Plastic Fantastic

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER WITH WORDS

Take a moment to be in solitude. Remove yourself from distractions, quieten the mind, breathe deeply and make some probing inner enquiries. Be totally honest with yourself and ask: How's that diet been going...is the drinking less and fewer late nights being adhered to, have you been physically active much since the start of the year...how many new year's resolutions have been kept up and how many of the plans made, have been put into action? 

Are you a talker and not a doer? Chances are, your answer will be a yes. But before you beat yourself up too much about your inactions – take comfort in knowing that you are not alone.  

We all lie to ourselves. We all make grand plans and new year's resolutions that never last more than a f ew days or weeks past 1st Jan. We all procrastinate. We all love to talk about our grand plans with friends and talking is, for some, all it takes to assure ourselves that we are on the right track.

But maybe you have no intentions of ever being a doer – and talking about the futility of you ever taking action, is somehow a comfort in itself. What's the point in doing anything? We're all gonna get old and die anyway. So why bother going for that jog round the park, or what's the point in monitoring what we eat & dink, or who's gonna listen when we're speaking up about ecological/environmental issues? With much talk about the Anthropocene's 6th Extinction already being underway and the frightening rate at which we as a species, are approaching extinction (along with a very high percentage of the world's other living organisms), it appears we're on a one-way course towards catastrophe anyway.

Based on the evidence presented to us, the doomsayers appear to be right – we are heading towards extinction. Whatever your beliefs are about climate change and it's causers, you just have to look around at the changes over the last few years – the evidence is all there to see. We are already in a phase of mass extinction caused be human over-consumption and over-population.

For modern Homo Sapiens, it's taken until 1803 for us to reach 1 billion. For the second billion, it took 124 years. For the population to double from 2.5 - 5 billion - it took just 37 years! Since the industrial revolution, our carbon emissions have caused an increase in CO2 – with the greatest increase occurring in the last 20 years. The data make it clear that we are making an impact.

Without the effects of human involvement, the rase rate for extinction is still pointing towards a pending catastrophe – and without us contributing towards it, the event would be a lot further away. According to scholars, the last big die-off, was 65 million years away, with the previous one being around 200 million years. So it is a natural process, but with such a steep increase in population since the post-war years, advances in technology, medicine and agriculture, have helped accelerate growth rate and our extinction rate significantly. This is depressing information to hear, but necessary for us to know and understand, if we are to avert an extinction catastrophe within just a few generations.

With so many insects in decline, we can easily witness how our impact through use of harmful pesticides/herbicides and the destruction/clearance of natural habitats where millions of these insects and animals that feed on them live. Without insects, we kill off the creatures that pollenate plants and feed on them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens to us.

We all really need to stop talking and to start doing.

Over-poulation can be corrected in a number of ways. Left to the real people in power, I'm sure the solution can be actioned very effectively and unfortunately in ways which you and I will not see a benefit. Carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses, can all be significantly reduced. Single-use plastics used in convenience foods and harmful pesticides/herbicides, can all be reduced with our efforts. We are the masses. We can change the world. We just need to stop, have more conversations with ourselves about what we are doing wrong, identify where we have an impact, make better choices and collectively take action.

Here's a list of some things we can all easily do:

1. Have less children. 
2. Eat less meat and try non-diary and vegan options instead.
3. Eat seasonal, organic and locally sourced foods. 
4. Reduce buying pre-packaged meals and make your own convenience food using Tupperware boxes instead.
5. Avoid air travel where possible.
6. Use public transport, or cycle.
7. Recycle waste and buy second hand items.
7. Pressure your local supermarket and fast-food outlets to reduce their packaging.
8. Lobby your MP re: pesticide use and demand more is invested on renewable energy.
9. Talk to your friends/family about these issues and raise awareness for society.
10. Change banks and swap over to a fully-transparent and ethical one like Triodos
11. Limit distractions: ditch social media addictions, turn off the mindless TV and pay attention to what's really important
12. Start a diary.
13. Put aside time every day, to evaluate our general progress and to assign some time towards activities that promote positive changes.

I have written to my local MP, supermarket and also to the three most prominent fast food organisations which frequent the most. You can see my letters and their responses below as a guide.

Sent 6.3.18

Dear Rosena,

I trust you are well and not too up against it with your responsibilities at Labour and in your role as MP.

