old 100 days (dead)

I recently attended an Alternative Economies symposium held in Pittsburgh organized by my friends Carolyn Lambert and Robin Hewlett. Up for discussion was the potential positive implications of local currencies. As both Pittsburgh and the neighboring city of Braddock try to find ways to stabilize their uncertain population and economies, all sorts of strategies are on the table.

When I told people I would be attending this event, many asked me ” What is an alternative economy? Hmmm. Not so easy to answer. As far as I can tell this is a term relating specifically to western ideas of any economy that’s not like the one we experience most often. An example might be a gift economy, a mixed economy (depending on whether or not that’s what you think is going on in the US), or some version of an anarchist economy.

I think I’ve often encountered settings in which anarchist economies are what’s being discussed when the term “alternative economy” is brought up, but the key factor in isolating the word’s identity will depend on who you’re chatting with and where they’re from. Different social/economic classes and different countries  will simply think of what we refer to as an alternative as an un-welcomed  necessity.  I find some people telling me that they are participating in an alternative economy and it simply means they are getting paid an under the table wage, often per Diem, and as a given there are no benefits in sight. Will an alternative economic model be able to find a way to connect us to health and dental care? The core of what I’m trying to say here is that “alternative” does not necessarily mean better.

Before talking about what I’m talking about becomes any more complicated, please enjoy this interesting perspective on local currencies.

Also of interest: Oliver Ressler’s book ( I’m not going to say the title for fear of being redundant) documenting an exhibition of artworks exploring alternative economies.

There are a plethora of perspectives available. Much of what I’ve found originates from artist’s projects.

Art on paper: “Alternative Economies”

Spruce Roots: “Hour Islands,..”

Steve Lambert: “The Samaras Project”

Julie Graham: “Imagining and Enacting Noncapitalist Futures”

Blackberries, Ipod generations, the new but now old computer- Americans today apparently are using more and getting rid of more electronic devices than ever before. You didn’t have to tell me that. After a friend gave me their 3 year “old” ipod last year and a parts store could make hide nor hare of what the alien device I had handed them was as I searched for a power cable, the truth of the matter crept a little closer to home. It’s simply harder to stay hip than it used to be and that means our not so hip gadgets will be hitting the curb quicker than Angelina Jolie adopts babies. Where is all of this stuff going to go?

The bad news: In 2005 the EPA estimated there was 2.2 million tons of e-waste that missed the recycling loop, inserting a significant amount of cadmium, lead and mercury into our environment.

The good news: There are a number of groups setting up e-recycling programs such as the Bryant Park Project, E-Cycling Central (which can direct you to specific sorts of recycling programs in your own state), and the somewhat-good-ole EPA who can tell us where we can take our TV and shove it……into a recycling bin.

Here’s a bit of plant and region (PA) related inquiry…

Plant related…where are we? What do the growing zones on the back of seed packages mean? We’re in 5a and 6b….
 

Hardiness zone map:

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

Farmer’s alamanac shizzle which is deliciously in between fact and hear-say:

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/home_garden/gardening

They have a blog you can subscribe to which will tell you the kind of shit I really want to know about, like how far a jackrabbit can jump and which days you should REALLY be chopping wood and baking on ..WTF?

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/best_days/month

Who knew we needed to think more about which days we are castrating animals on? This whole site indulges my interests far too much..if you look on the weather link, there’s a little “game” where you can find out what the weather was like in your area (enter zip code) as far back as 1945…

Here also, is a park I have heard of and finally looked up. Perhaps the destination of future dreamy camping trips? It’s a “dark sky” preserve- good for star gazing…

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/cherrysprings.aspx

I have been thinking about privialge, wealth, behavior, and reasoning based on these things. I dredged up a little economic overview of Appalachia,  which we are a part of here in the lovely Pittsy-burghy.

http://www.arc.gov/index.do?nodeId=26