Sharing is good: how to save money, time and resources through collaborative consumption 9780865717466, 9781550925449, 155092544X

Table of contents :
History of sharing --
Why we don't share --
Why share now? --
How to share --
What can go wrong --
What to share --
General resources for sharing.

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US/Can $17.95

Social Science / Activism

Sharing is a key way to address our concerns about the environment, labor and the economy. In the face of a society obsessed with consuming, Sharing is Good is a great guide to help all of us start consuming less and sharing more. — Randy Paynter, founder, Care2.com

A comprehensive taxonomy of the Sharing Economy, Sharing is Good leaves us in no doubt that the future is sharing. — Benita Matofska, founder, The People Who Share, Global Sharing Day and CompareandShare.com

Sharing is good.

Reduce Waste, Save Money and Become More Self-sufficient, All Without Buying More Stuff

Collaborative consumption is a new way of living in which access is valued

Bursting at the seams with hundreds of helpful tips and valuable resources, Sharing is Good is your roadmap to this new and exciting economic paradigm.

…a perfect guidebook to explore sharing tools, services, communities, life and work styles. Save money. Stress less. Live richer. — Lisa Gansky, entrepreneur and best-selling author, The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing

… few have actually offered a practical sharing how-to manual for ordinary people, for us, until now. There’s arguably no one better to guide us into the sharing lifestyle than Beth Buczynski.

Beth Buczynski is a freelance writer and editor who covers clean technology,

sustainable design and environmental issues for some of the most popular green sites on the web. She believes that building a new economy based on sharing and community can help to end our dangerous consumer culture.

Beth Buczynski

— Neal Gorenflo, co-founder, Shareable.net

How to Save Money, Time and Resources through Collaborative Consumption

above ownership, experience is prized over material possessions, and “mine” becomes “ours,” allowing everyone’s needs to be met with minimal waste. No one has to sacrifice their individuality or comfort. And the sharing economy is free, so anyone can participate and make a difference. Best of all, when we’re actively engaged in sharing, personal connections are rekindled and we become invested in our communities again.

Sharing is

good. How to Save Money, Time and Resources through Collaborative Consumption

Beth Buczynski www.newsociety.com

Praise for Sharing is Good Sharing is Good is great! Readable and inspiring! It not only gives a good picture of the essentials of the sharing movement, it captures some of the underlying philosophy— sharing is not just about trading a few books or clothes, it’s about creating a new, exciting, inspiring culture. It’s about adventure, creativity, trust, connection, caring, social justice, and sustainability. —Cecile Andrews, author, Living Room Revolution: A Handbook for Conversation, Community, and the Common Good Sharing is Good is a perfect primer to the evolving sharing economy —Andy Ruben, cofounder and CEO, yerdle Beth Buczynski presents a refreshing perspective to collaborative consumption, making a compelling argument that sharing is a key way to address our concerns about the environment, labor, and the economy. In the face of a society obsessed with consuming, Sharing is Good is a great guide to help all of us start consuming less and sharing more. —Randy Paynter, founder, Care2.com I know from personal experience that it’s a challenge to balance the warm fuzzies that come from sharing with the practical, pragmatic benefits of making the conscious decision to share more. This book strikes that balance. —Alex Hillman, cofounder, Independents Hall Coworking Space Sharing is what it’s all about. Generous and compassionate people are laying the groundwork for an exciting new economy that will lead the way to a sustainable future. Beth Buczynski’s handy and informative guide will inspire you to get on board! —Laurence Overmire, author, The One Idea That Saves The World: A Call to Conscience and A Call to Action

Sharing as an economic model has been explored by intellectuals for a long time. As one example, Manuel Castells wrote about “collective consumption” in the 1970s. But few have actually offered a practical sharing how-to manual for ordinary people, for us, until now. There’s arguably no one better to guide us into the sharing lifestyle than Beth Buczynski, Shareable’s original collaborative consumption blogger. —Neal Gorenflo, cofounder, Shareable.net Beth Buczinski has written a comprehensive guide to sharing with sage advice and great examples. In Sharing is Good, she takes the time to really understand and articulate this exploding and gamechanging trend that is reshaping our economy. —Liz Elam, producer, the Global Coworking Unconference Conference What’s this sharing economy thing that everyone’s talking about? Buczynski breaks it down for you – background, how to start, what to watch out for, and even provides a huge list of great resources to get you going. Read this book and ease your worries as you join the revolution. —Caterina Rindi, sharing evangelist and cofounder, mo-foods, a collaborative food business A comprehensive taxonomy of the Sharing Economy, Sharing is Good leaves us in no doubt that the future is sharing. —Benita Matofska, founder, The People Who Share; Global Sharing Day; and CompareAndShare.com Beth Buczynski’s Sharing is Good is a perfect guidebook to explore sharing tools, services, communities, life and work styles. Save money. Stress less. Live richer. —Lisa Gansky, entrepreneur and best-selling author, The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing

Copyright © 2013 by Beth Buczynski. All rights reserved. Cover design by Diane McIntosh. © iStock: Marbles – AntiMartina, Floortje; Circles – SpiffyJ Printed in Canada. First printing August 2013. Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-746-6 eISBN: 978-1-55092-544-9 Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Sharing is Good should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to: New Society Publishers P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada (250) 247-9737 New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council®registered acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC®-registered stock. New Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Buczynski, Beth, author Sharing is good : how to save money, time and resources through collaborative consumption / Beth Buczynski. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-86571-746-6 (pbk.) 1. Cooperation. 2. Sharing--Economic aspects. I. Title. HD2963.B82 2013

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Contents

Foreword......................................................................................... vii Dedication......................................................................................... x Chapter 1: History of Sharing................................................. 1 Cooperation = Evolution............................................................ 2 Bartering, Trading, and Swapping Throughout Early Civilizations................................................................... 4 Alternative Currencies................................................................ 7 Where Are We Now?................................................................14 The New Sharing Economy.....................................................16 Chapter 2: Why We Don’t Share............................................21 Time............................................................................................22 Safety...........................................................................................24 Money.........................................................................................25 People..........................................................................................26 Trust............................................................................................28 Chapter 3: Why Share Now?....................................................31 There Are More of Us Than Ever Before................................31.

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The Problem with the “Green Economy” ...............................36. Sharing Bolsters the Local Economy.......................................39 Sharing Protects the Environment..........................................47. Sharing Saves You Money.........................................................50 So, Why Share Now? ...............................................................53

Chapter 4: How to Share..........................................................55 Styles of Sharing........................................................................56 Attributes of a Successful Sharer.............................................64 Chapter 5: What Can Go Wrong...........................................71 Potential Problems with Sharing.............................................72 How to Avoid a Negative Sharing Experience.......................77 Chapter 6: What to Share........................................................81 Goods..........................................................................................83 Skills/Time...............................................................................105 Housing/Lodging....................................................................112 Transportation.........................................................................129 Food...........................................................................................149 Space..........................................................................................155 Money.......................................................................................159 B2B Sharing Resources...........................................................163 General Resources for Sharing..........................................165 Acknowledgments.....................................................................169 Notes................................................................................................171 Index.................................................................................................173 About the Author.....................................................................180 About the Illustrator.............................................................181

Foreword

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he future is a foreign country, we’ll do things differently there — we’ll have to. There’s no doubt that our future will be shared; with an increasing population on a planet of finite resources, there’s simply no alternative. The Sharing Economy is, simply put, a sustainable economy built around the sharing of both human and physical resources. How and how long it takes us to build a Sharing Economy, to convince the mainstream that unless we share we have no future, or for sharing to become ubiquitous, is anyone’s guess. What’s clear is that by connecting the Sharing Economy, we’ll build it, so connect it we must. I’ve spent three years working without a salary to build a global Sharing Economy movement — The People Who Share; running initiatives like Global Sharing Day, now reaching over 70 million people in 192 countries, to take this concept mainstream, to connect the many moving parts in order to build a viable, sustainable, economic system. I’m motivated by the fact that not only do I want to build a better world for my children; I want to make sure they have a future. In this practical guide to the emerging Sharing Economy, Buczynski



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will take you on a captivating, shareable journey around the world where people are starting to share everything from cars to cabanas, from food to furniture. The rate of growth in the Sharing Economy is extraordinary; the potential for this to become a new sustainable economic model is not just the subject of game-changers dreams, it’s fast becoming a reality. We know that between 2011 and 2013, 52% of Americans rented, borrowed or leased the kinds of items people usually own (source: Sunrun); in the UK, 64% of adults now participate in the Sharing Economy, making or saving £46 billion and a further 28% would consider it (Source: The State of the Sharing Economy 2013, The People Who Share). But this isn’t a book of statistics, where the reader merely sits on the sidelines. In Sharing is Good, the reader is the story; for people are the creators of a Sharing Economy — it’s a people’s economy. After all, to share is to be human, and we’ve survived through sharing. When you consider the financial, social and environmental challenges we face, time is not on our side and finding a solution is critical to our survival. Start to see the world through a sharing lens and you’ll recognize that what’s wrong with the world is simply a shortage of sharing. A sharing shortage is something that we can fix since we all have unlimited sharing potential, making sharing the simple, achievable, solution to our complex global crises. Aside from the necessity of resource sharing, we can’t ignore the happiness factor, sharing is fun. 80% of us say sharing makes us happy, 70% of us want to share more, (source: The Great Sharing Economy 2011, Cooperatives UK) and 83% of us say we’d do it if it were easy. In Sharing is Good, Buczynski recognizes not only is it time to get on with ‘the job’, she offers ‘the job’ to the reader and shows them where to find the tools they need to get ‘the job’ done. More than that, Buczynski provides a comprehensive overview of this new economy, bringing together the separate strands that are forming the ecosystem for this new economic model. Buczynski’s Green Guru credentials come shining though; being able to take an

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aerial view, to not only see the various strands that make up this new economic system: collaborative consumption, cooperatives, DIY movement, co-housing (her personal favorite), co-creation, social entrepreneurship, greenomics, Cradle to Cradle, Wikinomics, open source, commoning, ‘collaboratition’… to name a few, but to connect them, is essential to building a robust economic system. When I launched The People Who Share, I did this because I recognized that to achieve success, the Sharing Economy needed to be two things; to be connected and to be mainstreamed. Similarly, I founded compareandshare.com the world’s first comparison marketplace of the Sharing Economy because unless we open up the Sharing Economy and deliver it to the consumer in the same way that eBay opened up the second-hand goods market, it will remain niche and sidelined. This is something we can’t afford to let happen. As the old Chinese proverb says, “If we don’t change our direction we’re likely to end up where we’re headed.” So, fans of the Sharing Economy and the uninitiated, prepare for a treat — by connecting the separate parts and opening the door for the reader into a thriving ecosystem that forms the basis for this new, inspiring economy, Buczynski demonstrates that sharing is what will save our planet, providing the means by which we’ll not only see ourselves as explorers in the country we call the future, but we’ll create the future. To share is to win. Benita Matofska, Chief Sharer, The People Who Share, Brighton, England 2013. Benita Matofska, a former TV executive and media entrepreneur is a global leading expert on the Sharing Economy, the creator of The People Who Share, Global Sharing Day, Compare and Share, the Global Sharing Economy Network, Crowdshare and Sharing Economy TV. She lives in Brighton England with her graphic designer husband Lee, children Maia and Sol and rescued Cairn terrier, Buster.

For my family. And for all those who want to ‘be the change’ but aren’t sure where to start.

Chapter 1

History of Sharing

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uess what? Sharing isn’t new, you’re probably already doing it! Sharing isn’t complicated. It means giving others access to what we have so that they can fill a need. Simple as that. So, does something as obvious as sharing even have a history? Haven’t we always known that it’s nice to share what we have? Well, yes and no. It turns out that sharing is deeply intertwined with successful evolution. Lots of animals cooperate to share resources, work, and relationships. Think about beehives or ant hills, where tasks are divided among different members of the community so the entire population can grow and thrive. Lions and other predators hunt prey as a group so the entire pack can eat. We, too, are programmed to share, but as a society, we’ve worked hard to forget it. Despite the modern normalization of selfish behaviors, our natural inclination for sharing has endured in not-so-obvious ways. Although you may have picked up this book to learn more about collaborative consumption and how or why you should participate in it, sharing is probably already an important part of your life. If



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you’ve ever borrowed a book from the library, washed your clothes at a laundromat, rented a movie from Redbox, or leased an apartment, you’re already familiar with the benefits of shared resources. So why is everyone from Forbes to Fast Company touting collaborative consumption as “the next big thing”? Because, as we’ll explore in the chapters to follow, new technologies and cultural networks now allow us to share in ways and on a scale that has never been possible before. “I definitely think the recent trend towards sharing can be attributed, almost entirely, to the current state of technology,” says Meg Murray of Getaround. “The sharing economy wouldn’t be possible without the mobile phones we carry or our ability to access the Internet wherever we are.”1 These new mechanisms eliminate many of the inefficiencies that caused ancient cultures to move away from sharing as a way of life. Sharing isn’t new, but the way we’re doing it now is unlike anything we’ve attempted in the past. Of course, in order to appreciate the significance of these changes — and what they mean for us and future generations — it’s important to understand how we got to this point.

Cooperation = Evolution Biologists and sociologists agree that humans have been sharing and cooperating since the early days of our species. What they disagree on is why early humans chose to cooperate in the ways that they did. In his book, Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Cooperation, Mark Pagel argues that there are three things that distinguish us



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from other living species: 1) capacity for speech, 2) social organization, and 3) culture and technology. Although these characteristics made human cooperation more sophisticated than what’s displayed by other animals, there is disagreement about whether it’s cooperation or competition that drives evolutionary change. “Humans became a cooperative species because our distinctive livelihoods made cooperation within a group highly beneficial to its members and, exceptionally among animals, we developed the cognitive, linguistic and other capacities to structure our social interactions in ways that allowed altruistic cooperators to proliferate,” writes Pagel in the chapter, “Origins of Human Cooperation.” Humans became aware of the benefits of cooperation and placed value on those who facilitated it. The recent rise of collaborative consumption is proof that we are rediscovering sharing as a desirable behavior — something to be supported, celebrated, and emulated. When it comes to human cooperation, experts say the inclination to share is just as innate for us as it is for the animal kingdom, but execution is often more complicated when humans get involved. Obviously, the motivation and methods of organization have evolved and changed over time, but the fact remains that cooperation and sharing are behaviors that come naturally to us. Our quest for survival as individuals led us to acknowledge the importance of the species as a whole. Even with their limited brain capacity, early humans figured out that in order to guarantee the safety of future generations, they had to work together. They saw that cooperating and sharing were beneficial for both the sharer and the recipient, increasing the odds that both would survive to hunt and gather another day. “By sharing resources, a division of labor can be reached, between mates, parents and offspring, and other kin,” writes Peter J. Richerson in his book, Principles of Human Ecology. “This was probably especially important for hunting large game, and for sharing resources in times of drought, defeat in war, etc. Hunter-gatherer bands and ethno-linguistic units seem to act like insurance pools,

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enabling people to adopt strategies with high average rewards, but high variation in success. An active, able hunter will often go many days without making a significant kill, but he can depend upon meat for himself and his family because other hunters will get lucky and share the meat from their kills.” Cooperation wasn’t always easy in a world where you could be eaten by a larger predator at any moment. But cheating and other selfish behaviors cause problems and stir up strife. Early humans learned that the best chance for full bellies and safe offspring was to work together; a community could be depended on for fulfillment of basic needs as well as companionship and affection. Early societies learned that the benefits of cooperative behaviors relative to costs were substantial, and that evolution favored populations with larger numbers of cooperators. So our ancestors shared the work of hunting, gathering, creating tools, and looking after the babies. Individuals could thus share the spoils of someone else’s hunt or foraging efforts even if their own had not been successful. A tribe mentality led to decision-making about where to go and how to act based on what would be best for everyone. As we emerged from a hunter-gatherer mindset and the size and structure of our society became more complicated, humans continued to rely on the success of their natural inclination to cooperate.

Bartering, Trading, and Swapping throughout Early Civilizations You probably don’t hunt or garden enough to keep your family from going hungry. It’s also highly unlikely that walking is your only mode of transport or that your home is a handmade shelter. As humans have grown and evolved, we’ve created a different way of acquiring food, transportation, and shelter: we buy it. Centuries ago, humans didn’t have credit cards or banks or, in the very early days, even physical money. So how did they gain access to things they needed but didn’t have and couldn’t make or grow?



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The answer was bartering and trading, methods of meeting needs through the exchange of resources that already exist. When a person barters, they trade something they have for something they need. The earliest historical accounts of bartering appear around 9000 BCE, right about the time humans started domesticating and keeping herds of cattle. Cows, sheep, camels, and goats were extremely valuable resources. Cattle or their by-products could be transformed into food, clothing, transportation, and even fuel. Different types of cattle were even arranged in hierarchies of value in a precursor to our current money system. There was a whole set of equivalencies: five chickens were worth one goat, two goats were worth one cow, and so on. Then, as cities formed and populations expanded, our needs moved beyond basic subsistence. What if coyotes came around at night, picking off members of your valuable herd? You might decide that you need a spear or slingshot to eliminate the predator, but you don’t own a weapon of any kind. Instead, you might take one of your best sheep down to a friend who owns or knows how to make a weapon, and offer it as a trade. If he agreed, you would get a means for protecting the rest of your flock, and your friend would get a good dinner or a valuable asset that he could then use in a future trade. Bartering was an effective way to get what you needed, and it still is. Like sharing in general, humans seem to be born with an innate knowledge of how bartering works, and can employ it almost auto­matically. Think back to grade school: we traded with friends to upgrade a boring lunch, or offered to clean up our brother’s messy room in exchange for his silence about who broke the cookie jar. These are barters. However, bartering isn’t a perfect system, and, as our ancestors discovered, there are sometimes when it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Successful bartering depends on an agreement of value. In order for you to strike an effective trade with your neighbor, you both have to agree that one sheep is worth one coyote-fighting weapon. If you

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don’t agree on the sheep’s value, it’s going to be hard to make a trade. Bartering also depends on what economists call a double coincidence of wants. The system is most successful when you and a second person both want/need what the other has, at the same moment in time. But what if that’s not the case? What if your neighbor isn’t in the market for more sheep? Maybe his pressing need is a new blanket to keep his baby warm. This complicates things. In order to make the trade, you’d first have to find someone who is willing to trade a blanket for your sheep. Then, you’d turn around and trade the blanket for the weapon. This method of indirect trading is clumsy and more time-intensive, but it can work if everyone agrees on the value of all items involved. As society became more complex, however, the drawbacks of using animals as units of trade became more obvious: cattle require maintenance to keep them healthy (no one trades for a sick cow), and, when trading for particularly large things, like a house or tract of land, it became necessary to bring along many head of cattle at once. What humans needed, writes Jerry Howell in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Barter and Trade Exchanges, “was some way to represent the value of the trades you had in a form that was easy to exchange for other goods — and easy to carry in your purse.” For people living in China around 1200 BCE, that thing was the cowrie shell. Uniquely beautiful and featuring a highly glossy exterior, cowrie shells have been prized by humans for centuries. They’ve been found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and their likeness has been discovered in prehistoric cave art. Two hundred cowrie shells were a whole lot easier to carry around than 200 head of cattle, so the Chinese adopted it as one of the first forms of currency. Now, you might be wondering, as I did when first learning about this ancient currency, how in the world was it was possible for an international economy to operate using seashells? Nowadays, we make jokes about how nice it would be if dollars grew on trees; in 1200 BCE, cowrie shells littered the beaches of China, where they could be collected by the bucketful. This is hard to comprehend given how



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hard most of us work for just enough money to pay our bills and feed ourselves. How could a successful economy be based around a unit of currency that washed up on the beach? How can a seashell be valuable? When I realized the answer, it was a little bit scary, but also very exciting. Are you ready for it? Money only has value because we say it does. In modern America, which operates outside of the former gold standard, we are in the exact same boat as the ancient Chinese. Just like them, we’ve all simply agreed that a dollar has value. Think about that for a second. All the work, all the worry, all the scrambling to get more dollars is based on nothing more than an idea of value. Dollars are just meaningless pieces of paper that we hand back and forth. Unlike the cattle used in the early bartering systems, you can’t eat a dollar. Unlike the cowries utilized by the Chinese and others, you can’t turn a pile of quarters into a beautiful necklace. So in reality, our money is even less valuable than those primitive forms of currency. Yet we’ve become slaves to money, spending our entire lives earning, spending, and saving it — even though it’s virtually meaningless and has no value unless a whole lot of people agree that it does. Scary, right? The good news is that realizing this simple fact about modern money opens up a huge door of opportunity to create something better than our current economic system. Currency doesn’t determine a thing’s value; we determine the value of currency. If enough people get together and decide that they want to use something else as a form of currency, a new economy is born. Everyone can go on living and working and eating and trading. In fact, alternative currencies are particularly useful in times of economic crisis, when people are unable to get their hands on enough cash to meet their needs.

Alternative Currencies Bartering is in our blood, and it’s an integral part of our history, but many consider it too difficult and time-consuming for the modern world. You’re going to find it hard to pay your mortgage or utility bills

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with things you have available for trade, valuable though they may be. But the dollar (or yen or franc) isn’t the only way to gain access to the things you need. In fact, dollars only work as a unit of currency because we all agree to the fantasy that a dollar has value. If an entire community decided to agree that monopoly money had worth, it could replace the dollar without totally disrupting that community’s economy. It might be difficult to get the utility and cable companies on board, but you get the idea. It could happen if everyone agreed. To do so would create an alternative currency (or what some call a complementary currency when it’s used in an economy that also accepts traditional money). Find that hard to believe? Well, it’s happened many times throughout history, and, thanks to the sharing revolution, alternative currencies are making a comeback. The biblical record tell us that when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream to mean that Egypt was headed for seven years of famine, the country responded by stockpiling food. In his book, Community Currencies: A New Tool for the 21st Century, Bernard Lietaer speculates that in addition to being a bright idea, these stockpiles were also the basis of the Egyptian monetary system. “Each farmer who contributed to the stockpile would receive a piece of pottery having an inscription of the quantity and date of delivery of his contribution, which he could then use to purchase something else,” Lietaer writes. “These receipts, or ostraca, have been found by the thousands and were in fact used as currency.” This food-based currency was used in Egypt for more than a thousand years, until the Romans forcibly replaced it with their own banking and currency system. The Great Depression of the 1930s was a global economic crisis, but most people associate it with the United States — and with good reason. In the United States, the effects of the Great Depression were particularly severe and long-lasting. Between the years of 1929 and 1938, the United States endured an unemployed population estimated at over 12 million; approximately 25 percent of all American families had no income whatsoever. There was a



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huge increase in foreclosed farms and houses and evictions from apartments (in 1930, there were more than 200,000 evictions in New York City alone). After the stock market crash in 1929, people had almost no confidence in the rapidly declining value of the dollar. Those who had dollars hoarded them under their mattresses, resulting in even less currency being available for the rest of the populace and a further reduction in the volume of business that could be transacted. Those who didn’t have dollars became migrants, wandering the country in search of work that would prevent their families from starving to death. As we know, desperation is the mother of invention, and many people started to realize that they could still make simple trades and exchanges for things they needed even if they didn’t have dollars. “Besides learning how to ‘make do, or do without,’ people began to establish mutual support structures, like workers’ cooperatives, many of which would recycle and repair donated or broken items,” writes Thomas H. Greco, Jr. “People learned to share what they had, and to bypass the market and financial systems. Most of these measures were considered stop-gaps to be utilized until things ‘got back to normal,’ but in some of them there seemed to be the promise of more permanent improvements. One of these ‘stop-gaps,’ which was intended to address the problem of the dearth of currency in circulation, was the issuance of scrip.2 ” Scrip took many forms and operated in slightly different systems, but no matter where it originated or how it was designed to be used, it was always a locally printed document that could be used in the place of dollars or US coins. According to DepressionScrip.com, paper, cardboard, wood, metal tokens, leather, clam shells, and even parchment made from fish skin was used. Inscriptions on some of these items promised that they could be redeemed for “real” money on a future date, while others, like rabbit tails and wooden discs, were simply a vehicle for expressing value so that trade could continue. At one point, the US government considered issuing a nationwide scrip

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on a temporary basis, but that idea was quickly shot down by then Secretary of the Treasury William H. Woodin. The proliferation and use of scrip died down as soon as the Federal Reserve agreed to start printing more money and the economy started to recover, although the use of alternative currencies never died out completely. Around the same time as the Great Depression was laying waste to the American economy, nations around the world were feeling the pinch. An Austrian man by the name of Michael Unterguggenberger came up with a novel idea to help save his small town of Worgl. He persuaded the town’s government to issue paper tickets that were worth one, five, and ten Austrian schillings a piece. Unemployed people could earn this “money” by doing good works in the community, like repairing bridges or cleaning drains. The tickets could then be spent like money in the shops; in turn, the shopkeepers paid their local taxes and their local suppliers with them. “This new currency led to a dramatic increase in economic activity, which was partly due to a special feature of the notes,” writes James Robertson in The History of Money.3 “They lost one percent of their value every month, unless their holders attached a stamp bought from the town council. People were eager to spend them as soon as possible before they lost value — which increased what economists call the ‘velocity of money’; the sooner people spend it, the faster it circulates.” This alternative currency was so popular that soon the Austrian government began to feel like it was losing control over the country’s monetary system, and, as we know, maintaining control is very important to the status quo. So, despite its success, Austria outlawed the scrip in 1933, right about the time when New York bankers convinced President Roosevelt to do the same in America. The new bank system that emerged in both countries was far more centralized and tightly controlled than before. That should tell you something about the power of currency and how significant it can be when people opt out of the socially acceptable monetary systems.



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For the next few decades, local and alternative currencies fell to the wayside as developed nations experienced relative prosperity. Still, the system that had saved so many communities from ruin was never far from the minds of innovators and activists. In 1973, a Massachusetts economist named Ralph Borsodi devised a currency called “The Constant.” Protected against inflation by a backing of 30 commodities, Borsodi hoped his alternative currency could be guaranteed against devaluation. “The idea was exciting enough to the surrounding community that up to $160,000 worth of Constants were circulating in general use throughout the region, not only in paper currency but in checking deposits at local banks as well,”4 writes Andrew Lowd. “Though he never got around to purchasing the commodities, the program ran, backed by dollars, for almost two years before Borsodi’s health and old age caused the program to fold.” Throughout history, local currencies have been used not only as a way to survive during periods of economic uncertainty, but also as a bold way to opt out of a global monetary system that many find exclusionary and, in some cases, corrupt. As I’ve mentioned before, the only thing that gives modern money value is the fact that the majority of people agree that it has some value. Of course, people can change their mind about how much value a coin or bill has, and that’s why exchange rates can vary so widely. For those who only have access to very limited amounts of money, these small shifts can be devastating. This ambiguity can also be viewed as opportunities for the have-nots, however. If a community comes together to replace currency with another measure of value, they can flourish outside a broken system. In 1998, the residents of the Palmeira District, a slum in Fortaleza, Brazil, decided they were tired of living on the bottom rung of a monetary system controlled by a wealthy few. The community came together and created an organization called Association of Neighbours of the District of Palmeira. This Association then created a new bank — the Bancos des Palmas, or Palm Bank — and a new currency, the Palmas.

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The bank was set up to fight poverty and improve the living conditions of the residents of the district of Palmeira, but it has achieved much more over its 14 years of existence. Before the bank was set up, local producers rarely sold produce to their neighbors and the local residents tended to buy their goods elsewhere. As participation in the community bank became more widespread, community members slowly altered their consumption and spending habits to take advantage of the bank’s service. Spending on local commerce jumped from 16 percent of purchases to 56 percent. Now, the Palm Bank offers low-interest or no-interest micro-loans to community members to create small businesses and offers the PalmaCard credit card, giving residents the ability to make purchases all month long, further stimulating the local economy. Banco Palmas’ revenue from services covers 85 percent of the Bank’s total income. As an organization, Banco Palmas has grown from 200 to 2100 associates, 60 percent of whom live well below the poverty line.5 Although crises have always encouraged people to embrace “outside-the-box” solutions, alternative currencies aren’t always a survival technique. Sometimes, they’re established to make a statement about the status quo and what it really means to live a simpler, more abundant life. Across the world, local, alternative, and complementary currencies are appearing; they provide citizens with a way to make a real, instantaneous impact because they force money to bang around inside the local economy for much longer than a normal dollar would. BerkShares is a local currency created in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts. Under the BerkShares system, a buyer goes to one of 12 local banks and pays $95 for $100 worth of BerkShares, which can be spent in 370 local businesses, including restaurants, pharmacies, nurseries, and law firms. More than $2.5 million in BerkShares has circulated since 2006. As noted on their website, the currency is meant to provide an alternative to conventional money, not replace it: “The people who choose to use the currency make a conscious commitment to buy local first. They are taking personal



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responsibility for the health and well-being of their community by laying the foundation of a truly vibrant, thriving local economy.” In the future, BerkShares may offer checking accounts, electronic transfer of funds, ATM machines, and even a loan program to facilitate the creation of new local businesses manufacturing more of the goods that are used locally. The PLENTY in Pittsboro, North Carolina, is an alternative currency created back in 2002. The paper currency is available in denominations of $1 through $50 that can be used to pay for goods from dozens of participating businesses. Right now, that list includes everything from a wireless company to marriage counselors. PLENTY (Piedmont Local EcoNomy Tender) currency can also be exchanged for dollars through the locally owned Capital Bank to help keep them circulating regularly. In the decade since the first PLENTY currency was issued, participants have noticed that benefits aren’t limited to savings or profit. “Members seek each other out, meet face-to-face, and get to know their neighbors,” reads the PLENTY website, www.theplenty.org. “The PLENTY allows the ‘small town values’ of neighborliness, generosity and self-reliance to blend with our community’s traditional support for diversity, social justice, and responsible development.” Ithaca Hours, created in Ithaca, New York in 1991, adds a twist to the local currency concept by incorporating time as part of value. Ithaca Hours can be purchased at the local Alternatives Federal Credit Union (AFCU) or at any local business that accepts it as currency. One Ithaca Hour costs $10.00 — or one hour of basic labor. In the twenty or so years since Ithaca Hours have been in circulation, smaller denominations have been added (half Hour = $5.00, quarter Hour = $2.50) and the bills now bear the signatures of both the Hours President Steve Burke and the president of AFCU. Since its start, several million dollars worth of Hours have been exchanged among thousands of residents and over 500 area businesses, including the Cayuga Medical Center, the public library, many local

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farmers, movie theatres, restaurants, healers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, landlords, and the AFCU itself. And that’s just focusing on the United States. LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) is a mutual credit currency that makes electronic currency available as it is needed in the form of ATM cards. There are over 2,500 LETS networks around the world, primarily in Europe and Canada. Another currency, Salt Spring Dollars, emerged in the Canadian Gulf Islands as a printed currency that is 100% exchangeable with Canadian dollars. The WIR Bank was founded by Swiss businessmen so they could do business with one another, interest-free, during the Depression. WIR Bank functions without scrip; it exists only as a bookkeeping system to facilitate transactions. It is still in operation, and over one fourth of all Swiss business is conducted through the WIR bank. Its use tends to increase when the conventional economy falters (with high unemployment and recession), and it diminishes when the traditional economy is booming. Thus, it acts as a steadying force and is one of the factors that make the Swiss economy so stable. Japan has developed over 600 operational complementary currencies in an attempt to address socio economic problems stemming from more than a decade of recession. For example, Tsutomo Hotta, Japan’s “Mr. Moral Authority,” developed “Fureai Kippu,” a complementary currency used to care for the elderly. Older people receive credits for time, which they can use to receive care from local citizens. The credits are used to pay for things Japan’s national insurance does not cover. The Fureai Kippu system helps communities create relationships based on taking time to care for elderly citizens. When surveyed, older citizens said they actually prefer receiving care from local, untrained people rather than from professional healthcare workers.

