetary systems must be abolished. My ideas are by no means original. span data-scayt_word="Demonetarists" data-scaytid="14"Demonetarists/span exist throughout the world. They may not describe themselves with the word span data-scayt_word="“demonetarist" data-scaytid="15"ldquo;demonetarist/span,rdquo; opting instead for saying that they advocate altruism, or the gift economy, or the resource-based economy, or even local currencies. But they all see the current systems in use in the Western industrial world, and in nations that want to be like the West, as badly in need of replacement./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" In speaking about the economy, I ask, ldquo;Why must we pay to live on the planet we#39;re born on?rdquo; Again, this is not an original idea, but it is a question so seldom asked that it is the oratorical equivalent of throwing a brick through a windshield. When I raised that question in my speech, I saw a few heads bob affirmatively, but most other people looked like deer in the headlights. We are born into the money culture unless we are recent immigrants from an indigenous society that uses little or no Western-style money. We are so used to money that we may complain about not having enough, but say little if anything about its very existence. One of my purposes in making an economic speech is to make you question money#39;s existence today./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" The second major problem I called to the forefront was the problem of competition. I brought with mespan style=""nbsp; /spana photo from the front page of Sept. 27#39;s Oakland Tribune: President Obama addressing a business conference. The headline read: Create Jobs; Remain Competitive. A competitive job market is again a part of our existence that we never really think about. I spent a large part of my speech demonstrating how competition, by its very nature, creates losers as well as winners. No matter how hard people try or how skilled they are, or how honest the competition is, some people always lose. Personal responsibility, about which the right wing screams loudly when times get tough, cannot overcome the very nature of competition. Just think about sports. Whenever two teams play each other, one loses. You know that even before the game begins./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" I was limited to a half hour of speaking time, so I did not spend as much time as I would have wanted on how we get rid of this system on OUR TERMS. We know the system is collapsing but will we be the victims who see it fall down on our heads, or are we the engineers who ldquo;pullrdquo; an irreparable edifice down from the outside, we ourselves remaining safe from the falling debris? What do we build in its place and how do we get there from here? I dealt with those issues, but in a much too abbreviated way./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" I look forward to making other speeches on this subject, preferably in a setting in which I can run about an hour to cover everything I wanted to say but was not able to on September 29. So I am putting out the call for anyone reading this to find me a free place to speak. My husband and I are both ldquo;Poverty span data-scayt_word="Skolarz”" data-scaytid="16"Skolarzrdquo;/span at the moment. He has been out of work for 5 months, with no unemployment compensation, and all I do is occasional freelance journalism. At age 56, and not having worked in an office for over 10 years while I pursued journalism, I don#39;t think there is any room for me in the traditional job market anymore. If I make $200 in any given month it is a big deal. We will make November rent by skipping other payments and after that, who knows? Thus, I am in the unpalatable situation of needing to make money from a speech that advocates ending money. But I favor a setting where donations would be solicited with no minimum suggested and no one turned away for lack of funds. If I can get some public transit friendly bookings, we can manage for another couple of months. Maybe by then I will have finished my book on this subject//p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" In the meantime, I will close this as I closed my speech: Keep asking, ldquo;Why must we pay to live on the planet we#39;re born on?rdquo; The first step in any change is to question the status quo./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" For a universally just, peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world,/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" span data-scayt_word="Kéllia" data-scaytid="17"Keacute;llia/span span data-scayt_word="Ramares-Watson" data-scaytid="18"Ramares-Watson/span/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p