Wellington Public Forum

Wednesday, 5 August from 12.15 - 1.30pm

Reception/Ante Area, Turnbull House, Bowen St, Wellington

"Reinventing Money for a world where easy-to-extract oil has peaked and economic growth has permanently ceased".

Money was invented to overcome the shortcomings of two way barter but now it is a commodity traded on financial markets of the world. Over US$4.5 trillion is now traded per day, representing about 10-15 times the combined value of the world’s share markets.

Money is created as interest bearing debt by banks acting together, and this drives the economic growth imperative. While this more or less worked when economic expansion was desirable, we are now in a deteriorating planet with declining oil resources.

conomic growth is not possible now without easy to extract fossil fuels, so the growth cycle must stop. As the global economic depression deepens, people in communities all over the world are designing their own community currencies. New Zealand for instance is experiencing a surge in enquiries for timebanks, while trade barter thrives.

So what will the future hold? Will the next generation trust economists and banks? Can we design a money system that works to preserve the planet and its inhabitants?

Deirdre Kent is a former maths teacher who became interested in green economics as a Values Party candidate in the seventies. She edited a newsletter called The Indicator in the 1990s, cofounded NZ Banking Reform and then Living Economies and in 2005 her book Healthy Money Healthy Planet –developing sustainability through new money systems was published.  She is currently active in the transition towns movement both nationally and in Otaki where she resides.

Cost: New Zealand Futures Trust members: $5

Non- NZFT members: $15