Where Are We Now? We learned early in our existence that cooperating improved our quality of life and often prolonged our survival. Successful cooperation



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was valued among early societies, encouraging individuals to behave in such a way that was beneficial to the entire community. This natural inclination to work together for mutual benefit gradually evolved into the original barter system. Through simple barters, people could trade items of value to obtain things that they needed. As long as human demands remained relatively simple, a “coincidence of wants” was easy to generate: “You have a thing that I need, I have a thing that you need, let’s trade!” As we moved from hunter-gatherer societies to established agrarian societies, cattle emerged as an early bartering currency, with certain types or numbers of cattle corresponding to common needs. As the population expanded and needs

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became more complex, it became harder to organize double and triple coincidences of wants. Eventually, people needed a standard type of currency with agreed-upon value that was easier to carry around than a cow. Many different objects were utilized at some point, including seashells, beads, and grain. These early currencies teach us an important lesson about money and value, namely, that currency only has value if we say it does. Taking this idea a step further, we can see that anything has the potential to serve as currency as long as enough people agree on its value and accept it as a form of trade. In modern times, people exploited this concept of value to bolster local economies through alternative and complementary currencies. The widespread success of these alternative currencies created interest around opting out of current economic systems. Fast-forward to current day, and some people have begun to wonder if we really need to mess around with “units of value” at all. Enter the modern collaborative consumption movement, also referred to as the “sharing economy.” It’s based on the principle that the world already contains all of the supplies and resources we need to survive. It’s just that many of these resources are sitting idle, wasted, or hoarded by those who feel they’re entitled to more than their fair share. Whereas in the past, sharing or cooperative behaviors have been best executed within limited communities, the boom in mobile technologies and social networking we are experiencing today makes it possible to scale up the system and make something new.

The New Sharing Economy While the vast majority of commentary on the sharing economy has focused on how to fit collaborative consumption into the current economic ideology, there are many who feel that it is much more than a new market trend. “I don’t think there’s anything else that can radically reduce poverty and resource consumption at the same time, something humans must do to stabilize our global climate and society,” writes Neal Gorenflo, co-founder publisher of Shareable



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magazine (www.shareable.net). “However, the sharing economy is not only a real solution, it’s also an inspiring true story. People experience it as empowering. It puts people in a new, constructive relation to one another. In the sharing economy, we host, fund, teach, drive, care, guide and cook for friends and strangers alike. This is a world where people help each other. It’s also a world where self-interest and the common good align.” Just like the basic principles of sharing and cooperation, the term “collaborative consumption” has been around for longer than you might think. It was initially coined way back in 1978 by Marcus Felson and Joe L. Spaeth in their paper “Community Structure and Collaborative Consumption: A Routine Activity Approach” published in American Behavioral Scientist. In that paper, which focused largely on the then-new concept of car sharing, the authors defined collaborative consumption as “those events in which one or more persons consume economic goods or services in the process of engaging in joint activities with one or more others.” Their research focused on the unique social and economic interactions that happen when emphasis is placed on community and connections. Human beings prefer to do things together, and often, when tasks are tackled as a team rather than by individuals, the result is a solution that’s quick, easy to execute, and achieved through consensus rather than top-down decree. Felson and Spaeth found that goods and services could be consumed collaboratively for mutual benefit. At the time, this was a new idea, but collaborative consumption is about more than just consuming things simultaneously in the presence of others. In fact, some people argue that the word “consumption” shouldn’t be there at all. “I think the operative phrase is ‘collaborative,’” points out Getaround’s Meg Murray. “I actually find the fact that collaborative is paired with consumption to be rather strange, since it should actually result in much less consumption.” More recently, the term was used by Ray Algar, a UK-based management consultant, in a 2007 article entitled “Collaborative

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Con­sumption.”6 In it, Algar draws attention to the collaborative aspect of this new phenomenon, and rightly so. No longer are consumers content to simply accept the selection, quality, or price dictated to them by those in power (the retailers, manufacturers, or politicians). Instead, Algar notes, individuals are using the Internet’s power of equalization to create, organize and store information (i.e., Wikipedia, the world’s biggest online encyclopedia, which is completely crowdsourced by an international community of volunteer contributors and editors — a goldmine of well-presented information for the savvy Web user). Consumers are also collaborating to take back power in the marketplace (i.e., eBay, LivingSocial, Groupon). “Collaborating to leverage discounts and incentives is an inevitable reality of ‘connected living,’” writes Algar. “Individuals are learning that it is better to be part of a crowd, and the crowd is fast becoming very wise.” Still, Algar’s focus is too narrow to embody the all-encompassing, paradigm-shattering vision that lurks in the sharing economy’s potential. What’s Mine Is Yours, a 2009 book by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rodgers, is what finally helped to moved the term “collaborative consumption” out of the experimental, academic, and business worlds and into the mainstream consciousness. “Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping reinvented through network technologies on a scale and in ways never possible before,” write Botsman and Rodgers. Here we begin to feel the groundswell that many early researchers predicted. Even though this definition still focuses on the tangible actions and benefits of sharing, it begins to represent a new vision for a social, environmental and economic system that is inclusive and compassionate as well as smart, efficient, and forward-thinking. Though it feels revolutionary, collaborative consumption (or the sharing economy, access economy, free economy, or gift economy — all are terms used to refer to this movement) is a new twist on an



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old idea. It’s a reimagining of old solutions tweaked to keep up with the size and speed of our current society. It leverages our fascination with social networking to minimize waste and maximize access. Building upon principles that have been innate since before humans could speak, the sharing economy seeks to reinvent our idea of what it means to be a citizen, on both a hyper-local and a global scale. No matter what you call it, collaborative consumption challenges traditional definitions of professional success, personal wealth, and what it really means to be a productive member of our communities. Sharing allows us to create a new definition of value, not based on currency but on how much a thing, action, or person enriches our lives, and it gives us the opportunity to enrich someone else’s in return. Through the lens of collaborative consumption, it becomes clear that it’s access, not ownership, that’s really essential to meeting our needs and wants. “Either out of financial necessity, or a lifestyle preference, people are not as interested in owning major assets, such as motor vehicles, as they once were,” points out Shelby Clark, founder of the car-sharing platform RelayRides. “Oftentimes, young people are identifying more with their mobile phones than cars as a symbol of independence.” The sharing economy represents a fundamental challenge to the prevailing top-down consumption model, agrees Lisa Fox, founder of OpenShed, a popular goods-sharing service out of Australia. “There is no merchant or middle man in collaborative consumption,” says Fox, “individual private ownership is no longer the end goal, rather, access is.” When we view ourselves as an element of an ecosystem, rather than an autonomous being, we begin to understand that amassing experiences, which often cost nothing and have no carbon footprint, is more important than loading up on material possessions. Examining our society from this new perspective allows us to see that when “mine” becomes “ours,” everyone’s needs can be met

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without waste. The beauty of this new worldview is that it doesn’t force us to surrender our personal identities. You can be part of the sharing economy without giving up the ability to pursue your own dreams, without setting aside personal goals and aspirations, and certainly, without eliminating the innate desire to leave a unique mark on the world. Unlike other ideologies that have tried to emphasize “we” over “me,” there’s plenty of room for self-interest in the world of collaborative consumption. It’s just that once you get involved and see how truly enriching this lifestyle can be, it becomes clear that selfishness stands in the way of dreams more than it facilitates them. Through an emphasis on collaboration, community, and the idea that what goes around comes around, those who try collaborative consumption often realize that, by making themselves available as a resource for others, they too are lifted up by the community. Things that never seemed possible when working on your own can be accomplished in a matter of minutes or days when you can tap into the amazing power of the sharing community. Sharing may not be a new idea as a personal behavior, but that doesn’t mean it’s not revolutionary. Collaborative consumption is a new vision for what life on this planet can look and feel like — a broad and quite frankly audacious vision of how people — without money, without politicians — can turn our consumption-obsessed society into an economic democracy. So this is about more than just swapping your old clothes for new ones, or joining a car-sharing service. It’s about catalyzing a total paradigm shift in how we produce, consume, and govern.

Chapter 2

Why We Don’t Share

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haring. It sounds so simple, even childish. In fact, it’s when we were still toddling around in diapers that most of us got our first life lesson about sharing, but that doesn’t mean it was an easy one to learn. Kids are perfect examples of human nature unbridled. Sally has new toy, and Johnny wants to play with it. Sally can a) snatch the toy away and scream about the infringement on her personal life, or b) play with something else while Johnny gives it a try, or c) share it with him. Many parents teach their children to share without reservation. Not only is the sight of a toy-hoarding child rather unpleasant, it’s an early demonstration of the way selfishness leads to the (temporary) happiness of only a few, while sharing leads to the happiness of many. As we get older, the concept of sharing becomes more complicated. We start to see differences in value, and understand the effort required to have “nice things.” We make exceptions for our selfishness, although we don’t call it that. We see sharing as cheating by those who don’t work as hard as we do. We start to categorize things as “used” or “shabby” and hold them in lower regard than things that

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are “new” or “expensive.” We gauge our success in life by the type and number of things we possess, and constantly compare our things to our neighbors’ things. We become confused about the difference between “needs” and “wants.” We assume we need the things we want in order to be happy. We make grandiose statements about independence and hard work. We think these concepts are all tied up in money and personal possessions. Eventually, we start to view sharing as a silly thing that may be a nice idea for kids, but not for us. We see how easy it is to go out and buy what we need, and forget that there are other ways to live. Now we’re seeing the terrible damage that mindless consumption does to our planet, our economy, and our quality of life. We can feel, in our gut that something needs to change, but we’re paralyzed. We don’t like change. It’s new and scary and has the potential for failure. We love the idea of just grabbing a solution off the shelf and getting back to our regularly scheduled programming. But we can’t buy ourselves out of this mess. Sharing is the one alternative that eliminates this knee-jerk consumerism without asking us to live lower-quality lives. Still, excuses bubble up. Compelling reasons are offered about why we can’t change, not just yet. Here are a few you’ve probably heard.

Time “I’m so busy.” We, our friends, and coworkers utter this phrase on a daily basis, often as if our heads were about to explode with all the obligations vying for our time. Between work, school, church, sports, going to the gym, eating three meals a day, and making time to gaze lovingly into the eyes of our significant other, we feel like headless chickens. We’re interested in the fastest, most convenient options. We’d rather pay extra for the pizza to be delivered, the laundry to be folded for us, or the gas it takes to drive to the grocery store that’s less than a mile away. After all, it’s so much faster than walking. Anything that might take a moment of extra effort is completely out of the question. We just don’t have the time. Or do we?



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According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ exhaustive “American Time Use Survey” (www.bls.gov), and other sources, including Pew Research and the “Mendelsohn Affluent Survey,” we aren’t as busy as we think we are. In fact, we have plenty of discretionary time, we just waste it doing mindless things. Some surprising statistics: • Working parents, who are usually (and understandably) at the top of the list of people who claim to “have no time,” spend only one hour less on leisure activities per day than do those without the same childcare concerns. • Ninety-five percent of all Americans over the age of 15 watch 2 to 3 hours of television a day. That’s 10 percent of our 24-hour day — and a much higher percentage if you measure it only against the time we’re awake. • Adults living in households with children under age 6 spend an average of 2 hours per day directly interacting with those kids (bathing, reading, eating). Adults living in households where the youngest child was between the ages of 6 and 17 spend less than half as much time providing primary childcare to household children — around 47 minutes per day. It’s not that we don’t have enough time, it’s just that we’re not using that time efficiently. When sharing alternatives present themselves, we make excuses because we’re convinced there isn’t time or energy. Yes, deciding to share or swap to meet your needs takes effort, and that effort takes time, especially when you’re a newbie. But since when has anything worthwhile been easy or instantaneous? When we share, other people’s schedules, needs, desires, and abilities must be considered; that can sometimes slow things down. It’s when we realize that this slower pace of life is actually better for us, our communities, and our planet that the extra effort becomes an investment rather than a cost. Living a life based around collaborative consumption doesn’t mean we can’t still want things. It just changes how we go about fulfilling those desires. Instead of waiting, baby

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bird style, for corporations to tell us about the next big thing we can’t live without, and then rushing out to exchange our meaningless dollars for that thing, it is useful to recognize that the sharing economy provides a cheaper, equally convenient alternative.

Safety By the time you arrive at work in the morning, you’ve endured at least five life-threatening situations. Taking a shower, running the garbage disposal, driving the car, etc. All of these activities pose a threat to our safety, yet we do them without even batting an eye. It’s only when we do something out of the ordinary, like bungee jumping or walking through an unfamiliar part of town at night, that we suddenly become concerned about risk. Humans are hardwired for survival, so we take every precaution to protect our health and safety. We wear seatbelts, we slather on sunscreen, we don’t talk to strangers. We do these things because they makes us feel like we’re in control of our fate, which makes us feel safer. We like driving our own cars and buying brand-new things because it means we’re in control of the situation, and we know what to expect. If we pay for a good or service and it doesn’t deliver, we complain to the manager or return it to the store for a full refund. We demand satisfaction, and when we don’t get it, we fire off scathing reviews on our favorite social media network. Stepping outside this familiar framework makes us feel uncomfortable. Staying at someone else’s house instead of booking a hotel room means we might have to wait for the bathroom or fix our own breakfast. Sharing a ride means we might have to change our plans to fit with the driver’s schedule. In short, sharing means being flexible and trusting our fellow humans, and this too can make us feel unsafe. We don’t like putting ourselves in unfamiliar situations where we can’t control all the variables, so we assume sharing is implicitly less safe than what we’ve been doing. But there’s no proof this is actually true. Yes, things do go wrong, but there’s no evidence to support the



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idea that sharing puts us at increased risk for being involved in an unsafe situation or at the mercy of unsavory people. When you consider the millions of sharing transactions that take place every day, and the fact that there have been only a handful of incidents severe enough to make the news, it would seem that most sharing participants are willing to play by the rules so that everyone can benefit.

Money One of the most attractive things about the sharing economy is that it’s accessible to everyone, regardless of their liquid assets. So why list money as a barrier to sharing? Shouldn’t shared goods or services be less expensive than owning them, or even free? We’ve already seen that some of the more complex examples of sharing, like time banks or alternative currency economies, remove the need for money altogether. But saving money is only one of the benefits of collaborative consumption. There are even more important benefits: increased access to the things we need, when we need them; decreased negative impact on the planet; and stronger ties between members of the community — including for-profit businesses. “What I see as the ‘secret sauce’ of collaborative consumption companies, and why I believe they have the potential to play a transformational role in our communities, is that their very basis is people, and the primary purpose of these platforms is to connect people so that their needs can be met in an efficient way,” says Lisa Fox of OpenShed. “As a social movement I believe collaborative consumption has the potential to change the way we live,” Fox continues, “offering us greater flexibility, a great sense of empowerment over our own lives, and far more daily connections.” There are many things that can be shared. Some are big, like cars or vacation homes, and some are small, like a hammer or a bushel of apples. Big things, like cars and houses, need to be maintained very carefully if they’re going to be safe for people to share. Other big sharing endeavors, like bike-sharing programs, food co-ops, or coworking spaces, need real estate, licenses, paid staff, and insurance

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to make them work properly. These added factors cost money, and in many cases, that cost is absorbed by you, the sharer. These costs are often far lower than they would be for an individual to buy or rent their own car, house, bike, or solo office, but still, for some people, even the shared cost puts these services out of reach. Money is also a requirement if you want to start your own sharing endeavor with peers, especially if space or other essentials aren’t readily available through crowdsourcing. Faced with the prospect of having to spend (or raise) money in order to participate in or organize a sharing community, some might decide it’s just not worth the expense. What these people are forgetting is that money isn’t the only way to measure something’s value. Renting a room from a corporate hotel chain instead of a local resident might seem cheaper and easier, but will the hotel chain pick you up from the airport? Introduce you to their incredibly cute dog or invite you to enjoy the sunset on their back porch? Will a hotel concierge tell you which restaurants the locals really love? Probably not. Just like buying your food from the grocery store doesn’t give you the same opportunities to meet the farmer the way participating in a local CSA does, sharing experiences are incredibly valuable in ways that can’t be measured in dollars and cents. They are the things that make us feel alive and give us memories that will last forever.

People Things and experiences do not share themselves. Sharing depends on connections between one or more individuals, even if those individuals never actually meet face-to-face (although that does make it easier). If you live in densely populated places like New York City or San Francisco, it’s pretty easy to find a community in which you feel comfortable. These are massive metropolises, full of millions of people with different likes, dislikes, passions, and beliefs. Although all those people add up to lots of extra traffic and high apartment prices, they also make some things easier.



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Big cities have lots of different types of people living close to one another (experts call this urban density) which makes it more likely that a new idea or business endeavor will succeed if people like it. Why? Because there are more people living relatively close to the place where a group, start-up, or business exists. If you don’t believe me, try this: Go to Craigslist for the San Francisco Bay area and click on the “Activities” column. You’ll find at least 50 new listings per day, more if it’s the weekend. Go to the same column for the entire state of Wyoming, and you’ll be lucky to see one listing in a whole week. Why such a big difference? Easy, there are lots of people in San Francisco, all living in a small geographical area. Wyoming is big geographically, but its entire population could fit inside San Francisco, with lots of room to spare. In Wyoming, towns and people are extremely spread out, but in San Francisco, they’re all on top of each other. Sociological research shows that density is a key component of creativity, innovation, and knowledge sharing. In short, the more people there are living close together, the more likely something awesome is going to happen.7 Urban density compels collaborative consumption companies to launch in big cities where they have the best chance of reaching the most people. Not only are sharing concepts more likely to be popular in cities where space and resources are at a premium, it’s also likely that the innovative, creative minds that tend to congregate in cities will be more open to the idea in the first place. This isn’t to say that urban populations have a monopoly on innovation or collaboration, because they don’t. Many world-changing ideas have come from people who live in small or rural towns. It’s just that urban cultures are usually more diverse and willing to dabble in the new and uncharted. Experimentation occurs in the less dense towns as well, it’s just hard to bring it to critical mass so that it becomes the norm instead of a freakshow. You may have an awesome idea for how your community can share a thing or service, but unless you’ve got a bunch of other people willing to try, it’s going to be hard to prove your idea is a good one.

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This natural gravitation of sharing endeavors toward heavily populated areas leaves the rest of us to muddle through until the service we want reaches our town. And even for those who live in urban areas, swap meets, co-ops, and transportation sharing alternatives can still be hard to find or too far away to be useful. The good news is that the global community provided by online sharing forums can substitute for a local community until your friends and neighbors are ready to give it a try.

Trust It might be a little cynical, but most of us just don’t like the idea of other people touching our stuff. If you’ve ever lent something to a friend only to have it returned broken or just outright stolen, you can identify with this concern. And it works the other way around too: how can you be sure that the person lending out their apartment has been truthful about its cleanliness or the quality of the neighborhood? If you’ve been hoarding these fears about participating in the sharing economy, take some comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. A 2012 study conducted by marketing agency Campbell Mithun found that 67 percent of those surveyed expressed trust concerns as the primary barrier to joining a collaborative consumption service.8 When pressed to explain what they feared would happen if they started sharing, 30 percent said they were afraid that their goods would be stolen or broken, 23 percent cited a basic mistrust of strangers, and 14 percent expressed “privacy concerns.” These are what social scientists like to call perceived risks. They’re based on perceptions that may or may not be borne out in real life. Fear of flying is another good example of perceived risk. Lots of people are afraid their plane will crash to the ground mid-flight, even though, statistically, it’s far more dangerous to travel by car. We could spend a lot of time talking about where these perceptions of risk come from (the media, over-protective parents, a bad experience, etc.), but where they come from isn’t really as important



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as finding a way to deal with them. Caution is good. Crippling trust issues that prevent you from interacting with your community are bad. The best way to deal with a lack of trust is to be trustworthy yourself. We can only expect from others what we’re willing to do ourselves. Also, a little pre-planning can go a long way. It’s necessary to be upfront and honest about what could go wrong in a sharing situation, whether it’s with your neighbors or someone in another country. More about this later. So, do you still think it’s impossible for you to dip your toe into the sharing economy? Still think sharing sounds like a nice idea,

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but you’ll have to a) be less busy, b) research it more, c) have more money, or d) wait until it comes to your town in order to give it a try? It’s possible that you have other reasons for not sharing, but hopefully, this chapter has helped you see that no barrier to sharing is impenetrable.

Chapter 3

Why Share Now?

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haring has come in handy for hundreds of years in the form of public libraries, cooperatives, and more recently, services like eBay or Netflix. So why is it so important to start sharing now or to branch out into new forms of sharing in different areas of your life? To answer those questions, let’s take a look at how civilization has changed over the last couple centuries. From this bird’s eye view, we see that there are more of us than ever before (and the population is growing exponentially), we’re consuming more than ever before (and it’s not proportionate to population growth), and the waste from this excessive consumption has nowhere to go (and as a result, it’s poisoning our planet). We also see that the recent technology boom that put laptops and smartphones into millions of pockets presents a unique opportunity for community building on an unprecedented scale.

There Are More of Us Than Ever Before In October 2011, the world global population reached 7 billion people. According to United Nations demographers, it’s likely that

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the seven billionth person was born in India, the country with the highest per minute birth rate in the world. Population growth hasn’t always been exponential like this. If you were to observe a chart of human population growth over time, you would see a “J” shape. The most obvious increases in population coincide with drastic changes in the physical or cultural environment. Cultural revolutions, such as the Agricultural or Industrial Revolutions, have led to surges in population growth more often than physical changes, like drought or famine, have lead to population reduction. Even the World Wars and the bubonic plague, which wiped out millions, are barely perceptible dips in overall population growth. Slow but steady growth continued through the 20th century, but that’s where the graph goes wild. In the 1950’s, the world was just starting to recover from WWII. The world’s population stood at a mere 2.5 billion. People in industrialized nations were happy for the first time in years, felt relatively safe, and thanks to the military-industrial complex, there was a surplus of consumer goods available to help them achieve the “good life.” The crude birth rate (number of births per 1,000 people per year) from 1950–1955 was 37.2, and the global population doubled in a quick 40 years. Compare that to the crude birth rate of 21.2 from 2000–2005, and our current accelerated population growth doesn’t seem possible. If fewer people are being born per year, where is all this extra population growth coming from? Improvements in healthcare and medicine along with exploding populations in developing countries mean more people are simply staying alive longer. Living a long, healthy life doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, so why is population growth cause for alarm? Well, according to the UN, about half of the 7 billion people alive today live in poverty, and at least one fifth are severely undernourished. Most new humans will spend their lives pursuing the fruit of “inalienable rights” that those lucky enough to be born in wealthy countries take for granted. Unfortunately, people in developing nations often strive to emulate the Western world’s method of fulfilling



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their rights: getting stuff, money, and more stuff. This makes population growth an even worse problem. The planet doesn’t have enough water, energy, or minerals to provide 10 billion human beings with an iPhone (much less a new one every year). The planet isn’t capable of supplying 10 billion human beings with enough wood, stone, or space to inhabit their own McMansion. In short, planet Earth is not capable of sustaining a population of 10 billion people in the manner to which the Western world has grown accustomed. What happens when we run out of not only iPhones, but also food, potable water, and fossil fuels? If human beings can’t get along now, when most of us have access to what we need to survive, something tells me that extreme resource shortages aren’t going to bring out the best in us. This is why the current rate of population growth is a compelling reason to share now, rather than later. This is why it’s so important for us to shift our focus away from our me, me, me/take, take, take culture. Maybe the individualistic, capitalistic mentality that dominates the world’s major economies isn’t the best example to follow. Maybe there is a better way. Maybe a resurgence of resource sharing, instead of dividing, is the start of that better way. We’re Consuming More Than Ever Before

In the past three decades alone, human beings have consumed onethird of the planet’s natural resources base.9 In its 2004 “Living Planet Report,” the World Wide Fund for Nature said humans currently consume 20 percent more natural resources than the Earth can replenish. Considering that consuming even 1 percent more than the Earth can produce would be problematic, this fact alone represents a crisis. Consumerism has permeated every aspect of our lives, including how we talk about ourselves. We’re not just human beings or people any more, we’re consumers. Have you ever noticed how the media uses that word interchangeably with “person,”“individual,” and

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“family”? Some of the things we consume have always been necessary for existence — food, water, oxygen. But most of the things we consume have only been around for a few decades, and they are completely extraneous to our survival on this planet. We’ve got houses, garages, and storage lockers full of stuff that we “needed” at one time or another. Many of these things only see minutes of use, if that, throughout our entire lifetime, yet we can’t let them go. In recent history, human consumption of natural resources has exploded, and it’s not proportional to population growth. Although the US birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, it consumes a huge portion of the world’s resources. A few examples: • The United States, with less than 5 percent of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources — burning nearly 25 percent of the coal, 26 percent of the oil, and 27 percent of the world’s natural gas. • As of 2003, the United States had more private cars than licensed drivers, and gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles were among the best-selling vehicles. • New houses in the United States were 38 percent bigger in 2002 than in 1975, despite having fewer people per household on average.10 As a result, Americans are in a huge amount of debt. We are overweight and depressed. Our air, water, and soil is some of the most contaminated in the world. This is the future that awaits the rest of the world if it continues to follow America’s greedy, wasteful lead. Global environmental summits, like 2012’s Rio+20 or the annual Conference of the Parties held by the UN each year, have attempted to tackle this issue by asking developing countries to slow or stop their consumption. Basically, what Western countries have said is: “We messed up, and now we’re addicted to this type of consumption.



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We can see that it’s ruining the world, but we can’t ask people to give up all these luxuries now. So how about you help us out by slowing down your own development until we figure something out? If you could just leave your forests intact, not pollute your rivers, and go without reliable electricity for a couple more decades, it would really do wonders for global C02 levels.” It’s no wonder that most of the developing world has refused to play ball. We need a better way to move forward, together — one that allows everyone to live a healthy, comfortable lifestyle without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to enjoy the same thing. If we don’t, the consequences will be dire, even deadly. We’re beginning to explode at the seams. Ugly piles of waste and pollution are starting to creep into unfortunate places. Our consumptive ways are screaming out for resolution. Our Waste Has Nowhere to Go

“Throw it away.” We say it every day, every time we’re confronted with a thing that’s spoiled, used, broken, expired, unwanted, or unneeded. “Throw it away.” Those words are usually followed immediately by a flippant action: we bundle up the torn pair of pants, expired carton of milk, or rusty pair of pliers, and toss it in a container meant for “trash.” At that point, our job is done. After a while, the trash containers in our homes and businesses fill up, so we dump them into even larger containers. After a while those fill up too, so we pay to have them emptied by waste management companies that use massive dump trucks to haul all that spoiled, used, broken, expired, unwanted, unneeded junk away. Rarely, if ever, do we stop to think about where, exactly “away” is. If we were to follow the massive, churning, piles of waste that work their way through our municipal systems every day, we would see that there really is no away. Instead, there are landfills, lots of them, where we attempt to bury our waste. Or massive barges ferry our garbage a polite distance away from shore and then dump it in the ocean. Or waste

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incinerators combust our especially hazardous waste, transforming it into dangerous pollution that we then inhale. In essence, everything we’ve ever thrown “away” is still very much “here.” Sure, some of it gets rescued before it hits the trash can. Some things are separated from the main waste stream to be repaired, reused, or recycled. But what happens when the resulting new or refurbished product is spoiled, used, broken, expired, unwanted, or unneeded? That’s right. We throw it away.

