CEO FOR A DAY: Many people believe that the key to a better tomorrow begins with our children. When it comes to changing the way our economic system works, one solution might be to encourage schools to provide basic education and training in how money works. If kids can learn fiscal responsibility at an early age, then they might also learn responsible citizenship at the same time and set us on a path for a brighter future. In Seattle, a class of fifth graders is testing these ideals by preparing to take over a small town -- running their own businesses, earning income, paying bills, and getting a taste of what it's like to be an adult. Join along as 12 year-old Aron Kiflu becomes CEO for the day and begins to envision his future.

BUY LOCAL: As more and more corporations outsource their operations overseas, buy local campaigns have been growing in popularity. The basic idea is that by buying from locally-owned, independent, small businesses, you are investing in the prosperity of your own community. Indeed, some economic impact studies suggest that for every dollar spent in a local business, 45 cents is re-invested locally compared to a mere 15 cents re-invested by corporate chains. This concept has come to be known as the 'local multiplier effect'. In Seattle, the Black Dollar Days Task Force puts their own twist on this idea by encouraging people to buy local from minority-owned businesses as a way to promote self-determination and economic justice in low-income and traditionally marginalized communities.

VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY: Of course, some people also believe that reducing our spending and weaning ourselves from the culture of consumerism is necessity for transforming the inequities of the economic system. Cecile Andrews, a long-time advocate of voluntary simplicity, explains that these ideas have gone in and out of popularity over the decades, but right now they are popular again. In Seattle, Cecile gathers her neighbors in 'simplicity cirlces' in local community centers. These discussion-based circles have become a support group for people trying to sustain the challenging practice of weaning their own consumption and re-defining wealth.

INCOME SHARING: The Emma Goldman Finishing School is a radical commune consisting of 7-12 adults (and sometimes a few children) who not only share a home in the city, but also share the belief that a re-structuring of the economic system is a fundamental imperative to making the world a better place. Within their household, the Emmas practice a unique model of income and labor sharing. They pool their personal income into one shared pot and ensure that everyone in the house is putting in an equal number of work hours towards maintaining their standard of living. They share expenses equally provide equal allocations of benefits, such as health care and spending money, to everyone in their group. They even set aside some of their cash into a fund earmarked to help start other egalitarian communities. Idealistic? Yes. But their experiment has been going strong for fifteen years. In their household, economic justice is premised upon egalitarian principles and consensus decision making.

COMMUNITY CURRENCIES: Community currencies take many forms but most are inspired by the fundamental premise that the type of money (or 'unmoney') that we use shapes our behaviorial patterns, our values, and our relationships with each other. For example, some people believe that because the U.S. dollar controlled by the Federal Reserve is a debt/interest-based money system, the circulation of this kind of currency inevitably perpetuates a sort of ponzi scheme -- creating harmful dependencies and leading to scarcity, hoarding, and inequity. As a legal alternative to mainstream greenbacks, community currencies propose models of exchange based on different principles for what is considered valuable. At a special gathering in Seattle called the Unmoney Convergence, community currency practitioners from all over the world congregate to exchange philosophies and best practices.

GIFT ECONOMIES: The Pacific Northwest has a long history of alternative economies. Long before white settlers arrived, Coast Salish tribes practiced a form of income re-distribution known as Potlatch. Through Potlatch, hierarchical relationships within and between clans, villages, and tribal nations were negotiated not according to who accumulated the most wealth, but rather by who gave away the most wealth to their neighbors. Feeling threatened by this tradition, the white settlers outlawed Potlatch for many years. Only recently have tribes begun reviving the giveaway tradition, re-learning the protocols and updating old conventions to work within the context of contemporary realities. As hosts of a massive inter-tribal gathering called canoe journey, the Suquamish Nation spends many months preparing gifts for the culminating giveaway ceremony, a powerful local reawakening of the spirit of Potlatch.