I wanted to contact you because I realise I, like many of the UK (and word’s) population, are doing very little to affect positive change on our planet. I made a decision today, to invest more time in pushing for a better future – especially concerning ecological/environmental matters. 

While I understand there are many tough and complex issues to tackle (fossil fuels, unsustainable farming and the consequential effects on global warming), I know doing my bit (and encouraging more to do so), on the obvious every day, street-level matters, will help elevate/speed up the necessary changes being made.

France have imposed a ban on plastics being used with convenience and fast food – citing cutlery and plates to be removed by 2020. Forgive me if I’m ill-informed in regard to the UK’s plans to implement something similar…I’m assuming there isn’t anything yet in place? If there is, please pass on the details.

I have contacted the three main fast food chains that I frequent for my lunch, who promote their messages of providing organic, healthy eating options (Pret, Pure and Pod), and yet they also use plastics. It’s surely a no brainer for them to switch plastics for bamboo or plant-based biodegradable options. McDonalds have come a long way in this regard, so I wanted to see what these other chains have planned. So far, the response has been very encouraging from Pure. I expect the same from the other two will follow – but there’s a lot more plastics being thrown away every day from other chains and outlets. Plastic cups are a big concern as is the packaging waste from ‘pods’ used in current vogue of snazzy coffee machines.

While I think taxing residents for their waste is a bit of a harsh move, I believe a system where we force the hand of convenience foods companies and high street grocers to remove plastics (as well as other packaging), is how to tackle this issue on a grander scale.

While I was living in Canada 15+ years ago, I witnessed how residents were able to influence their grocers to deal with waste. To do this, they encouraged shoppers to bring their own containers in to the store and to weigh out their desired produce. That way, most of the dry goods (grains, cereals, nuts, seeds, coffee, rice, pasta etc.), were contained in large (plastic) containers. Anything else that had cardboard or plastic packaging, could be left in recycle bins at the front of the store on departing – leaving the ecological pressures on the store and the issue of disposal costs, conveniently passed back through to the distributer – to encourage their ongoing support for reducing waste.

I’ve thought about this recycling/waste aversion issue for over 15 years now, commented on it numerous times and yet, until today, done nothing about sharing it with those that can look at viable solutions for implementing a fair and environmental/ecologically beneficial system. 

Maybe my contact today, could spark a chain of thought that will permeate through your team and into the consciousness of other Labour MPs – and become a topic for consideration in parliament. One would hope that this issue is already a hot topic. I’m sure I’m one of many people questioning the plans afoot…

So that’s it really – I’d like an update please. 
Keep up your good work, let’s all hope Labour can provide the momentum and culture shift in this country, for providing a fairer, more inclusive system for all and implement positive changes for the future.

Best,
Chris Lucy
07776120936

Please reply via email. While I do appreciate a nice conqueror paper letter posted to me, I’d rather I received a virtual letter, so I’m not adding further waste to fill landfill sites!!!  :)

Pret:

Dear Chris,

Thanks for getting in touch and for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us. Pret are working hard to reduce the amount of plastic used in our shops and have recently introduced a number of initiatives to try and combat waste including:

• A plastic bottle deposit return scheme: This will be trialing in our Brighton shops from April to encourage the return of plastic bottles
• Wooden cutlery: We have a trial of wooden cutlery planned for the spring
• PLA cutlery: Our Veggie Pret shops have been using a corn-based cutlery since they opened and we're assessing the success of this over plastic cutlery to inform future plans
• Hot stopper removal: Our plastic hot stoppers work to prevent spillages; however, we're aware that they're often seen as unnecessary so we're trialing their removal
• Increased reusable cup discount: In January, we increased our cup discount to 50p off of all barista-prepared drinks when a customer uses a reusable cup or mug
• Increased number of shops offering ceramic mugs: This is an ongoing initiative, but we hope to add ceramic mugs to more shops to reduce the use of paper cups
• Reusable water bottle trial: In 2017, we introduced our reusable water bottle and filter water taps to Veggie Prets and our shops in Manchester. 

Although we're working hard to test and trial new approaches, we now we still have a lot more to do if we want to reduce the volume of plastic used. Our Sustainability Team are working hard to find alternative solutions for packaging where possible and will continue to test and hopefully introduce them in the coming months.

Thanks again for getting in touch. If you have any further questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

James Smithson

Senior Customer Advisor • Pret A Manger

Ref:MSG5208752

Pod:

Hi Chris,

Thanks for getting in touch and so glad to hear you enjoy our food.

