Time Banks

I keep hearing of time banks, and having become re-aware through recent events, of the fragility of a credit-based economy in the face of diminishing resources. So the idea of an economy derived from human labour seems like a good one to pursue. I hope to look into the way that monetary systems privilege an distort human transactions andf social systems in different ways, and time banks seem to be part of the alternative.

"time banks have traditionally focused on involving participants from marginalized communities to help themselves. Today, with an online community eager to get involved, and with the emergence of tools that facilitate collaboration, time banks shouldn’t limit their sourcing to local resources, but instead take advantage of the 'global brain' (in projects that would benefit from this type of input) to solve community problems and improve social cohesiveness. Time banks complemented by effective communication tools offer a great model to bridge local community participation with external resources, creating strong local communities that branch outward."

WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: Time Banks: Collaborative Capacity Building, Web 2.0-Style: