Excerpted from LEARNING TO LOCALIZE by Lindsay A. Gerken, Staff Writer
(c) Copyright 2006, From The Wilderness Publications, April 19, 2006 1300 PST (FTW) - WILLITS

“ Driving through dripping redwoods on a misty, rainy day reminded me why I came to the regional Localization Networking Conference in Willits, California on the weekend of April 7th through 9th”…over one hundred people met and networked with each other from various parts of the Pacific Northwest region, from as north as Vancouver, British Columbia to as south as Monterey Bay, near San Francisco.

Considering that the goal of the conference was to establish networking relationships between attendees, the conference was a raving success. At the same time though, I would have liked to have heard more from the highly informational, spectacular speakers (some of whom weren't even originally on the conference schedule) such as …Annette Riggs…

I was impressed by both her uplifting attitude on localized currencies and the plethora of information she shared with the conference. Having worked extensively in the field of barter and exchange systems between large companies, Annette has first-hand experience with alternative currencies.  Complementary currencies can be as simple as frequent flyer miles, or as complex as the 8 billion dollars of IRS-reported business-to business trade exchanges that occur in the US every year. Annette discussed how imperative it is to get local businesses involved first in any complementary currency program, so that a diverse directory of business "from A to Z" is accessible to community members who will still have a wide availability of goods and services to choose from. Explaining the ins and outs of complementary currency systems to the questioning audience, Annette fielded audience inquiries with intelligent responses from her highly economically aware perspective. Considering that most conference discussions on localization ended up in the monetary realm, I would have appreciated the chance to hear much more from Annette on how complementary currencies promote sustainable local practices on a business basis.”