We are currently reviewing our packaging, with eco-friendliness driving this. I would like to reassure you that our cutlery is compostable, always has been and always will be, we are constantly looking at our sustainability. All of our cardboard is recycled, our food waste is compostable, our packaging is recyclable and 98% of our waste is recycled into renewable energy.

I hope this information is helpful to you

Best wishes,

Bryony

See More from Chris Lucy

Pure: Never responded to emails

Ethical Banking

A BROKEN BANKING SYSTEM

If there's two words that struggle to coexist together in the same space and at the same time, it's 'banks' and 'ethics'.

For the longest time, the high street bank was seen as a place to keep our savings safe with interest, as a reliable institution where you could get financial support for a home or business investment and perceived overall as a responsible establishment, entrusted with the upkeep of a community, the economy and wellbeing of it's investors.

However, banking has suffered a a major identity crises, becoming all the more prominent during the 2008 sub-prime mortgage scandal and consequential credit crunch recession which followed. The face of banking has changed, but how did they become so morally bankrupt?

The roles of banks to safeguard money and the supreme trust that is bestowed upon them by the public, to uphold that role in safeguarding our money, has been further damaged over the last ten years. With all the damning reports on hand, such as the PPI mis-sell scandal, foreign exchange and Libor fixing plus leaked information about disproportionate pay/bonus schemes for the banking elites, as well as the many other non-ethical and crocked goings-on within the banking/finance sector, which are all available to investigate, learn about and share via the internet – it's no wonder we're so saturated with reasons to mistrust and dislike the banks.

Money is, as ever, at the heart of the world's problems, with greed being the driving force. Unfortunately, with human nature – it's always been this way and always will be. Worse still, it appears there's no way to remove money from corruption, because money brings power and power ultimately, corrupts all. And because money also determines value (goods/products and services), we have continued to base our perception of 'worth' on money and not on our actual 'values' – ie. the health of our people and sustainability of our planet.

But maybe there is a way...

Make The Switch
What if we take the blame away from the banks? After all, we've been witness to all the dodgy goings on – even though they've been clearly communicated to us in the mainstream media for many years. It's no secret. So why have the banks continued to invest in and fuel wars, foster nuclear weapons development and finance fracking?

It's because we haven't questioned the operations or put enough pressure on these massive financial institutions to deliver ethical banking solutions. 

Banks are focussed on growth which is the capitalist model, and increasing their share value is of paramount importance to them. But if we invest in banking shares, we are even more complicit in continuing this vicious cycle. Therefore, we are all involved and it's our collective greedy, money-focussed mind-state which needs to change.

It just takes a moment for us to stop and consider where our actions and the impact of our decisions (however small), are collectively contributing to the demise of civilisation (or one would hope) are more preferably, playing a role in it's improvement and future development.

Nothing in terms of banking reform, has really moved forward since 2008 and with fears of another crises delaying much needed regulations being put in to place, we are still in the same poor situation today. A too big to fail mentality, has allowed banks and their management – who have seemingly gotten away without punishment, to continue taking disgustingly disproportionate salaries and bonuses, whilst laying off their staff and simultaneously shutting down high street branches across the UK.

It we can't regulate the banks properly or hold accountable these powerful institutions, when they are clearly at fault, what kind of message does that put out to the public? It's little wonder that many have made no attempts to foster change themselves. What's the point if the FSA has no teeth to intervene? Clearly, we cannot rely on our regulators or government to make amends – it's all up to us!

We have more power to influence change than we realise.

Switching banks shouldn't just be based on customer service records, banking products or interest rates. These banking institutions always insure they have the loveliest people working at the front line. They are the face of the bank and yet they mostly have no idea what the bank does, how ethical or 'good' the bank is – and from my experience, are entirely clueless about how much their CEO earns in relation to their meagre customer services manager salaries – which according to Glass Door, is around £34.5k – so around a 237:1 ratio at Barclays, based on the £8.2m salary and renumeration package Jes Staley was getting in 2015.

The unfairness in pay ratios within the banking sector is just one factor to consider when switching, but more importantly, it's having an awareness about the companies which the banks are investing in.

Investigate those companies which cause misery and death to people and destruction to the environment – ie. those who provide weapons for conflict in Syria and Palestine – and you will be surprised to see how much support these companies get. War clearly is a safe investment – as long as the wars continue. If you currently bank with HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, Barclays or Santander – the major high street UK banks, then you are inadvertently funding non-ethical banking practices, projects and institutions. Your banks are already heavily involved with supporting fossil fuels – which is already known to cause climate change. Read the report here. This report on fossil fuels alone should sound the alarm bells and prompt action from you to question your bank's morals.