The Problem with the “Green Economy” In recent years, a few of us have started to wake up. We’ve started to realize that we have the opportunity to change, to get off of the train hurtling into the brick wall. Thanks to public information campaigns and scientific research, most of us now realize we can choose to live differently and reduce our impact on the one and only planet we have. Companies have started to understand that people care about the environmental impact of their purchases. We read labels; we research company histories and manufacturing processes. We vote with our dollars, supporting companies that make an effort to reduce their own carbon footprint while providing products that help us do the same. All of a sudden, economists and business analysts started to talk about the “green economy” and what it could mean for profit margins. Soon, every industry, from fashion to food, started to brag about the sustainability of its products. Going green became a marketing slogan, and people were drawn in by labels that claimed to be “natural,” “organic,” “eco-friendly,” “recycled/recyclable,” or “fair trade.” The Internet exploded with websites designed to help us go green with a minimal amount of effort; if we didn’t want to do even that much, Internet green businesses could do it for us. Familiar corporations started advertising all the things we needed to live a lower-impact life, like CFL light bulbs, Energy Star-rated refrigerators, and socks made from organic cotton. If everyone would just buy an electric



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car, we’re told, we could eliminate the C02 emissions causing global climate change — and everything will be perfect! Sound too good to be true? It is. Here’s the problem with the green economy: it’s still consumerism. It operates on the same false principle that things can make us happy. They may be cleaner, greener, biodegradable things, but they’re still not going to fix what’s wrong with our planet and society. Changing all our light bulbs does not absolve us of a lifetime of rampant consumption. It won’t change the fact that we’re running out of food, water, and clean air on an increasingly crowded planet. The green economy still excludes those who don’t have money; advertisers go to great lengths to imply that if you don’t buy a high-end stainless steel reusable mug, high-efficiency washing machine, and solar panels for your roof, you’re destroying the planet. After a certain period of time, we find ourselves up against a green wall: we’ve bought all the green gadgets and recyclable gizmos we can afford, yet the green economy keeps telling us to “save the planet” by buying more. We start to feel hopeless — and even embarrassed. We realize that there are millions of people in other countries who’ve got even less money to go green. We start to feel like it is pointless, and

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stop trying. Then we get to enjoy lots of eco guilt trips from friends and family who haven’t figured out that it’s all a sham. Most of us know consumption is getting us nowhere, so why try to consume our way out of the problem? We need a better way. A radical new way of thinking that allows anyone to participate, regardless of how much they have or don’t have. Although it’s never easy to effect change on a societal scale, it’s not impossible. We can create an environment that encourages people to embrace a different way of living, but first, we need to know what that looks like. We need a recipe: What is needed to encourage a new, more shareable world: 1. A critical mass of people who are willing to question what it means to be truly wealthy. The human race’s most valuable asset is people power. You might feel like you’re the only one who’s sick and tired of all this mindless consumption, but you’re not. Reconnecting with each other and our natural inclination for sharing is step one. 2. A generous helping of creativity and innovation so that we can solve problems with the technology, energy, and resources that are available now, not those that may or may not be available in 20 years. 3. Several dozen new definitions of cooperation and collaboration, and a willingness to capitalize on the talent and resources that exist among our networks. Who cares if we have to share the podium as long as we’re on the winning team? 4. A heaping spoonful of comraderie. Not only are we all in this together, but we’re better together. Sharing what we’ve got, whether it’s time, talent, or resources, is the fastest way to a better world. Stir well, and let rise. When combined, these ingredients form the perfect environment for growing a new economy: an economy built on sharing rather than consuming, but still able to support



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profitable business and technological innovation. In this new economy, people can still live comfortable, private lives. It’s just that those lives will be richer, fuller, and more meaningful because they are connected to the people and places that matter. Now that we’ve got the recipe, it’s time to start cooking. Movements like Occupy Wall Street and Idle No More show that we’re ready for a shift away from the false power of things and toward the galvanizing power of people. We are the change we’ve been waiting for. By sharing what we already have (time, energy, money, goods, foods, skills,) we can create communities of abundance. By changing our idea of what it means to be sustainable people, families, and businesses, and working together to achieve it instead of alone in our own silos of eco-guilt, we will rediscover our commonalities, our connections, our passions. Sustainability, efficiency, and happiness will emerge as by-products, and our communities will become cleaner, happier places to live. If you need still more convincing, read on. The following sections present specific reasons why sharing is good for you — and for society as a whole.

Sharing Bolsters the Local Economy Human beings don’t like to change, so the suggestion that we throw out this consumption-obsessed system and build a new society that values open access, experience, and social responsibility is more than a little daunting. Lots of us are tired. We’re tired of the bad news that floods the airwaves, tired of broken promises and leaders who don’t lead. We’re tired of being told “that’s just the way it is” when profit takes precedence over people and planet. In fact, sometimes it feels like it would just be easier to give up, to stop trying to make a difference and just go with the flow. Yes, building a sharing economy will take work, hard work. That’s why it’s important to acknowledge all that we stand to gain by embarking on this new journey together. Sharing, even on a very small scale, makes a big impact on the people and places involved. It gets neighbors talking and trusting each

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other again. Skillshares, timebanks, and cooperatives keep money, resources, and talents focused in the community where they’re needed. Crowdfunding provides businesses that are circling the drain with a way to get back on their feet, free from the predatory practices of banks or investors. Coworking, business incubators, and maker collectives offer support for thinkers and creators, encouraging others to follow the same entrepreneurial path. Swapping and bartering reduces waste, halts mindless consumption, and retrains individuals to extend the lifecycle of things they already have in creative ways. On the individual level, it can be a shortcut to financial responsibility, helping people to see that they don’t have to sacrifice comfort for efficiency. Collaborative consumption makes it possible for everyone to live a simpler, healthier, low-impact lifestyle regardless of the amount of cash they have on hand, and that’s good news in a time when cash is hard for many to come by.



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Encourages Community Involvement

Sharing can’t exist without a community. But community doesn’t have to be based on physical proximity or even geographical proximity. Communities can also be built around an idea, a behavior, an interest, a need, or even basic similarities like age, illness, or sport team allegiance. In order to share, people must have an understanding about what they want and what they are capable of giving. The most successful sharing comes from communities that have common ideals, values, and goals. Because of this emphasis on a shared destiny, collaborative consumption has inherent benefits for local economies. 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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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

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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 enemies 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 networks 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 communities. 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

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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 otherwise 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 families 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 relationships 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 hatred 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 knitting 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 collaborative 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 downtime, 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

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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. Reduced Energy Consumption

What’s your morning commute like? For most Americans, getting to work in the morning means sitting in 25 minutes of traffic to go less than 50 miles. Nationwide, 86 percent of Americans over sixteen get to work by car, truck or van. And around 75 percent drive alone. That means a lot of carbon emissions getting pumped into the air just to move one person to and from their workplace. In the same car-sharing study conducted by the University of California that was mentioned above, researchers found that on average, drivers traded vehicles with a fuel economy of 23 mpg for the use of shared vehicles with a fuel economy of 33 mpg. While car-sharing organizations offer a variety of vehicles to members, the majority are highly efficient hybrids, sedans, and compact cars. This helps reduce cost to both the company and car-sharing members, as well as reducing the harmful emissions associated with personal transportation. In late 2011, the University of California, Berkeley, published a very interesting study: “Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Car­ sharing in North America” (www.tsrc.berkeley.edu). Their research revealed that car-sharing programs have the power to significantly reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions in North America. The survey, which polled over 9,500 members of car-sharing programs in the United States and Canada, found that while individual greenhouse gas emissions increased slightly because some gained access to



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a personal vehicle for the first time, these small individual increases were outweighed by the significant number of people able to drastically reduce their emissions through car-sharing. “The number of carless households increasing their emissions is comparatively large, constituting more than half of the respondents,” noted the researchers. “However, the degree to which these households are increasing emissions as a result of car-sharing is small on an individual basis. The overall emission reduction is driven by the remaining respondents reducing their emissions by larger amounts that compensate for increases of the majority.” Ridesharing, a 21st-century twist on the familiar practice of carpooling, can also take a big bite out of unnecessary fossil fuel consumption. Unlike commercial car-sharing, which requires the purchase and maintenance of a large fleet of new vehicles, ridesharing involves privately owned vehicles already on the road. In addition to reducing waste by filling unused seats, ridesharing reduces the amount of money each person is required to spend on gas in a given month. Sometimes, we can reduce energy consumption simply by leaving our individual houses to gather in shared spaces. Freelancers and solopreneurs are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the workforce, yet many work at home because dedicated office space is so expensive. Instead of sitting at home with their individual lights, heat, and Internet on, coworking spaces consolidate consumption: it’s 20 freelancers all sitting together, enjoying the same light, heat, and Internet. Encourages Investment in Smart Design

Although we come equipped with a natural inclination to share and barter, collaborative consumption is clearly a departure from the current paradigm. We’re stuck on excessive consumption and self-centered services. Stepping outside the box enough to realize that access is more important than ownership and experiences more

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important than tangible goods, puts one in the perfect state of mind for other worldview-shifting discoveries. Thanks to the growing demand for collaborative consumption services, there has been a shift in the way new entrepreneurs develop their business models. For decades, companies have been “designing for the dump” because they were convinced it was the only way to remain in business. They intentionally designed goods to die, break, or blow up within two years — right about the time they would start to bombard you with commercials for the new model. This sneaky strategy is called planned obsolescence. The problem is, people are getting wise to this faulty business strategy. We’re starting to realize that it’s us, our families, and the planet on the losing end of this cycle; only the corporations win. Innovators have also started to realize that there’s powerful value in making something that’s of such high quality it doesn’t need to be replaced. Or, if that’s not feasible, making something that’s easy to share, repair, or recycle, if necessary. Instead of being purely focused on profits to be made by producing cheap and selling high to exploit a niche demographic of consumers, sharing economy companies rea­ lize that it makes sense to design products and services that help people connect, access what they need, enjoy new experiences, and share what they’re not using. Instead of designing things to become obsolete in a year or two, so the consumer will be forced into buying a replacement, they’re starting to design for extended use by multiple owners (even hundreds of owners) and effortless end-of-life recycling.

Sharing Saves You Money While the sharing economy can do wonders for our communities and the environment, let’s not forget the number one reason most people are compelled to start sharing: it’s free! Thanks to economic mismanagement on an international scale, average people around the world are feeling the financial squeeze. Whether we blame it on corrupt bankers or a slow economy really doesn’t matter — the



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point is that people are hurting, and it’s becoming harder and harder to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. Just like so many past economic crises, people are desperate for relief, for an alternative that won’t make them feel like they’re banging their heads against the same Wall (Street) for the millionth time. There are many who feel collaborative consumption is that solution. When we release material possessions from our white-knuckle grip and acknowledge that it’s more important to be able to access those things only when we need them, a huge world of savings opens up before our very eyes. Let me be clear, however: unlike past mantras of the environmental movement, collaborative consumption isn’t a lifestyle of austerity or self-denial. As Lauren Anderson, notes on CollaborativeConsumption.com, while the principles of the sharing economy are “ultimately about reducing the amount of wasteful consumption, it is certainly not about going without.” In many well-documented cases, sharing not only provides individuals and families with a pleasant, community-focused way to reduce expenses, it also creates opportunities for generating significant amounts of supplementary income, just by allowing others to access the possessions that you’re not currently using. In an extremely popular blog post originally published on 7x7. com, Shareable co-founder Neal Gorenflo details his year-long experiment of deep participation in the sharing economy. Coworking, car-sharing, microlending, and a shared nanny were just some of the things he tried. At the end of 12 months, Gorenflo tallied it up: he had reduced his household expenses by $17,000. On the Internet, there are dozens of similar stories told by individuals from all walks of life. An article published by Forbes in January 2013, “How People Make Cash in the Share Economy,” tells several of them: there’s a man who saved over $1,000 sharing and borrowing stuff on Neighborgoods.com; a student who turned dog sitting into a $1,200/month job; and a Chicago executive who makes $1,000/month renting out his second car on RelayRides.

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Decreased Cost and Risk

The correlation between sharing and saving money is a simple one. Buy less, spend less. By sharing resources, space, and skills freely within a community, it’s not necessary to buy as much from big box stores or traditional educational institutions. If you need a drill to build a bookcase, you might go out and spend $50 on a new cordless power drill. After using it for few hours, the bookcase is built, and the drill is put up on a shelf. Maybe you’ll use it again once or twice in a year. However, access to a tool-lending library or swap site where you can trade an unneeded item for someone else’s unneeded drill eliminates and drastically reduces that expense. Sharing unconventional things, like a nanny, a car, or a garden, also reduces both money and labor costs, spreading it out over many individuals instead of just one or two. In some cases, communities even engage in collective buying that allows them to invest in items that are better suited to widespread sharing, reducing individual costs over the short term, and upping return on that investment over the long term. The opportunities to save money through sharing are almost as numerous as the collaborative consumption companies that facilitate it. One can reserve everything from a spare room to an entire villa on Airbnb.com, a site that connects people who have extra space with those who need it for short-term stays. Airbnb rentals are often listed at a much lower rate than hotel rooms in the same location, especially if there’s a special event in town. Trips that might otherwise have been way out of budget become possible when sharing lodging, not to mention that you get the pleasure of making a new friend in your destination city — a friend who might also lend you a bike or provide breakfast, saving you even more money. While you’re at it, collaborative consumption can allow you to assemble the vacation of your dreams without racking up a bunch of credit card debt. If you’re willing to stay with locals, why not get them to show you around as well? Experience-based marketplaces like Vayable and SideTour make it easy to find something to do in just about any city.



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Thanks to time banks and skill-sharing programs, even needs that are more complicated than a ride or a place to stay can be met with little to no money exchanging hands. Need your gutters cleaned, but low on cash? Use time-dollars earned by teaching piano lessons or weeding a friend’s garden. Want to learn how to make pottery but can’t afford the high-cost lessons? Trade for them using your Web development or cooking skills. Desperately need childcare, but can’t stomach the high monthly fees at the local facility? Consider sharing a nanny with other parents in your neighborhood. “Costs are split in any number of creative ways, often evenly split between the families,” writes Kathleen Webb in a blog post for Shareable Magazine (www. Shareable.net). “In a nanny-share arrangement, the nanny usually earns 10–20 percent more than her counterparts employed by a single family. Split down the middle, however, this creates a win-win situation for the families and the caregiver.”

So, Why Share Now? So let’s think back to our original question. Why start sharing now? The answer is simple, perhaps shockingly so. Sharing, without requiring a huge investment of money, time or space, can have a significant and almost immediate positive impact on a community. While traditional society tells us to form committees, beg for funding, or complain to politicians about things we want to change, the sharing economy provides an empowered alternative. Through collaborative consumption, we can increase pride in our communities and foster participation in the way we’re governed. We can encourage self-sufficient behavior and accountability, while also rekindling meaningful relationships and supporting those in the community who are working toward the same things. We can reduce waste and pump the brakes on rampant consumption, even of socalled “green” products. By focusing on access instead of ownership, we can take a bite out of energy consumption and even reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are choking our planet. We can live

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more simply, save money, and embrace a more sustainable lifestyle, all by switching our focus from me to we and from mine to ours.

Chapter 4

How to Share

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ow that we’ve discussed the history of sharing, and why collaborative consumption is good for our communities, wallets, and the environment, I hope you’re feeling excited. Maybe you’re starting to think, “Hey, this sharing thing isn’t so radical after all, and it sounds like there are some pretty big benefits to giving it a try.” Here’s what usually happens when I get excited about a new idea: I imagine all the potentially positive effects it could have in my life and in the lives of those I know. Then, I think about all the different ways to give it a try. Then I start to get overwhelmed. That’s why, in this chapter, I’m going to talk a little bit about “how” to share. What’s the first thing you should try to share? How do you find a way to share it? Will you have to pay a membership to a bunch of sharing services? When you start to confront so many questions, you might feel tempted to bail on the whole thing, putting it off until you’re in a place where you’ve got more time/money/brain space to think about it. But that time might never arrive. The best way to figure out this whole sharing economy and where you fit in is just to give it a try. However, it’s a good idea to know a little bit about the



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different types of sharing, and the communities where you’re likely to find it.

Styles of Sharing If you’re an entrepreneurial spirit, you might have already noticed a need that could be met by sharing in your community. If you live in a place where collaborative consumption is just catching on (or maybe unheard of ), it might be better to try an established online community that can help you learn the ropes. Either way, taking the first step is important and likely to be life changing without really requiring you to drastically change your life. The metamorphosis is more a shift in thinking than anything else. Here’s the awesome thing about living a simpler, cheaper, more sustainable lifestyle through sharing: it’s free. Unlike putting solar panels on your house or buying a hybrid, there is no investment required to start sharing. You don’t need to take a class, attend a workshop, or get a permit to start sharing (although sometimes these things can be helpful for really big shares). Collaborative consumption requires only things that you already have and people you already know (or are willing to meet). If you’re able to make a phone call, attend a Meetup, organize a get-together, or conduct a Google search, you’ve got all the know-how that’s needed to reduce waste, conserve resources, and connect with other people who are also striving for a low-impact life. Peer-to-Peer Sharing

Informal, local collaborative consumption is often called peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing. As the name suggests, this style of sharing is conducted for and by peers. Just about any type of sharing service can be executed at the peer-to-peer level. In fact, some people think that this is the purest and most powerful style of sharing. P2P sharing is all about people sharing resources to meet each other’s needs. It’s yet another way that regular people can opt out of a system that doesn’t fit their lifestyle or personal goals. Peer-to-peer sharing often



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(but not always) means the people involved get to make up the rules about how things will work, so solutions can be customized to the community they are meant to serve, rather than employing a onesize-fits-all attitude. In P2P schemes, the shared resource (time, things, experiences) is usually exchanged during a direct encounter with another person or group of people. This is different from collaborative consumption businesses like coworking or Zipcar, where the thing that’s shared is owned by a single person or part of a managed fleet owned by a business entity. P2P sharing can also mean that people pool their resources together to create something that can then be shared with a larger community. Examples would be a church group that builds a tool sharing library, or neighbors building a community garden. Most of the time, peer-to-peer sharing takes place in the communities where members live, work, or play in close proximity to one another, but face-to-face interaction isn’t a requirement for P2P sharing. In fact, some of the most successful P2P ventures are those that allow complete strangers to barter, rent, or trade with each other. It’s probable that there are plenty of examples of P2P sharing happening right now in your community; you just haven’t recognized them as collaborative consumption. Perhaps there is a group of people who all work for the same company, and they figure out that they all live on the same side of town. Instead of all fighting the traffic individually in otherwise empty cars, the coworkers decide to carpool. Each day of the week, it’s another person’s turn to pick up the others and drive to and from work. This splits the cost and decreases each person’s individual carbon footprint just a little bit. In addition, they have the pleasure of each other’s company and a full car along the way. This is peer-to-peer sharing. When I was still in high school, my mother belonged to a food co-op. Instead of being run out of a storefront, this co-op was simply made up of a few savvy neighbors who realized that they could pool

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their buying power to make healthy foods more accessible. Once or twice a month, these families would select their goods out of a natural foods distribution catalog. There was no cost for membership, and deliveries were made to the house of the organizing family. When deliveries arrived, individuals volunteered to help unload the truck and sort the goods into piles that represented each family’s order. As long as there were enough people interested and the orders were of a high enough dollar amount to make it worth the delivery company’s time, the pop-up co-op provided a more convenient, affordable way for families to eat well. This is peer-to-peer sharing. A few years ago, a woman who worked at my coworking space decided that her huge yard was going to waste. She already had a garden, but it only took up a small portion of the space that was available. She talked to a few friends and neighbors and found that many of them wished there was an affordable CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) within biking or walking distance. As my friend discovered, these people were more than willing to come and help her turn over new sections of her yard so that the growing capacity could be increased. All they wanted was a share of the harvest. Thus, a tiny hyper-local CSA was born. This is peer-to-peer sharing. The cool thing about these examples is that, at the time, no one involved realized that they were peer-to-peer sharing. They were just clever people who realized that, by coming together, they could solve their problems in an efficient manner — and probably have some good times along the way. That’s why P2P sharing is the easiest way to experiment with the sharing economy. Online P2P

The caveat of P2P sharing is that it requires, well, peers. People living in remote communities or in areas where sharing is still a foreign concept might find it hard to engage in this kind of sharing. But even a lack of interested friends or urban density doesn’t have to keep you from sharing. The explosion of online social networking over



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the past few years means that communities can form among people who live far away from each other, and perhaps will never even meet. Online sharing services make it possible to swap, barter, and learn from people living thousands of miles away from you, even in other countries. These online services and marketplaces can be a great way to experiment with relatively low risk. The Internet has spawned “an unprecedented degree of interconnectivity as well as an infrastructure for participation,” write Rachel Botsman and Roo Rodgers in What’s Mine Is Yours. “Our immersion in innovative information, communication and technology (ICT) platforms, specifically online social networks and handheld mobile devices, is…driving us toward a ‘we’ mindset.” No matter what it is you want to share, from your backyard to your collection of Star Trek DVDs, there’s almost guaranteed to be a website that will help you get started. The great thing about online sharing is that it can allow you to expand your community without having to travel or take time away from your busy life. Although nothing can replace the experience of meeting a new friend in person, online relationships can be just as valid, creating networks of support between people who have never even spoken a word to each other. RelayRides, a car-sharing company based in San Francisco, is a great example of what this looks like in real life. The company uses its online platform to help people rent out their vehicles during the hours or days when they’re not needed. Vehicle owners get the joy of a few extra dollars in their pocket to help offset gas, insurance, and maintenance fees, while renters gain access to a reliable vehicle for a fraction of what traditional car rental companies charge. thredUP.com, an online clothes swapping community, is another example of how P2P communities can function without being tied to a specific city or neighborhood. The thredUP website acts as a virtual consignment boutique for parents who find it hard to afford high-quality clothes while their kids are still growing. The website offers cash for gently used, brand-name children’s clothing and

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shoes, and it pays the shipping for parents who’re willing to clean out their closets. The like-new clothing is then listed on the site at drastic discounts compared to retail prices. The process allows cashstrapped parents to purchase high-quality clothing, while decreasing the amount of clothing that’s thrown away prematurely. Sharing Companies and Business-to-Business Sharing

Communities are needed for sharing, but you might be surprised to learn that communities aren’t always made up of people. Well, ok, there are people involved, but the major players can be something else. Businesses, especially locally owned, small to mid-sized businesses, have a huge capacity for sharing. Not only can businesses share with the individuals in their larger community, but they can form communities and engage in sharing behaviors with each other as well. First, businesses can share knowledge. In the traditional business world, when businesses conduct market research or develop new technologies, they keep their findings under lock and key. Proprietary information can be as small as a secret recipe or as large as a new marketing campaign. Traditionally, sharing information with others in your industry was considered stupid because it would eliminate your competitive advantage. But this is only true if profit is a company’s sole reason for existence. The sharing economy has given birth to an entire generation of business people who think it’s more important to fill a need, improve a community, solve a problem, or reduce waste than it is to make a profit. This new perspective on what it means to be a successful business removes the barrier for businesses to share resources and information with each other. Because they’re more interested in serving their community in a smart, efficient, sustainable way, these businesses don’t mind letting their “competitors” in on their secrets. After all, two heads are better than one. When businesses take a collaborative approach to innovation, instead of patenting and hoarding



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everything to themselves, smarter products or ideas make it to the market faster, which is a win for everyone. “We’ve been trained to believe that for businesses to be successful, they have to rake in as much profit as possible and deliver short-term gains at all costs,” wrote Sara Horowitz, founder of The Freelancer’s Union.13 “But the quiet revolution is creating a new social market ecosystem that values transparency and responsibility … The simplicity of it is what makes it so appealing: it’s not led by government or big business, just a group of people with shared needs and a common vision. That doesn’t mean government and business play no role. In fact, their active participation in this quiet revolution is critical.” So how can an entrepreneur or brick-and-mortar business support the sharing economy? Well, companies can build their business model around the idea of facilitating sharing, either between people, like Airbnb and Kickstarter, or between a customer and the company, like Zipcar, which offers a fleet of cars for sharing that belong to the company. But what about traditional businesses that are already built around the one-direction, profit-driven mode? There are opportunities for them to share as well. B2B (Business 2 Business) sharing is best exemplified in the quiet but robust commercial barter markets that exist around the world. These marketplaces allow businesses to conduct transactions with each other without the use of traditional currency. You might be surprised to learn that major companies, corporations we think of as “The Man,” and even national governments often engage in this efficient type of sharing. As you might expect, B2B sharing works a little bit differently than P2P swapping or bartering. First, it’s probably not a good idea for companies to meet each other in a parking lot to conduct a trade, the way a person might do with someone they met on Craigslist. Instead, businesses typically utilize recognized trade exchanges. These trade exchanges facilitate B2B indirect barters while keeping track of the exchanges through trade dollars. Second, also unlike you

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and me, businesses can’t just give stuff away because it’s taking up too much room in the warehouse. For a company to share, it has to make good business sense. “What businesses offer in a trade exchange is excess capacity,” explains Howell. Excess capacity is the difference between what’s available for sale and what’s actually selling. “It’s better for a business to barter away what it can’t sell in cash, and barter within a trade exchange is an easier sale,” Howell continues. If you’re a pizza restaurant with lots of food but very little cash, barter exchanges make it possible to trade your “excess capacity” for plumbing repair, marketing, or even just a nice dinner that isn’t pizza. This method of putting idle inventory to good use as barter fodder isn’t limited to mom and pop shops, either. In his book, Jerry Howell tells the story of one of the most famous trades in history, transacted between PepsiCo, Inc. and the Soviet Union in 1990. “PepsiCo agreed to give the Soviets soft-drink syrup for Stolichnaya Russian vodka and 10 commercial ships. The New York Times reported the agreement was worth $3 billion, and maybe three times as much when Pepsi sold the vodka retail.” Both companies benefitted immediately from the trade of excess stock, and made inroads into new markets that would be even more lucrative in the long term. This same serendipitous scenario is repeated daily in the global marketplace. The Ormita Commerce Network, a recognized global trade franchise, estimates that approximately 70 percent of all Fortune 500 companies barter on a regular basis, totaling billions in official non-cash exchanges each year. Barter, while possibly the most attractive way for businesses to share, isn’t the only way companies can thrive by sharing. Those willing to reject the entrenched model of “create, sell, collect money, repeat” find a whole host of new opportunities perfectly suited to the current generation’s desire for something more than the same old consumption. This new model is what entrepreneur and investor Lisa Gansky calls “The Mesh”: an ecosystem of businesses that specialize in shareable products and the use of advanced Web and mobile data networks.



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“Mesh businesses are knotted to each other, and to the world, in a myriad of ways” writes Gansky. “Some connections are formed directly, such as an agreement among companies to identify a market and make coordinated offers. These companies share information to facilitate access to new customers, customer preferences, and goods. Other connections are formed indirectly through third parties…or via customers’ social networks.” These companies are interested in meeting the specific needs of their technologically savvy audience, not in convincing them to buy something they don’t need. Unlike traditional corporations, Mesh companies refuse to rely on “built-in obsolescence” to ensure repeat customers. Instead, they use transparency, communication, and

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convenience to demonstrate the value of collaborative consumption, and focus on making it as easy as possible for people to share without sacrifice.

Attributes of a Successful Sharer Sharing may not be new, but adopting a lifestyle centered around collaborative consumption is still uncharted territory for many of us. To be a good citizen of the sharing economy, you must have an adventurous spirit and be willing to blaze a new and wonderful trail. The most successful sharers are those who aren’t afraid to be early adopters; they are willing to explore new ways of doing things and share those experiences with the rest of the community. The exciting thing about this movement is that we’ve never seen anything like it before. We’re still trying to figure out what a peoplecentered economy looks like. For some people, not knowing the rules and not being in charge of the process will be nerve-wracking, but we can’t give up. Nothing worth doing has ever been easy. Successful sharers have to be willing to experiment, to try even though it might deliver lackluster results, or even failure. But what’s out there to be gained? Very likely it’s new connections, enjoyable experiences, and the opportunity to relish the thrill of solving a problem without wasting time, energy or money! All of those benefits are out there, just waiting for us, but we have to be willing to take the first step of that unpredictable journey. Ready for Adventure

Part of developing an adventurous spirit means learning to be flexible. Our consumption-obsessed culture has us trained to think that we are always a customer — and always right. As consumers, we’ve learned to be selfish, concerned only with our specific wants and desires. Even giving has become self-centered. Just look at what’s happened to the holidays. Advertising tells us that buying things for other people will make them love us more, or make us appear more



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successful, or will just make us feel good about ourselves. It’s become less and less about the recipient and more and more about the buyer (giver). We have the attitudes of emperors rather than the humility of servants. As Annie Leonard points out in “The Story of Change,” at StoryofStuff.org, we’ve forgotten that we are merely citizens of a world shared with millions of others just like ourselves. We’re used to getting everything “on demand,” right when we want it, as quickly as possible. When you plug into a community of sharers, on the other hand, you need to be patient. You may need to work with other people’s schedules, and, in some cases, take action on a moment’s notice. If you list a need on a peer-to-peer marketplace like Yerdle and someone contacts you with a way to fill it, your response is probably going to be time sensitive. If you’re looking for a ride home for the holidays through a ridesharing service like Ridejoy, you might have to leave at a different time than you had wanted or be willing to take a different route in order to accommodate your fellow travelers. Being adventurous also means not turning back when things get hard or seem to go wrong. Where would we be today if Lewis and Clark had turned back the first time they came to a dangerous river or mountain pass? What would have happened if Jonas Salk decided that three attempts to develop the polio vaccine was enough, and he might as well give up? Even though the sharing economy has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years, we’re far from having figured it all out. New ideas about how to build a life around sharing are being born every day. Some of them are brilliant, some aren’t. And some may be just a little ahead of their time. Although collaborative consumption can deliver so many positive benefits for our families, communities, and environment, it’s not a silver bullet or a one-size-fits-all solution to everything. Sometimes, sharing services don’t catch on. Sometimes, your peers aren’t interested in attending a community potluck. Sometimes, no one shows up to a clothing swap. Sometimes, the thing that you rent isn’t as awesome as it looked in the picture.

