# FINANCE: BEYOND MONEY
Driven by a systemic need to grow through interest and debt, the mainstream money system drives extraction and exploitation on a global scale. Fortunately, there are many old and new **alternative** systems of exchange and valuation that enable communities to meet their needs and care for one another outside of the mainstream money economy. Here are some of those alternatives. # Beyond money Actions
* [ ] Join or start a Time Bank or LETS. (Expand Action)
* [ ] Barter what you have for what you need. (Expand Action)
* [ ] Join or start a local currency. (Expand Action)
* [ ] Be part of a gift economy. (Expand Action)
# Voices from the field
* In How to Start a Time Bank and Skill Exchange, an hour-long webinar from the Center for a New American Dream, speakers from three successful time banks in the USA discuss how to create one in your community.
* Hear from people involved in creating the Brixton, Bristol and Totnes Pounds in the The Rise of Local Currencies interviews by the Transition Network.
* The LIFT Economy podcast episode, How Complementary Currencies Support Vibrant Local Economies, features Scott Morris, founder of IthaCash, "Money Made for Main St.", a regional cooperative currency program for in-and-around Tompkins County, New York, US, where the marketplace and local money work together for local people, causes, and economies by offering another way to meet real needs."
# Resources
* Creating Wealth: Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies, by Gwendolyn Hallsmith and Bernard Lietaer, shows how "Using creative initiatives such as time banks, systems of barter and exchange and local currencies, cities and towns can empower themselves and build vibrant, healthy, sustainable local economies."
* Learn about various local currency models – local convertible paper notes, time dollars and time banks, LETS and mutual credit systems and more – with Local Currency Models from the Schumacher Center.
* The Power of Local Money for a Thriving Local Economy, an article by YES Magazine, shares examples of local currencies and credit systems from around the world.
* The report Barter markets: sustaining people and nature in the Andes by Neus Marti and Michel Pimbert explores how barter markets in Peru contribute to food sovereignty, agricultural biodiversity, and community resilience.
* In their academic article, Bypassing Globalization: Barter markets as a new indigenous economy in Peru, Alejandro Argumedo and Michel Pimbert explore the non-monetized barter markets developed by the Quechua peoples of the Peruvian Andes, showing how they reflect the local philosophy of social reciprocity and ecological equilibrium and can inspire others seeking to support local food sovereignty, ecological diversity and economies based on solidarity rather than greed.