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Do you want to be a TEQs ambassador?


This month has been one of increased political interest in TEQs, off the back of the media and public interest generated by the report launch. I am delighted to have been invited to present on the scheme to the UK Committee on Climate Change (the body that sets the UK's carbon budget) in mid-May, and have also been in conversation with the UK Department on Energy and Climate Change, with a view to encouraging the Government to undertake a full feasibility study into TEQs.

Meanwhile, TEQs champion John Hemming MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil, has been raising TEQs in the Committees on which he sits, and the Portuguese Parliament has passed a strongly supported resolution urging its Government to adopt an oil depletion protocol. TEQs offer the only practical method for implementing such a Protocol.

However, the ever-increasing interest in TEQs, combined with the death of the originator of the scheme, Dr. David Fleming, has meant that we are receiving more invitations to speak than we can possibly handle, with engagements in the UK, US and Hungary all currently going unmet. So...


Do you want to be a TEQs ambassador?

It is clear that more 'TEQs ambassadors' are required, who are equipped and eager to present on the scheme to appropriate audiences. This mailing list seems the ideal place to start in identifying candidates, so if you think that this might be of interest to you, simply make contact by replying to this email. I will be happy to provide training for those who are interested, and to support you in whatever ways are necessary to feel comfortable in presenting on TEQs.

Partnership updates

We are in discussions with the new economics foundation about integrating TEQs into their work on Transition currencies. They are currently building a new interface to allow local currencies like the Brixton Pound to operate on Cyclos software. We hope to use this project as a medium to demonstrate that TEQs can be run far more cheaply than the figures produced by Accenture for the UK Government's pre-feasibility study, thus affirming another of the arguments in favour of a full feasibility study.

We have also been talking with Keo Digital about the possibility of developing an online game for Facebook/iPhone based around TEQs, which could help to spread understanding of the individual and collective impact that the scheme could have, as well as getting the name better known. Some exciting ideas have been developed already, and we are now seeking funding to take this project forward.

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Don't forget our "Help make TEQs happen" page for various ways in which you can help.

Finally, I should mention that our TEQs FAQs page has been updated again, with answers to many of the questions that come up repeatedly. Thanks to comments from supporters, this is becoming an excellent quick resource for those who want to deepen their understanding.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement, TEQs won't happen without you,
Shaun Chamberlin
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TEQs Development Director
The Lean Economy Connection
www.teqs.net

TEQs Facebook group
TEQs LinkedIn group

TEQ brainwashers more like it's just another type of rationing system when you strip away all the hot air. The people arn't that stupid... otoh, they probably are

Yes, it is a type of rationing system. A good one that allows us to tackle global warming, peak oil and fair distribution of scarce resources all in one go. What's not to like.

There's no question of brainwashing. All is up front, open and obvious.

Unless you happen to be a peak oil/global warming denier or think that the rich should have it all, come on board and join the campaign.

All ration systems are fair until they get implemented. Then you find that people get more than quota (for lack of a better word atm) due to 2 reasons:

* Legally - powerful lobbies get themselves extra TEQ legally due to influence
* illegally - black market. I'm sure someone will think of a way of doing this, even if it's bribing people in key positions, such as sometimes goes on for NI numbers.

biffvernon - you know as well as I do, that by the time it's passed through parliament it'll be so watered down with one exception after another to end up being virtually useless. It's certainly a starting point for discussion but it won't work. You're looking at the end point the TEQ 'ambassadors' are explaining, the detail on how to get there with TEQ (i.e. how things would be assigned, are extra TEQ automatically bought or do they have to manually purchased when you run out, etc) has, so far, been missing.

The only way to tackle the problems you talk about is population control - and that means a 'cull' of the population. We know that would never happen, we're basically f***ed tbh.

However, I will look at the TEQ document again in case I did get the wrong end of the stick the first time.

cubes wrote:All ration systems are fair until they get implemented.

Note we are currently operating a rationing system, rationing by price. This current system does not work well for rationing something vital like energy during energy decline or for limiting CO2 emissions. TEQs is about implementing a better rationing system that the one we currently use.

cubes wrote:The only way to tackle the problems you talk about is population control - and that means a 'cull' of the population.

This really isn't the case. Remember 'impact' is population x behaviour and that population is minor factor when compared to behavior. What is the degree of freedom of population? 3 bn, 6 bn, 9bn? Maybe a factor three at most? What's the degree of freedom of behaviour? It's many orders of magnitude between the richest and poorest people in the world. 9 bn people behaving in a low impact way, can be far more sustainable than 3 bn people behaving in a high impact way.

I'd like to see the civil service get their teeth into designing a TEQ system. Until I've seen how all the potential difficulties/manipulations/abuses will be addressed I'm still concerned that the more vulnerable members of society will be taken advantage of by those without a conscience in these things.

On the other hand, since I don't personally buy *anything* any more, be it energy or food (these things are all bought communally here, and we don't have any vehicles), I envisage our community would be considerable net winners from a TEQ system. With 8 people not using one drop of their petrol ration, that might go some way to paying our gas bill . So of course I'd love to see TEQs implemented, but I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if they are.

clv101 wrote:

cubes wrote:All ration systems are fair until they get implemented.

Note we are currently operating a rationing system, rationing by price.

I prefer to use the term 'rationing by wealth'.

No matter how much money you have, you can't buy something that isn't there (i.e. excess energy). Yes, the poor get screwed, I'm sure they're used to it by now.

Just thought of a question:

If you are on benefits and sell excess TEQ - would that effect the benefits received? I would guess so based on current policies. What incentive does that give them to save the excess for sale to the 'better off'?