image by Roberto Garcia-S

Yesterday I signed my business up for the Berkshares, meaning that my Pilates studio in Stockbridge, MA (in Berkshire County) will accept this local currency. It works just like a dollar, and because 100 US Dollars are worth 105 Berkshares, the customer receives a 5% discount simply by using them. Several hundred businesses participate in this scheme and millions of Berkshares have circulated through the local economy. And that is the point: to strengthen businesses and trade in this area.

Alternative currencies or trade systems have existed in a large number of places all over the world, ever since 1934, when the WIR Bank was founded in Switzerland. There are a lot of different approaches, some using actual currency, some, as time banks, crediting people for the hours they spend working for others that they can then trade in for services they need. One of the better known systems here is LETS, as well as the Ithaca Hour (worth 10 dollars) or the Toronto dollar. In economically tough times, these alternative methods of payments or barter systems make particular sense, connecting people without work but skills to offer and people without dollars but the need for help.

And as a sign of just how well accepted these concepts can become: Ithaca has the first credit union now accepting an alternative currency as mortgage payments!

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image by JamesKidsArts

Last fall, I wrote a piece about money’s place in our world, and how we must transform it to get to the elegant future we want. I sent this piece to my friend, the great economic thinker and writer Richard Kotlarz, and he wrote back to me a while later. Here’s a brief excerpt of our correspondence:

Me: In school we all learned that economies started with bartering—I’ll trade you my red stones for your black ones. But past a certain level of complexity, simple trading didn’t work well enough. So we invented placeholders—money—to make it a little easier to get what we needed.

RK: To call money a “placeholder” can be thought of itself as an empty linguistic placeholder that overlooks the fact that money is pregnant with life.  Witness how it has worked its way into every material and spiritual niche of existence in this world. There is no single definition of money.  In the earthly realm, asking “what is money?” is like asking “what is life,” “what is God” or “what is spirit”? There are no placeholders for those terms. It behooves us to impart of money living images that bespeak something of the burgeoning power it wields in life.

I read his response at the time, but it actually didn’t sink in until the other night. I was in bed, drifting off, when suddenly I sat up with a sentence in my head: “Money is a creative force!” And I realized that this placeholder stuff is not only inaccurate, but harmful! Let me explain ...

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We made it through to another Friday! Time to recap all the lovely sunny goodness on the site this week. And—pssst—it’s our first anniversary next week! How cool is that?!?

• Monday, I wrote about how true optimism can only be earned through action. Mark my words: “Optimism = responsibility” will be the “Where’s the beef?” of 2009.
• Tuesday, Uli updated us on the progress of her Organizing for America group, which has been together since the Obama campaign and is working through their ideas of how to best contribute to the task of perfecting our union.
• Wednesday, Victoria shared her thoughts on supporting children’s development—certainly a powerful way of creating the future—through tutoring.
• Thursday, I spoke of my love for the Little House books, and how important it is to recognize the good values from our past so we can carry them forward.

Today’s video is a short interview with my man Enrique Peñalosa in which he discusses what makes a city great: “We can have a city that is very friendly to cars, or a city that is very friendly to people. We cannot have both ... Mathematically, it is totally impossible to solve the transportation problems of a city using cars.” Mayor Bloomberg seems to have been listening—witness his recent proposal to turn Broadway into a pedestrian-only space.

I find this hugely exciting. I understand that much of the US is built so that cars are necessary, but that is not the case in New York. How great would it be to be able to walk down Broadway enjoying Times Square with plenty of room to move around and without having to worry about getting whacked by a taxi?

More broadly, how great would it be to be able to walk, ride trains, bike, and bus our way to most places that we need to go? If sitting in traffic becomes a thing of the past? My hope is that, as we work to improve infrastructure in this country, we become less dependent on cars and more connected with each other.

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Recently in my favorite thrift store, I saw the entire set of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books on sale for $4, and snapped them up. Over the next month I flew through the 9 books in the series, which through Laura’s eyes documents the Ingalls family’s journey from the Big Woods in Wisconsin to Indian Country in Kansas and finally to Dakota Country, where they were among the first settlers of the town of De Smet.

