The consolidation of 12 European currencies in April into one supra-currency, the Euro, may have been a symbolic occasion, but it also represented something very real: the difficulty of maintaining regional autonomy in an era of corporate globalization. Since 1991, the small upstate town of Ithaca, N.Y. has resisted the control of global banks and corporations over its local trade, monetary exchange and identity by issuing a local currency called Ithaca HOURS. Local currencies are nothing new — the practice is centuries old. In the U.S., scrip currency sprang up during periods of weakness in the national economy, including the farm crises of the 1870s and 1880s and the bank failures of the 1930s. The current rise in the use of local currency programs nationwide has been inspired largely by the Ithaca HOURS program, created by Paul Glover in 1991 to foster economic self-reliance, connect people and create a community identity during the recession of the early 1990s. The HOUR is valued at an equivalent of an hour of work or roughly $10. This time-based currency reflects ideals of a living wage, pay equity and the idea that “the real source of money’s value is created by people — our time, skills and energy,” according to the HOURS board of directors, who run the membership-based non-profit. The one-HOUR bill wryly presents the saying “Time is Money,” subverting the materialist credo. Eleven years after the first HOUR was used to buy a samosa at Ithaca’s Farmers Market, some 1,500 individuals and businesses now use HOURS to buy and sell everything from food and books to massage therapy and movie tickets. According to HOURS president Steve Burke, membership continues to expand 10 percent annually. More than 8,500 HOURS have been issued, generating several million dollars in trade since 1991. And what’s the greatest benefit of the local currency to Ithaca? It depends on who you ask. Some note how HOURS has helped renew the town’s community spirit; others discuss the benefits of HOURS in terms of microeconomics; while small business owners may praise the no-interest loans. Dave, an employee of Ithaca Books, which accepts HOURS, unwittingly demonstrates an HOURS-inspired spirit of mutual support. When asked to describe how the local currency system had affected the store’s sales, he couldn’t say. “We don’t even try to calculate it ... we’re just happy to support downtown,” he said. Gerard Dunphy, a yoga instructor, expressed the sense of community pride generated by Ithaca HOURS. “You’re exchanging goods and services from the immediate area, not at some chain store,” he said. “You’re not paying some CEO living in Bermuda.” HOURS creator Glover described the strength of local currencies in comparative economic terms. “The national currency game [is] rigged to enrich the rich” by pumping money out of local areas and into large, urban money centers to finance corporate activity or debt interest, he told the Indypendent. Local currency, on the other hand, “is money with a boundary around it” which stimulates regional trade many times over through an “infinite multiplier,” enabling the community to supply its own needs. Susan Witt of the E.F. Schumacher Society, an organization that studies democratically-based local economic structures, notes that “if a region produces for its own needs ... its currency ‘hardens’ or holds its value relative to other currencies. Imports are cheaper, trade is more equitable and even skewed in favor of the ... ‘import-replacing’ region.” Glover also describes the benefits of HOURS in terms of commodity backing. “The durability of money depends on commodity backing, and the capacity of real people to buy commodities,” he recently told Ithaca Community News. Unlike U.S. dollars, HOURS are physically backed by the real goods and services people buy. The dollar is “backed by a $5.5 trillion national debt,” says Glover. International currencies have not been materially guaranteed since 1972 when global gold and silver standards were abandoned, resting value not on real production, but on financial speculation and debt. As an independent and localized currency, the HOURS program has also been able to issue local organizations and businesses more than 65 no-interest loans and grants in HOURS, ranging in value from $50 to $2,000. Ithaca’s program has made the largest loan ever issued in a local currency, 3,000 HRS ($30,000 in value) to Alternatives Federal Credit Union to help finance construction of a new building. As Ithaca’s HOURS system has grown and evolved throughout the ’90s, other HOURS systems have blossomed throughout the country and the world. There are at least 20 HOURS systems in the U.S. (66 worldwide in 1998), from Arizona’s Tucson Traders, which have facilitated $40,000 worth of transactions; to Bloomington, Indiana’s BloomingHOURS; to Madison, Wisconsin’s Madison Hours, which has attracted more than 400 participants since 1996. The popularity of Ithaca HOURS has also made the town internationally famous and boosted local tourism. Community leaders from Korea and Senegal, and even French anti-globalization activists have visited Ithaca to seek advice on how to get an upper hand on the global economy. HOURS have also become a collectible tourist item and conversation piece. “People have come [into Ithaca] and taken them away,” attests Glover, “This is good, but the per capita supply of HOURS ... has been spread so thin, they’re not activated as readily. Now, the main way the system can expand is through the loan program.” Inspired by the success of Ithaca HOURS, Annie Avery, of the small town of Oneonta, N. Y., created Oneonta HOURS in October 2001, and promotes them at her Green Earth grocery store. Whereas Ithacans feel their currency has been stigmatized as “hippie money,” Oneonta’s diverse political spectrum, which includes many conservatives, according to Avery, is open to the potential of HOURS. “Somebody is even willing to take HOURS as payment for rent,” she said. “And my mother joined [as] a copy editor.” Artist Marianne Stowe gives art lessons for HOURS. “If Wall Street crashes, something like this will keep communities afloat,” she affirmed. Ithaca’s Steve Burke similarly acknowledged perhaps the most important aspect of local money use — community solidarity. “Too often money keeps people separate,” he said. “We want to bring people together.”