Why Tetlas?

Tetlas are the main tool of a social movement that has created a new economy.

 

Using tetlas helps promote local businesses and helps the local economy by giving people a financial incentive to buy local products and services. Buying local reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions created by transporting products.

 

Using tetlas helps form economic relationships between native and non-native people.

 

Using Tetlas makes it easier for the Tetla Tsetsuwatil to provide funds to Snuwuyth Lelum, (Tradition House) a Coast Salish aboriginal organization dedicated to preserving the language and culture of the Coast Salish peoples.

 

Using tetlas makes the local economy more resilient because it reduces our dependence on the banking system and the national currency. Barter transactions using tetlas or other mediums of exchange are possible no matter how many banks fail or what happens to the value of the national currency.

The tetla economy is more sustainable, more resilient, more prosperous, more accessible and more fair than the old economy.