Support The Good Guys
Good banks are those that promote transparency, have a clear purpose other than to make money/profits or grow their business.They focus on beneficial solutions and while also providing a convenient and effective banking service, assure us that our money will be creating a better future, for example: through investments they make in renewable energy projects, organic farming and sustainable housing. Triodos bank seems to fit the bill. 

Cause & Effect
Karma is the principle law stating that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, controlling the destiny of all living entities. Everything is karma – everything we do is based on our decisions to act. Positive actions create reactions to potentially benefit all of us – that's certainly something to consider on all levels – and not just banking...

There's a lot of distractions in the world today; untruths mixing with truths, hidden hands and powerful entities pulling the strings and the wrong people making the poorest decisions. The 1% and power elite are getting even richer and more powerful through our apathy. One could wallow in defeatist acceptance of this fact or we can make a conscious decision today to stand up and act – creating a small ripple of change...

The smallest step we make, can have the greatest impact on everybody's future – and it's something we can easily take today. We merely need to focus attention on where the money is being invested and simply make a decision about which direction our karmic footsteps will be taken in. Then act on that decision.

Here's What Steps To Take
Write to your bank and ask them what their policies are on ethical banking, make enquiries about transparency for revealing who they invest in/with and how they manage fair-pay salary/renumeration ratios. Demand that they write back to you with some valid reasons why you should stay with them. 

New pay-ratio and company ethics regulations are coming in to play in the UK from January 2019. Organisations over 250 people will have to declare renumeration and the pay ratios taken from the mean average wage, measured against the top-earners. When I called Lloyds and HSBC, the customer services teams had no information on this scheme and there are no sections on their website which talked about their company ethics, mission statements or any access to their annual reports or company policies.

I have had no reply from Barclays as yet and although First Direct customer services were very keen to help me (awarded No.1 for customer service, apparently), they were unable to justify why I should bank with them without providing me any knowledge on who they invest with. In fact, none of these major UK banks, it appears, are even considering their environmental and ethical impact! I find that shocking but it also highlights their arrogance towards customers and ignorance of the status quo. Most banks, perhaps now too big, are not even aware of their local – let alone their global impact – and are drifting further out of touch. Therefore, it's up to us to pull them back in to line, help and guide them in the right direction.

We clearly don't complain enough, so by writing to our banks today, we will help to elevate the public's concerns, spread the message to it's workers about these issues and through enough pressure from the public, encourage the banks (if they want to retain our custom), to reform their businesses without further delay.

Making A Splash 
My decisions for karmic direction have now manifested in actions – and I encourage you all to make your own ripples for positive change.

I have written to the major UK high street banks, called their customer services people and put forward my enquiries. I await their replies.

The conclusion is to temporarily stay with First Direct with my current account (while I wait the outcome of my investigations into their banking policies) and today I have opened up a savings account with Triodos, who I feel will be putting my money to far better use.

Now knowing I will be playing my small part in helping new greener and ethical projects/businesses to grow, I'm sure this will also motivate me to save more money with my new bank of choice too.

If you would like to see how an ethical bank does it's business, visit this Triodos page and download the key figures pdf at the bottom of the section.

The Truth Hurts

THE CYPHER COMPLEX 

If, like myself, you have been incessantly trawling the internet, searching for answers to questions on far-ranging topics these last however many years – and in all that time, stumbled upon 'truths' (or certainly the more worryingly plausible alternatives to official stories), which have left you feeling jaded, confused and distressed, now wishing you hadn't 'found' these alternatives in the first place – well, fear not brothers and sisters, you are not alone.

There's a lot of info being shared online that undermines our reality – warping our perception of what we think the world is about. We've been hoodwinked and cheated for many years, distracted and brain washed, while greedy, selfish and corrupt others are literally taking the money from our pockets and doing what the hell they like. How did we get to this twisted state of being? OR more to the point, how have we been so blind??? Mugs – the lot of us!!!

Maybe we thought a bit of online digging into hair-brain topics concerning lizard elites, secret societies or government mind-control programs, were all gonna be just some harmless fun – nonsensical throw-aways of mind-junk – as harmless as the word-search puzzles, spot-the-difference or Top-Tips pages from Viz were from our youth. Ah, blissfully innocent (blinkered) times they were!

