Sharing Is Good: How to Save Money, Time and Resources Through Collaborative Consumption (9 page)

When people agree to share instead of buy, they invest in each

other. Instead of viewing friends, neighbors, or online acquaintances as annoyances or competition, we begin to view each other as assets and resources. This forms a web of pleasant interdependence

that acts as a support system, and cuts out the “middleman” position usually occupied by business or government. Instead of supporting companies that only siphon money out of the community, collaborative consumption helps keep money and other resources circulating within the community. In addition to reducing waste and curbing

emissions, sharing encourages people to take pride in each other and support one another. When we participate in the sharing economy,

we spread the word about community projects, donate our time to

worthy causes, and make the effort to shop in local, independently owned markets. We start to view these local efforts as primary rather than secondary ways to meet our daily needs.

Although we’ve discussed sharing as a function of individuals

making a conscious choice to opt out of the current system, sharing doesn’t just work for individuals. Indeed, governments and businesses are starting to see that sharing makes sense, especially when demands are growing, but resources are limited.

Governments, especially at the local level, are desperate for

ways to get citizens energized about projects in their communities.

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Sharing is Good

Inviting the people to be part of the process when it comes to making decisions that will affect them is part of a trend called
participatory
government.
This new style of open communication and welcoming input and leadership from those outside the typical “political” realm has the potential to work wonders for a community. Just ask New

York City, San Francisco, Chicago and hundreds of other cities that have opened the government back up to their people and enjoyed

a renewed sense of responsibility and pride in their municipalities.

When a community is connected and open to sharing, people

save money, learn new skills, and reduce their impact on the environment. New ideas emerge, and problems are solved in creative ways.

Although it might not be intuitive, adopting a sharing approach

to business is also a boon for local economies. Sharing capitalizes on urban density, can stimulate a stagnant market, and utilizes the power of information technologies to meet people where they are,

providing services that can be accessed instantly without big monetary or time commitments. These are all opportunities for success in the local economy.

Encourages Self-sufficient Behavior and Accountability

Those who are motivated to participate in the sharing economy are doers. They’re movers and shakers. They’re DIYers. They’re not content to whine and complain about a problem or need. When they see something that needs to be done, they look for a solution, and, if they can’t find one, they create one. The sharing economy harnesses the power of
we
— the power of a community to come together, identify a need, and crowdsource a solution. In some cases, that solution is as simple as lending a tool or bartering some food. Sometimes it’s crowdfunding the money needed to put a new roof on a church or

help a local band produce their first album. It might mean getting involved with local politics to demand a community government that’s transparent, efficient, and focused on the well-being of the individuals that make up that community, and no one else.

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When people feel responsible for the state of their community,

whether it’s good or bad, they are far more inclined to take action.

When communities reclaim their power to make change, however

insignificant it may seem, they agree to be held accountable for the way things are. When we remember what it means to be a citizen

rather than just a consumer, we’re more likely to take action instead of sitting back and allowing the future to be decided for us by the wealthy or politically influential. We become real-world activists instead of armchair slacktivists.

People who care about their community want to get their hands

dirty. They don’t just want to shell out a few dollars to an international charity and pat themselves on the back until next year. They want to know their neighbors by their first names. They take an interest in each other’s goals and values. They’re willing to put aside the trivial issues that often divide people in the interest of getting stuff done cheaply, effectively, independently.

When consumers become citizens and businesses become change

agents, good things are in store for the local economy. People who share naturally seek out others who share. Because sharing is about mutual support and collaboration, sharers want to patronize local businesses that make sharing simpler, cheaper, or safer. When I say local business, you likely envision a brick-and-mortar store, but local businesses come in all shapes and sizes. Freelancers and solopreneurs are also businesses, even though they might not come complete with a product inventory or a physical location. These are individuals who have taken control of their professional lives, seeking to develop and market their personal talents directly to the community rather than waiting in line for the corporate ladder.

Encourages Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Collaborative consumption isn’t only about the sharing of tangible things. People can also share space, time, skills, data, and access to technology. In fact, these types of sharing are in many ways more 44

Sharing is Good

impactful than more traditional methods, like clothes swapping or cooperative food growing.

Those who have struck out on their own professional career path

often find that self-employment and business ownership can be a

lonely road. Isolation breeds fear, worry, and stagnation — all ene-mies of productivity and success. On the other hand, connection to a supportive community breeds innovation, creativity, and collaboration. Coworking is one of the fastest-growing elements of the sharing economy. Coworking spaces are shared, collaborative office spaces that cater to the mobile workforce. More than fast Internet connections and comfortable desks, coworking spaces offer entrepreneurs an open, accessible community that facilitates collaboration between like-minded — or even not so like-minded — professionals.