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Part of being an adventurous sharer means rolling with the punches and trying to learn whatever lessons there are to be learned, even in failure. My first experience renting a room through Airbnb was a huge success: the hosts picked me up from the airport, the room looked just like I expected, and we hung out drinking wine on the back porch the first night of my stay. I was thrilled! So, I booked another room when I needed to travel to attend a friend’s wedding. This time was different. These hosts didn’t offer to pick me up, so I had to rent a car. When I got to the address listed on Airbnb, the house and the neighborhood looked nothing like the pictures, and the hosts didn’t answer when I called to verify. There I was, lost, in a strange city in the middle of the night. I ended up getting a hotel. It turns out, the address was listed incorrectly on the website. When I got in touch with the hosts the next morning, they were very apologetic. They gave me the correct address, I found it without a problem (it was a beautiful house!) and they refunded my money for the first night immediately. I made it to my friend’s wedding without incident, and my hosts set out a great breakfast the next morning. After the first part of that negative experience, I could have decided to go back to the predictable yet boring world of commercial hotels, but I stuck it out and met some great people. Since then, I’ve used Airbnb several times and had more great experiences. The moral of the story is to remember that we’re all new at this. There is no perfect way to share. Put on your explorer cap and take some pleasure in the fact that you are forging down the road less traveled. There will be some twists and turns. There may be obstructions in the trail. You just have to adjust your expectations, realize that you’re a part of something bigger than yourself, and try, try, again. Start Small, Think Big

How many times have you made a New Year’s resolution to make a big life change, like riding your bike to work or eating more locally produced food, only to find that making good on your promise is



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harder than first anticipated? Humans love to bite off more than they can chew. We make big plans, claim we’re going to change the world and then — well, life happens. We get busy, distracted, or remember that no, our garage isn’t big enough to accommodate a microbrewery. Our best chance for success comes when we choose our changes carefully and start small enough that we can make progress before getting too discouraged. The same rule applies to participation in the sharing economy. When I first learned about collaborative consumption, I was initially excited and then slightly overwhelmed by all of the opportunities. You might feel the same way. And then you might think, how I am going to remember all of these options? Which type of sharing is the most important? If I’m not sharing everything, what’s the point? Take a deep breath. This reaction is normal. It’s because you’re looking at the entire, massive sharing economy and trying to swallow it all at once. The point is to do something not everything. To embark on a successful, shareable lifestyle, start small. Just like when choosing hobbies or New Year’s resolutions, you’ve got to be realistic. Is it realistic to pledge that you’ll never drive your car to work again? Probably not. But you could probably eliminate one car trip a week. The same principle applies to sharing, especially when you’re new at it. Can you pledge to barter or swap for every single thing that you or your family members need, starting tomorrow? Nope. But with all the sharing options that are available around the world and online, chances are there’s a way to participate in the sharing economy that will complement, rather than disrupt, your current way of doing things. Maybe you travel a lot for business. Choosing to browse Airbnb listings in your destination city, rather than a hotel reservation website, doesn’t take any extra time or effort on your part, but it’s likely to save you some money and result in a positive experience you’ll want to repeat. Although it’s a good practice to start small, there’s nothing wrong with thinking big. I mean really big. Don’t be fooled, even though

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many collaborative consumption services seem like simple common sense, they’re still pretty revolutionary. When enough people are thinking, talking, and sharing together, amazing things can happen. When we look to sharing as the obvious choice instead of an awkward alternative, solutions appear and lives are changed. People at all levels of society have been swept up in the quest to consume more, own more, thinking that their happiness and security can be provided by material goods. Collaborative consumption has the potential to disrupt this lopsided reality without asking people to abandon the activities or people that they care about. We can’t all live in an off-grid eco-commune or make all of our own clothes. We can’t all drive electric cars or give up our cars altogether. What we all can do, however, is change the way we view the things and the relationships that we already have. We can start to view our possessions as a type of currency — things that can be exchanged for other things we need or want. We can start to view our friends, neighbors, and social networks as resources instead of competition. When we acknowledge that we are all members of the same global community, the consequences of our actions, both good and bad, become clear. We start to feel pride and responsibility for the well-being of the entire group. What happens to one happens to all of us, and the actions of one are a reflection on the entire community. While trading clothes or sharing a car may seem simple, the net impact of the sharing economy is far from mundane. Each new person who hears the message of sharing and finds a way to incorporate collaborative consumption into their own lives becomes an example of the serendipity that’s possible when we’re willing to think outside the box. When sharing, or explaining the sharing economy to someone else, it’s important to start small and set realistic expectations. Don’t restrict the scope of your vision, however. Sharing can be applied to every single area of our lives; the only limits are those we set for ourselves.



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Be Good People

The current economic system focuses on supply and demand, producers and consumers. These two sides are locked in a never-ending struggle for domination of the market. Producers lose money when supply overtakes demand, so they search for ways to entice consumers to consume even more. The sharing economy operates on a completely different basis. Instead of constant conflict between producers and consumers, the sharing economy views individuals and businesses as members of the same ecosystem. Those who make and those who use operate on a level playing field and can often fluctuate between roles, depending on the situation. Instead of hoping for something good to “trickle down,” the sharing economy brings everyone onto the same level, encouraging the lateral movement of goods and assets so that everyone has access to what they need. One major fear people have about collaborative consumption is that it requires them to interact with and depend on people they don’t know. Sometimes complete strangers. This is the opposite of what we’ve been taught about society. We’ve been trained to see others as competition — potential thieves and kidnappers. We’ve been taught to trust no one. We’ve become convinced that the only way to get what we need is to fight for it, or to buy one of whatever it is we want, and then hoard it away from the eyes and fingers of the world. Collaborative consumption breaks down those mental barriers. It forces us to see people as people, just like ourselves. We have to learn their names and faces and even where they live. We have to acknowledge that everything’s not perfect, that we all have needs, and that others might be the key to meeting those needs. In short, we have to trust people. But we also have to be equally worthy of other people’s trust. The best way to be a successful sharer is to incorporate the Golden Rule into everything you do, online or off. Don’t share something you wouldn’t want to borrow. Don’t be the kind of guest you wouldn’t invite back. More than participants in any other social movement,

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collaborative consumers understand that what goes around, comes around — literally. Although there are still those who abuse the system, or make bad decisions, the overwhelming majority of collaborative consumers understand that to get good results, you have to be good people. While the Golden Rule is a good guideline for life in general, in the sharing economy, it’s even more important. Word travels fast in the sharing economy. Nearly every collaborative consumption website is synced with social media. Most have mechanisms through which individuals on both sides of a sharing transaction can provide feedback on each other and the experience. This feedback isn’t hidden or swept into a corporate data-crunching machine. Instead, it’s displayed on the profiles or activity logs of both individuals for all the world to see. If someone drops the ball along the way, the community is going to find out about it. If a sharing participant abuses the system, or behaves in a way that hurts or takes advantage of others, it instantly becomes a part of their public reputation. Too many incidents of harmful or selfish behavior, and their equity takes a nosedive. In this way, both on- and offline sharing communities are selfgoverning, rooting out those who aren’t in it for the right reasons. While these checks and balances are one of the beautiful things about the sharing economy, it’s necessary to point out that they, too, require participation in order to work. Reviews and feedback can only help improve a collaborative consumption service if members take the time to provide them. Social capital can only be used as a deterrent of negative behavior if we all agree to build that capital. A high caliber of behavior can only be expected from fellow sharing community members if we, too, demonstrate a high caliber of behavior each time we participate in the sharing economy.

Chapter 5

What Can Go Wrong

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haring is smart, and it can do a lot of good in our communities. Collaborative consumption helps people reconnect to their community, boosts the local economy, and reduces waste and harmful carbon emissions. We’ve also seen that collaborative consumption moves our perspective from ownership to access, and saves both time and money — two things you can never have too much of. Although sharing isn’t new to our species, we’re definitely out of practice as a society. We’ve clutched money and possessions close to our chests for so long, the idea of opening up to welcome in friends and neighbors can be scary. Some people say the sharing economy is too idealistic — that we can’t expect to share space and resources without something going wrong. According to these skeptics, strangers can’t be trusted; given the opportunity, they’ll take advantage of our kindness and trust. Some even say that collaborative consumption can put you or your property in danger, and they’re partially right. As in life, nothing is guaranteed in the sharing economy. Sometimes things go wrong or people make decisions that hurt us. But before getting too carried away, try looking at the real risks and very probable rewards of sharing.

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Potential Problems with Sharing Remember how I said that sharing requires community? Well, communities are made up of humans, and humans don’t always behave. Sometimes people cheat, steal, or accidentally break things. Sometimes people take advantage of the trust others place in them. Occasionally, albeit rarely, human nature can create an obstruction to successful sharing. Sometimes these bumps in the road are small (“oh, the sweater I got on Yerdle is a totally different size than what was listed”) and sometimes they’re big, like when Kickstarter campaigns raise a ton of cash and then never deliver the promised product. Uncertainty about how others will act might make you feel like sharing isn’t worth the risk, but don’t toss it aside too quickly! There’s risk in almost every single thing we do each day. How many times have you heard about a car rental company losing a reservation, or the post office smashing a package before it arrives? Despite the potential for things to go wrong, sharing isn’t more dangerous than any other type of service, provided you use your head and listen to your instincts. You wouldn’t get into an unmarked cab or let a stranger babysit your kids, and the same commonsense rules apply to collaborative consumption. While writing this book, I spoke with many people who run sharing companies or who actively participate in peer-topeer sharing ventures. You’ll be happy to know that there were very few reports of shared items being damaged or stolen. Most reported overwhelmingly positive feedback from their communities, with zero instances of “sharing gone wrong.” Where there were cases of disputes or negative experiences, the common theme was that community members typically rose to the occasion, reacting with patience and understanding, working together to find a solution. Using the responses of these experienced sharers as a guide, following are some of the most common problems that arise when sharing, as well as tools and tips that can help protect you and your property.



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Misrepresentation

One distinct advantage of face-to-face sharing is that you have a chance to meet the sharer in person before finalizing a transaction. When you sell or trade in person, you have an opportunity to inspect both the person and the item so that you know what you’re getting into. The same thing is true with sharing, bartering, and swapping. However, many of the most popular collaborative consumption services operate only on the Internet, some internationally. While this greatly expands your potential sharing circle, it limits your ability to meet a sharing partner in person. Instead, you have to rely on pictures and profile information to get a feel for who and what you’re dealing with. Pictures, while worth a thousand words, don’t always tell an accurate story. Items and services can be misrepresented, sometimes intentionally. Sizes, colors, condition and quality are hard to convey through an image and short description. As the old adage states, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” If an online listing seems incomplete or suspicious, it’s best to advance with extreme caution, especially if you’re swapping or lending something of value in return. Know your rights and responsibilities for reversing the transaction should the delivered item or service not meet your expectations. Unintentional Accidents

Humans can be clumsy, careless beings. We break and lose things on a daily basis. Although we may go to great lengths to take care with shared items, accidents still happen. Accidents are disappointing, but they aren’t the end of the world. Often, they provide a unique opportunity to demonstrate compassion and learn patience. Meg Murray, of peer-to-peer car-sharing service, Getaround, tells a great story about an unfortunate accident with a happy ending: A renter in Portland borrowed a car to pick up some house paint at the hardware store. Unfortunately, the paint can opened and spilled in the trunk, making a huge mess. The renter was mortified and immediately contacted Getaround support and the car owner, requesting

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to extend her rental in order to clean up the mess. When the owner received his car back the next day, it had been fully detailed, with not a drop of paint to be found. “I love when users in our community can work together to solve a problem,” Murray said. “It’s what helps build stronger human connections in our community.” The best way to avoid unfortunate incidents when participating in the sharing economy is to be prepared. Familiarize yourself with the sharing company’s liability policy and/or make sure you have preset terms about who will be responsible if an accident occurs, especially when the item in question is very valuable. Theft or Vandalism

Not everyone realizes what an honor and privilege it is to be granted access to the home or car of a fellow human being. While very rare in comparison with the number of sharing success stories, there have been instances where property has been intentionally damaged or stolen. One of the most well-known abuses occurred in 2011 and involved the international lodging sharing company, Airbnb. A San Francisco woman named “EJ” rented out her apartment while on vacation. When she returned, she found her home trashed and vandalized; documents related to her identity were missing, as were some of her most treasured personal belongings. Thankfully, at least one of the offenders was eventually arrested, and Airbnb publicly apologized for its contribution to EJ’s distress. The incident prompted the company to develop a guarantee that offers up to $1 million in protection against theft or vandalism. In 2012, using stolen identities, thieves joined luxury car-sharing company HiGear to steal four members’ vehicles worth a total of $400,000. The fact that HiGear did not employ a remote door unlocking system or immobilization technology like other car-sharing companies facilitated the thieves’ unsavory plans. Although some of



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the vehicles were recovered by the police, HiGear eventually closed up shop rather than install the proper deterrents. There will always be a few bad apples out there to spoil the experience of sharing services for the rest of us. If the potential for theft or vandalism has prevented you from sharing, take some time to research past incidents on the national and international scale. You’ll find, as I did, that they are truly few and far between. The key is to be sure you are adequately protected before sharing. Never continue with a sharing arrangement that makes you feel uneasy or unsafe. If the sharing involves travel or meeting someone new, be sure that you inform friends or family about your plans; have your emergency numbers with you, whether it’s the answering service for the sharing company or just a friend who can be trusted to pick up the phone in the middle of the night. Bad/Too Few Reviews

Yelp and TripAdvisor are popular websites because they allow users to learn from the experiences of others. We’re far more likely to visit a restaurant with five stars from 50 people, than one with two stars from four reviewers. Simply put, we trust the crowd. If lots of other people had a good experience, we have more confidence that we will too. The same thing applies to sharing services, especially those that are accessed online. Most online sharing services require users to fill out a profile, including pictures and information about where they live, interests, and experiences. Those that allow users to register via Facebook or Google+ often reflect how many “friends” that person has, each one of whom is a potential reference. Reviews and references are invaluable when you’re new to the sharing economy, and many people take great pride in composing them. Look for users with lots of positive reviews and connections. It means they’re active participants, not lurkers, and they take pride in delivering a positive experience. Incomplete profiles, suspicious pictures, too few friends or connections, and negative reviews are a warning to stay away.

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Legal Troubles

Even though sharing often provides access to what you need without traditional currency, it isn’t completely outside the boundaries of the legal system. Did you know that the US Internal Revenue Service considers bartering and swapping a type of income? If you’re a business owner and regularly barter your services with customers or other businesses, the transactions could be subject to a tax. While the IRS isn’t likely to be interested in the trade of a few bags of baby clothes for a lawnmower, higher-priced deals are on their radar. The last thing you want is notification of an audit because you’ve been bartering music lessons for dental work. If you’re bartering as a business, all trades are treated as cash transactions, therefore it’s up to you to claim any trades on your taxes. “If you own a business and trade $500 worth of goods in an even trade, the $500 worth of goods/ services you supply counts as a sale and the $500 worth of goods/ services you receive counts as an expense,” explains U-Exchange. com, one of the largest swap and barter communities on the Web. “If you’re from a country that has a Goods & Services Tax, that amount is collected from the other party and remitted when doing your taxes.” This means that while there is no tax benefit to bartering, it’s still a great way to conduct trades when a traditional customer can’t be found. Obviously, large barters like the one between PepsiCo and Stolichnaya are much easier for the IRS to spot than a low-value trade between small business owners. Still, it’s always a good idea to remain on the right side of the law. If you live in the United States, the IRS has a Bartering Tax Center page set up on its website. There’s even a handy video interview with an IRS official who explains what to do, what forms to file, and more. In addition to taxes, there are certain situations where peer-topeer sharing can be subject to regulations. Over the past few years, those looking to make money by renting out their spare rooms and apartments in New York and San Francisco have occasionally found themselves in violation of short-term rental laws. And it’s no secret



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that some people have created significant income streams by sharing their goods, space, and time with others. This thrusts collaborative consumption into a gray area that straddles true sharing and commerce. The overwhelming popularity of sharing services proves that governments need to reevaluate the scope of such laws, and, indeed, in many states such evaluations are already underway. Meanwhile, it’s a good idea to research any and all regulations that could apply to the type of sharing in which you wish to engage. Rest assured that any platform or company you use will have made sure they can’t be held liable if you’re found to be in violation.

How to Avoid a Negative Sharing Experience Now that you know some of the red flags to look out for, here are some tips on how to avoid disputes and/or deal with them should they arise. Research Sharing Services Prior to Signing up

Make sure you are familiar with the terms of any available insurance policies or guarantees. Many simple online swapping communities employ a “use at your own risk” policy, but services meant to facilitate the sharing of larger things, like homes or cars offer legitimate temporary insurance policies or money-back guarantees. As previously mentioned, Airbnb offers $1 million in protection against theft and vandalism, over and above what your homeowner’s insurance may offer. Similarly, Getaround and RelayRides offer $1 million in coverage for car owners and renters, and many other services offer guarantees appropriate to the value of what’s being shared. Search help forums or FAQs for information about how disputes are handled. It’s better to know a company’s process for handling problems before you start, so you’re prepared should something go wrong. Seek Out Services That Offer Complete Member Profiles

Look for services that provide authenticated photos of the person or property, private messaging similar to what’s available for direct

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messaging friends on Twitter or Facebook, referrals/references, background checks, or identity verification services. Rating and review systems are common among the most popular collaborative consumption services, and they are useful tools. These systems allow users to leave reviews detailing their experiences with fellow sharers — simi­lar to the way you would review a seller on eBay or a book on Amazon. And in the same way, members who have many positive reviews, friends, or references are preferable to those with few or negative reviews. Get Agreements in Writing

When sharing things on a temporary basis rather than giving them away permanently, it’s always good to have a written agreement that clearly articulates the expectations and responsibilities of all involved. Some collaborative consumption companies, especially those involved with home or yard sharing, offer template agreements that members can use to clarify the terms of a sharing arrangement. Agreements don’t have to be complicated, just a clear statement of who’s expected to do what, when, and an explicit statement of costs, fees, house rules, or other limitations on the scope of what’s being shared. For example, if sharing a yard, the agreement might stipulate which days the lawn is open for work, or how the harvest will be split between gardeners or perhaps the yard owner and the gardener. Familiarize Yourself with Local Laws

There may be taxes or permits required for you to legally share your property, so you need to check those out. You should also find out how sharing your property affects your own insurance policies. If additional coverage is needed, you should know beforehand. The Sharing Solution, a NoLo guide written by attorneys Emily Doskow and Janelle Orsi, contains a wealth of information about how to legally engage in peer-to-peer sharing. It includes dozens of helpful worksheets and checklists to help you create and maintain successful sharing arrangements.



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Don’t Share Things You Aren’t Comfortable Turning Over to Someone Else

If you’re petrified of someone scratching the paint on your new sports car, or spilling soda on your heirloom coffee table, it might not be a good idea share your vehicle or home. When possible, take sensitive items with you, secure them in a lock box or safe, or leave them with a trusted family member to hold while you’re away. Sharing should be a comfortable, convenient activity for all of those involved — the idea is to make life easier, not more complicated, remember? No one wants to walk on eggshells, so if there’s going to be a list of rules a mile long, it might be better to just take that thing out of the equation. There are lots of other things to share that won’t be so stressful. Ask Questions and Trust Your Instincts

The best way to avoid misunderstandings that could lead to a bad experience is to ask lots of questions at the beginning. Any active sharing community worth its salt has easily accessible terms and conditions, an FAQ section or help forum, and a way to contact support staff by phone or email. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about how things work, who’s responsible for what, and any potential risks to your safety or property. Look for testimonials from top users and be sure to reach out to your personal social networks to see if any friends have experiences they’d like to share. You ask your friends for referrals for hair salons and restaurants; you should do the same when choosing collaborative consumption services or P2P sharing programs.

Chapter 6

What to Share

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ow that you know a little bit more about what collaborative consumption is and how the sharing lifestyle works, you might be excited to give it a try in real life. You’re probably wondering “where do I start?” and “what should I share first?” Every single one of us is different. We have different needs, different assets, and different limitations on our time, money, and energy. That’s why there are thousands of different ways to start sharing. It’s usually best to start small, especially if you plan on sharing via a newly discovered service or online community. Some people like to join a sharing group, network, or online collaborative consumption service and spend a few days or weeks just poking around and getting a feel for how the community works. If you’re looking at a peer-topeer car-sharing service, you might spend some time browsing the profiles of those offering cars in and around your neighborhood. If you’re looking for a way to share the excess harvest from your summer vegetable garden, you might take a few minutes to understand differences between the way sites like Yerdle, BackyardBarter, and Craigslist can connect you with those who would appreciate it most.

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Once you’ve scoped out a few convenient sharing outlets and are ready to give it a try, look around your house, garage, or office. Everything you see can be shared! Think about all of those errands, hobbies, and side projects clamoring for your attention. Collaborative consumption can help you crowdsource the energy and skills you need. Think about your spare room or the driveway that sits empty all day while you’re at work. Sharing can allow you to utilize and even profit off of those empty spaces while helping someone else save money and unnecessary carbon emissions. Think about your messy home office, the one with a million distractions just waiting to pull the plug on your productivity. By joining a cooperative of other freelancers or remote workers, you can finally emancipate yourself from that claustrophobic home office and make connections that can boost your career. Once you’ve decided what you’d like to share, or what you’d like others to share with you, it’s time to figure out where to do the sharing. You already know that sharing can happen between people who know each other as well as those who are complete strangers. Although in-person peer-to-peer sharing is often the most instantly gratifying, online sharing services are often more convenient. With just a few clicks of the mouse it’s possible to swap or barter with someone who lives across town — or on the other side of the world. In the pages that follow, you’ll find a cross section of the things, spaces, and services that can be exchanged, rented, or simply given away through collaborative consumption. This list is by no means exhaustive. For starters, it focuses mainly on the sharing economy now emerging in the United States and Canada, but there are collaborative consumption services operating in dozens of countries. It’s meant to give you an idea of just how many services already exist to help you engage in the sharing economy. Don’t be afraid to poke and ask around in your own community to see what you can find!



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Goods Sharing goods is a easy introduction to collaborative consumption because we’re already familiar with a similar concept: donating. Many people are comfortable with the idea of donating things they no longer want or need to thrift stores or organizations like Goodwill or the Salvation Army. It feels good to know that your gently used items will be redistributed in the community. Like recycling your aluminum cans, donating prevents usable items from landing in the landfill; at the same time, it’s creating a low-cost alternative to new items for someone else. Donating is a version of collaborative consumption, but it’s somewhat disconnected. When donating to a church or local thrift store, most of us just drop the stuff off. We’re so happy to have it out of our way that we rarely stop to think about what happens after that. When we make a conscious effort to share goods in person or through a meaningful online exchange, we remain more involved in the process. People who choose to share goods in this manner often create a personal connection with those who rent, borrow, or assume ownership of their things. The same thing applies if you’re the person taking advantage of an item that’s offered up. This slight difference refocuses our thinking about people — the friends and neighbors with whom it makes so much sense to share what we have. Sharing our goods, either as temporary rentals or permanent gifts, makes us more aware of the life cycle of our material possessions; it also encourages us to be more responsible stewards of our possessions while they belong to us. Because sharing allows us to extend the life of an item, it’s important to choose a style of sharing that will allow that life cycle to go on as long as possible. Ideally, we should try to put it in the hands of someone who needs it and will use it immediately. This is most easily accomplished by swapping. Swapping can be accomplished via a face-to-face connection or online. In order to participate in a swap, you’ve got to let the

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world know what you have and what you’d like to have. In this sense, swapping is very similar to bartering because no money is exchanged and the mutual benefit of all parties involved is a high priority. The difference between swapping and bartering is that it doesn’t require a mutual exchange to happen at the same time or with the same person (aka one-for-one swapping). You may list several items that you’d like to share on a swapping website and find that there’s nothing you need or want in exchange. When attending a local swap event, you might find one person who wears the same size shoes and really needs your old winter boots. In a barter situation, the only way for them to get the boots would be to offer something you needed or wanted. In a swap scenario, they can snag your boots while you might find something you need from someone else. Through the online sharing site Yerdle, I’ve given items like books and clothes to one person in the community, and then received items like a digital voice recorder from another member days or even weeks later. Some online swapping sites realize that a coincidence of wants is hard to come by, so they reward community members with points each time they give something away. Accrued points can then be used to “purchase” something from another member when the time is right. However you choose to do it, remember that swapping is often just a fancy term for purposeful giving. If no one in your immediate social circle is interested in swapping, it’s time to take the search online. A number of online communities exist to help individuals host or find a swap in their areas. SwapforGood.org helps people host clothing swaps that raise money for local domestic violence shelters. TheSwapTeam.org is a similar resource that has chapters in Montreal, Boston, New York City, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Halifax, Winnipeg, Northampton (MA) and Quebec City (at least that’s how many there were at this writing; they seem to be ever-expanding). Both are great websites for finding swap events as well as getting some support and guidance for



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holding your own exchange event. While these sites focus on clothing swaps, it’s possible to exchange just about anything through an online swap service. And don’t forget about sites like Freecycle and Craigslist which have been facilitating moneyless sharing in communities around the world for many years. Ready to start sharing goods? Here is a sampling of all the collabor­ative consumption services I’ve found to help you share your clothes, furniture, media, toys, and more. Many are designed to facilitate online sharing, but some are merely platforms to help organize and execute face-to-face swapping events. Please note: The following sections contain information about companies and organizations that offer sharing services. Because the sharing economy is growing and changing at a rapid pace, it’s possible that company names, websites, or service offerings may have changed, merged with other services, or become defunct. Great effort has been made to ensure that the listings are accurate by the time of publishing, but be aware that information could be outdated by the time you read it. As always, do your homework, proceed with caution, and realize that this is the happy problem of participating in a new and exciting movement! Swap.com — The leading online swap marketplace for books, movies, music and games. Amazing selection. Browse this website to find items that can be claimed from online community members or check out their directory to find or list local swap events. • Cost to join? There is no fee to join or trade on Swap.com. • One-for-one sharing? Yes, all trades on Swap.com are one-forone, meaning that you will trade one item and receive one item in return. Swap.com does NOT facilitate two-for-one trades where a user trades multiple items for a single item. • Point system? No. • International? No, right now, Swap.com is only available to US residents.

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• Who pays for shipping? The person sending the item is responsible for shipping. • Insurance? None. BookMooch.com — Lets you swap books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. • Cost to join? There is no fee to join or trade on BookMooch. • One-for-one sharing? Yes. • Point system? Yes. Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. • International? Yes. You can request books from other countries, in other languages. To help compensate you for the greater mailing cost, you receive three points when you send a book out of your country, but it costs the moocher only two points to get the book. • Who pays for shipping? The person sending the book pays for shipping. • Insurance? None. Goozex.com — A trading platform for video games and movies. Goozex is a unique platform in that members simply list the games and movies they want to trade. Goozex then finds a match and notifies both parties of the potential exchange. • Cost to join? Goozex doesn’t have a membership fee, but, unlike other platforms, members pay a $1.99 transaction fee (called a Trade Token) for each product they receive. Purchasing more than ten tokens at once is rewarded with a slight discount. • One-for-one sharing? No. You are not required to give a game or video in order to receive one. • Point system? Yes. Points are earned by “selling” items to other members and spent by “buying” items from members. Points



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represent the trading value of any video game or movie on the network. • International? Goozex only allows the trading of items that are playable in North America (United States, Canada, and Bermuda). But there is no indication that other countries are offlimits for trade. • Who pays for shipping? When you agree to trade your item with another member, Goozex will provide you the recipient’s address and a printable shipping label, but the cost of shipping is the responsibility of the person shipping the item. • Insurance? Yes. Trades on Goozex.com are protected by the Goozex Guarantee. Should a product get lost in the mail or be broken during shipping, Goozex will refund you the points and trade tokens you have spent, and put your request back in queue. In addition, Goozex transfers the points to the seller only after positive feedback is received from the buyer, providing additional protection for your trades. Earned points are delivered to the accounts of members with consistently positive feedback faster than those who are new or have negative feedback scores. GameTZ.com — Game Trading Zone is a community of people who trade stuff, with an emphasis on video games. The site, which has been around for over ten years, was the first in a small family of swapping websites that includes musictZ.com, movietZ.com, and booktZ.com. • Cost to join? No, it’s completely free to browse and trade on GameTZ. However, trades are not always free on this site. Users can list asking prices which, while typically lower than retail, aren’t always cheap. • One-for-one-sharing? Yes. The “My Matches” feature will compare your wanted and available lists against all the other users. It will find people who want what you have and have what you want. • Point system? No.

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• International? Yes. • Who pays for shipping? Because this is one-for-one sharing, each person pays for the shipping of their own item. • Insurance? GameTZ provides a system where members get stars for being good traders. The site recommends that you trade mostly with starred traders when you’re just starting out. Chegg.com — Why pay $100 for a textbook you only need for three months? This website rents an array of required and non-required scholastic materials including millions of textbooks in any format. Community members also gain access to online homework help and textbook solutions, course organization and scheduling, as well as college and university matching tools and scholarship connections. • Cost to join? There is no cost to join or browse the Chegg community, but there is a fee to rent a resource. • One-for-one sharing? No. You’re welcome to rent as many textbooks as you like without ever offering one in return. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. • Who pays for shipping? The renter pays shipping costs. A prepaid shipping label is provided by Chegg when returning rented books. • Insurance? Chegg guarantees arrival of your textbooks no later than the promised date. If the item is late, shipping is refunded. If a book is unsatisfactory in any way, they will ship another copy at no cost. Note: there are lots of similar textbook and education material rental services out there. Check out: TextBookRentals, CollegeBookRenter, CampusBookRentals, eCampus, or Rent-a-Text. SwapAce.com — A powerful online marketplace for swapping, selling, buying and bartering just about anything, including services, space, and expertise.



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• Cost to join? There is no cost to join or browse the SwapAce community. However there are some enhanced features that require the use of community credits. • One-for-one sharing? No. You’re welcome to just give or just receive items, if that’s what you’d like. The SwapAce system does allow for counter offers, which is a unique feature. • Point system? There is a credit system that allows access to enhanced features, but they’re not necessary to swap or barter on the site. Credits can be earned or purchased. • International? Yes. SwapAce has hundreds of thousands of traders from over 150 countries and growing. • Who pays for shipping? Shipping costs are worked out directly between the two individuals making the trade. • Insurance? SwapAce does not provide any guarantees or insurance on trades. However, the community does employ a feedback system that allows users to see how well other swapper’s honor agreements and trades. PaperbackSwap.com — Don’t worry, PaperbackSwap isn’t just for paperbacks. This online platform helps its members swap, trade, and exchange books for free. It’s a massive online database with over 4.9 million literary listings. • Cost to join? Currently, there is no cost to join PaperbackSwap. A note on the site’s getting started page does warn that there may be annual “club fees” in the future. Some additional services and products can be purchased. • One-for-one sharing? Paperback swap does require you to share items in order to get items, but the giving and getting doesn’t have to be between the same two people. • Point system? Yes. Credits are earned for each book you share and then redeemed to claim books others have offered. Several credits are earned just by signing up. However, there is a Box-O-Books feature that allows swapping between members without credits.

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• International? Presently, PaperbackSwap is a US-only service, but plans to expand internationally are in the works. • Who pays for shipping? Shipping is paid by the person sending the book. PaperbackSwap provides printable shipping labels to facilitate this process. • Insurance? No. All liability is assumed by the members. CraftingaGreenWorld.com — This eco-friendly crafter’s website runs a free classifieds section where readers can swap and share craft supplies online. Got too many buttons in your stash? Looking for fabric remnants or reclaimed yarn? You can search for the supplies you need or list supplies that you’d like to offer up. • Cost to join? None. • One-for-one sharing? No. You can claim offered items without sharing your own, and vice versa. • Point system? No. • International? Yes, although most listings are in the US. • Who pays for shipping? Delivery method and costs are arranged between individuals involved in the swap or share. • Insurance? None. ClothingSwap.com — This organization was created to gather fashionable female swappers together in a fun environment where they can relax, mingle, get pampered, and then swap clothing, shoes and accessories and thus, happily augment their wardrobes. Each event is planned and hosted by the ClothingSwap team of volunteers. On the day of the event, attendees are treated to mini-salon experiences like hair styles or pedicures while munching and sipping on special treats. Finally, all attendees are invited to begin browsing the items others have brought to share. Anything not claimed is donated to a worthwhile charity. • Cost to join? Sometimes. Each swap event is different, but because of the extra treats and perks involved, there is sometimes a flat fee to attend.



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• One-for-one sharing? No. Bring all fashionable items that you are ready to let go of. Play dress up and take home your favorites. Unclaimed items are donated to a local charity. • Point system? No. • International? No. United States only for now. • Who pays for shipping? ClothingSwap.com facilitates in-person swapping during planned events, so there’s no shipping. • Insurance? No. There are some guidelines about what can be shared, however. All attendees are encouraged to provide feedback and reviews about their experience. The Swapaholics.com — This is a faction of Swap.com that exists to help people plan or attend swaps in their community. The Swapaholics’ stated mission is to “spread the love for secondhand style, and raise awareness for swapping as the new shopping.” • Cost to join? None. • One-for-one sharing? No. However, all attendees are required to bring at least one item to trade. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. For the past few years, the Swapaholics have co-hosted a Global Swap Day. • Who pays for shipping? Swapaholics facilitates in-person swapping during planned events, so there’s no shipping. • Insurance? No. RentTheRunway.com — This is a clothing sharing website designed specifically for those who love high fashion (or just need something fancy to wear to a black tie event). The RTR team works directly with over 170 designers to provide access to rent dresses, accessories, and more for about 10 percent of retail value. Simply reserve online, wear, and return the item when the event is over. • Cost to join? No. All you need is an email address to register for an account and browse listings.

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• One-for-one sharing? No. There’s no limit on what or how many garments you can rent. • Point system? No. • International? No. At this time, RentTheRunway can only ship orders within the continental United States. Conversely, orders must also be returned from a US address. • Who pays for shipping? Because this is a garment rental service, the person receiving the item pays for shipping. Standard delivery via UPS or FedEx is about $9.95 USD. • Insurance? Yes. We’ve all been to those parties where a glass of wine accidentally ends up in someone’s lap. A $5.00 insurance charge included on each item you rent covers most accidental damage; however, significant damage, destruction, and theft are not covered. Swapstyle.com — This is a fashion website where members can shop from each other’s closets and swap (or sell) unlimited amounts of gently used designer clothes, accessories, shoes, and even books, electronics, and collectibles. • Cost to join? No. Registration and use of the Swapstyle platform is free. • One-for-one sharing? Yes. Swapstyle exists to arrange direct swaps between two members. However, some items on swapstyle are offered for sale and can be purchased without making a previous swap or sale. • Point system? Yes. Swapstyle employs a feedback token system to help make trustworthy members more visible in the system. Good feedback improves the number of tokens associated with your account, while bad feedback subtracts tokens. It does not appear that tokens are a requirement for swapping. • International? Yes. • Who pays for shipping? In most cases, the person sending the item pays for shipping, although Swapstyle allows members to negotiate their own terms for each trade.



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• Insurance? No. BagBorrowOrSteal.com — A fashion rental site that focuses on accessories like jewelry and handbags. Items can be rented for a week, month, or an entire season. • Cost to join? No. Registration is free and only requires an email address. • One-for-one sharing? No. Bag Borrow or Steal facilitates direct rental from designers, and there are no limitations on how many items can be borrowed at once. • Point system? No. • International? No, United States only. Currently, Bag Borrow or Steal is unable to ship to PO boxes, APOs or international addresses. • Who pays for shipping? Standard shipping is included in the rental price of any item listed on the site. Return shipping is free. • Insurance? Complimentary insurance is included in the rental price and to cover cleaning and damage but does not cover loss or theft. FashionHire.co.uk — This online service operates much like other clothing and accessory rental websites already listed, only this one operates in the UK only. • Cost to join? Yes. Fashion Hire employs a pay-as-you-go membership fee of between £5.00 and £9.95 per month. A minimum commitment of three months membership is also required. Premium memberships are available for a higher price, but these members pay no per bag rental fee. • One-for-one sharing? No. Rentals are direct from designer and there are no limitations on how many items can be borrowed simultaneously once you’re an established member. • Point system? No. • International? No. Currently Fashion Hire operates in the UK only.

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• Who pays for shipping? There is a flat rate shipping cost of £12.99 assessed for each rental. Return shipping is free. • Insurance? Coverage for general wear and tear is included in shipping costs. 99Dresses.com — 99Dresses is on a mission to create an infinite worldwide closet so no woman ever has to wear the same thing twice! Members upload quality unwanted clothes, shoes and accessories into the Infinite Closet and trade them with others using a virtual currency. • Cost to join? No. There are no fees or commissions associated with the use of 99Dresses. • One-for-one sharing? Yes and no. Since items are “purchased” using a virtual currency, it’s possible to “buy” from anyone regardless of whether you have something they also want. Still, sharing your own items on the site is the main way to earn this currency. More about that below. • Point system? Yes. Buttons are the virtual currency used to trade items in the Infinite Closet. Each dress will have a price in Buttons. If you don’t have enough Buttons to buy the dress you want, when you click “buy” you’ll be able to purchase extra Buttons for one dollar each. Alternatively, you can upload and sell more dresses of your own. • International? Yes. 99Dresses started in Australia and has now expanded to the United States. • Who pays for shipping? Postage is a set price in Buttons determined by 99Dresses and is added to the price of the item paid in Buttons by the buyer. As no cash changes hands, when a sale occurs, the seller pays for the real cost of postage of the item. • Insurance? No. thredUP.com — Tired of having to buy new clothes every few weeks when your kids go through a growth spurt? thredUP is an



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online store where parents can shop for thousands of gently used, high-quality garments. Costs are greatly discounted from retail, and many items can be returned through the site on a case-by-case consignment basis. • Cost to join? No. There are some fees associated with using the service. • One-for-one sharing? thredUP is a marketplace for reselling gently used kid’s clothes. There’s money involved, but it’s a fraction of the retail cost. Listing items on the site is not a requirement for purchase. • Point system? No. • International? No. Currently thredUP can only ship orders to the 50 US states, DC, Guam, Puerto Rico and APO/FPO/DPO addresses. • Who pays for shipping? thredUP currently charges a flat rate of $6.95 for shipping & handling. Orders over $40 are shipped for free. • Insurance? No. However, thredUP employs a rigorous inspection and certification process to ensure all garments offered on the site are in practically new condition. Clossette.com — In the words of its founder, “Clossette is a worldwide closet, a ‘re-lovable’ clothing line, and a personal style blog where you can share what you wear.” • Cost to join? No. • One-for-one sharing? No. Clossete is an online marketplace where members can sell used or recently upcycled clothing. It operates just like any other retail shopping website, so there are no limitations on purchases. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. Anyone can list or order items on the site. • Who pays for shipping? Shipping costs are paid by the buyer.

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• Insurance? No. In some cases, items made and sold by Closette’s founder can be returned/exchanged if found to be unsatisfactory. ComicSwap.com — An online marketplace where you can buy, sell and swap comics with other comic enthusiasts on a platform built specifically with comics in mind. Run by a group of comic collecting friends from Appleton, Wisconsin, but largely moderated by the community itself. • Cost to join? No. There’s no cost to register as a member on ComicSwap, and all direct trades between members are free. How­ever, there is a flat fee of 6 percent assessed on all sales conducted on the site. • One-for-one sharing? Yes and no. ComicSwap provides several different ways to interact with the community. You can list items for sale through an auction (kind of like eBay), a direct sale (an ad with a firm price, no negotiation), or swaps (free exchange between two people who have mutually desired items). In order to take advantage of the free swaps, you must be willing to share something of your own as requested by the other swapper. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. • Who pays for shipping? Shipping costs are arranged between those involved in the trade or sale. • Insurance? No. Yerdle.com — Launched on Black Friday 2012, this online platform seeks to make sharing the new shopping. Browsing the site feels a lot like shopping at an online retailer, only all of the products are 100 percent off! The site debuted with over 10,000 items in categories that range from electronics to furniture to food. One unique feature is that members have the option to list items they’re willing to lend as well as give away. • Cost to join? No.



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• One-for-one sharing? No. Although all members are encouraged to list items they’re willing to loan or give away, it’s not a requirement for getting things from other members. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. • Who pays for shipping? Generally, the person who is getting the item covers any cost of transport. Yerdle does plan to add delivery features including low-cost local delivery and prepaid mailers to send items to faraway lands. • Insurance? No. RehashClothes.com — Rehashing is an easy, fun way for you to trade your clothing, accessories, and books with others online. Community members join groups, socialize, trade goods, and swap green living tips. By Rehashing, you can shop for clothes, accessories, and books without spending a penny, all while helping the environment. • Cost to join? No. Rehash Clothes has no posting fees, so you can Rehash as many items as you want and not have to worry about site usage fees. • One-for-one sharing? Yes. The site is set up to match those who are giving with those who wish to receive. However, many people list items to swap without a particular item that they want, so it’s fairly easy to negotiate unique trades. • Point system? No. • International? Although the site is set up to serve those living in North America, it’s still possible for residents of other countries to Rehash. However, shipping costs often make international trades difficult. • Who pays for shipping? Once a swap offer has been accepted, it’s up to the members to decide who pays the shipping. • Insurance? No. After a trade has been officially completed, both traders have the option to rate each other’s experiences. This feedback is used to develop a“Karma” rating for each member. A negative

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karmic history is meant to deter other users from trading with you. Freecycle.org — One of the oldest and most widely used grassroots organizations for giving and getting free stuff from your local community. Freecycle says its mission is to create “a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.” Members are asked to join a group that corresponds to their physical community. Within just a few minutes, it’s easy to create an offer to give something away or an ad asking for something you want. Groups are moderated by local members, and optional rules can be adopted or not depending on the group’s decision. • Cost to join? No. • One-for-one sharing? No. Freecycle members are welcome to request or offer as much or as little as they want. In fact, direct trades/barters are discouraged. Freecycle is meant to just be about giving stuff away for free. • Point system? No. However, if moderators receive multiple complaints about the same user, they may unsubscribe you from the group. • International? Yes. Currently there are Freecycle groups in the United States and Canada. • Who pays for shipping? Freecycle is meant to facilitate peer-topeer trades and sales only. • Insurance? No. Craigslist.org — This is the ultimate free classified site with categories for free stuff, shares, barters, sublets, garage sales, house swaps, tons of used stuff for sale, and more. In a theory, you could set yourself up with a job, an apartment, furniture, and a date all from this site in a matter of minutes and with no out-of-pocket cost.



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• Cost to join? No. • One-for-one sharing? No. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. There are subcategories of Craigslist for hundreds of cities in the United States, Canada, and around the world. • Who pays for shipping? Craigslist is only intended as a forum for face-to-face sales and trades. • Insurance? No. It’s worth mentioning that given the massive number of categories and listings on Craigslist, fraud and scams are quite common. It’s a good idea to stick to local trades where the item and its owner can be evaluated before agreeing to take it. Trashbank.com — Trashbank is a website where you can sell your items or services or barter, swap, and trade your items, services with other people. • Cost to join? No. There are no processing fees or other charges for using Trashbank. • One-for-one sharing? No. Since Trashbank offers barters, trades, and buying/selling, it’s possible to obtain items from a member without making a direct trade. • Point system? No. • International? Trading, buying, and selling through Trashbank is available only to individuals residing in the United States and Canada. • Who pays for shipping? Shipping details are usually displayed in the item/service detail section. Unless the trader/seller specifies who will pay for shipping, the buyer or trade requester will pay for shipping. • Insurance? Trashbank does not offer insurance, but does offer a two-sided review system. The company will take action on complaints of non-payment for a purchased item. NeighborGoods.net — Remember when, if you needed a ladder or a cup of sugar, you just knocked on your neighbor’s front door

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and asked to borrow it? NeighborGoods was founded on the idea that real world connections create happier, healthier communities. Using their modern Web platform, they make reaching out to your neighbors safe and easy. • Cost to join? Borrowing and lending items on NeighborGoods is free of charge. Members may charge a deposit or a rental fee for the use of their items, but NeighborGoods does not charge transaction fees. Members may choose to upgrade their account for $9.99. Upgrading provides members with access to more items and is optional. • One-for-one sharing? No. NeighborGoods is about borrowing and lending things needed by the community, not bartering or direct trades. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. Although NeighborGoods is based in the United States, and that’s where the most active neighborhood groups tend to be located. • Who pays for shipping? There is no long-distance sharing on NeighborGoods. • Insurance? No. NeighborGoods takes no responsibility for failed or less-than-perfect transactions. However, the company does give members tools to solve disputes. Peer ratings and comments are among the primary review systems for both items and members. If something doesn’t go well with someone, feedback is visible for other members to see when they’re deciding if they should share with that person. Too many complaints about the same user may trigger NeighborGoods to disable that person’s account. SnapGoods.com — An online platform that connects people who need things with neighbors and friends who are willing to lend them those things. SnapGoods lets you look for stuff posted by local members, or you can limit it just to folks within your existing social networks for greater security.



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• Cost to join? Signing up for SnapGoods and posting and browsing goods is free. If you borrow something that makes use of the SnapGoods secure payment system, you will be charged a small fee on top of your reservation fee. The fee is $0.50 per reservation, plus 7 percent of the reservation fee. • One-for-one sharing? No. SnapGoods is about borrowing and lending things needed by the community, not bartering or direct trades. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. However, the company is based in New York City, and that’s where the majority of its members are located. • Who pays for shipping? There is no long-distance sharing on SnapGoods. • Insurance? SnapGoods allows users to specify a security deposit to cover potential loss or damages. What’s more, SnapGoods backs up transactions between verified users with the SnapGoods Guarantee. If something goes wrong, they guarantee that your goods will be repaired or replaced, plus they will provide you with a temporary replacement item for the few days it can take to patch things up. us.zilok.com — An online marketplace that allows individuals and professionals to list any kind of item, service, space, etc., they want to offer for rent to their community. Zilok is one of the only sharing services to display listings of all the items for rent in a given location along with their price, conditions and available dates, conveniently mapped around the location of the user. • Cost to join? Zilok is free to use as a renter. Creating an account is free, and using the site to rent something does not incur any cost (a retainer fee paid to Zilok is deducted from the rental price paid to the owner). • One-for-one sharing? No. Zilok is about borrowing and lending things needed by the community, not bartering or direct trades.

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• Point system? No. • International? Yes. Zilok is set up to serve residents of the United States, the Netherlands, and the UK. • Who pays for shipping? Zilok facilitates face-to-face trades between people living in the same community, so there’s no shipping. • Insurance? For any rental transaction, whether online or in the real world, a rental contract or agreement should be established between the owner and the renter to confirm the deal and its conditions. This contract is available for display within the description of the items listed for rent. The consequences of an incident are governed by this contract. Individuals are free to use the standard contract that Zilok provides, which includes all the essential clauses of a classic rental agreement. SwapTreasures.com — SwapTreasures is a bartering website where members can set up online “stores” and auction off unwanted items in return for virtual currency. Points are then used to “purchase” items from other members. • Cost to join? No. SwapTreasures charges no fees; it does not cost anything to participate. • One-for-one sharing? No. No giving is required and no purchase is necessary since some points are awarded just for signing up. • Point system? Yes. The more popular a listing is, the more points will be offered for it. Points earned by giving away an item can then be used to get things you want from other users on the site. Normally, the best offer (highest points) on the item has the best chance to win the item, but the seller decides which offer to accept. • International? Yes. • Who pays for shipping? SwapTreasures recommends that all item owners pay for the shipping, so that all members can enjoy the benefits of receiving the winning item at no cost. The Free Shipping tag is specified on an item description if the owner is willing to pay for the shipping.



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• Insurance? No. A user feedback rating is employed so members can see how reputable another user is. User feedback is divided into three types: positive, neutral, and negative. Points can be rewarded to item listers and/or winners in situations where SwapTreasures has to step in to resolve a dispute. BarterQuest.com — No, it’s not another Facebook game. Barter­ Quest is a cashless trading platform designed for both individuals and businesses. Goods, services, and the use of real estate can be traded, from anyone to anyone, anywhere in the world. • Cost to join? No. Registration, membership, trading, and listing items is completely free for individuals. There is a one-time fee of $9.99 for members who wish to verify their payment accounts (a requirement for active trading). • One-for-one sharing? Not necessarily. While most transactions on the site involve trading an item and/or points for another item, it’s not required that you list something before making an offer. Multi-party trades or transactions involving three or more users are possible through the BarterQuest system. • Point system? One point has a real-world value of one dollar. Points can be used to equalize the value of trades. Members may trade with or without points. Points earned through trades can be redeemed for cash. • International? Yes. • Who pays for shipping? The seller. When a trade for goods has been confirmed, the user is required to ship their item to the shipping address of their trading partner within 72 hours, unless otherwise agreed by their trading partner. • Insurance? No. BarterQuest asks members to alert them to disputes so that they can determine whether a trading partner has violated the Terms of Use and should be sanctioned. Finally, members are asked to detail any negative trading experience in the trade feedback.

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U-Exchange.com — A barter site with over 70,000 members that specializes in every type of trade, from books and clothes to dog walking and website design services. Businesses are welcome to join and engage in B2B and B2C barters. • Cost to join? No. Thanks to advertising on the site, there are no commissions taken on trades, either. • One-for-one sharing? No. U-Exchange is set up to facilitate direct trades, but multi-party trades are possible. • Point system? No. • International? Yes. U-Exchange has barter categories for over 80 countries, although the most active countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. • Who pays for shipping? Members work out their own shipping arrangements for long-distance trades. • Insurance? No. Tradeaway.com — TradeAway provides the means for a business or person to acquire goods or services through a medium where cash is not a requirement for a transaction to take place. • Cost to join? No. Registering on TradeAway is always free. There are fees associated with a number of optional upgrades you can make to an account or listing. • One-for-one sharing? No. Both direct sales and trades are facilitated through the Tradeaway system. • Point system? Yes. TradeCredits are a non-cash, barter currency used by members to pay for items and store value in the system. • International? No. Tradeaway is only open to residents of the United States. • Who pays for shipping? Shipping arrangements and costs are worked out between trading parties. • Insurance? No. Listia.com — Listia is an online auction platform where you win other people’s stuff, from electronics, to crafts and antiques.



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• Cost to join? No. • One-for-one sharing? No. People bid on listings using credits they’ve earned. The highest bid wins. • Point system? Yes. Points are earned for signing up, listing items, making trades, inviting friends, and joining Listia on social networking sites. • International? Yes, although most listings are in the United States. • Who pays for shipping? In most cases, the item owner pays for shipping. • Insurance? No.

Skills/Time The sharing of skills, knowledge, and time is a very important part of the collaborative consumption movement. When people share their time, new skills are learned, new connections forged, and selfsufficiency gained. We start to appreciate skills that were forgotten when we started buying things instead of making or repairing them. You don’t have to be an expert to teach what you know, and no skill is too small or insignificant to share with others. Even if you don’t have a particular skill you’d like to share, your time is still a valuable resource. Ever heard the phrase time is money? Time banks allow members to turn hours into equity that can then be used to trade for things or services. Peer-to-peer errand and task networks make it easy to hire your neighbors to complete shortterm projects. Some people have even turned time-sharing into a full-time job. Sharing your time helps people (including you) save money, eliminate multiple car trips, and support the local economy. TaskRabbit.com — This errand and delivery marketplace connects people who have extra time with people who don’t. Members, called “TaskRabbits,” can make extra money by doing odd jobs or small tasks for those who are tight on time. • Where is it offered? United States only. TaskRabbit services are currently available in Boston, SF Bay Area, San Antonio, Austin,

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Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles & Orange County, and New York City. • Who can use it? Both individuals and businesses can use Task­ Rabbit to get things done while supporting the local economy. Several well-known companies use TaskRabbit, including Yahoo!, Meetup, and Eventbrite. • Cost to join? No. However, there is a price for each task (this is the maximum amount a TaskPoster is willing to pay to get a job done). Most of the fee goes directly to the TaskRabbit, who makes at least what he or she bids. A portion of each fee, called a service fee, is paid to the company for each transaction. The service fee is calculated on a sliding scale — the higher the TaskPrice, the lower the service fee. • What about safety? To ensure the safety and security of the TaskPosters, each and every TaskRabbit goes through a multiplestep application process which includes an essay, video interviews and a background check before being selected to run Tasks. Skillshare.com — A global marketplace for classes. In this online community, users can learn real-world skills from anyone, anywhere. Members can earn some extra cash by teaching a class or they can learn a new skill to help them get that dream job or start a business. • Where is it offered? Skillshare community members teach inperson classes in their local communities as well as online classes that can be taken from around the world. • Who can use it? Both individuals and businesses can use Skillshare to inspire, share, or host a space for learning. • Cost to join? Posting a class on Skillshare is completely free. Skillshare charges a 15 percent fee on all tickets sold. This only affects teachers; for students, the posted price is the price you pay. • What about safety? Skillshare has a site-wide set of Do’s and Don’ts meant to help teachers and students be good members of the community. If a class is unsatisfactory, students are encouraged to work it out directly with teachers. If an agreement can’t



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be reached, Skillshare may step in as a Mediator. Additionally, all students are asked to provide feedback about each teacher. Gigwalk.com — A mobile marketplace that connects employers looking for part-time, temporary workers to thousands of qualified, smartphone-enabled people who are eager to do field work and earn a second paycheck through Gigwalk’s mobile app. • Where is it offered? United States. • Who can use it? Businesses who need things done, and people who are looking for extra money who have done or are willing to do all kinds of work, from photography and data collection, to retail audits and mobile app testing. • Cost to join? None for individuals, businesses pay Gigwalk to list their jobs. • What about safety? Most people only apply for gigs that are in their neighborhood or places with which they are already familiar. There is an honor code and terms are listed on the site. Airtasker.com — A community marketplace that connects people who are looking for help getting everyday tasks and errands done with friendly and reliable people who want to earn some extra cash in a fun and flexible way. Taskers list tasks and Runners place bids of how much they would charge to complete the task. • Where is it offered? Australia only. • Who can use it? Businesses and individuals with more errands than hours in the day, and individuals with free time that they’d like to turn into money. • Cost to join? Free to register and list tasks. Airtasker charges 15% of the agreed Task amount and deducts this fee prior to releasing payment to the runner. • What about safety? Verification badges, reviews, and references help connect Taskers with the right Runner for the job. There are also safety tips for how to complete a job responsibly.

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BountyIt.com — An online platform where people get monetary rewards for sharing their feedback, ideas, time, and skills with those who request them. A member might ask for feedback on a website design, hire an accountant, or offer their babysitting skills. BountyIt provides the platform for people to compete for money and get services done without being exposed to much risk. • Where is it offered? Since transactions are brokered online, anyone in any country is welcome to join. • Who can use it? Both individuals and businesses can use BountyIt. • Cost to join? There’s no cost to join, but remember that BountyIt is designed to facilitate paid transactions. BountyIt makes money for its services by taking 20 percent of the offered bounty. • What about safety? BountyIt offers administrators that are avail-­ ­able to help resolve disputes over feedback or services. Only members in good standing are permitted to post or respond to a Bounty listing. SittingAround.com — An online network of babysitting co-ops where members can trade free babysitting with other parents, or build a local, private network of trusted paid sitters to share with your friends — or both. Also a great outlet for those who would like to work as a babysitter or nanny. Members earn points by babysitting and then spend those points to hire others to babysit for them. Additionally, paid sitters can be hired and paid with real currency outside of the SittingAround system. • Where is it offered? Since this resource is online, it’s accessible by users in just about any country. However, most of the co-op networks and sitters are in the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and France. • Who can use it? Parents, grandparents, and anyone else interested in finding a vetted sitter. Those who provide childcare services can also use the site.



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• Cost to join? Ad-supported memberships are free. Premium membership is just $15 per year — less than the cost of a single night of babysitting. • What about safety? All sitters on the site are encouraged to run a background check on themselves through TalentShield. This feature is available at no cost to the sitter, and helps parents to feel more comfortable when hiring a sitter outside their personal network. Messaging features make it easy to conduct a virtual interview with potential sitters. If co-op members are unable to resolve a dispute, a moderator acts as arbitrator in settling all issues. Issues mainly arise out of point discrepancies. Zaarly.com — A hyper-local online marketplace that makes it easy to buy and sell with your neighbors. Skills, services, and experiences can all be marketed through Zaarly’s simple online storefronts. Hobbyists or part-time entrepreneurs can make money from their passions in a simple and secure manner. • Where is it offered? Currently, Zaarly is only available in the United States. • Cost to join? Members only pay for the services and unique goods purchased through Zaarly, otherwise, the site is completely free to use. • What about safety? Zaarly offers a $10,000 guarantee on any transactions conducted through the site. Additionally, the site offers secure payments, secure messaging, and a community flagging feature that allows members to draw inappropriate conduct to the administrator’s attention immediately. BabysitterExchange.com — Established in 2000, BabysitterEx­ change allows people to join or create online cooperatives for baby­sitting, carpooling, sharing errands, pet-sitting, tutoring, and other help around the house. Each hyper-local, moderated community on the site uses tokens as non-monetary currency to facilitate transactions.

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• Where is it offered? BabysitterExchange is open to members in the United States and Canada. • Who can use it? Anyone with a need to fill or a talent/resource to share. • Cost to join? BabysitterExchange is free for individuals to use. • What about safety? Communities on the site can only be accessed by those with a Security Key. A community’s Captain is the only person that can provide a community’s Security Key. Disputes, which most often arise over token transactions, are resolved directly by Community Captains. Additionally, each new member must be “approved” by other private community members before he or she can fulfill a service request. Swappin.com — A community that empowers people to make the most of their skills and talents without the limitations of the traditional job market. Skills and services can be swapped barter-style or purchased with cash. After you’ve created your profile, Swappin will suggest people to swap with in your area. You can also browse other members’ HAVEs and NEEDs on your own and suggest a swap. • Where is it offered? Currently Swappin is open only to those in the United States. • Who can use it? Members include skilled designers, developers, consultants, hairstylists, childcare professionals and babysitters, writers, massage therapists, automotive experts, home improvement professionals, contractors, gardeners, and others. • Cost to join? None; it’s free to join and take advantage of Swappin services. • What about safety? Swappin encourages members to work together to resolve disputes without intervention. In extreme cases, Swappin or a representative may become involved. Participatory Government

Participatory government is the idea that all members of a population



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should be able to make meaningful contributions to decision-making. For too long, we’ve been content to vote, or not, hoping that elected officials will actually keep their promise to act in the best interest of the people. The power of the Internet now makes it much easier for all levels of government to become transparent, sharing data and engaging the public in a dialogue that leads to more creative and efficient solutions. Here are a few resources that help citizens get more engaged in their own governance. Neighborland.com — People who live and work in a neighborhood know what services, infrastructure, and businesses their community needs, whether it’s a local grocery store, cafe with WiFi, bike lanes, or a recreational center. Neighborland offers residents a friendly and engaging tool to voice their needs and connect with like-minded people to make change happen. ParticipatoryBudgeting.org — The Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) is a non-profit organization that helps communities decide how to spend public money, primarily in the United States and Canada. This organization works directly with governments and non-profits to develop participatory budgeting processes in which local people directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It’s their goal to include those who are normally left out of these types of discussions and decisions, namely the public! PBP offers many different opportunities for participation, from joining or starting a participatory budget movement in your own town, to volunteering, jobs, and internships. This isn’t a typical collaborative consumption service, but rather an invaluable resource for people who would like to see more transparency and community involvement when local government spends public monies. OpenGovernment.org — A free, open-source public resource website for government transparency and civic engagement at the state and local levels. The site is a non-partisan joint project of two 501(c)3

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non-profit organizations: the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation; OpenGovernment is independent from any government entity, candidate, or political party. The ultimate mission of OpenGovernment is to ensure that all three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) at every level of US government (federal, state, city, local) comply with the principles of open government data. YourView.org.au — YourView aspires to give Australians a stronger democratic voice. It has the unique ambition to present what people really think about major public issues — and giving that collective wisdom a role in the national political discourse.

Housing/Lodging When we travel, most of us choose hotels, motels, or resorts because they’re commercially run operations that provide a certain level of security. When you book a room in a hotel, you know (within certain limits) what to expect when you arrive. When you decide to share lodging with other people instead, it demands a sense of adventure and a healthy dose of trust. Lodging can be shared on a permanent, semi-permanent, or very temporary basis. Most people choose to experiment with temporary lodging shares as an alternative to traditional options. Others, once they’re familiar with the concept, choose to make lodging sharing a more permanent part of their life, often through the use of cohousing communities. Short-Term Lodging

Instead of booking a costly hotel room with a well-known brand, you instead look for a regular person who’s got an extra room (or couch, or floor space) they’re willing to give you on the cheap (or in some cases, for free). Of course, this means surrendering some of the anonymity that a hotel room provides, but in exchange you get to meet new people who know and love the area, and can give you all sorts of insider tips about making the most of your stay.



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CouchSurfing.com — An international network that connects travelers with free spare rooms, couches, and basements; it’s offered by locals in over 230 countries, and there are over 5 million members. CouchSurfing operates on the assumption that there’s no better way to immerse yourself in the local culture than to stay with a friendly local. The CouchSurfing website connects travelers and locals who then meet offline to share cultures, hospitality and adventures — whether on the road or in their hometowns. With a community of over 5 million members in 97,000 cities — and every country — CouchSurfing is uniquely positioned to help you find a place to stay, no matter where you live or where you’re headed. • Where is it offered? In 97,000 cities around the world. • Who can use it? Anyone who loves to travel and isn’t afraid to make new friends. • Cost to join? No. Free to join and use. No fee is charged for lodging, by the property owner or CouchSurfing. • What about safety? The first way that members support safety is by filling out a detailed profile and posting photos, both of which are important sources of information about who they are, how they think, and what their life is like. They can also choose to get verified, which means having a check done of their name and location; this helps the community see that they’re being honest about who they are. Additionally, CouchSurfers support each others’ safety by sharing information amongst the community. They do this by writing each other references, creating meaningful and detailed friend links, vouching for people they highly trust, and reporting abuse. Airbnb.com — The leading fee-based service that connects people who have space to share with travelers looking for lodging all over the world. Whether it’s a guest bedroom for a night, an entire apartment for a week, or an Italian villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point. • Where is it offered? In more than 33,000 cities in 192 countries.

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• Who can use it? Anyone who loves to stay in unique places, meet unique people, and rates that are far less than standard hotels or time shares. • Cost to join? None. Although one can join Airbnb as a traveler or host at no cost, there is a fee for booking a stay. Similar to the price a hotel would charge, this price is set by the person who lives in or owns the property. Additionally, Airbnb charges guests a 6-12 percent service fee for every reservation booked, depending on the total of the reservation. The higher the total, the lower the percentage for the fee. All fees are displayed quite prominently throughout the browsing and booking process, so you’re not shocked during check-out. • What about safety? Airbnb’s sophisticated system includes tools like a $1million Host Guarantee, authenticated reviews, security deposits, social networking integration, and 40 other features that facilitate trust and reinforce security in the marketplace. Travelers and hosts are given multiple opportunities to flag users, message threads, and listings, and they have 24/7 access to the Airbnb support team if something feels unsafe or uncomfortable at any time during the process. 9Flats.com — A fee-based service that allows you to rent someone’s room, apartment, or entire house so you can feel more at home while you travel. Unlike other lodging-sharing services listed in this section, 9flats provides a bonus account upon registration. This account can be filled with 9flats credit to spend on your next accommodation. Credits are earned by inviting your friends via Facebook or Web link, and leaving reviews and recommendations. • Where is it offered? 9flats offers 81,000 places worldwide — on six continents. The company is based in Berlin, Germany, so all prices are initially listed in euros, but can be toggled, depending on your preference. • Who can use it? Anyone.



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• Cost to join? No. There is no cost to sign up or list a space. However, a 15 percent commission is taken from hosts’ total payout when someone books their space. • What about safety? All payment is online (no cash), and all accommodation is protected by 9flats insurance, which covers guests and hosts against accidental damages of up to €500,000 for every booking. Reviews from guests and hosts help newer members make informed decisions about where to stay or to whom to rent. Roomorama.com — This service bills itself as the discerning traveler’s one-stop shop for short-term rentals. Its founders believe that it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to stay anywhere in the world. • Where is it offered? Although the company is based in New York City, it offers lodging options on all seven continents. Likewise, the website is available in nine different languages. • Who can use it? Anyone. • Cost to join? None. Hosts may post as many listings as they like on Roomorama, for free. Guests are charged a booking fee (which includes all credit card processing fees, etc.) which is approximately 8–12 percent of the total room rate cost. Fee is calculated automatically depending on the length of stay. • What about safety? Hosts can arrange a security deposit in the form of either cash or credit card authorization. A security deposit is held by the host for the duration of the stay and returned upon check-out if nothing is lost or damaged. Although it lacks a $1 million insurance policy, Roomorama does require guests and hosts to email a scanned photo ID to confirm the name on the credit card in order to make a booking. Tripping.com — Travelers can save a ton of money and connect to the local scene through this peer-to-peer lodging service and online community. Unlike others in this category, Tripping facilitates both no-cost and fee-based sharing of accommodations.

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• Where is it offered? Tripping boasts 850,000 spaces in 18,000 cities around the world. • Who can use it? Anyone. • Cost to join? Tripping is 100% free because cultural exchange makes the world a better place. Hosts, however, may charge a rental fee for their property. • What about safety? Tripping uses a combination of communitybased and technological features to help keep travelers and hosts safe and secure. These features include an anonymous review system, publicly posted testimonials and feedback (from both hosts and guests), face-to-face validation of identity and addresses, social networking, a travel support line, and a zero-tolerance policy for any abuse of the community. iloho.com — Destinations are all well and good, but the memories we make while traveling are all about the people met along the way. iloho makes it easy to share travel advice and plan trips with a network of travel writers across the world. Members share everything from tips on the most affordable airlines to their favorite itineraries. • Where is it offered? The iloho network provides access to over 300 airlines and 200,000 hotels in over 150 countries. • Who can use it? Anyone. • Cost to join? No. • What about safety? iloho is a user-generated online network for travelers. Its purpose is to allow you to build online connections with people who live in cities where you want to travel, or to provide advice to those who are traveling to your city. Unlike other services, members of this site rarely meet or stay with each other, so risk is minimal. Share as much or as little as you’d like. Triptrotting.com — An online community that makes it easy to connect with like-minded people around the world. Triptrotting



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uses a unique algorithm to match you with the most like-minded people from all corners of the world, people who share your interests and might even have similar personalities. Through these online connections, you can join authentic and fun activities, meet locals and host travelers visiting your home city. • Where is it offered? Globally. • Who can use it? Triptrotting is a community of verified students, university alumni and professionals. • Cost to join? None. • What about safety? Unlike other travel-sharing services, Triptrotters often meet up just to hang out and exchange advice. Publicly viewable reviews and ratings from fellow Triptrotters make it easier to choose a new friend. Vayable.com — An online marketplace where ordinary people can discover, buy, or sell unique travel experiences, including tours, activities, and extended trips — from other ordinary people. Why pay extra to listen to a professional tour guide when you could hang out with the locals? • Where is it offered? Vayable offers unique travel experiences in over 500 cities around the world. • Who can use it? Anyone. Travelers and guides from all walks of life are welcomed — professionals, experienced, and novice. • Cost to join? None. However, when explorers book an experience, Vayable charges a 3% service fee which is added to their total at check-out. This fee is only charged if the booking is confirmed. Vayable collects a 15% commission from all guides for all confirmed bookings. This is automatically deducted from the amount they pay out. • What about safety? All experiences are curated and reviewed by the community and vetted by Vayable. Likewise, all Vayable guides are pre-screened, recommended and reviewed by the Vayable community.

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GetYourGuide.com — This company, recently merged with former P2P travel service, Gidsy.com, connects adventurers with professional and semi professional suppliers of local destination services from around the world. Activities include tours, attractions, activities, nightlife, cooking classes, shows and events, city cards, ground transportation, winter sports and shore excursions. • Where is it offered? Globally. More than 20,000 activities across 140 cities and 40 countries. • Who can use it? Anyone. • Cost to join? It’s free to use GetYourGuide. There are no signup or subscription fees. Those who wish to become “guides” must pay a commission fee that is based on company size, frequency of bookings and other variables. • What about safety? A secure online payment system, a private messaging system, and user-generated reviews help GetYourGuide users choose activities that are safe and appropriate. Guidehop.com — A peer-to-peer marketplace for group tours and experiences created by independent locals for those seeking authentic experiences. GuideHop is open to whatever you like to do. Hiking, sports, shopping — whatever you’re interested in, there are probably other travelers who are interested too. • Where is it offered? Globally. Though, as a beta site, the number of listings in each city is somewhat limited. Most listings are in Austin, Texas, as that’s the city where GuideHop was founded. • Who can use it? Anyone. • Cost to join? None. It’s free to sign up and post activities. Guides control the cost, scheduling, and cancellation policies for their own activities. For each booked tour, GuideHop charges a 3% processing fee to the guide and a fee of $5 or 15% of the tour price to the consumer. • What about safety? Peer reviews of activities they’ve experienced



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appear to be the only way for users to differentiate between trusted and unproven guides. Sidetour.com — An online marketplace where users can find handpicked activities, tours, and memorable things to do, all hosted by talented local people. • Where is it offered? As a fairly new company, Sidetour currently offers experiences only in a few US cities. At the time of this writing, only Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC, were available. • Who can use it? Individuals (including those seeking private group tours) and companies are invited to use Sidetour. • Cost to join? None. Joining and listing an experience on Sidetour is free. For each completed transaction, Sidetour collects a 20% transaction fee before releasing payment to hosts. • What about safety? Sidetour personally vets all hosts to make sure they’ve got what it takes to lead an awesome experience. Flat-Club.com — An online service that helps you rent your place or find a place to stay through your own trusted academic, professional, and social networks. Stays can last anywhere from one night to six months. • Where is it offered? Globally. Most listings are outside of the United States and Canada. • Who can use it? Anyone can sign up for and browse/book on Flat-Club. However, only those with an active email address or Facebook login can join a “club,” which is an internal network restricted to students, faculty, and alumni of a certain school, or employees of a certain company. Some people choose to display their listings only to their clubs. • Cost to join? Everyone can join Flat-Club and the clubs of their existing networks for free. Flat-Club charges members a 5–15% commission on each booking, depending on the length of stay.

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• What about safety? No personal details are revealed before a booking is complete. Users have the ability to limit visibility of their listings to personal networks of their choosing, and they have complete control over who books their property. Flat-Club does not provide a guest screening service. Temporary House Swaps

Sometimes trips last longer than a week, or even a month. Rather than booking a room that’s charged by the night, a temporary housing swap might be a way to save money and gain a more immersive experience. With this kind of shared housing arrangement, users who want to travel to a particular location are matched with property owners at the desired destination. LoveHomeSwap.com — If you’ve ever wished you could just pack your own house in your suitcase, LoveHomeSwap is the perfect solution. List your home and then browse the listings of other members. When a match is found, you can vacation like a local while someone does the same in your house. All for free. • Where is it offered? LoveHomeSwap has more than 5,000 homes offered by members in over 100 countries. Most listings are in Europe. • Who can use it? Homeowners only. Swaps do not need to be simultaneous. Members are free to work out scheduling on their own. • Cost to join? Yes. LoveHomeSwap offers a basic membership starting at $14.58/month. This entitles you to unlimited listings and swaps with no additional fees. The Luxe membership starts at $27.42/month and includes 5-star concierge service, an airport lounge pass, personal key exchange, and a trust authentication service powered by Experian. • What about safety? Outside of Europe, it’s the responsibility of the homeowner to examine their insurance policy to guarantee



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that their property is fully covered while it’s occupied by other people. For those who reside within Europe, the company offers a bespoke insurance product for LoveHomeSwap members that deals specifically with the circumstances of a home swap. There is an additional fee to take advantage of this policy. HomeExchangePlace.com — An alternative to hotels and resorts for those who want to vacation in privacy and comfort. You stay in someone’s home while they stay in yours. In many cases, swapping homes has been the beginning of a new and long friendship. Nonsimultaneous exchanges are allowed. • Where is it offered? Globally. • Who can use it? Anyone. Both homeowners and renters are welcomed on HomeExchangePlace. However, swapping properties as a renter may be viewed as subletting in some lease agreements, so you should clear that with your landlord before making a swap. • Cost to join? None. Membership is free, as is listing and swapping accommodations. • What about safety? As always, good communication is key to a successful home swap. Members are responsible for contacting and asking questions of those with whom they choose to swap. Though HomeExchangePlace doesn’t offer insurance, they point out that most agencies cover exchange partners just like invited guests in your home or “permitted” drivers and offer coverage as such. To avoid unnecessary liability, it’s always a good idea to check with your individual insurance provider before swapping. Digsville.com — An international vacation home exchange. Expand your horizons and visit new destinations on a shoestring budget by swapping with others who want to visit your hometown. • Where is it offered? Listings and members are located in hundreds of countries around the world; however, the most popular

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destinations are in the US, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and Italy. • Who can use it? Anyone, from homeowners to apartment renters. Second homes and vacation homes are also welcome. Digsville guarantees you will find the home exchange you’re looking for or they will extend your full paid membership (to list your own home and offer) for an entire year until you do. • Cost to join? There is no cost to search, save, and contact your favorite listings. To post your own listing and access full member benefits, the annual fee is $44.95. There are no hidden charges or transaction fees. • What about safety? Digsville provides a member-generated rating system called U-Rate that allows members to rate any home in the database that they have swapped with. Potential swappers can read publicly visible, objective feedback from members who have swapped with a particular member and stayed in the very home you are considering. SabbaticalHomes.com — The leading Internet-based directory for academic home exchanges, home rentals, and house-sitting opportunities, facilitating sabbatical home matches across the globe. Established in 2000 by the spouse of an academic, SabbaticalHomes is still run by its founder and a team of multinationals who find inspiration in members’ extraordinary lives. • Where is it offered? Internationally. Top countries include Australia, Canada, England, France, Greece, Ireland, and Israel. • Who can use it? Although it was designed for academics and their families, anyone is welcome to use the service if they prefer to work with scholars, artists, and writers. • Cost to join? It is free to register as a member of the site. The fee for posting a home offered listing is $45 for academics ($65 for non-academics). It is free for academics to post a home wanted listing, and only $20 for non-academics. Listings remain



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active for up to 14 months, can be updated at any time, and are renewable. • What about safety? A private messaging system and user-generated feedback help to ensure you choose the right guest for your property. The site also offers a number of publicly visible testimonials from users. CommuterSwap.net — Commuter Swap represents a shift in the way people think about getting to and from work. By swapping accommodations with someone who lives closer to your job, it’s possible to create an economically, environmentally, and mentally more efficient way of commuting. • Where is it offered? CommuterSwap has members in 20 countries, including the US, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, and Argentina. • Who can use it? Anyone who wants a shorter commute. Both property owners and renters are welcome. • Cost to join? Search and browse the site for free. It normally costs $10 to post a listing, but that fee was being waived at the time of this writing. • What about safety? CommuterSwap encourages private messaging and interviews before choosing a swap partner. Commuter Swap does not post your name, street address, or email address on your public listing page. A well-documented contract between parties is highly recommended. All users are encouraged to contact their local insurance agent to confirm that their insurance policy completely covers liability when a guest occupies the home. HomeExchange.com — A vacation home exchange services that allows members to trade their homes, condominiums, or apartments at a time that is convenient to both parties. HomeExchange also facilitates hospitality exchanges. With these, members stay with you as guests and then you go and stay with them as their guests.

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• Where is it offered? HomeExchange hosts 41,000 listings in hundreds of countries. The US, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Denmark, and Spain are some of the most popular destinations. • Who can use it? Both property owners and renters are welcome. • Cost to join? There is no cost to browse listings. A $9.95 per month fee for a one-year unlimited membership costs around $119, while a three-month membership costs around $48. • What about safety? HomeExchange believes that good communication minimizes misplaced expectations. Members are encouraged to ask questions about the home and neighborhood, and should always request to see photos and ask for referrals from prior exchanges. As always, members should verify liability with their insurance company or landlord before swapping. Permanent Housing Swaps/Relocation

The current housing market, especially in the United States, is rather grim. Homes that used to demand hundreds of thousands of dollars now can’t be sold at any price. Individuals that have found work in other states or countries find themselves facing the prospect of paying two mortgages because they can’t unload their current home. Once again, when we eliminate the need for money to change hands, we find that even the task of moving to a new home can be vastly simplified. So far, I’ve talked about housing swaps in terms of vacations, sabbaticals, or short-term exchanges. But there’s a growing industry of permanent house swapping that can allow you to eliminate the hassle and high cost of traditional real estate sales. GoSwap.org — Who says using a realtor is the only way to find a new house? GoSwap is a permanent house swapping site, meaning you list your house or land, look for a house you want, and then exchange it with someone who wants your house. It works even if you still owe on your mortgage.



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• Where is it offered? GoSwap facilitates housing trades all over the world, although most listings are in the United States. • Who can use it? Anyone. Trading homes is just another way of selling real estate. The concept is especially beneficial to someone who is moving to a different location and simply wants a similar place to live in. Exchanging properties is also an alternative way for investors or second homeowners to move assets to different locations, thereby spreading and reducing the risk. • Cost to join? Registration is free. GoSwap’s self-serve basic listing plans are free; prepaid standard listing plans start at $20 for a two-month listing and $60 for a one-year listing. Bank and real estate broker processing fees are the same as one would incur when buying and selling a property because a real estate exchange is simply selling one property and buying another. GoSwap does not charge any commission for exchanging real estate. • What about safety? As with a traditional home sale, members are encouraged to use a real estate lawyer to handle the transactions. There is little that can go wrong under normal circumstances — assuming both parties are qualified, both properties are appraised at approximately the value of the contract price, and there is an escape clause in the contract stating that each party is relieved in the case that one party isn’t able to go through with the trade for some reason. BestHouseSwap.com — Post your property on their bulletin board. Include a detailed description of your house and a description of a property that you would consider trading for. Find a match among the houses offered on the site, and organize a simultaneous sale in which no money changes hands. • Where is it offered? This website currently only accepts properties in the US, Canada, and Mexico. • Who can use it? Anyone who owns a property. • Cost to join? There is no cost to browse or list properties.

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• What about safety? As with other services listed in this section, it’s recommended that you employ a real estate agent or legal professional when swapping houses. The process is very similar to selling a home on the traditional market, except that no money changes hands. DomuSwap.com — Billed as the Internet’s first social network for permanent house swapping. Through this forum, wanna-be home swappers can post their properties, communicate safely with other owners, and access other house-swapping sites. • Where is it offered? Internationally, although most listings are in the US. • Who can use it? Anyone who owns property of value, including RVs, vacation homes, and boats. • Cost to join? None. • What about safety? Think of DomuSwap as the Craigslist of permanent property swapping. It’s a use-at-your-own-risk tool, although the community has posted many helpful topics about value assessment and how to start a successful swap. EasyHouseExchange.com — This website makes it easy to enter your property or properties, swap with a straight exchange, swap and agree on the difference or swap to rent with another site member and move on. Temporary swaps also welcome. • Where is it offered? Currently active in 19 countries, including the United States and Virgin Islands, most of Europe, and Australia. • Who can use it? Property owners, developers, and investors are all welcome. • Cost to join? Private property owners are invited to join at no charge, and professionals are encouraged to contact the company directly to discuss rates.



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• What about safety? The site’s founders advise that swapping your property is a legal transaction just like selling it, so it is vital that both parties take proper legal advice before conducting a swap. Cohousing/Coliving

If you love the idea of shared housing and want to take full advantage of its economical and sustainable benefits, cohousing or coliving might be concepts to consider. In cohousing communities (which aren’t communes, like some people think) people live in separate quarters but share common areas, as well as decision-making and maintenance tasks. Social activities are an integral part of cohousing communities, so neighbors know each other very well, and they often create micro-sharing economies amongst themselves. Decisions about major changes to the community are made democratically, and community members often share the burden of their execution. Coliving (basically a fancy term for having one or more roommates) is a similar concept that’s expanding beyond the ranks of college students in tough economic times. Professional adults and even senior citizens are experimenting with shared living spaces as a way to save money, meet mutual needs, and conserve resources. Roommates.com — A national roommate search and connection service that boasts almost 50,000 listings in thousands of cities. Photo profiles, two-way matching, and free messaging services make it fun to use and safer than the classifieds. • Where is it offered? Only in the United States. • Who can use it? Anyone who’s looking for someone with whom to share living expenses and property maintenance duties. • Cost to join? Basic membership is free. As a basic member, you can add a profile, browse your matches and send RoomMail messages. In order to read messages received from other members, you must become a Choice Member. Fees for Choice Membership

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are as follows: $5.99 for a 3-day trial, $19.99 for 30 days, and $29.99 for 60 days. • What about safety? The sketchy thing about sharing a living space with someone else is that it’s hard to know what type of a person they really are. Roommates complete member profiles, including full photos, comments, and maps can help you form a more comprehensive picture of your potential coliving partner. Always be sure to ask for references; consider conducting a background check before making a decision. Roomster.com — Billed as the world’s largest social network for roommates, rooms, apartments, flats, rentals, and sublets, it has over 1.5 million profiles and listings and 4 million active users. Roomster helps match roommates with a compatible personality by offering numerous features, including the ability to search for roommates by age, interest, or location. • Where is it offered? Roomster serves all of the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. • Who can use it? Anyone interested in shared living arrangements. • Cost to join? All of Roomster’s basic features are free; anyone can search for listings, enter a profile, or view profile information for potential roommates. While sending messages to other users is free, responding to them requires an account upgrade, which requires a fee. • What about safety? The website employs a flagging system whereby users can report suspicious or inappropriate activity. There are multiple resources on the site about how to avoid scams and conflict with new roommates. As always, choose roommates at your own risk. Craigslist.org — Don’t be fooled by this website’s simple appearance. It’s the world’s largest digital classifieds; its forums are divided into local and regional publications. Craigslist is community moderated;



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in most cases, it’s free to browse and post listings. Every local Craigslist features a housing category with separate subcategories for sublets, roommates, vacation rentals, and housing swaps. The cool thing about using Craigslist to find a roommate (besides the fact that it’s completely free) is that they’re likely already local and familiar with the same places and culture as you. Or, they may be someone who is new in town who could expose you to an entirely different culture. Cohousing.org — Cohousing is the leading resource for those who want to learn more about this style of shared living. Now, the site also boasts a digital directory of hundreds of cohousing communities in the United States and Canada. There’s also an interactive map that allows you to search for cohousing arrangements in your own community or somewhere you might be considering as a future home. Ic.org — The Fellowship for Intentional Communities exists to serve the growing communities movement and provide resources for starting a community, finding a community home, living in community, or creating more community in your life. Among the many valuable resources it offers is a Communities Directory, with listings of hundreds of ecovillage, cohousing, commune, co-op, and other cooperative living arrangements available around the world. The US has the most listings with over 1,700, but there are communities from almost every other country included, from Nepal to Germany. CoHousingPartners.com — A full service cohousing development firm specializing in the unique needs of cohousing groups. If you are interested in starting your own cohousing community and don’t know where to start, CoHousing Partners is available to support you from initial group formation to looking for property to moving in.

Transportation Many view ownership of a personal vehicle as a necessity; many see it as a status symbol. Yet most vehicles spend 22 hours a day

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completely idle. All the while, we’re shelling out thousands of dollars a year on gas, insurance, and repairs, not to mention the environmental price paid just so we can hop in, crank the A/C, and drive ourselves two miles to the grocery store when we’re feeling peckish. According to the US Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey, 25 percent of all trips are made within a mile of the home, 40 percent of all trips are within two miles of the home, and 50 percent of the working population commutes five miles or less to work. Yet more than 82 percent of trips five miles or less are made by personal motor vehicle. Imagine if, instead of bearing the cost and carbon footprint of car ownership all on your own, you could just pay to have access to a car when you really need it? Shared transportation services make this reality possible. Car-sharing

Futureofcarsharing.org — Provides flexible transportation options for those in urban and some suburban areas. It’s instant-access to a network of cars 24 hours a day; you pay per trip, without commitment or inconvenience. Like most types of collaborative consumption, car-sharing comes in two main varieties: commercial and peer-to-peer. Commercial car-sharing ventures maintain fleets of vehicles, usually highly efficient models — in some cases hybrids or EVs. The company facilitates booking and payment online. You can rent these vehicles by the hour, so that you don’t pay for a single minute of time the car’s not in use. Insurance and gas are typically included in the price, similar to the way a rental car company would work. Of course, we don’t need big companies to allow us to share a vehicle. Peer-to-peer car sharing can occur between two neighbors or an entire community. There are even some commercial platforms that exist merely to make it easier to rent out your own car when you’re not using it. In some cases, this process can be quite lucrative for the car owner.



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Car-sharing successfully reduces the number of vehicles on the road, which means less traffic and reduced carbon emissions. Zipcar.com — A membership-based car-sharing company that provides automobile rentals to its members, billable on an hourly or daily basis. • Where is it offered? To be eligible for a Zipcar membership, you must be 21 years of age (those 18 and up can take advantage of Zipcar’s university programs with certain restrictions), and must have had a valid driver’s license for at least one year. Corporate and family memberships are also available. • Who can use it? Currently, Zipcars are available in the US, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom, although more international expansion is expected. • Cost to join? Zipcar offers multiple membership types so you can choose the plan that best fits your driving needs. All plans involve an application fee, an annual fee, and hourly driving rates. That may sound like a lot, but they’re all much lower than the traditional rental car alternatives. • What about safety? A Zipcar membership includes insurance coverage, although that coverage varies depending on the state in which the accident occurs and the age of driver. For both thirdparty and Zipcar vehicle damage claims, the member may be responsible for a damage fee of up to $750. Igocars.org — Since its inception in 2002, this non-profit has worked to catalyze a set of transportation innovations that make it feasible and desirable for Chicago residents to get around conveniently and economically without having to own a car and, at the same time, reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions. • Where is it offered? Chicago. • Who can use it? Anyone who lives in or near the Chicago area. Individual, business, and university memberships are available.

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• Cost to join? For individuals, it costs $50 to join, plus a $25 nonrefundable application fee. A $25 annual renewal fee is charged one month prior to the one-year anniversary date of your membership. There are a total of four different rate plans available to meet individual and corporate needs. • What about safety? An I-GO membership includes gas, premium insurance, maintenance, and 24-hour assistance. If you or your organization is found to be at fault in an accident, there may be a $500 charge toward the policy’s deductible. CityCarShare.org — A local non-profit organization on a mission to improve the environment and quality of life in the Bay Area by promoting innovative mobility options. Founded in 2001, CityCarShare now enjoys tens of thousands of members, hundreds of fuel-efficient cars, and programs that give back (every dime) to local communities. • Where is it offered? The San Francisco Bay Area. • Who can use it? City Car Share offers a multitude of membership plans, including plans for individuals and households, businesses and organizations, universities and colleges, low-income members, government, and hospitals. • Cost to join? Individual and household plans start at $10 per month with a $30 application fee and a $5/hour driving charge. • What about safety? Membership plans include gas/electricity, maintenance, a $1 million insurance policy and roadside assistance. Enterprise CarShare — Formerly known as Philly CarShare, this Philadelphia-centric service was acquired by Enterprise and expanded nationwide. The service gives you access to cars by the hour, or overnight, whenever you need them. Once you become a member, choose from a fleet that includes hybrids and electric vehicles, parked in convenient locations in dozens of cities. • Where is it offered? USA, with most pick-up locations on or near college and university campuses.



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• Who can use it? Enterprise CarShare offers membership plans for individuals, businesses, government agencies, and students/faculty of various universities and colleges. It also offers eligibility to those who are 18 and up (see individual location pages for more details). • Cost to join? Fees vary by location. Most locations charge an application fee (between $20 and $40, and in most cases waived for new applicants, an annual membership fee (between $20 and $40) and then offer hourly, daily and overnight rates. Gas included. • What about safety? Membership includes fuel, damage/liability protection, parking and maintenance. UCarShare.com — Run by popular moving rental company, U-Haul, this service operates only on college campuses and is designed specifically for use by students and faculty. • Where is it offered? At about 40 different college and university campuses across the United States. • Who can use it? Drivers 18 and older who have been licensed for at least two years (Canadian drivers welcome). Memberships are also available for families and businesses. Certain driving record restrictions apply. • Cost to join? Application fee of $25.00 Rates start at $4.95/hour and $0.49 per mile. Rates are capped at $8.50 in case you need to drive more miles. Daily rates start at $62.00/day with 180 miles included. • What about safety? As required by law, state minimum financial responsibility is included with every reservation. You are responsible for the first $500 worth of damage done to a U Car Share vehicle in the event of an accident. Every U Car Share member is afforded a collision damage waiver as part of a valid membership. Car2go.com — Owned and operated by the Daimler auto company, this car-sharing program is specifically designed with the city dweller in mind. It’s all the A-to-B convenience of a taxicab without

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the high costs and lack of control. Many electric vehicles included. • Where is it offered? Car2go started in Ulm, Germany in 2008. Today, Car2go operates in Europe and in cities across the United States, including Austin, San Diego, Portland, Washington, DC, Miami, and Portland; in Canada they operate in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. • Who can use it? Licensed drivers. Both individual and business memberships available. • Cost to join? All memberships require a one-time registration fee of $35. After that, there is a $0.38/minute fee with hourly and daily caps. • What about safety? Basic memberships include comprehensive insurance with a deductible of $1,000 per occurrence. LAXCarShare.com — Members sign up for membership and agree to undergo the DMV screening process required to rent the cars. Upon approval, members receive a key fob that will allow them to easily access LAX Car Share locations whenever they have reserved a car. • Where is it offered? Vehicles are available throughout LA County, downtown Los Angeles and Koreatown. • Who can use it? Any individual 21 or older, who has been licensed for at least one year, has no major violations, moving violations and/or DUIs within the last five years. • Cost to join? Membership is currently $25, and there is no application fee. A monthly access fee of $5/month is applied to all accounts. Hourly/daily driving fees also apply. • What about safety? Gas, insurance, and maintenance are included in membership fees. Deductibles of up to $1,000 apply, although members can reduce their potential deductible by taking a driving test. TimeCar.com — A membership-based car-sharing service that provides 24/7 access to vehicles on an hourly and daily basis. Members



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reserve a car on the Web or over an automated phone system. You unlock the car with a smartcard (a swiping device), drive where you want, and return the vehicle to its designated parking spot. • Where is it offered? Cars are located across Oklahoma and Texas. • Who can use it? Individuals who are at least 18 years old and able to legally drive in Oklahoma. Driving record restrictions apply. • Cost to join? TimeCar offers a variety of plans, all of which include a $25 application fee and hourly/daily driving rates. Some value plans also include monthly fees. • What about safety? All TimeCar plans include gas, insurance, 24/7 roadside assistance, and 24-hour member care services. Damage fees may apply if there’s an accident. CarShare.org — This regional non-profit provides access to a network of energy-efficient vehicles, allowing members to pay per trip without the commitment of owning a car. Vehicles are conveniently stationed, often near transit and bicycle facilities and are accessible to members with valid reservations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. • Where is it offered? eGo CarShare serves the Denver-Boulder metro area in Colorado. • Who can use it? Individuals with two years licensed driving experience. If you are between 18–21 years old you must have a clean driving record. Business and university plans are also available. • Cost to join? There are several individual plans available, all of which require a one-time $25 application fee. Daily and hourly rates apply, but can be reduced by paying a $10 monthly fee. • What about safety? All eGo vehicles are fully insured and have a $250 deductible. Higher deductibles may sometimes apply if the driver is found to have violated terms of the coverage. Communauto.com — By becoming a Communauto subscriber, you gain access to a fleet of cars that you can reserve at low cost for a half-hour, an hour, a day, or longer, according to your needs.

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Unlike other car-sharing services listed here, this company also offers a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform through which auto owners can safely share their own vehicles. • Where is it offered? Communauto vehicles are available in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, and Gattineau/Ottawa, Canada. • Who can use it? Drivers over 21. Communauto offers membership plans for individuals, families, and businesses. Teen drivers can be included in family plans. • Cost to join? Membership requires a refundable membership fee of $500. This gives you access to all plans, benefits, and vehicles. The non-member Le Lièvre package starts at $39 a year, and there are several plans in between, depending on your driving habits. • What about safety? In the case of an accident, your liability is limited to the deductible you select upon signing the contract, i.e., $0, $250 or $500 per accident. Usually, no deductible is billed if you are not at fault for the accident. P2P Car-sharing

RelayRides.com — RelayRides, launched in June 2010, is the world’s first, and leading, peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace. RelayRides connects people who need a car with vehicle owners whose rides would otherwise be sitting idle. • Where is it offered? RelayRides has members and car rentals available in every major city (and some non-major ones) across the US. • Who can use it? Renters must be 21 years of age, possess a current valid driver’s license, and a mobile phone. If you are under 25, you must demonstrate two years of current satisfactory driving history. Those who wish to rent their vehicle must own a car currently registered in the United States that is model year 1990 or newer and has a fair market value of up to $50,000. • Cost to join? There is no cost to become a RelayRides member; however, there is a charge for each rental; the rate is decided solely



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by the owner. There are many cars available for as little as $5/ hour, $25/day, and $125 per week. Keep in mind that since this is P2P car-sharing, renters are responsible for gas. • What about safety? Liability is a big concern, especially for those who will be lending their vehicles to strangers. RelayRides provides owners with a $1 million insurance policy to protect against all damages, up to the full value of the car. For renters, RelayRides provides up to $300,000 in protection against physical damage and liability. Additionally, the company screens each renter against strict eligibility criteria, and vehicle owners always have the final decision about who gets to rent their car. Getaround.com — This company provides a peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace that enables car owners to rent their cars — from Priuses to Teslas — to a community of trusted drivers by the hour, day, or week, using only a smartphone. • Where is it offered? Currently, Getaround is active in five US cities: San Francisco, Austin, Portland, San Diego and Chicago. • Who can use it? In order to rent a vehicle through Getaround, you must be at least 19 and have a Facebook account. If you are younger than 21, you must have a clean record. You must also have more than two years of driving experience. Additionally, if you have a US driver’s license, you are required to pass an instant driver record check the first time you rent. If you’d like to list your car on Getaround, it must be 1995 or newer, have less than 150,000 miles, and have an actual cash value of less than $50,000, among other restrictions. • Cost to join? There are no membership fees to join Getaround. However, there are hourly/daily rates to rent a car, which are set by and paid to the vehicle owner. • What about safety? Getaround’s $1 million policy provides coverage for liability, collision, and theft for any incidents that occur during the rental. The Getaround insurance policy carries

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a $500 deductible per incident, for which the renter of the car is responsible. Modo.coop — Modo is a not-for-profit car-sharing cooperative incorporated in 1997 to foster car-sharing and raise awareness about the benefits of sharing cars over individual ownership. Today it enjoys over 8,000 members and has vehicles at over 200 locations in Metro Vancouver. Members have access to an annual transit pass — encouraging more walking and cycling along the way. • Where is it offered? Vancouver. • Who can use it? Modo offers a variety of membership plans for both individuals and businesses. • Cost to join? The most minimal individual plan requires a $50 annual fee and $20 registration fee with $7.50/hr driving rates. • What about safety? A Modo membership includes the price of gas, parking, maintenance, cleaning, and up to $5 million in insurance. AutoShare.com — Toronto’s first (and most popular) car-sharing network. This 100 percent Canadian, locally owned company wants to have a shared vehicle within a five-minute walk of anywhere in the city. AutoShare was launched in 1998 by a group of 16 pioneering members who shared three cars in Riverdale, the Annex and St. Lawrence neighbourhoods. It now boasts more than 12,000 members. • Where is it offered? Toronto, Canada. • Who can use it? AutoShare offers memberships for individuals (21 and up), families, and businesses. • Cost to join? AutoShare’s “Simple Plan” requires a $45 annual fee (waived for the first year) and $10.25/hour. Other rate plans are available based on how much you drive. • What about safety? Members are covered by $2 million in thirdparty liability coverage and can pay an extra annual fee so that the deductible is $0. Gas, maintenance, and parking are also included. This is just a small sampling of the car-sharing services, both P2P



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and B2C that exist throughout North America. For a more complete idea of just how many car-sharing opportunities are in your area, visit Carsharing.net and Carsharing.ca. Ridesharing

Maybe you’re not looking for a car to help you do errands around town. Maybe you just need a ride to the airport or a way to get home for the holidays, but don’t have the money for a plane ticket. Maybe you’ve got tickets to a great music festival in the next state, but don’t want to waste all that gas driving solo. Ridesharing, also known as carpooling, is an easy way to make use of all the seats in a car. Ridesharing can be done on a very local scale, such as organizing a carpool among coworkers or students at your child’s school, or it can be used to save money on trips of hundreds of miles or more. Regardless of how you use it, ridesharing makes it easier and cheaper to get where you’re going, while reducing the number of cars putting harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Of course, it may mean that you have to take a trip with people you’ve never met before, but that’s why there are vetted ridesharing services to help keep you and your passengers safe. Zimride.com — A new spin on ridesharing that uses social networks to enable real connections. In seconds, you can set up a profile, see and book a ride in your area, or post a ride of your own. With over 350,000 Zimride profiles, you can view photos and even music and radio preferences to ensure an enjoyable ride. • Where is it offered? The Zimride platform currently serves San Francisco, Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, New York, and Washington, DC. However, members have the ability to post a ride going just about anywhere in North America. • Who can use it? Anyone with a Facebook account and a desire to meet new people while traveling for less. Zimride has also partnered with over 100 large universities, companies, and event companies.

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Clients include Stanford, Harvard, all 10 University of Californias, Intuit, Facebook, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and LiveNation. It’s possible that your school or company is already a member! • Cost to join? There is no registration fee for individual riders or drivers. However, corporate or university partners are charged a fee to join the network. • What about safety? Members’ personal contact information is kept private until a booking has been accepted. When a booking is accepted, passengers are charged but payment is held until 24 hours after the ride is complete. (This also eliminates the awkwardness of asking for payment in the car.) If the ride doesn’t happen or something goes wrong, Zimride support is available. Zimride also strongly encourages users to leave feedback for each other after a ride. Ridejoy.com — A community-driven marketplace for sharing rides. If you’re going on a trip, you can list extra seat space in your car; if you need to get somewhere, you can find a ride. Friendships included at no extra charge! • Where is it offered? In the United States. Ridejoy is based in San Francisco, and most of its users reside on the West Coast. However, tens of thousands of real people have used Ridejoy to find rides between 3,832 cities. • Who can use it? Adult drivers or passengers looking to fill or occupy empty seats for trips of 50 miles or more. In the future, Ridejoy hopes to build out its platform to connect drivers and passengers for short distances and commutes as well. Also, Ridejoy is perfect for transporting things other than people! Members have been known to deliver moving boxes, pets, and other things that need to move more than 50 miles. • Cost to join? Most rides on Ridejoy involve the driver and passenger sharing the costs of the ride — gas, maintenance, etc. Usually, the driver will set the terms of the rideshare, but everyone should



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feel comfortable negotiating the terms. Passengers pay the driver in cash before the ride is over. • What about safety? Ridejoy offers a detailed safety checklist of tips and tricks that will help both drivers and passengers have a positive experience. Users are encouraged to register using their Facebook account to help verify that they are a real person with friends. Reviews and references allow users to make informed decisions about who they share a ride with. eRideShare.com — Founded in 1999, this simple Web platform puts the power of the Internet to work, connecting commuters or cross-country travelers going the same way. Soon to be available in a mobile app, as well. It boasted over 17,000 users as of 2008. • Where is it offered? All over the world, including Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Scandinavia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and every state in the United States. • Who can use it? Anyone (including those who don’t own a car, groups, and companies). • Cost to join? None. Contributions toward gas etc. are worked out between users. • What about safety? eRideShare offers anonymous messaging so that users can interact without sharing personal contact information. Community guidelines encourage users to ask for personal references and meet each other in a private place prior to the trip. Carpooling.co.uk — Carpooling.com wants to make carpooling easy, safe and accessible to all. With just a few clicks, drivers can offer available seats, and passengers can book a ride. People choose who they want to ride with, how much space and comfort they need, where they want to meet, and what they are willing to pay. The service can be accessed from a mobile phone (iPhone, Android), or Facebook. People can also choose to travel by car, train, bus or plane.

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• Where is it offered? Carpooling.com connects people in over 40 countries. The website is available in seven languages. • Who can use it? Individuals, companies, and communities. Register with your email address or through Facebook. • Cost to join? The basic website features for finding and offering lifts on carpooling.co.uk are completely free. If a driver decides to use Paypal for online payment, there is a small commission charged per booking. Drivers decide what each passenger should contribute, based on Carpooling’s cost calculator. • What about safety? All members must provide a copy of their passport/drivers license/other official identification that Carpooling uses to verify identity and authenticate an account. All document copies and information is handled extremely carefully. Drivers or passengers who fail to live up to their end of the bargain are put on the “Black List” to warn other users. Avego.com — This company has developed a mobile app (for iPhone or Android) that enables private cars to become part of the public transport network by providing a marketplace for drivers to offer their unused seats to other people in real time. Avego automatically matches drivers with riders, calculates the maximum fee to be charged to the rider, and offers the ride to both users. • Where is it offered? Internationally. Avego is used by thousands of individual consumers and private transport operators in 80 countries. • Who can use it? Anyone with a smartphone. • Cost to join? Registration is free. Avego automatically charges the passenger a fair and predetermined price for the journey (based on a per-mile default rate). Avego manages the payment to the driver. • What about safety? Avego comes with many built-in safety features including a mutual rating system for drivers and passengers, the requirement that drivers authenticate riders by entering their auto-generated PIN and GPS logging of all trips.



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Amovens.com — Amovens is a free service that makes carpooling fun, cheap and easy, whether you’re looking for traveling companions for your daily commute or for a longer road trip. It’s a great way for drivers to offset the cost of travel, or even make a few bucks on the side. • Where is it offered? Internationally, including all of the United States and Canada. • Who can use it? Any adult who wishes to save money on car trips, short or long. Corporate services also offered. • Cost to join? Free to register. Drivers decide individual passenger fees for each trip. • What about safety? Amovens has developed several tools to make finding rideshare partners as safe as possible. They keep the vehicle license plate numbers of all drivers on record. Users are able to rate and recommend fellow drivers and passengers, which helps make the Amovens community as transparent and open as possible. Lyft.me — An on-demand ridesharing service owned and operated by Zimride. Using the Lyft iPhone app, passengers can instantly request a pickup from a safe, friendly driver who arrives within minutes. • Where is it offered? San Francisco, expanding to new cities in 2013. • Who can use it? Local community members who own a smartphone and are interested in giving or getting a fun, safe, and affordable ride. • Cost to join? None. However, rides are provided in exchange for suggested donations. Drivers receive 80% of the amount donated by passengers. • What about safety? Lyft staff carefully selects pre-vetted, trustworthy drivers from the community who swiftly get passengers to their destinations.

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CarpoolWorld.com — Carpoolworld.com is a website that matches commuters or other travelers based on their transportation needs. Users enter their origin (home) and destination (place of work) and the system automatically shows them a list of similar trips from other users. The users contact each other by phone, e­mail, or SMS to make ride­sharing arrangements. • Where is it offered? CarpoolWorld matches trips everywhere on Earth, using the best available geocoding data. • Who can use it? Individuals, businesses, municipalities, schools, or other institutions. • Cost to join? CarpoolWorld is free for individuals, while groups must pay monthly or annual fees of $25/month per 1,000 users, or $5,000/year per 100,000 users, whichever is less. • What about safety? Members are able to view full profiles of riders and drivers before booking. Private messaging available. No one is ever obligated to accept a passenger just because they have been matched. Private groups ensure trips with those you know. FareShareNYC.com — Fare/Share is a mobile application that helps New Yorkers find cabmates for similar routes. Empty seats are always a waste, even when the car isn’t yours! Fare/Share users will be able to quickly enter their destination, while a server will find nearby riders whose routes converge. • Where is it offered? New York City. • Who can use it? Any adult with access to a smartphone. • Cost to join? None. However, when you have successfully met up with your riders and you’re ready to leave the cab, the app will tell you roughly how much you owe the other rider. At that point, you can either pay with cash, or pay via Paypal and have the payment routed through Fare/Share, which takes a 5 percent “convenience fee,” and guarantees the transfer of the rest to the other rider. • What about safety? Common sense is key. Never get into a cab with a shady passenger.



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Bike Sharing

Bikes are making a comeback all over the world as people tire of the smog, traffic, and parking difficulties that come along with driving. Many surveys show that most people would like to travel by bike, but they list access to a bike as the major barrier. Not everyone owns or has the place to store their own bike. Still others use public transportation to commute from the suburbs to a bigger city, and then find themselves dependent on walking or taxis to get around during the day. Sharing makes it easy to use bicycles without the burden of ownership or maintenance. Most bike-sharing programs are designed for short commutes and errands. Users borrow a bike, ride to their destination, and then return the bike to a nearby kiosk. Bike-sharing programs can be executed on a very small scale or can involve citywide fleets of hundreds of bikes. Some are free, operating more like bike libraries, while others charge hourly or daily rental fees to offset the cost of (often, sophisticated) bike tracking, locking, and booking systems. Some provide safety equipment like helmets, lights and mirrors, but unless required by law, this is usually the responsibility of the individual biker. Traditional bike-sharing programs in which bikes are lent, either by a company or an individual, for a limited period of time aren’t the only option for accessing affordable bikes or supporting a bike-friendly culture. Bike libraries are highly localized, often volunteer-run endeavors that seek to provide their communities with access to affordable bikes. In addition to lending, selling, and donating bikes, organizations often run informal bike shops where community members can learn to repair and build their own bicycle, get educated about bike laws and safe riding practices, and become involved in promoting bike lanes, cycling awareness, and bike-friendly development in their area. You can find an impressive collection of bike co-ops and lending libraries across the United States and Canada at CommunityCycles.org.

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CapitalBikeshare.com — North America’s first regional bike-sharing system. Multiple membership levels make it possible to access more than 1,670 bikes located at over 175 stations. Use the bike for 30 minutes or the entire day, and return it to any station near your final destination. • Where is it offered? The Capital Bikeshare system spans Washington, DC, Arlington, VA, and Alexandria, VA. • Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card who wants to bike instead of driving. • Cost to join? Several membership levels are available, from 24hour to annual. Single-day memberships start at $7. You can take as many trips as you’d like during your membership period, and the first 30 minutes of each trip are free. After the first 30 minutes, you get charged a fee based on current Capital Bikeshare hourly rates. BikeNationUSA.com — A bike-share company based in Southern California that’s dedicated to giving everyone access to affordable, safe transportation alternatives. • Where is it offered? California, specifically the City of Anaheim, Long Beach, Westwood, Hollywood, Venice, and downtown Los Angeles. • Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card and an email address. • Cost to join? There are five membership options to choose from: 24-hour, 72-hour, 7-day, 30-day and 1-year, which range from $6 to $75. Trips under 30 minutes are free, and longer trips incur a charge for every additional 30 minutes. TheHubway.com — A bike-sharing system providing over 100 stations and 1,000 bikes available for trips from 30 minutes to 3 days. • Where is it offered? Hubway bike stations are located throughout Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville, Massachusetts. • Who can use it? Anyone.



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• Cost to join? To ride Hubway bicycles, you must first purchase access to the system. There are three options: Annual Membership ($85), 24-Hour Access Pass ($5), or 3-Day Access Pass ($12). Each access option provides unlimited rides under 30 minutes at no additional cost. Rides that last longer than 30 minutes incur usage fees. BCycle.com — A bike-sharing program that adapts to any size city, corporation or campus. Thousands of bikes available for short commutes that can be picked up and returned to any kiosk in the area. Integrated data tracking automatically captures information such as your distance traveled, equivalent calories burned, and carbon offset after each ride. It will then upload this data to your personal user profile on BCycle. • Where is it offered? Over 12 cities across the US. • Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card. • Cost to join? The cost to use a BCycle is divided into two components: a membership fee and a usage fee. Different B-cycle systems (cities, campuses, etc.) charge different amounts, and each system’s website provides all the details. Decobike.com — A Miami-based company that provides and operates world-class public bike-sharing programs to forward-thinking cities and campuses. They offer not only customized bicycles, but also solar-powered automated bike stations. • Where is it offered? Miami Beach and Surfside, Florida, and Long Beach, New York. • Who can use it? Experienced and knowledgeable bicycle riders only, ages 18+, who possess a credit card. • Cost to join? Monthly, unlimited BikePass memberships starting at $15 are available for residents of Decobike cities only. Visitors can access hourly or monthly memberships starting at $4 for 30 minutes.

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NiceRideMN.org — A non-profit organization that provides public bike-sharing in the hopes of showing that the benefits of alternative transportation are many and lasting. • Where is it offered? Nice Ride currently operates 145 stations in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. • Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card. • Cost to join? Occasional users can purchase a 24-hour subscription for $6 plus trip fees after the first 30 minutes. Monthly subscriptions are $30, while yearly memberships are $65. Bixi.com — Bixi Velo is a public bicycle-sharing system developed by the Public Bike System Company (PBSC) (which itself was set up by the parking authority of Montreal) to create a modular bicyclesharing system for the city. The company has now expanded across North America. • Where is it offered? Boston, London, Melbourne, Minneapolis, Montreal, Ottawa/Gatineau, Toronto and Washington, DC/ Arlington, as well as at the campuses of Washington State University and Research In Motion. • Who can use it? You have to be at least 14 years of age and measure at least 1.24 meters (4’1”) in height to use BIXI. • Cost to join? Like most bike sharing programs, there is a subscription fee plus an hourly usage fee. Memberships range from 24-hour to annual. A credit card is required, and a $250 refundable security deposit is held until the bike is safely returned to a BIXI station. BikeChattanooga.com — A project of the City of Chattanooga and managed by Outdoor Chattanooga, which is a division of Chattanooga Parks & Recreation. With 300 bikes and 30 docking stations, you can conveniently ride around and about downtown Chattanooga, from the North Shore to the Southside, and the University in the east to the Convention Center in the west. • Where is it offered? Chattanooga, Tennessee.



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• Who can use it? Anyone with a credit card. • Cost to join? Membership levels vary from 24-hour ($6 plus usage fees) to annual ($75). The first 60 minutes of every ride are free. P2P Bike Sharing

Velogistics.net — A global platform that allows people to share their cargo bikes with friends, neighbors, and strangers. Built on a straightforward mapping system, the site allows people who want to rent or share their cargo bikes to post photos and short descriptions of their bikes on the Velogistics website. Bikes can be shared for free or rented at a set price. • Where is it offered? Most of the current listings are in Europe (the company is based in Germany), but it uses the Google maps platform, so bikes can be listed anywhere in the world. • Who can use it? Anyone with a cargo bike to share. • Cost to join? None. Spinlister.com — A marketplace that lets you find the best bikes to rent online, whether from individuals or existing bike rental shops. • Where is it offered? Spinlister rentals are available across the US with plans to expand to other countries soon. They will accept rental listings from anywhere in the world. • Who can use it? Anyone, 18 years of age and up. • Cost to join? Listing your bike is free on Spinlister. When someone rents your bike, a 17.5% service fee is deducted from the rental price. The average rental price on Spinlister is $20 a day. • What about safety? If your bike is damaged or stolen during a rental period and the renter is unable to reimburse you for the fair value of your bike, Spinlister will cover the cost up to $5,000.

Food Sharing food doesn’t only mean giving and receiving food stuffs from other people, although that is certainly the most obvious method.

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When it comes to food, sharing can happen at many different stages of the process, from growing all the way to consumption. Sharing food means distributing the cost and work that it takes to produce, transport, and prepare it. It means investing time and money into foodstuffs produced locally, instead of thousands of miles away, and therefore sharing in both the economic and environmental benefits of a hyper-local diet. Seed swaps and libraries, community gardens, food cooperatives, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, potlucks, stranger dinners, yard sharing, and co-lunching are all ways food can be used to reconnect with and build community. Yardsharing

Yardsharing is an arrangement between people to share skills and gardening resources, like space, time, strength, tools, or skills, in order to grow food as locally as possible. People who have yards make them available to people who have the time, energy, and expertise to grow food. Everyone shares in the harvest. Yardsharing makes particularly good sense in urban areas where land suitable for cultivating is at a premium. Yardsharing is also a great way for businesses and organizations to encourage community involvement and positive productivity in their area. HyperLocavore.com — An online social network that facilitates peer-to-peer agriculture. Hyperlocavore helps people form yardsharing groups with like-minded people, neighbors, friends, restaurants, or faith communities. Members share gardens, seeds, tools, yard space and good times while growing delicious food. • Where is it offered? Currently, HyperLocavore hosts member groups across the US and Canada, but anyone around the world is welcome to start a group. • Who can use it? Anyone who wants to participate in growing local food. • Cost to join? None.



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SharingBackyards.com — An online platform that encourages urban gardening by connecting those who have the space to garden with those who would like to garden but don’t have the yard space. • Where is it offered? Internationally, with most listings in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. • Who can use it? Anyone with yard space they’d like to turn into a garden — or time, energy, or other resources to contribute to the cultivation of a shared garden in their area. • Cost to join? None. Landshare.net — An online community that brings together people who have a passion for homegrown food, connecting those who have land to share with those who need land for cultivating food. Since its launch in 2009, it has grown into a thriving community of more than 70,000 growers, sharers, and helpers. • Where is it offered? The United Kingdom. • Who can use it? Those who have land available for gardening or those who want to garden but don’t have the land. Alternatively, you can get involved with Landshare as a helper, offering advice, for example, or helping with the digging. Groups, organizations, and communities are welcome as well. The website offers handy agreements that can be used to avoid confusion and conflict between yard sharers. • Cost to join? None. MyCityGardens.com — An interactive website that links landholders with little time or interest in working their outdoor spaces with neighbors who want to roll up their sleeves and start planting. • Where is it offered? The Boston area, including Cambridge, Brookline, Somerville, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, and Medford. • Who can use it? Landowners and those who are looking for land on which to create a shared garden. • Cost to join? None.

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GrowFriend.org — A hybrid community gardening and social networking site with the goal of bringing people together to create gardens by focusing on building the relationships that will support robust gardens. GrowFriend has a lot of helpful resources for those with questions about garden sharing, including a downloadable garden sharing agreement and a list of topics to discuss before starting your eco-neighborly venture. • Where is it offered? Anywhere, although most listings are in the United States. • Who can use it? Anyone with land, time, or resources to share in the pursuit of building a community garden. • Cost to join? None. GrowFriend is a free public service of Windowbox.com. BackyardBarter.org — An online community where neighbors barter skills, tools and homegrown/homemade food. The website allows individuals to learn from each other, list what they have to share, and arrange bartering relationships with their neighbors. Monthly events (usually, with food involved!) facilitate learning and sharing among members. • Where is it offered? Seattle. • Who can use it? Anyone who has food, skills, or tools to share with other local food producers. • Cost to join? None. If you like the idea of eating locally grown food but don’t have a yard and don’t want to get your hands dirty, consider joining a CSA or purchasing your food from a farmer’s market. Doing so helps support local farmers and food artisans, and generates money for the local economy. LocalHarvest.org maintains a massive directory that can help you find farmers markets, CSAs, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area.



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Meal Sharing

Meal-sharing services make it easy to share the produce of your garden, a meal, or recipes with those in your community. Maybe your garden delivered a bumper crop of zucchini this year, or maybe you’re new to the area and would really love to meet new friends over a delicious meal. The following services and networks are great ways to expand your social network, as well as your cooking knowledge, all while enjoying scrumptious food with delightful people. Grubwithus.com — A social dining network that’s perfect for people who are new in town or those that want to expand their social or culinary horizons. Operating very much like an online dinner party, you simply browse the site for a meal you’d like to attend at a local restaurant, and then reserve your seat. • Where is it offered? International. Most groups are currently located in the United States, Canada, and the UK. • Who can use it? Any adult interested in eating good food and meeting new people. • Cost to join? Sign-up is free using Facebook or an email address. Once you find a meal that whets your appetite, grab a seat and pay an all-inclusive price (including food, tax, and gratuity). Then, just show up and mingle! You can also create your own meal (helpful, if you live in a city where Grubwithus has not officially launched yet) that takes place in any location. MealShare.org — A free website geared around making it ridiculously easy for existing groups of friends (called “MealShare circles”) to eat together. • Where is it offered? Anywhere. • Who can use it? A MealShare circle can take on a variety of shapes and sizes depending on whether the network consists of members of a church or local club, neighbors, or perhaps friends and families. Invitations to join a circle can only come from members of the circle.

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MealShare is about tapping into your existing circles of friends. • Cost to join? None. EatWithMe.net — A social networking site where you can plan cool food events, post them online, and invite other foodies to join in. It’s a creative space for fashioning your own pop-up kitchen, cooking class, or restaurant adventure. • Where is it offered? Internationally. • Who can use it? Anyone over the age of 18. • Cost to join? None. However, some EatWithMe event hosts may ask for a donation to cover the costs of the meal. Such information will be displayed on the event profile. EatFeastly.com — An online marketplace connecting passionate cooks with hungry eaters to offer homemade meals prepared and served in a cook’s home. • Where is it offered? Washington, DC, and New York City. • Who can use it? Anyone who loves to cook or eat good food. Feastly is still in private Beta. To join, just request an invitation. Once you join, you will start to receive access to meals in your city. • Cost to join? None. However, chefs/hosts determine the price for each meal to cover the cost of ingredients and their time. MamaBake.com — A movement of big-batch baking mothers. Mothers come together regularly in their local neighborhoods and cook one big batch meal each. At the end of the session, the bigbatch meal is divided up amongst the cooks, who then go home with a range of freshly cooked meals for the week. • Where is it offered? There are over 100 MamaBake communities spread all over the world. • Who can use it? Any mother who loves time off from making dinner every night, deep friendships that last, a sense of kinship and community, and a place to share kitchen wisdom and recipes. • Cost to join? None.



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NeighborhoodFruit.com — An online service and mobile app that helps people find and share the fruits, nuts, and vegetables growing within their communities. The site features interactive maps of backyard bounty and abundance growing on public land. • Where is it offered? Neighborhood Fruit currently operates only in the United States. • Who can use it? Anyone interested in making use of the abundant fruit growing in urban neighborhoods. • Cost to join? None. Foodshare.co.uk — A national not-for-profit, 100% volunteerpowered charity that connects growers with local charities. Why should surplus harvest go to waste when there are so many people in need of healthy, local food? • Where is it offered? Based in the UK, but available worldwide. • Who can use it? Food growers, schools, and charitable organizations. • Cost to join? None. COlunching.com — Forget eating lunch by yourself in a lonely break room. What if there were a way to share meals with new and exciting people every day? COlunching makes it possible to share meals and good conversation with others. And don’t be fooled by the name, any meal, including cocktail hours or brunch, is up for grabs. • Where is it offered? Internationally. • Who can use it? Anyone who likes meeting new people while sharing a meal. • Cost to join? COlunches take place in restaurants; you only pay for your share of the meal. There is no fee to participate in a COlunch.

Space Sharing space is a beautiful example of how we can enrich the community and reduce our collective impact on the environment without swapping a single thing.