Damned Computers....
On the whole, TV certainly hasn't been as good as it was in the late 90's (certainly not here in the UK), and having never replaced the old TV set when it died over 10 years ago, has meant there's definitely been more free time in the evenings to investigate the nonsense I used to briskly gloss over with mild amusement on the home computer. But that was all before the pocket-computer iPhone materialised in 2007 – which is when we first became exposed to 24-7 information.

Free-time and an inquisitive mind can get you into hot water. Perhaps the initial dip of the toe was metaphorically viewed as something merely entertaining to take us away from the humdrum of everyday life – a break from normality. Then before you know it, years of intense research have passed by and the once ludicrous and entertaining alternatives to reality have somehow morphed into becoming the actual 'normal' state of the world. Weird, crazy cultish pedo's and psychopaths are running the show it seems. I really want to believe this isn't the case and get back to enjoying life without these concerns – but I'm unable to let this stuff go. I can't un-see or disregard what I've learned, but I have tried to wean myself off – a bit like a junky/alcoholic going cold turkey, but it's not as easy as it appears, to kick the habit! It really doesn't help when your peers are addicts too, so the first step was to stay clear of the ones that were my fix-catalysts.

So, I successfully managed to abstain for a while, but now all my other friends, the ones who called me crazy, are finally waking up and shoving all this stuff back in my face all over again. There's better things for us all to be spending our valuable time on than looking at dark shit, but can we ignore going''s on that are potentially making people very miserable? That's the quandary we find ourselves in – reliant on others to fix this mess and powerless to act. We are all guilty for being apathetic. At least, this is what I am experiencing.

Less Trivial Pursuits 
Ten years on, with better connectivity and faster smartphones being able to grab even more of our attention, it's no wonder that we're spending even more of our down-time rattling through hours of shared information on social channels. Holiday photos and funny animal videos aside – it's mostly the political goings-on in the US/Russia/UK with Trump, Putin and Brexit, which have taken the fore, even more so on Facebook. And whereas it was a minority of people (myself included), secretly delving into what are coined 'conspiracy theories' (or should that be conspiracy truths?), only sharing findings with a select few like-minded deviants – 'how much your house is worth?' dinner conversations have now been replaced with interstellar black-ops projects, MI5 pedo cover-ups and deep-state zionist agendas. Nobody seems to be laughing at David Ike any more.

Illuminati exchanges and not 'After 8 mints' are now being buzzed around the table over coffee. How well the evening went, depends on where you were at with it all, stemming from how far down the rabbit hole you've ventured. There's no cheese pieces to be won in this game, just more iPhone research on the cab journey home and likely another restless night's sleep.

Thing is – the world is a bad place. People do bad things. Power and greed corrupts. Nothing new there then. But why do we all have to be privy to the dirty goings on? Whereas previously we'd all just be twiddling our thumbs wondering aimlessly what we were having for dinner or going on holiday next, we now preoccupy our minds with all kinds of freaky distractions, – some of which will definitely rob your appetite. Who's policing these devils and why such a bad job?

Being a captivated audience on a boring bus ride, is just the tip of the information attention-grabbing iceberg. Like any addiction, for the last few years, since I found myself temporarily out of a job with far too much time on my hands at he start of 2015, the draw for my inquisitive mind to learn as much as I could from waking moments, engulfed my mind through entire mornings, beyond lunch and late into the night. I've literally been an information sponge! I can work and eat and shit while ingesting through my eyes and ears so there's been no let-up.

There's been no respite in the down time away from the regular routine either – because wifi is now a global phenomenon. The usual crime thriller or horror epic has long since been replaced by youtube channels as my summer holiday chill-out go-to. It's definitely not relaxing reading on about/listening to vids about nanobots and population control, far scarier control topics – even more engrossing and harder to put down than a quality Steven King novel.

Everything is apparently a conspiracy these days and that's become a a major mind-fuck for many. I don't know about you all – but I'm now thinking the green* pill would have been better to take. And just like Cypher, the fictional character from The Matrix film, I'm looking for a way back in.

*We should all spare a thought for the poor colour blind here – how would they know which was the red or green pill – could be one hell of a bad trip...?!

