Time Banking: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



Time Banking: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Why let the availability of money determine the range of the possible? Time banks are taking off, in ways you never expected.

by Edgar Cahn
posted Nov 17, 2011


Ten years ago, Susan Dentzler of NPR was retained by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to investigate whether time banking (a system that lets people swap time and skill instead of money) was “a concept whose time was coming—or merely a fringe idea.” Her response:

“Time dollars could be to long-term care what windmills and solar panels are to the nation’s energy supply: a small, unconventional, even noble way of serving the few, but nothing to be relied upon to meet the needs of the masses.”

Ten years later, though solar panels and windmills have moved far from the fringe, time banking has remained a relatively small-scale endeavor. But for a number of reasons, the idea may be poised to become more mainstream.

Why Time Banks?

Twenty-five years ago, we started the first experiments with a different kind of money that provided a new way to link untapped community capacity to unmet needs. Because the market fails to value or reward many types of critical work—the work of raising healthy children, building strong families, revitalizing neighborhoods, preserving the environment, advancing social justice and democracy—we felt there should be other ways than market price to place a value on people’s time. There had to be a way to honor, record, and reward that kind of work. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/time-banking-an-idea-whose-time-has-come

[MisterP]

1. I loved Michael Ende's "Momo"