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Local Currencies
In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, while a community currency might be local or be used for exchange within an online community. A local currency acts as a complementary currency to a national currency, rather than replacing it, and aims to encourage spending within a local community, especially with locally owned businesses. Such currencies may not be backed by a national government nor be legal tender. About 300 complementary currencies, including local currencies, are listed in the Complementary Currency Resource Center worldwide database. Terminology Some definitions: * Complementary currency - is used as a complement to a national currency, as a medium of exchange, which is usually not legal tender. * Community currency - a complementary currency used by a group with a common bond, such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes what's viewed as basic elements in the economy, including individual agents and markets, their interactions, and the outcomes of interactions. Individual agents may include, for example, households, firms, buyers, and sellers. Macroeconomics analyzes the economy as a system where production, consumption, saving, and investment interact, and factors affecting it: employment of the resources of labour, capital, and land, currency inflation, economic growth, and public policies that have impact on these elements. Other broad distinctions within economics include those between positive economics, describing "what is", and normative economics, advocating "what ought to be"; between economic theory and applied economics; between rati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Future Of Money
''The Future of Money: Beyond Greed and Scarcity'' is a book written by Bernard Lietaer, published by Random House in 2001, and currently out of print. It was written as an overview of how money and the financial system works, the effects of modern money paradigms, especially relating to debt and interest, and how it can work to everyone's benefit to solve a wide range of problems, especially with the use of complementary currencies.Lietaer, Bernard. ''The Future of Money''. Random House, 2001. The book is meant to be written for the layperson, while bringing light to subjects that only relatively few are aware of at all levels of society. Lietaer gives examples of different currencies that have been used in the past or are being used today, and his assessment of the positive and negative effects they carry. He writes that while the modern money paradigm has both positive and negative consequences (e.g. that it induced industrialisation), these currencies can exist in ''complement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big-box Store
A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores. Commercially, big-box stores can be broken down into two categories: general merchandise (examples include Walmart, Target, and Kmart), and specialty stores (such as The Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy), which specialize in goods within a specific range, such as hardware, books, or consumer electronics, respectively. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, many traditional retailers and supermarket chains that typically operate in smaller buildings, such as Tesco and Praktiker, opened stores in the big-box-store format in an effort to compete with big-box chains, which are expanding internationally as their home markets reach maturity. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clone Town
Clone town is a term for a town where the High Street or other major shopping areas are significantly dominated by chain stores, thus making that town indistinct from other town centres. The term was coined by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), a British think tank, in the 2004 report on "Clone Town Britain". The report further elaborates the definition as follows: 'Clone towns' occur where 'the individuality of high street shops has been replaced by a monochrome strip of global and national chains' as opposed to 'Home Town' which is a 'place that retains its character and is individually recognizable and distinct to the people who live there, as well as those who visit'. A survey conducted by the NEF in 2005 estimated that 41% of towns in the UK and 48% of London villages could be considered clone towns, with the trend rising. Alternatively, clone town can also be looked upon as a stage of growth of retail market i.e. from out of town retail parks and shopping centers to so-c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climate Change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices increase greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane. Greenhouse gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight. Larger amounts of these gases trap more heat in Earth's lower atmosphere, causing global warming. Due to climate change, deserts are expanding, while heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common. Increased warming in the Arctic has contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss. Higher temperatures are also causing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peak Oil
Peak oil is the hypothetical point in time when the maximum rate of global oil production is reached, after which it is argued that production will begin an irreversible decline. It is related to the distinct concept of oil depletion; while global petroleum reserves are finite, the limiting factor is not whether the oil exists but whether it can be extracted economically at a given price. A secular decline in oil extraction could be caused both by depletion of accessible reserves and by reductions in demand that reduce the price relative to the cost of extraction, as might be induced to reduce carbon emissions. Numerous predictions of the timing of peak oil have been made over the past century before being falsified by subsequent growth in the rate of petroleum extraction.David White, "The unmined supply of petroleum in the United States," ''Transactions of the Society of Automotive Engineers'', 1919, v.14, part 1, p.227.Daniel Yergin“There will be oil,”Wall Street Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt Spring Dollar
The Salt Spring Dollar is a local currency issued by the Salt Spring Island Monetary Foundation to promote local history, art and goodwill on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada. History Roundtable discussions of the Sustainable Salt Spring Island Coalition examined the possible establishment of a local currency in the fall of 2000. In July 2001, the Salt Spring Island Monetary Foundation was established and registered with the Province of British Columbia. The currency was first issued in September 2001. In 2006, the Spring Island Monetary Foundation began planning their first silver coin edition. The first coins were minted and issued in December 2007. Currency Bills were, and still are, issued in , , , , , , and denominations. Each bears the image of a distinct figure from Salt Spring history, such as Henry Wright Bullock ($$1 bill), Matilda Naukana Harris ($$2 bill), and Sylvia Stark ($$5 bill). Along with the figure is a quote by Albert Einstein: "How I wish th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century as communications with central London improved. Brixton is mainly residential, though includes Brixton Market and a substantial retail sector. It is a multi-ethnic community, with a large percentage of its population of Afro-Caribbean descent. It lies within Inner London and is bordered by Stockwell, Clapham, Streatham, Camberwell, Tulse Hill, Balham and Herne Hill. The district houses the main offices of Lambeth London Borough Council. Brixton is south-southeast from the geographical centre of London (measuring to a point near Brixton Underground station on the Victoria Line). History Toponymy The name Brixton is thought to originate from Brixistane, meaning the stone of Brixi, a Saxon lord. Brixi is thought to have erected ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt Spring Island Dollar - One Dollar
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater. The open ocean has about of solids per liter of sea water, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and is known to uniformly improve the taste perception of food, including otherwise unpalatable food. Salting, brining, and pickling are also ancient and important methods of food preservation. Some of the earliest evidence of salt processing dates to around 6,000 BC, when people living in the area of present-day Romania boiled spring water to extract salts; a salt-works in China dates to approximately the same period. Salt was also prized by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transition Towns
The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instabilitythrough renewed localization strategies, especially around food production and energy usage. In 2006, the founding of Transition Town Totnes in the United Kingdom became an inspiration for other groups to form. The Transition Network charity was founded in early 2007, to support these projects. A number of the groups are officially registered with the Transition Network. Transition initiatives have been started in locations around the world, with many located in the United Kingdom and others in Europe, North America and Australia. While the aims remain the same, Transition initiatives' solutions are specific depending on the characteristics of the local area. Etymology The term, "transition town" was coined by Louise Rooney and Catherine Dunne. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
QQ Coins
Tencent QQ (), also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Chinese technology company Tencent. QQ offers services that provide online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, and group and voice chat software. As of March 2022, there were 563.8 million monthly active QQ accounts. History Tencent QQ was first released in China in February 1999 under the name of OICQ ("Open ICQ", a reference to the early IM service ICQ). After the threat of a trademark infringement lawsuit by the AOL-owned ICQ, the product's name was changed to QQ (with "Q" and "QQ" used to imply "cute"). The software inherited existing functions from ICQ, and additional features such as software skins, people's images, and emoticons. QQ was first released as a " network paging" real-time communications service. Other features were later added, such as chatrooms, games, personal avatars (similar to "Meego" in MSN), online storage, and Internet dat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