Action For Change
Life really is what you make it. The pursuit of happiness is one thing, but we have a moral duty to be decent to others. Yes, there's still a game to play – it's going to need a few tweaks for sure. There's still plenty of fun to be had and if there's one positive thing to come through from learning all this screwy stuff – it's a realisation that we're actually pretty good people on the whole and we have the capacity to be even better given the chance.

My new proposal for the coming months, is to dedicate more of my time to charitable deeds. For a start, I will advertise my advertising skills to ethical companies and put my focus into promoting products that are more beneficial to the planet and to mankind. It's quite a simple plan that could make a massive difference to the status quo if we all took the time to research a bit more about who are the good guys worth investing in. If there's something we can do right now, to stop the greedy corporations, their shady owners and morally bankrupt shareholders from profiting in the destruction of our planet and the decimation of communities – it's by ceasing to buy their products and seeking out better alternatives instead.

Raising people's awareness to the corruption and getting involved with groups that stand up to fracking, social engineering and warmongering is what we all need to be doing more of. So unfortunately, the green pill is not an option for me. As much as the truth is painful to hear – there are people of privilege and power who will continue to push their agenda if we allow it to happen. Maybe they are mostly misguided – we need to teach them how to behave for the greater good!

I look forward to the day when we all take an active role for progressing forward towards a fruitful global society – one that is not governed by the super-rich elite, but monitored and regulated by the majority of the people who ultimately stand to benefit from a free and just world.

The Price On Humanity

PERCEIVED VALUES

We have a central banking system in each nation, from where the value of a currency is determined on many market factors. Therefore, currency holds widely different value in the many different countries and the value of the goods in the different countries, are worth different amounts depending on availability. Supply and demand affects the value of all goods. This is where we get greater value for money and where trading plays it's role in fluctuating the value of currency and the goods within each sector, region, country/nation. Simple economics for coffee beans, but how does that equate to people?

People As Commodity
If you think that every human life is equal, you'd be wrong. Just from an insurance point of view, the statistical valuations on life will depend on many factors; like how much time could be left, the type of job/earning potential and the amount of benefactors etc. This range will vary from every person and in every country. That's because the metrics are once again based on money.

So one's true value can be very hard to perceive in relation to monetary value (unless we are talking body parts). Usefulness is a key factor when determining worth, but once again becomes subjective to those making the evaluation. Between choosing the worth of say a doctor compared to a tailor, we have to surmise that saving lives is of paramount importance – and that clothes are merely a luxury. Sadly, the conundrum gets easier to figure out when powerful nations match lives against the poorer ones.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-gerzon/putting-a-price-on-a-huma_b_9996254.html?guccounter=1

Services Rendered
If the value of a human life cannot easily be determined, then the services we all provide to create value, generate income and survive, are equally difficult to determine. If an hour of time was the same for everyone, we'd find it very difficult to gain an advantage in life. We'd all be on the same wage, the same hours would mean everybody would have the same value no matter what their job. This is where communist ideals were based and that experiment has not gone well for millions of Russians – and why capitalism has been the structure of choice for western society. We need a better system that rewards those that contribute more to the greater good. But we must remove money if we are to keep our greater good deeds and the people that make them, great.

Karma Credits
The conventional monetary system is very complicated and follows economical 'laws' outside of our control. So what if we could trade directly with others on a one-to-one basis, whereby, the value of what we do is determined by the perceived value of the goods and services we offer? And what if the judgement on our character played a key role in a decision to use our services other another's or if our goods were perceived as having greater value because of our having a perceived greater morality?

I propose a system where we have an online market place, with ebay style transaction – monitored and regulated via feedback, coupled with a secure payment system, much like a blockchain, where the movement of virtual funds, remains in the wallet of the individual, seen by all but non-centralised like our conventional banking system. The value of these credits will be worthless to anybody else but those who have the virtues for owning them and will only be useable when a transaction between two parties has agreed their value in exchange for the goods and services.

There's A Barter Way
Exchanging goods and services is not a new concept by any means. Apples for carrots may be a good enough exchange, but no amount of apples will be a viable exchange for getting an actual Apple laptop, but working on a farm to earn credit for purchasing a computer, may eventually accumulate enough 'money'. Apple computers are expensive but apples are cheap. If only we could narrow the divide between the two goods.

If the value on services and goods was elevated or the goods and services subsidised, in relation to and subjective by the relations between the traders or the refinements of the actual trade – then we'd have a better chance of bridging the divides in trade types.

A value system, whereby the factors for determining the prices are set by the two parties and credits are given value dependent on the agreed value to each party.