There are many things to treasure in these books. Laura’s writing is lovely, and develops over time from the simple diction of a 4-year-old to the full, descriptive, sharp prose she writes as a young woman. It’s fun to see her grow in responsibility and character as the years unfold and the world around her begins to change.

These stories take place in the late 19th century, a time of huge change in America. Looking through the lens of Spiral Dynamics, this was a time of transition for many Americans from traditional to modern values. Of course, there’s no clear line that can be drawn, and it’s interesting to see how Laura’s Pa is willing to embrace some technological advances but not others, and how his choices differ from those made by others in the town.

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image by cesar astudillo

Why is tutoring effective? I am finding out that tutoring helps kids understand difficult concepts by looking at them in a clear, straightforward way.  I try to supply lots of examples to kids when I’m explaining math concepts for example.  Tutoring also proves to a child that she/he can certainly learn well, but may just need extra time, repetition or a different method to understand material.

There’s many reasons why a child may need tutoring.  For some, English is not their native language. Others come from families that don’t value reading before bedtime. For others learning in a large classroom is too distracting. I have been a home tutor now for about two months and tutoring is showing me so much about the way children learn.  It’s also an opportunity for me to share what I know and develop relationships with children.

The missing link with all my students seems to be related to confidence and time.  A few of my kids who are just beginning to read or aren’t yet fluent are feeling around for their own voice and need someone to encourage them, or they need to learn how to choose appropriate books that are neither too easy nor too hard.  Two boys I have are scared of math.  A first grade girl isn’t very social at school and tells me that she doesn’t really speak to any other kids, an 11 year old wants a library card desperately.  They all need time with an adult who can explain concepts by using concrete examples.  I am finding out through tutoring that there’s a lot I can do to change these sad stories.

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image by luis de bethencourt

The election campaign last fall mobilized hundreds of thousands of people across the country that weren’t just going to go back to their private lives once Obama was elected into office. I knew I wasn’t, too, and it was the same for many of my friends. We all felt and still feel that some kind of window opened into a different possibility in politics and culture and that, if we weren’t making the biggest possible use of this moment to help make a difference in whatever way we could, we would always regret it.

A group of us kept meeting weekly, trying to figure out how we can best use our particular talents and training. As much as some of us wanted to just go ahead and do something, like collecting food for the increasing number of folks who are dependent on food banks right now, it also seemed important to take the time to think about what our mission and vision actually is. So while we have been collecting food, we have also thought a lot about the context and scope of change that Obama represents and that has triggered in us a passion and a call to respond.

We are now planning to hold a Memorial Day event here in Lenox, MA, in which we want to ignite and motivate grassroots support for Berkshire County becoming a zero net energy community. This means the county will locally and sustainably generate as much electricity as it uses. We think that in order to move this possibility forward it will take the larger public thinking about and being behind such a bold and ‘on the edge’ vision.

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image by Eirik Newth

On The Sunny Way, we’ve talked a lot about the damaging effects of cynicism. It separates us from the world, making us spectators rather than players in life. Instead of pulling our boots on and participating in creation, we make snarky comments and doubt the motives of those who are trying to make something new.

Of course, cynicism in its way is a deep expression of care. We’re disappointed in the gap between the way the world is and the way we want it to be, and we start to believe that the gap can’t be bridged: That’s just the way things are.

This is understandable, for sure. It’s hard to face the problems we have to solve. They are huge, and we are small. And this point of view is pretty deeply embedded in us. I mean, growing up, how cool was it to do the right thing and be gung-ho about possibilities for the future? As I recall, not at all. The cool kids were the ones who gave everything and everyone else the finger.

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Springtime is here in New York. Tulips and daffodils are poking up through last year’s dead leaves in my backyard, and the birds are back! It snowed a bit this morning, but the sun will be out tomorrow. Hooray!

