The NFA Sweat Equity Buck is based on a theory called "Community Currency", much of our information came from a website about "Ithaca Hours", please visit their website for a detailed description of their community-based economy.

One NFA Sweat Equity Buck (NFASEB) is equivalent to a US $10 Bill. To date, the denominations include:

• 1/10 NFASEB (Coin) = US $1
• 1/5 NFASEB (Paper) = US $2
• 1/2 NFASEB (Paper) = US $5
• 1 NFASEB (Paper & Coin) = US $10
• 2 NFASEB (Paper) = US $20
• 5 NFASEB (Paper) = US $50

We printed our own money because we watched Federal dollars come to the NFA, shake a few hands, then leave to buy rainforest lumber and fight wars. NFASEBs, by contrast, stay in our region to help us hire each other. While dollars make us increasingly dependent on transnational corporations and bankers, NFASEBs reinforce community trading and expand commerce which is more accountable to our concerns for ecology and social justice.

NFASEBs are backed by the labor that created and continues to create them. The NFASEB based economy was born through service to the NFA, but has grown beyond these simple beginnings. They are called "Sweat Equity" Bucks because the equity backing and supporting the currency is the sweat of the people of the NFA shed in honest work. A simple explanation of how we introduce NFASEBs into the economy can be shown using real examples, the construction of the Backwoods townhall and the government website: the citizens who worked on these and other projects were paid at a rate of 1 NFASEB per hour for their labor. By virtue of the fact that they worked hard to earn the NFASEBs, they will value them at an appropriate level, and can then turn them around to pay other citizens for goods and services as a usable medium of exchange within the NFA. The government was the first distributor of NFASEBs, but they have now spread throughout the archipelago, and as their number and value continues to grow, they are beginning to be used as currency by our citizens.

A little faith in the system was all that was required to get the ball rolling, and by now, the NFASEB is widely used and accepted throughout the NFA. The NFA Minister of Finance, Frances Kibble, keeps track of, and control over, the issuance of each and every NFASEB entering our economy. Some of those operating on the NFASEB system have a greater faith in it than they do in the US$, because they know what backs it up, and that the NFA does not operate at a deficit (an interesting note in contrast is that the US has about $580 Billion in circulation, no longer backed by gold, and a total debt load of more than 10 times that amount, almost $6.8 Trillion).

Pictured below you will find a picture of the first Northern Forest Archipelago Sweat Equity Buck ever issued, it was bought back from the citizen who earned it to be preserved for posterity.

Pictured below you will find pictures of the first Northern Forest Archipelago Metal Coinage ever issued. There were 250 of the bronze coins minted, 100 of the black nickel, 25 of the silver, and 25 of the gold. The coins are 1.5" in diameter. The front has a picture of King James and the Crown Prince Benjamin, coin information arcing across top and bottom, and a "B" for Backwoods (the capital of the NFA). The back has a picture of a natural setting common to the NFA, a quote from Ed Abbey about the nature of wilderness, "Woods Water Wildlife" across the top, and the GPS coordinates coordinates of Backwoods.

Please feel free to get in touch with Frances Kibble, Minister of Finance
if you have any questions concerning
The Northern Forest Archipelago Sweat Equity Buck.