LETS Birmingham

Local Energy Transfer Systems (LETS) are localized trade systems that occur outside the mainstream economy.  They grow from communities seeking to meet their material needs in a truly equal market exchange based on labor-produced credits rather than money.  LETS users trade local units of value for goods and labor/services.  A LETS credit's value is determined by the community of people participating in the system.  LETS systems will change and grow as the community of users grows - essentially it is a biomimicking economic system.  Research on existing LETS has demonstrated that the system works alongside the mainstream economy and actually increases the value of the dollar.  However, I am optimistic that LETS has the potential to serve as a bridge between 'islands of sustainability' in the future.

We are now trying to get a LETS rolling here in Birmingham.  Zach and Robyn got the facebook page going and we all completed the first round of proselytizing - via 80 or so flyers - this morning at Pepper Place (trial by fire suits us all just fine).  The response was pretty positive - people were actually reading the flyers as they headed for the sponsored drum circle!

For more information on how a LETS works and to participate in how our local system develops, visit the Birmingham LETS facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_133164623426645.  

[[click for articles on LETS in Australia and the UK, a book on LETS and *buzzwrrd* sustainable development, and LETS FAQs]]

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Historical Ecology Wikiproject - seeking editors

Below is a copy of the email we sent regarding our new encyclopedic endeavor.


Greetings!

We are undergraduate anthropology students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  This past semester we took a course in Historical Ecology in which we were challenged to develop a project that enhanced education in the subject.  We chose to create a historical ecology wikiproject to unite diverse researchers interested in improving the quality and quantity of wikipedia articles relevant to the topic of historical ecology, and we invite you to join our efforts. 

Specifically, we hope to encourage fellow project editors to join us in researching and composing sections of articles on the historical ecology of their own regions - we have already begun work on a new historical ecology section for the Jefferson County, Alabama wikipedia article.  We are seeking anyone interested in investing time and effort into developing similar sections for their own location's wiki article page.

If we gather enough support and our proposal becomes an actual project, we hope over time the wikiproject will both foster a greater public understanding of human/environment interactions and also encourage dialogue between theoretically diverse researchers from many different bioregions.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us - our information is below.    

Here is the link to our wikiproject proposal page:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals/Historical_Ecology
For more information on wikiprojects, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiProject

Thank you for your time, and we look forward to collaborating with you.

With all our regards and respect,

Anna McCown
admccown@uab.edu

Lindsay Whiteaker
lins090@uab.edu

Jake Delisle
jdelisle@uab.edu