I am excited to announce that I am now a member of the Kawartha Loons Exchange and now accept the Kawartha Loon Currency! The KLE is a local initiative focused on moving our City and County toward economic localization. One of KLE’s first initiatives is spearheading the launch of the new Kawartha Loon currency, which I now accept as payment for Yoga classes! This is so exciting to me, as I am very passionate about LOCAL everything!
Now, when I receive payment for classes in Loons (I already have thanks to Green St E Bikes!), I delight in going to spend my Loons in any of an ever expanding list of local restaurants, shops, farmers, practitioners and others. So far I have enjoyed making Loon purchases at Black Honey, The Earth Food Store, and a variety of delicious goods at the Peterborough Farmers Market. You can even get your ecological landscaping work done at my sweetheart’s company Living Landscapes!
This makes shopping local even more satisfying for me. The other epic part of this new Loon currency is, that in the event that I need Canadian Currency, the Peterborough Community Credit Union backs the Kawartha Loon! Amazing. So, anyone can go to purchase Loons from the PCCU, spend them and receive 10% off, plus, you can cash them in for Canadian dollars if need be (although it’s much better to re-spend them to recieve a better deal). What an incentive to support this initiative! I see this initiative as a brilliant way to encourage consumers to buy consciously, ethically, promoting healthy practices and the people in our direct community that have skills, trades, and goods.
This is a very practical and accessible option to help make a difference in a globalized economy full of factory farms, sweat shops, GM crops, big box stores, corporate agendas, the whole complicated mess that is the global economy. Read more about the launch of the KLE, the ways in which local currencies have been known to increase the local flow of trade and support community wealth and health, check out the list of members so far, and learn more about how you can get involved in other Transition Town Peterborough Initiatives!