The relationship between poverty and social and environmental issues is well established, but it is not yet generally recognised that a major cause of the problem lies in the particular form of conventional money itself, nor that an effective solution is immediately available.
Communities everywhere depend on flows of national currency to support their internal economy.
That currency, however, continually drains out of communities, particularly from those most in need. To maintain their internal economies and pay for imports, communities typically pursue the short term cash crop demands of the external global economy, to the detriment of their long term interests. They do what the external money demands, generally at heavy cost to the local environment, culture and economy, in a pervasive pattern of decreasing self-sufficiency and increasing poverty. Money, however, is fundamentally nothing but information, so it is always possible to create local money to finance local needs. The only relevant considerations are the stability and viability of such a currency, and the practical aspects of its implementation.