Here’s what we talked about this week on The Sunny Way:

• Monday, Uli wrote about the collective fitness agreement that she started with her friend Brad. Victoria and I joined a few weeks ago and it’s really been motivating to get me off my arse. I don’t want to have to give up $50, but more importantly, I don’t want to have to write to my friends and tell them I failed! Powerful stuff!
• Tuesday, we featured an 11 Questions response by Chris Neidl from I Heart PV (a project of Solar One). Can NYC be the East Coast capital of solar power? Why the heck not?
• Wednesday, Victoria shared her method for testing last year’s seeds to see if they will grow this year.
• And finally on Thursday, I wrapped up our Pronoia book club by diving into what my future self wants to say to my present self. Which was pretty fun.

Today, in honor of the bluebirds and cardinals and sparrows in my backyard, I’d like to share this video that Victoria sent me, about the wild parrots in Brooklyn, and how important it is for urban folk to connect with the wildlife that’s all around. “They’re tough, scrappy, little birds and they’re very, very intelligent and they bring huge amounts of joy to people,” says filmmaker Judy Irving. “They are also a way in to the rest of the natural world and a way in to native species of birds that may not be quite as colorful as parrots ... Once you get into the parrots, then maybe you start looking around a little bit more, and you see the house sparrows and the finches and you see the bluebirds and you see, you start to see the migrating birds, you see the hawks… There’s a tremendous amount of life, natural life in the city that the parrots awaken people to.”

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For the last several Thursdays, we have been discussing Rob Brezsny’s Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings. This is the last Pronoia post. Click here to read all the Pronoia posts.

Last week, I told you that I would do an exercise from Pronoia and share my results with you for this, our last discussion of this funny and eye-opening book. The exercise I’ve chosen is #2 on page 271, just a few pages before the book’s end. Here’s the text of it:

The iconoclastic physicist Jack Sarfatti proposes that all “creative thought by artists, craftsmen, and scientists involves the subconscious reception of ideas from the future, which literally create themselves.” Beauty and Truth Laboratory researcher Vimala Blavatsky puts a different spin on it. “Our future selves are constantly transmitting great ideas to us back through time,” she says, “but most of us don’t believe that’s possible and consequently are not alert for it.”

What do you think is the most pressing communique your future self is currently beaming your way?

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image by WTL photos

Early spring…an emergent time of year when plants wake from winter dormancy to soak up sunlight of longer days.  I walked around the house yesterday searching for signs of spring, finding perennial chives reaching up and up, bobby yellow primrose blooms peeking between downy leaves, and fleshy tulip shoots poking layered leaves through mulch.  I am excited for the spring bulbs especially.  I planted over 70 tulips and my Dad planted more than this in daffodils and crocuses.  When I purchased them last fall, they were on sale, so I got nearly twice as many as I had intended to plant.  I have visions of a sea of spring flowers, it’s almost time.

It’s also the time for checking all those leftover seed packets you may have stored, from last year’s garden. Better to check old seed than waste money buying new.  But are these seeds viable?  Some seeds last many years if stored properly.  Proper storage involves keeping seed dry and away from direct sunlight.  I have stored my seed in small Ziploc bags in the freezer, but now keep them in wine box on a shelf. Others store theirs in shoe boxes in a cool room.

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an I Heart PV letterwriting party

11 Questions is an ongoing feature where you, the reader, tell us all about a project you are working on to create a more functional, just, and beautiful future. Then we share your project on The Sunny Way. To tell us about your project, either fill out the survey, or copy the questions below and email your answers to us. We look forward to featuring your good work soon!

What are you creating with this project? What are your goals?
I Heart PV aims to make New York the solar power (photovoltaics) capital of the East Coast. The way we’ll get there is by implementing long term, focused policies that create financial incentives for solar adoption until the technology can compete with fossil fuels on cost. The experiences of other places that have implemented aggressive solar incentive programs—such as Germany, Japan, California and New Jersey—has been a more rapid decline in costs as a result of local industrial evolution and increased competition. We need to move New York onto a similar track.

Solar advocacy has existed in New York State, but nothing that has effectively engaged a large number of voters in the action. I Heart PV will continue to act on this end of things: educating and mobilizing constituents to deliver feedback in support of pro-solar policies to relevant elected state officials.