Countless new startup companies have sprouted from the net-

works and friendships that occur in coworking spaces. Access to

high-quality and often free feedback from a diverse group of innovators can help entrepreneurs who cowork bring their products and

services to market faster and be better prepared for some of the challenges of business ownership. New statistics show that freelance and self-employed workers make up one of the fastest-growing segments of the workforce. Want your town or city to be known for innovation and entrepreneurship? Encourage this growing workforce

as well as coworking systems, non-profit alliances, and open data sharing. It will be a whole lot easier than trying to entice a major corporation or big box store to set up shop. Plus, freelancers and solo entrepreneurs are far more likely to live in the communities where they work. When they flourish, the local economy benefits, and the whole happy cycle starts all over again.

Grants Access to Underserved Populations

As mentioned in the last section, it’s sometimes the sharing of

non-tangible things that makes the most impact in our communi-

ties. Entrepreneurs or non-profit innovators who might otherwise

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not have access to the support or affordable space necessary to realize their ideas are well served by coworking spaces. Individuals, especially children, who might not otherwise have access to books (electronic or otherwise), periodicals, computers, the Internet, or computer training can get it cost-free at libraries. Conversely, when owners of outdated or unneeded technologies choose to rent, swap, or sell them via redistribution outlets like eBay, Craigslist, or Swap.

com, those for whom high costs were a prohibitive barrier are given a chance to keep up with technological advancements.

Lending libraries, typically neighborhood-level cooperatives, give people access to tools, equipment, and accessories that would be too 46

Sharing is Good

expensive to purchase for just one project or new hobby. Instead, groups of individuals come together to create a single standing collection that can be borrowed by anyone for an hour, a day, or a week.

Waste is reduced because families no longer feel the need to buy

their own lawn mower, hedge trimmer, or ladder, which might oth-

erwise sit unused for 364 days out of the year. Retired craftspeople get a place to donate their tools and see them put to good use. Often knowledge and friendship is also exchanged between lenders and

borrowers in addition to the physical tool. Enthusiasm about repairing and repurposing grows, encouraging greater self-sufficiency and less waste.

Peer-to-peer clothing swaps prevent textile waste and help fami-

lies stay well-clothed at no expense. Although most clothing swaps take place on the local level, there’s evidence that the concept scales up well. There are dozens of Web-based services that will allow you to give or rent clothing and accessories to others who need them.

Don’t want to buy a gown for a one-time event or a new pair of shoes for a job interview? Renting and swapping keeps these items in use and provides access to what could be life-changing clothing for little to no cost.

Throughout this running list of examples, we’ve seen that re-

lationships and knowledge are often unexpected by-products of a

sharing community. It’s hard to borrow someone’s lawn mower or

gardening tools without striking up a conversation about mutual ha-tred of mowing the lawn or the best way to grow succulent tomatoes in dry conditions. Time and skill shares are special types of sharing that can be unintentional, but, in some cases, these intangible shares are chosen on purpose. New skills, like designing a website or knit-ting a scarf, are passed between community members who might

otherwise never have struck up a conversation. In some cases, the acquisition of these skills can lead to new work or volunteering opportunities, improving quality of life. In others, it simply provides a new hobby, opening the door to new friends and providing welcome

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opportunities for relaxation. Skill sharing is also cyclical; those who learn a new skill can pass the same skill on to someone else.

Sharing Protects the Environment

When individuals embrace sharing as a way to access resources

and support others in the community, pride, citizenship, and col-

laborative innovation are never far behind. Along the way, waste is dramatically reduced and lifestyles typically burdened with heavy carbon footprints suddenly become more environmentally friendly,

even though quality of life is the same. Many, myself included, feel guilty because they can’t afford an electric car or rooftop solar panels, but simply participating in the sharing economy is one of the most sustainable decisions any one of us can make.

Reduced Waste

Sharing drastically extends the life cycle of physical goods, thus limiting the need to buy new things until it’s truly necessary. In cases where an item or tool can’t be recycled or repurposed from existing materials, lending libraries, swaps, and rental services provide temporary access without the burden and high cost of ownership.

Waste isn’t only the stuff we throw in trash cans. There’s also

such a thing as wasted potential. The average car sits idle 22 hours a day. In most households that own a power drill, the tool is only used 6–13 minutes of its lifetime.11 For the majority of the time, these things sit on shelves and in driveways, costing us money, taking up space, and weighing us down. By sharing them with others, we can

make use and even profit from these items — during their down-

time, when we don’t need them anyway. In this way, collaborative

consumption makes it easy to own less without feeling like you’re sacrificing things you need or enjoy.

A 2011 study from the University of California,12 surveyed over

6,000 members of car-sharing programs across the United States. It found that between 9 and 13 vehicles are removed from the road for 48

Sharing is Good

every vehicle shared through a service like Zipcar or RelayRides. Of those, four to six vehicles were eliminated as a direct result of joining car sharing; the others were cars that were simply not purchased.

The researchers noted with interest that 80 percent of this shift in favor of car sharing was a result of single-car households becoming completely car free. This is significant because it means that rather than being a once-in-a-while solution, car sharing is completely changing the way people travel and helping to create more pedestrian-friendly communities.