Money and sustainability From a failing monetary system to a monetary ecosystem

“In the current financial system, sustainability will never happen.” - Dennis Meadows

The monetary system is failing. Only 2% of money is tangible economy, 98% is purely speculative. From 1970-2010, 145 countries had a banking crisis, 208 a currency crisis and 72 a sovereign debt crisis. On average, one crisis per month!
The monetary system is disastrous for sustainability, because it makes every crisis worse than necessary, encourages short-term thinking, demands infinite growth in a finite world, concentrates wealth in the hands of a small elite and breaks down the natural solidarity between people.
Just when we need to invest in a post-carbon society with an ageing population, the monetary system is on its last legs.

We need to move towards a monetary ecosystem that can withstand a blow and promotes sustainability. This can be done with additional currency systems that serve all kinds of purposes: better health, mutual cooperation, environmental conservation, flourishing local economies, etc. These currency systems are not only good for poor countries, not only good for countries in crisis, but also good for our own country.

This book is a report by the Club of Rome for Finance Watch, endorsed by the World Business Academy and the World Academy of Art and Science.

Bernard Lietaer worked at the Central Bank of Belgium and Gaia Hedge Funds, among others, and is now a professor at the University of California and the University of Finance in Moscow.