Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

• Economic incentives.
The City should leverage economic development incentives, such as a Business
Incentive Loan Fund and tax abatements to further encourage the relocalization of
goods and services, especially those essential to daily life. 36
• Foster a “buy local” campaign.
Local government can help foster and expedite relocalization by actively promoting
local businesses. The City of Bloomington has taken great strides to foster local
purchasing by partnering with local stakeholders to launch a community‐wide I Buy
Bloomington publicity campaign to be launched in the fall 2009. Such efforts to
publicize the economic and pragmatic benefits of local purchasing are essential. We
hope that such outreach strengthens existing local businesses and encourages new
ones to form.
• Encourage a Local Exchange Trading System (LETS).
In thinking through ways to encourage more people to buy locally, the Task Force
examined the possibility of reinstituting a local currency. Local currency
complements U.S.‐issued money but is a medium of exchange that could only be
spent in Bloomington. This might tend to encourage local production. Local
currencies have been used in other communities with mixed success. A previous
attempt to introduce a local currency (BloomingHOURS) was unsuccessful.
BloomingHOURS was introduced in August 1999; however, within a year the
currency had gone out of circulation. Merchants were left with a stockpile of
currency that they could spend neither inside nor outside of the community. For a
local currency to be successful in Bloomington, it would be important for
government and other large institutions to back the system. For example, if the
Utilities Department and Bloomington Transit accepted local currency, such support
would substantially help strengthen such an alternative system.
As local currencies tend to have mixed results, it would be prudent for the
community to explore the idea of a Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) as a
complement to conventional U.S. currency. LETS systems are local, non‐profit
exchange networks in which goods and services can be traded without the need for
printed currency. LETS networks use interest‐free local credit so direct swaps do
not need to be made. For instance, a member may earn credit by doing childcare or
computer work for one person and spend it later on carpentry with another person
in the same network. This helps a wide cross section of the community –
individuals, small businesses, local services and non‐profits – exchange local goods
and services. 37
36 See, City of Bloomington’s Business Incentives, http://bloomington.in.gov/sections/viewSection.php?section_id=418.
37 See further, LETS Program: A Sustainable Local Economy, Relocalize.net
http://www.relocalize.net/node/2194. However, a similar problem can occur with a LETS system as that
which contributed to the demise of BloomingHOURS ‐‐ some people may accumulate a lot of credits but have
no way to spend them.
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force
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