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image by zhushmanson

My friend Brad is 36, very smart, studying law, sitting a lot and had gained weight. When I saw him last New Years Eve, it was clear something had to be done. He asked me for help. I am a professional Pilates trainer, a fitness expert, but had my own troubles committing to regular work-outs and meaningful, measurable goals. If you are tall and naturally slim, you can get away with a lot.

We decided to draw up a contract. Brad knew just how to do that of course: Six hours of exercise a week each or send each other $50 to donate to a charity of their choice. You know what that New Years Spirit is like, and we both wanted to change our pattern. I could feel the pressure but had to go for it anyway.

A few days later I am on my way to Germany, walking up and down the airport terminal—half a mile, back and forth for a total of three, carrying two heavy bags. It won’t count unless I work up a sweat and increase my heart rate. There is no way to fill my quota for the week if I do nothing today. Then 20 minutes Chi Gong at the gate looking out at the tarmac—all towards building strength and physical resilience. Am thinking of Brad.

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Happy Friday, sunbeams! Here’s a recap of what went down on The Sunny Way this week:

• On Monday, I wrote about Martin Seligman’s TED talk and how we may be able to make ourselves ridiculously happy while also changing the world.
• Tuesday and Wednesday, Sarah wrote about her experience at last week’s Capitol Climate Protest—I so wish I could have been there!
• Yesterday, I was irritated by what I read in Pronoia, but in a good way.

Today’s video tells the story of Kogepan, a jam bun who is disgruntled with life because he got burnt when he was baked in the oven. Now other, more perfectly baked buns point and laugh at him wherever he goes. “If only that time I didn’t get burnt,” he dreams. “What an ideal life.” Sure, there are some morals about life in here—and they’re not so subtle that they need to be pointed out—but mostly it’s just fun to see a jam bun be disgruntled and surly.

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For the next few Thursdays, we will be discussing Rob Brezsny’s Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings. Click here to read all the Pronoia posts.

For the last few weeks, I have been feeling some resistance to reading and writing about Pronoia. It actually irritates me—much of the language strikes me as very 60s-ish, and there’s nothing that annoys Gen X-ers like me more than Boomers waxing rhapsodic about divinity, sacredness, sex, and Burning Man.

I’m well aware that this is much more about me than it is about the book. I have to admit that there is still a part of me that equates pronoia and positivity in general with weakness, frivolity, and naivete. 

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think for many of us, cynicism is like a comfy old pair of jeans that we can easily throw on without looking like we’re trying too hard. I’ve often made the joke that the reason I had to start The Sunny Way is because I am the most cynical bitch who ever lived, so I need it worse than anyone. And although I recognize that this is not precisely accurate, there’s enough truth in there to make it hard for me to fully embrace a pronoiac, positive view.

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image by whateva87

This is Part 2 of Sarah Moon’s report on last week’s Capitol Climate Action. Read Part 1.

We woke up at nine a.m. on Monday, March 2nd at the Hilton Garden Inn just blocks from the White House. We packed up our things and headed to the lobby. It was a beautiful sunny day with a thick, fresh layer of snow on the ground. After waffles and eggs at a café on the Hill, we made it to the corner of New Jersey and D Street. Waiting there were the leaders of the mountain top removal movement including Chuck Nelson, Larry Gibson, Rory McIlmoil, Teri Blanton and Goldman Environmental Award winner Judy Bonds bundled in warm winter coats. It had been decided that those on the front lines of the fight against coal, the residents of Appalachia, would lead the parade.

After helping each other affix I Love Mountains stickers to our hats and the backs of our jackets, Ozzy, our waiter from the Brickskellar, showed up smiling in a red, white and blue striped scarf. I had to jump up and down to keep the blood flowing in my damp feet. We could hear the cheering of the mass of people gathered at Spirit of Justice park two blocks way. As the cheering grew louder, my excitement rose. No longer able to wait, I ran up the hill to C Street, the Capitol rising before me. I looked to my left and lost my breath. There they were. A mass of people that filled the street from sidewalk to sidewalk waving red, yellow, blue and green banners.

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