Saturday, January 15, 2011

Money does not grow on trees, so… why is money green?

U.S money,  Greenback
We know that the plants are green and the, so-called, green initiatives try to preserve nature by recycling our resources. Green food, green energy and green planet are all good. However, if the money does not grow on trees, what is the reason money is of green color?

One possible explanation is that the world GREEN is very similar to GREED, which happens to be the true nature our banksters.

According to Wikipedia, the Green money refers to:
-         Money used for ecological purposes (ecocurrency). It is broadly used in the context of green economists, low carbon economy and political Greens.
-         Throughout the Middle East, Green money refers to money from Islamic businesses, Islamic banks, and the religious sector.
-         The European Union did at one time (and may still now) have green money for agricultural accounting.
-         The term should not be confused with the nickname "greenback" for the U.S. Dollar.

Canadian money color
According to allexperts, most of the world's money is not green and until the Civil War, the US did not have green money either. In fact, our neighbor, Canada’s currency has different colors for various denominations.

During the Civil War, the US Treasury Department developed a special green ink that would make counterfeiting more difficult, using the then-new technology of photography to copy bills.  It was used on the back of all currency (hence the term "greenbacks".  Ever since that time, 1862, US currency has been green.

U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing is responsible for printing U.S. money. Their website has this to say about the U.S. dollar bills and the green color:

“Most have heard or used the term “Greenback” to refer to the United States paper currency. The term originated in the 1800’s to refer to the newly printed, green-colored U.S. currency, and is still a valid description today because the backs of the current Federal Reserve notes are printed with green ink. A green back now is understood to mean any denomination of U.S. currency, which is printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s facilities in Washington, DC and Fort Worth, Texas.

"Although well over 100 years old, today there is more to the green back than just green ink. In the parlance of today’s environmentally conscious society, the greenback truly is “green”. All United states currency is printed on a substrate (currency paper) that is a combination of 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen. When cotton and flax (linen is made from the flax plant) are planted and harvested, a certain amount of energy is consumed and carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) is created. This is commonly referred to as a carbon footprint. In this case, the carbon footprint is how much carbon dioxide is produced while growing the materials that make up the paper on which currency is printed.

"Similarly, obtaining the materials to make the ink used to print the currency also has a carbon footprint. While the cotton and flax plants are growing, they consume, through photosynthesis, much more carbon dioxide than is required to produce the currency’s raw materials. In fact, on a per one-dollar note basis, the plants will consume (carbon sequestrations) 46 times the amount of carbon produced obtaining all of the major materials for the one dollar note. And, that is why the greenback is really “green”.

"The Bureau demonstrates its commitment to being an environmentally responsible corporate citizen in several other way. The ongoing retooling of the currency production processes is replacing old printing equipment with the best printing technology available The new presses will consume less ink and employ state-of-the-art air scrubbers, which will significantly reduce air emissions.”

see more details at: