A: How and why did Seedstock get started?

J: When I was writing my Master’s thesis on local currencies, I was amazed by what I learned about both the theory and practice of community currencies, and felt very strongly that these were ideas with huge implications for the world that more people ought to know about. Even after moving to Vancouver, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A couple of years ago I became involved in Village Vancouver, Vancouver’s official Transition Initiative, and met Michael Linton around the same time. Michael is the man who probably more than anyone else helped to touch off the modern resurgence of community currencies in the early ‘80’s from his home in the Comox Valley, when he invested the first LETSystem of mutual credit that then spread around the globe. These two events conspired to make me feel called to devote myself to the cause of community currency in Vancouver.

At first I found myself thinking about neighbourhood-scale community currencies, and got together with other members of Village Vancouver to start the Dunbar Dollar project. However, I soon realised that what was unfolding in Vancouver called for something on a more city-wide scale, but with a focus on particular sectors of the local economy. The most obvious one was food; there’s an urban farming revolution happening in this city, but urban farmers still face a great struggle to make a living out of their trade. I started thinking about how community currencies could be applied to help strengthen the local food economy, and the concept for what would become Seedstock was born. A few months later, in November 2011, I met Andrew Perry and shortly afterwards we decided to make Seedstock happen. We’ve been working very hard at the project ever since, collaborating with many more passionate people along the way.

A: Since you're an economist, give me your snapshot reaction of our current society in the waves of recession after the economic crash of 2008, and your predictions of how things will pan out in the next 5-10 years?

J: Given the abysmal record of most economists when it comes to foreseeing crashes and making predictions, my economics education does not particularly qualify me to answer this question. I find that over the last several decades, some of the best economic thought has come from people with backgrounds in other disciplines: engineering, physics, computer science, philosophy, etc. However, as someone who has been observing and thinking about our economy as a system, I think that the economic crises of the past several years are the natural culmination of a monetary system based on artificial scarcity which ensures that the more money someone has, the richer they get, and the less one has, the poorer one becomes. This tendency for a widening and accelerating gulf has been mitigated in the last 30 or 40 years by a corresponding conversion of more of the commons, and of those things which we used to obtain and share without money, into commercialised, monetised products that allowed the economy to continue to “grow” in monetary terms. The other mitigating factor has been the extension of unprecedented levels of credit to consumers so that they could continue to spend money beyond their means.

We have now reached the end point for both of these phenomena. There is little left of the commons that remains to be converted into money, and it has become apparent since 2007 that we have reached the limit of the amount of debt that any household or government can bear while maintaining credibility that they will ever be able to pay those debts off. We are also in overshoot of the Earth’s capacity to provide us with raw resources and absorb our wastes, so that, too, is coming to an end. Therefore, all of the things that have allowed us to carry on business as usual in spite of a very poorly designed money system are now at the end of their ropes, which explains why there is no longer any “going back” to the way things were before the crisis.

How will things pan out in the next 5-10 years? That is much harder to say. What I do know is that it will not be business as usual. I see an incredible amount of emerging new economic models popping up everywhere, experiments failing, succeeding and being replicated, and ideas crossing borders at the speed of light. People are highly adaptable and will do whatever it takes to be able to provide for themselves, their families and their communities. In the next 5-10 years I see an explosion in things like community currencies, social enterprises, community supported enterprises, co-operatives, peer-to-peer financing and other models that allow communities to solve their own problems with their own resources. The roles being played by big banks, corporations and governments today will be diminished. “Investment” will less and less mean placing one’s money in traditional stocks, bonds and mutual funds, and will be more and more about investing in local businesses, family members, the community, one’s home and oneself. And I believe strongly that people will find themselves the wealthier for it.

<--This is the other founder of Seedstock, Andrew Perry

A: Why should people get involved with Seedstock? What realistic everyday benefit will they get out of it?

J: Seedstock is a win-win-win proposition for all parts of society. For businesses, as noted above, Seedstock allows them to make important contributions to the community without any cash outlay, while attracting more customers and making more connections that will help their businesses prosper. For the non-profits, Seedstock can completely revolutionise the way they raise funds, and help them make a bigger impact than ever before. For freelancers, artists and farmers who accept Seedstock, this community currency will provide more work opportunities as businesses with Seedstock will start seeking out the goods and services that these talented and hard-working locals have to offer. And for people who are none of the above, changing some of their money from Canadian Dollars to Seedstock will be one of the easiest and most effective ways to make a make a positive change in their community. People can support their favourite non-profits, contribute to a stronger, more vibrant and resilient local economy, and go shopping at local businesses all at once!

A: What are the limitations of Seedstock, and what are your future plans for it?

J: For now, the greatest challenge is in introducing this novel idea to the wider public. People take our conventional money system for granted so much that it usually has never occurred to them to question it, let alone consider that we could be make a positive difference by having our own community currency as well. But we have been making good headway on this front, and are working on some educational materials including animations that will make our message much easier for a greater number of people to grasp easily.

Another limitation is an initial reliance on paper currency for the circulation of Seedstock, which can be costly and logistically challenging on the scale of a large city. However, we do have plans to develop ways for people to pay with Seedstock using their mobile phones as well, which will greatly help in this regard. Mobile payments technology is already being used by several community currencies in Europe.

A: You speak many languages, and have lived and worked in many places around the world, which is your favourite place and why?

J: Funny you should ask, because as much as I have spent my early 20’s looking outside of Canada (and in Europe in particular) for the best place to live, ultimately my favourite place in the world was right in my own country – Vancouver! I love Vancouver for so many reasons. I initially fell in love with its beauty, but what keeps me here is the amazing, diverse bunch of people that call this city home. Vancouver is a place where creative people from all over the world are converging with their ideas and energy, and this makes it feel as though anything is possible. I feel blessed that I have been able to weave into that magical fabric, and I feel more rooted here than I have anywhere since childhood.

A: Any pet peeve?

J: Any kind of waste is my pet peeve, and there is so much of it happening all the time. I can’t stand to see wasted food, wasted materials, wasted electricity, water, money, labour – you name it. It bothers me that this waste exists alongside such tremendous need and the waning ability of the Earth to absorb any more of our wastes.

A: What music is currently playing on your playlist?

J: I don’t really have a playlist per se, because I do not have an iPod or anything of the sort, but I listen mostly to classical music. My favourite composers are Dvorak, Sibelius, St-Saëns, Brahms and Rachmaninoff. I also enjoy a variety of music from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s as well as modern folk and indie music.

A: Any last life wisdom you'd like to share with Social Butterfly Club members?

J: Trust your heart and your intuitions more, and follow your passion. Don’t be afraid to fail, and learn to see disappointments as just another twist in your life’s adventure that will ultimately lend great meaning to your life. And learn to recognise and relish in synchronicities, and see them as signs that you are on to something.