Time Bank and Sustainability: The Permaculture Approach

The paper aims to find a new approach to include interesting phenomena of time banking (a system of time complementary currency) into the current economy. The time banks have been in existence for almost three decades for now, but their existence is often powered only by good will of enthusiasts and they suffer from the lack of real institutional support. During their existence the time banks proven to be not only very valuable support to local economies, but as well to social development of a society where they are implemented. Basic problem appears to be created by reluctance of national economies to accept time banking concept as viable support to social system or include it directly. It probably looks to be too utopistic and suspiciously not profit-based to be understood by rigid monetary-based economies. The paper uses the approach of permaculture to show how socially beneficial systems, which merge trade exchange system with other dimensions of human development of life, are necessary to the sustainability of the economic system in general. It is becoming clearer and clearer during past decadethat mechanistic economies are most probably not sustainable and more holistic point of view is more than necessary. Inclusion of elements like time banking opens gates to autopoietic ways of economy and it should be considered as one of the ways for the further development of economic systems. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.