Who reads TIME and Newsweek anymore?  Not many people I know — except my mom, who brought about three issues of the latter with her for Thanksgiving.  During the perceived junk-out — err, semi-annual research into mainstream media coverage trends — I was pretty surprised to find an article about complementary currencies titled “Small Town Currencies,” in the Crisis Watch section.

Dozens of such systems arose during the Great Depression. In the 1990s, they resurfaced as a way to fight globalization and keep wealth in local hands. Now the idea of homespun cash is back because it keeps people liquid even if they are short on traditional dollars.

The rest of the two-paragraph front-of-the-book micro-mention missed many of the core values and benefits that drive the currency movement, which is to be expected.  Imagine m surprise when I read The Transitioner’s tweet that TIME magazine had covered much the same story.

“Alternative Currencies Grow In Popularity” is a better piece of journalism, covering the history and background of the movement, and highlighting the activities of some of the more well-known systems.

Alternative means of trade often surface during tough economic times. “When money gets dried up and there are still needs to be met in society, people come up with creative ways to meet those needs,” says Peter North, a senior lecturer in geography at the University of Liverpool, author of two books on the subject. He refers to the “scrips” issued in the U.S. and Europe during the Great Depression that kept money flowing, and the massive barter exchanges involving millions of people that emerged amidst runaway inflation in Argentina in 2000.

The article does a good job of explaining the 101 of currencies, tax implications and highlights many leaders in the space, including our friends and co-conspirators Jean-Francois Noubel and Bernard Lietaer, two European thought leaders on the issue.

In recent years, the impetus for alternative currencies in established economies has stemmed in part from localization movements. Periodically ditching the dollar (or the pound, or the yen) in favor of homegrown currency doesn’t merely fortify the local economy, it also builds community: people have a stake in their neighbor’s well-being because that neighbor represents both market and supply chain. Some argue that such transactions are more secure than others because knowing the person you’re dealing with (and his family and friends) serves as a kind of social collateral.

It seems that the author has actually begun to understand the deeper impact of currency, which is where we think the general appreciation has lagged.

What’s the nuance?

The trouble with currency design is that it’s still largely flat land territory, with practitioners pushing one type of solution or another.  In a practice we developed over five years ago, several of us, led by Art Brock, built a frame of reference around creating custom or “targeted” currency flows that enhance the strategic goals of a particular community.

In recent months, we’ve agreed to “getting the band back together,” and are brainstorming on triple-bottom-line currencies, while Art finished up a redesign of the quota allocation system for the North Atlantic fishing community.  Although not the kind of local currency the TIME piece talks about, his work on the Northeast seaboard exemplifies the kind of open thinking and innovative problem solving that we think is at the core of the real impact of this emerging practice.

Stay tuned for more on this space.