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Studies have shown that proximity, that is, literally how close we are to one another, is proportional to our productivity, satisfaction, profitability, and even the likelihood that we will collaborate with one another. The problem is that traditional work spaces are designed to keep us separate. Think about the stereotypical corner office, the hierarchical corporate office building, or the cubical mazes in which many of us have worked. It’s all segregated, with walls and doors meant to keep out distractions (and indicate standing). We’re conditioned to believe that this is how it has to be in order to be taken seriously as a business or to make it as a professional, but the sharing economy disrupts all these assumptions. Space can be shared in all manner of different ways, from entire buildings to a single room or even just a couch. Most entrepreneurs or organizations can’t afford to buy or lease the space that they need, but coworking can provide an alternative. Solo entrepre­ neurs and freelancers can utilize coworking spaces not only to have a more professional space in which to work and meet with clients, but also to connect and collaborate with their peers in a hyper-local manner. Organizations and community groups need places to meet, educate, and plan, but often have extremely limited budgets. Libraries, churches, and large businesses often have empty rooms that they’d love to see used or rented. Startups, hobbyists, amateur chefs, artists, and hackers need places to dream, brainstorm, tinker, create, and make messes. Garages and basements can only serve that need for so long, but not every weekend warrior has the means to secure the space or equipment needed to test their ideas in a larger pool. Hackerspaces, makerspaces, shared studios, and communal kitchens can provide the launch pad where ideas can begin to take shape. An idea should never wither and die for lack of a big enough plot of land in which to grow. The shared space resources listed below can be greenhouses for entrepreneurship, knowledge, and community.



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Coworking

Coworking is a term used to describe a flexible and community-oriented workspace that welcomes business travelers, independent workers, and entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. Since 2005, coworking has become a global movement, made up of thousands of different groups, spaces, people, and communities in hundreds of countries. Sometimes coworkers gather informally in homes or public spaces as part of a jelly (a casual work event that can take place in a person’s home, a coffee shop, or an office) while most of the time they purchase (or barter for) memberships in dedicated spaces. Coworking spaces range from the massive to the very small, from franchises to member-owned cooperatives. They are located in large cities and rural towns. Some cater to a specific type of person or business, while others welcome any independent professional looking to escape the coffee shop. You can even cowork when you’re far from home. The international Coworking Visa program is a way for those who are a member of a participating coworking space to work temporarily in any coworking space around the world without additional charge. Use wiki.coworking.com, Liquidspace.com, DesksNear.Me, Co Loco.com, OpenDesks.com, DeskSurfing.net, or DeskWanted.com to find a friendly place to work no matter where in the world you live or may be traveling. Likewise, if you have space to share you can list your amenities and prices on these sites as well. For more information about nearly every aspect of the coworking industry, from how to start a space to the impact it’s having on employment, please see the resources listed at Coworking.com or check out the annual “Global Coworking Survey” published by Deskmag.com. Hacker- and Makerspaces

Love tinkering with new technologies, taking things apart, or working on the next revolutionary invention? Hacker- and makerspaces are community operated physical spaces where people with common interests — often in computers, technology, science, digital art

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or electronic art — can meet, access shared equipment, socialize, and/or collaborate on projects. Hackerspaces.org is a rich resource with information about nearly every aspect of this rising global community, including a comprehensive, user-maintained list of all active hackerspaces throughout the world. Perhaps your particular interests don’t skew technical. Makerspaces are similar spaces available for those with a wide variety of talents and interests. A growing directory of makerspaces is maintained by Makerspace.com. There is also an extensive listing of hacker and makerspace groups around the world on Meetup.com. Miscellaneous Space-sharing Opportunities

Some more examples of creative space sharing, just to give you an idea of what’s possible. laCocinasf.org — Commercial kitchen space, industry-specific technical assistance and access to market and capital opportunities for low-income, mostly female food entrepreneurs in the San Francisco area. ChefsKitchens.com in Los Angeles, KitchenCru.biz in Oregon, CropCircleKitchen.org in Boston, and CookingSpace. com.au in Australia are all similar concepts meant to support the endeavors of food entrepreneurs. Check out the hundreds of shared space food incubators listed at CulinaryIncubator.com. ShareMyStorage.com — A social marketplace that brings together those who have spare space and those who need spare space for storage. StorPod.com provides similar services. ChezJJ.com — A community of kindred spirits who believe in paying it forward by helping each other with advice, introductions, and opportunities (e.g., internships, jobs, funding). Chez JJ’s three locations in California act as hostels and coworking spaces for hackers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and future digital innovators. WrenchSF.com — A cooperative motorcycle and scooter garage in San Francisco where members can work on their two-wheeled



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machines. The shop has basic tools and equipment, power, security, and storage. ShareYourOffice.com — An international service for professionals looking to share their office space. ShareYourOffice matches small teams and startups that are expanding with larger companies with extra office space available.

Money Most of us work hard for the money we have, whether it be a little or a lot. The idea of sharing money doesn’t come naturally to us, and some are downright against it. After all, why should you share your liquid assets with someone who didn’t help you earn it? Contrary to popular belief, sharing money doesn’t mean giving it away for nothing. Instead, as with all the other things we’ve discussed sharing, it means distributing it among a community so that mutual benefits can be obtained. Yes, in some cases it means making a donation to a worthy organization or cause without getting anything back. But the rise of the sharing economy has created lots of diverse ways to use even just $5 extra to make a big difference in the world, and possibly change someone’s life forever. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding platforms have dramatically changed the way individuals and entrepreneurs gather funding in the early phases of a project. In the past, recording a demo, making a documentary, creating a prototype gadget or taking a research trip required money from banks or other wealthy beneficiaries, if they would even take the time to meet with you. Having a promising idea wasn’t enough, however, you also had to have a business plan, collateral, and in some cases, sign away partial ownership to your investors. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to be granted the loan, which is less likely now than ever. According to Forbes, in 2012 the total number of loans and money distributed in the United States via the Small Business

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Administration has dropped as much as 20 percent! Also, nearly 98 percent of the business plans received by accredited investors and VCs are rejected. Think of how many potentially revolutionary ideas have been abandoned because an unproven entrepreneur simply couldn’t get funded. Now, crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and Fundable have made it possible to “pass the hat” on a global scale, tapping into social networks and sympathetic communities who are willing to pitch in a few dollars to help bring a good idea to fruition. Through these online platforms, entrepreneurs and artists alike can find the funds they need to continue their work without debt or lack of control over the finished product. Kickstarter.com — A crowdfunding site powered by a unique allor-nothing funding method where projects must be fully funded or no money changes hands. Indiegogo.com — A crowdfunding platform where people who want to raise money can create fundraising campaigns to tell their story and get the word out. StartSomeGood.com — Connects social entrepreneurs, changemakers and non-profits with people who want to contribute knowledge, facilities, or capital. LuckyAnt.com — Lucky Ant helps local businesses get funds to grow by turning to you, their customers, for help. CommunityFunded.com — Focused on finding and spotlighting projects in the community that might otherwise be swept under the carpet. Small Knot.com — A way for you to fund independent businesses in your neighborhood looking to expand, grow or open up shop. Petridish.org — Crowdfund exciting new science projects and research. Pozible.com — A crowdfunding platform and community-building tool for creative projects and ideas.



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Crowdcube.com — A new way to fund startups and business expansion by crowdfunding for equity, giving entrepreneurs a platform to connect with ordinary people and raise venture capital. WhenYouWish.com — A new form of investment where ordinary people — instead of entrenched capital — have the opportunity to invest in the ideas and causes that will propel tomorrow. GoFundMe.com — A do-it-yourself online fundraising service that has helped thousands of people raise millions of dollars in online donations for the fundraising ideas that matter to them most. Fundable.org — A funding platform for startups that provides entrepreneurs with the tools they need to showcase their deal to potential customers and accredited investors. Crowdfunder.com — A social network and business crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs and investors to connect, crowdfund and grow. Watsi.org — An online peer-to-peer crowdfunding platform that allows users to fund life-changing medical treatments for underserved people in developing countries. Peerbackers.com — An online funding platform that allows business owners to raise capital from their peers in exchange for tangible rewards to those who contribute. Rockethub.com — A grassroots crowdfunding community for “creatives and fuelers.” Microlending

Also known as microfinance or peer-to-peer lending, microlending describes the extension of small loans to borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment or a verifiable credit history. Business loans, often under $1,000, are the most common type of financial service offered by microfinance institutions. Microfinance, while purely an investment vehicle, is also a compassionate venture, often used to support entrepreneurship and alleviate

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poverty. Although many microlending services are aimed at the developing world, some acknowledge that there are plenty of people in wealthy nations who could use a boost as well. In most of these microlending schemes, the lender has the opportunity to browse through a number of different projects looking for funding. Whether it’s $5,000 for a new car, or $300 for a rural farmer to buy new chickens, the parties agree to the amount of payments, payment scheduling, and sometimes an interest rate. Rates are guaranteed to be more competitive than those available from traditional financial institutions, and instead of funding the bonus of another corporate CEO, the interest earned (if any) goes right back into the pocket of a regular individual. UK.Zopa.com — Where people get together to lend and borrow money directly with each other, sidestepping the banks for a better deal. Prosper.com — A peer-to-peer lending site that allows people to invest in each other in a way that is financially and socially rewarding. Kiva.org — A non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the Internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. LendingClub.com — An online financial community that brings together creditworthy borrowers and savvy investors so that both can benefit financially. Zidisha.org — The only international peer-to-peer lending service that allows lenders to interact with borrowers directly, without intermediaries. Zafèn.org — A funding source for growing Haitian businesses and social projects that do not qualify for traditional bank loans and otherwise would not have access to capital.



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Milaap.org — The only online microlending platform that enables non-Indians and non-resident Indians (NRIs) to make a loan to India. Vittana.org — A microlending platform that facilitates low-interest student loans for those seeking higher education without a lifelong burden of debt.

B2B Sharing Resources Although we often envision private individuals when we talk about peer-to-peer bike rentals or swapping, corporate entities aren’t excluded from the sharing economy. Even if you run or work for a traditional company, with cubicles and 401ks, collaborative consumption can still be used to increase efficiency, profitability, and most importantly, strengthen strategic relationships with both customers and competitors. Collaboration and diversity make solo entrepreneurs and small businesses stronger, but they aren’t the only ones who can benefit from a free exchange of ideas and resources.“The way we work is changing dramatically,” writes James P. Ware in The Future of Business Collaboration. “The workforce has become far more mobile. And new technologies have made it both easier and much cheaper to connect with friends, family, and business colleagues on a global basis … At the same time, those interactions have become far more critical to organizational success. Collaboration — getting work done with other people — is increasingly seen as the key to success.” Dog-eat-dog competition, the idea that every detail about a company must be kept under lock and key, lest someone else be inspired by or improve upon them, is dying. And not a moment too soon. Rather than a hierarchy, the business world is slowly becoming more like a spectrum, a plateau, a sandbox. Playing together nicely means the generation of more high-quality ideas, and putting them in the hands of consumers who want them even faster. An openness to B2B sharing also means throwing off the limitations of financing — knowledge, physical assets, space, and experience all become

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currencies with which companies can trade before (and even long after) they’re in the black. FLOOW2.com — An online marketplace that facilitates the sharing/renting of personnel and equipment between companies. BizX.com — Members of the B2B exchange network called BizXChange use the BizX dollar as an additional form of currency, providing companies a strategy to increase sales and save cash. GreenAmericaExchange.org — A unique online marketplace where members can make trades using a complementary currency instead of cash. By turning unsold goods, unbooked appointments and under-utilized space into transferable digital “Trade Dollars,” the exchange combines the benefits of direct barter with the flexibility of money. e-Xmerce (thinkbarter.com) — A leading provider of barter exchange services for Western Canadian businesses, eXmerce identifies trade needs, efficiently matches buyers with suppliers, and consistently ensures a robust and growth-oriented barter exchange environment. U-Exchange.com — A swap site that specializes in every type of trade. No barter currencies or commissions taken on trades. Contact, post and swap with other members (allows businesses to register.). Barter Business Unlimited (bbubarter.com) — A membership lets you barter for products direct from other businesses, as well as obtaining media advertising, travel and entertainment services, healthcare, fitness opportunities and more, all without exchanging cash. MaestroMarket.com — A unique and first-of-its-kind platform that connects people with their ideal experts, or even their heroes. Apply to be an expert or use it to get valuable business advice.

General Resources for Sharing

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hareable.net — The first and only online magazine completely focused on telling the story of sharing. This publication covers the people and projects bringing a shareable world to life. It also offers a wealth of free resources for starting or participating in just about any kind of peer-to-peer or collaborative consumption initiative. SharingSolution.com — A Web community created by Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow, authors of the book by the same name. This website offers a constant stream of insightful articles, links, and resources for sharing food, housing, transportation, housing and more. P2PFoundation.net — An international organization focused on studying, researching, documenting and promoting peer-to-peer practices in a very broad sense. This website is a knowledge commons collaboratively built by the P2P Foundation community. CollaborativeConsumption.com — An online information hub created by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rodgers, authors of the break-out

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book, What’s Mine Is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption Is Changing The Way We Live. This website is a gathering place for the most up-to-date information about the collaborative consumption industry, including market reports, definitions of the movement and collaborative consumption principles, infographics, blog posts, interviews with sharing economy leaders, tweets and more. Meshing.it — A website community created by Lisa Gansky, author of The Mesh, a book about how collaborative consumption is reshaping how we go to market, who we partner with and how we invite participation and engage new customers. Includes a directory of companies currently moving the sharing economy forward. OnTheCommons.org — OntheCommons (OTC) is a commons movement strategy center founded in 2001. OTC’s purpose is to activate the emergence of a commons-based society by: building and bringing visibility to the commons movement, initiating and catalyzing commons work that focuses on commons-based solutions, and developing and encouraging commons leadership. All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons — A book by Jay Walljasper and Bill McKibben. A wake-up call that will inspire you to see the world in a new way. It’s a Shareable Life — A book by Alexandra Liss, Chelsea Rustrum and Gabriel Stempinski that includes tons of how-to’s, case studies and tips and tricks for making money through collaborative consumption. The book itself was crowdfunded. The People Who Share — (thepeoplewhoshare.com): founded by Benita Matofska, a global movement and campaign to build a Sharing Economy; the organization behind Global Sharing Day which takes place each year on the first Sunday in June and reaches over 70 million people in 147 countries and Sharing Economy TV (SETV) the only crowdsourced web channel devoted to the



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Sharing Economy (sharingeconomytv.com) The People Who Share are also the pioneers behind the Global Sharing Economy Network (meetup.com/Peoplewhoshare) and Crowdshare, festival-style community sharing carnivals. Compare and Share ­— (compareandshare.com) the world’s first comparison marketplace of the Sharing Economy, a one-stop destination aggregating Sharing Economy initiatives, launched by Founder of The People Who Share, Benita Matofska and Nick Tong. Compare and Share offers consumers a one-stop destination, making it easy and accessible to share. Currently aggregating in the travel vertical, the company is expanding to other verticals in the Sharing Economy this year.

Acknowledgments

T

his book is an example of what can happen when we share and support each other without reservation. Many people, from many different communities, provided information and inspiration for these pages, but they may never have materialized without the following. My parents, who sparked my love of words by surrounding me with books. My siblings, Abigail and Stephen, who amaze me with their strength and talent. I’m proud just to be related. My friend and collaborator Angel Kwiatkowski, who has done more to encourage my confidence and success as an independent professional than she can ever know. The global coworking community, especially the amazing folks at Cohere Coworking in Fort Collins and Creative Density in Denver. You are living proof that when people build a community around collaboration, serendipitous happenings are guaranteed. My friends at Shareable Magazine, which tells a hopeful story about human nature and our future, and provided my first opportunity to write about the sharing economy.

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The entire team at New Society Publishers, especially Heather Nicholas, who first approached me with the thrilling idea of writing this book and graciously coached me through the entire submission process. And my copy editor, Linda Glass, who was a joy and whose expertise helped me say what I meant. And my partner Eric, who’s been at my side since writing a book was nothing more than a fantastical dream. You have stared at the back of my head hunched over a laptop far more often than I would like to admit. I love you.

Notes

1 All the direct quotes in this book, unless otherwise noted, were provided via email interviews. Getaround is a nationwide, peerto-peer car sharing marketplace. 2 Thomas H. Greco Jr., New Money For Healthy Communities. (1994), available at www.ratical.org/. 3 James Robertson, The History of Money: From it’s Origins to Our time, (2007), available at www.jamesrobertson.com/book/ historyofmoney.pdf/. 4 Andrew Lowd, Alternative Currencies in Theory and Practice, “Chapter Three: The History of Local Currency”. (2001), available at www.andrewlowd.com/thesis/Chapter3.htm/. 5 For information about Banco Las Palmas, I relied on worldis changing.com and citizenbase.org. 6 Leisure Report Journal (April, 2007). 7 See Brian Knudsen, Richard Florida, Gary Gates, and Kevin Stolarickee, “Urban Density, Creativity, and Innovation,” (May, 2007) available at: www.vwl.tuwien.ac.at/hanappi/AgeSo/rp/ Knudsen_2007.pdf/, accessed March 7, 2013.

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8 Paul M. Davis, Shareable “Survey Finds Trust is #1 Barrier to Sharing,” ( July 10, 2012), www.Shareable.net/. 9 See Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism, Earthscan (2010). 10 These statistics come from the “State of the World Report,” World­watch Institute, (2011) www.worldwatch.org/, accessed March 7, 2013. 11 See Alex Steffen, World Changing, “Use Community: Smaller Footprints, Cooler Stuff and More Cash”, (Feb. 15, 2007) www. worldchanging.com/archives//006082.html/. 12 Elliot Martin and Susan Shaheen, Access “The Impact of Car­ sharing on Household Vehicle Ownership,” (Spring, 2011), www.uctc.net/. 13 Sara Horowitz, The Atlantic. “Occupy Big Business: The Sharing Economy’s Quiet Revolution,” (Dec. 2012).

Index

accidents, 73-74 accessories. See clothing swaps. accountability, 42-43 adventurous spirit, 64-66 agreement of value, 5-6 Airbnb.com, 53, 66, 74, 113-114 Airtasker.com, 107 Algar, Ray, 17-18 All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons, 168 alternative currencies, 7-14 alternative energy, 49-50 Alternatives Federal Credit Union (AFCU), 13-14 “American Time Use Survey,” 23 Amovens.com, 143 Anderson, Lauren, 51 animals, as currency, 5-6 auctions, online, 96, 102, 104-105 Austria, 10

AutoShare.com, 138-139 Avego.com, 142 BabysitterExchange.com, 109-110 BackyardBarter.org, 152 BagBorrowOrSteal.com, 93 Bancos des Palmas, 11-12 barriers to sharing, 22-30, 69 Barter Business Unlimited, 164-165 bartering, 3-7, 15, 40, 84, 102-104 BarterQuest.com, 103 bbubarter.com, 164-165 BCycle.com, 147 BerkShares, 12-13 BestHouseSwap.com, 125-126 BikeChattanooga.com, 148-149 BikeNationUSA.com, 146 bike sharing, 145-149 Bixi.com, 148 173

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BizX.com, 164 BookMooch.com, 86 books, 85-86, 89-90, 97-98 Borsodi, Ralph, 11 Botsman, Rachel, 18, 59, 167-168 BountyIt.com, 108 Brazil, 11-12 B2B sharing resources, 60-64, 104, 163-165 Bureau of Labor Statistics (US), 23 business-to-business transactions. See B2B sharing resources. CapitalBikeshare.com, 146 carbon emissions, 36-37, 48, 82 carbon footprint, 19, 36, 47, 57, 130 carpooling. See ridesharing. Carpooling.co.uk, 141-142 CarpoolWorld.com, 144 cars, 34, 47, 129-130. See also car-sharing programs. CarShare.org, 135 car-sharing programs, 47-49, 130-139. See also by name. Car2Go.com, 133-134 Chegg.com, 88 ChezJJ.com, 158 childcare, 53, 108-110 children’s clothing, 59-60, 94-95 China. See cowrie shells. CityCarShare.org, 132 civilizations, early, 3-7 Clark, Shelby, 19 Clossette.com, 95-96

ClothingSwap.com, 90 clothing swaps, 46, 84-85, 90-95 cohousing, 127, 128-129 Cohousing.org, 129 CoHousingPartners.com, 129 coliving, 127-129 “Collaborative Consumption,” 17-18 collaborative consumption, defined, 17-18 CollaborativeConsumption.com, 165-166 COlunching.com, 155 ComicSwap.com, 96 Communauto.com, 135-136 community banks, 11-12 Community Currencies: A New Tool for the 21st Century, 8 CommunityFunded.com, 160 community involvement, 41-42, 110-112 “Community Structure and Collaborative Consumption: A Routine Activity Approach,” 17 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), 26, 58, 152 CommuterSwap.net, 123 complementary currencies. See alternative currencies. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Barter and Trade Exchanges, 6 connections, between individuals, 26-28 Constants, 11 consumerism, 33-35. See also green economy. costs, and sharing, 25-26, 52-53



CouchSurfing.com, 113 coworking, 44, 82, 157, 159 Coworking.com, 157 cowrie shells, 6-7 CraftingaGreenWorld.com, 90 Craigslist.org, 98-99, 128-129 Crowdcube.com, 161 Crowdfunder.com, 161 crowdfunding, 40, 159-161, 168 crowdsourcing, 18, 42, 82 currencies, value of, 5-7, 16 Decobike.com, 147 density, and sharing, 26-28 Digsville.com, 121-122 discretionary time, 23 disputes, 77-78 division of labor, 3-4 DomuSwap.com, 126 donating, 83 Doskow, Emily, 78, 167 double coincidence of wants, 6 EasyHouseExchange.com, 126-127 EatFeastly.com, 154 EatWithMe.net, 154 education materials, 88 energy consumption, 48-49 Enterprise CarShare, 132-133 entrepreneurs, 43-45, 109, 156, 157 environmental issues, 47-50. See also carbon emissions; carbon footprint; natural resources. eRideShare.com, 141

Index

175

evolution, and cooperation, 2-4 eXmerce, 164 expectations, and sharing, 66-68 FareShareNYC.com, 144 FashionHire.co.uk, 93-94 feedback, 44, 70, 79. See also reviews. Fellowship for Intentional Communities, 129 Felson, Marcus, 17 Flat-Club.com, 119-120 FLOOW2.com, 164 food, sharing of, 149-155 food co-ops, 57-58 Foodshare.co.uk, 155 fossil fuels, 33, 34, 49. See also carbon emissions; carbon footprint. Fox, Lisa, 19, 25 Freecycle.org, 98 freelancers, 42, 44, 49, 82, 156 free stuff, 98-99 Fundable.org, 161 Fureai Kippu, 14 The Future of Business Collaboration, 163 Futureofcarsharing.org, 130-131 games, 85-88 GameTZ.com (Game Trading Zone), 87-88 Gansky, Lisa, 62-63, 168 Getaround.com, 77, 137-138 GetYourGuide.com, 118 Gigwalk.com, 107 global population, 31-33

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GoFundMe.com, 161 Golden Rule, 69-70 goods, sharing of, 83-105. See also by type. Goods & Services Tax, 76 Gorenflo, Neal, 16-17, 51 GoSwap.org, 124-125 governments, and communities, 41-42 Great Depression, 8-10, 14 Greco, Thomas H., Jr., 9 GreenAmericaExchange.org, 164 green economy, 36-39 “Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Carsharing in North America,” 48-49 greenhouse gas emissions, 48-49 GrowFriend.org, 152 Grubwithus.com, 153 guarantees, 77 Guidehop.com, 118-119 hacker spaces, 157-158 HiGear, 74-75 The History of Money, 10 HomeExchange.com, 123-124 HomeExchangePlace.com, 121 Horowitz, Sara, 61 hospitality exchanges, 124 house swaps, 120-127 housing, 34, 112-129 Howell, Jerry, 6, 62 “How People Make Cash in the Share Economy,” 51-52 Hotta, Tsutomo, 14 hyper-local issues, 58, 109-110, 150, 156

HyperLocavore.com, 150-151 Ic.org, 129 Igocars.org, 131-132 iloho.com, 116 Indiegogo.com, 160 innovation, 43-44 insurance, 77, 78 Internal Revenue Service (US), 76 Internet, power of, 18. See also social networking. Ithaca Hours, 13-14 It’s a Shareable Life, 168 Japan, 14 Kickstarter.com, 160 Kiva.org, 162 knowledge, sharing of, 105-110 laCocinasf.org, 158 Landshare.net, 151 LAXCarShare.com, 134 legal issues, 76-77, 78 LendingClub.com, 162 Leonard, Annie, 65 LETS, 14 Lietaer, Bernard, 8 Liss, Alexandra, 168 Listia.com, 104-105 local currencies, 10-12. See also by name. local economies, 12-13, 39-47 Local Exchange Trading System. See LETS. LocalHarvest.org, 152 lodging, 112-129 LoveHomeSwap.com, 120-121



Lowd, Andrew, 11 LuckyAnt.com, 160 Lyft.me, 143 MaestroMarket.com, 165 maker spaces, 157-158 MamaBake.com, 154 Massachusetts, 11, 12 McKibben, Bill, 168 MealShare.org, 153-154 meal sharing, 153-155 The Mesh, 166 mesh businesses, 62-64 Meshing.it, 166 microlending, 162-163 Milaap.org, 163 misrepresentation, 73 Mithun, Campbell, 29 Modo.coop, 138 money, as barrier to sharing, 25-26. See also currencies. money sharing, 159-163 movies, 85-87 Murray, Meg, 2, 17, 73-74 music, 85-86 MyCityGardens.com, 151 natural resources, consumption of, 33-35. See also fossil fuels. NeighborGoods.net, 99-100 NeighborhoodFruit.com, 155 Neighborland.com, 111 new economy, defined, 38-39 NiceRideMN.org, 148 9Flats.com, 114-115 99Dresses.com, 94

Index

177

online P2P, 58-60 OnTheCommons.org (OTC), 166 OpenGovernment.org, 111-112 Ormita Commerce Network, 62 Orsi, Janelle, 78, 167 Pagel, Mark, 2-3 Palmas, 11-12 Palm Bank, 11-12 PaperbackSwap.com, 89-90 ParticipatoryBudgeting.org, 111 participatory government, 42, 110-112 Peerbackers.com, 161 peer-to-peer lending. See microlending. peer-to-peer sharing (P2P), 56-60. See also P2P bike sharing; P2P car-sharing; P2PFoundation. net. PepsiCo, 62 perceived risks, 29 Petridish.org, 161 Piedmont Local EcoNomy Tender. See PLENTY. Pittsboro, North Carolina, 13 planned obsolescence, 50 PLENTY, 13 pollution, 35-36. See also fossil fuels. Pozible.com, 161 Principles of Human Ecology, 3-4 problems, with sharing, 72-77 profiles, 75, 77-78 Prosper.com, 162 P2P bike sharing, 149

178

Sharing is Good

P2P car-sharing, 136-139 P2PFoundation.net, 167 ratings, 78. See also feedback. references, 75, 78. See also feedback. regulations, 76-77, 78 RehashClothes.com, 97-98 RelayRides, 59, 77, 136-137 relocation, and house swaps, 124-127 RentTheRunway.com, 91-92 research, before signing up, 77 reviews, 75, 78. See also feedback. Richerson, Peter J., 3-4 Ridejoy.com, 140-141 ridesharing, 49, 139-144 risk, 52-53, 71-77. See also safety. Robertson, James, 10 Rockethub.com, 161 Rodgers, Roo, 18, 59, 167-168 roommates, 127-129 Roommates.com, 127-128 Roomorama.com, 115 Roomster.com, 128 Rustrum, Chelsea, 168 SabbaticalHomes.com, 122-123 safety, threats to, 24-25 Salt Spring Dollars, 14 savings, and sharing, 50-53 scrip, 9-10 self-governance, of sharing services, 69-70 self-sufficient behavior, 42-43

services, online marketplace, 88-89, 98-99, 101-104 Shareable.net, 165 ShareMyStorage.com, 158 sharers, and success, 64-70 ShareYourOffice.com, 159 sharing, styles of, 56-63 SharingBackyards.com, 151 sharing economy, 16-20 The Sharing Solution, 78 SharingSolution.com, 165 short-term lodging, 112-120 Sidetour.com, 119 SittingAround.com, 108-109 Skillshare.com, 106-107 skill shares, 46-47, 53, 88-89, 105-110 Small Knot.com, 160 smart design, 49-50 SnapGoods.com, 100-101 social capital, 70 social networking, 16, 19, 24, 5860, 70, 79 solopreneurs, 42, 49, 156 space, sharing of, 88-89, 101-103, 155-159 Spaeth, Joe L., 17 Spinlister.com, 149 StartSomeGood.com, 160 Stempinski, Gabriel, 168 “The Story of Change,” 65 supply and demand, 69 Swap.com, 85-86 SwapAce.com, 88-89 SwapforGood.org, 84-85 Swappin.com, 110 swapping, 3-7, 40, 83-86, 102-103



Swapstyle.com, 92-93 SwapTreasures.com, 102-103 Switzerland, 14 TaskRabbit.com, 105-106 tax implications, 76, 78 terms and conditions, 74, 77, 78, 79 testimonials, 79. See also feedback. textbooks, 88 theft, 74-75 TheHubway.com, 146-147 TheSwapaholics.com, 91 TheSwapTeam.org, 84-85 thinkbarter.com, 164 thredUP.com, 59-60, 94-95 time, use of, 22-24, 105-110 TimeCar.com, 134-135 tools, 45-46, 52 Tradeaway.com, 104 trade exchanges, 61-62 trading, 3-7 transportation, 129-149. See also car-sharing programs. Trashbank.com, 99 travel. See short-term lodging. Tripping.com, 115-116 Triptrotting.com, 116-117 trust concerns, 28-29, 69, 75 UcarShare.com, 133 U-Exchange.com, 76, 104, 164 UK.Zopa.com, 162 underserved populations, 44-47 University of California studies, 47-49

Index

179

Unterguggenberger, Michael, 10 urban density, 27 value, views of, 19, 21-22, 26 vandalism, 74-75 Vayable.com, 117 Velogistics.net, 149 verification services, 77-78 Vittana.org, 163 Walljasper, Jay, 168 Ware, James P., 163 waste, 19, 31, 35-36, 46-48, 155 Watsi.org, 161 Webb, Kathleen, 53 What’s Mine Is Yours, 18, 59 WhenYouWish.com, 161 Wikipedia, 18 WIR Bank, 14 Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Cooperation, 2-3 Woodin, William H., 10 work spaces. See spaces. World Wide Fund for Nature, 33 WrenchSF.com, 159 written agreements, 78 yardsharing, 150-152 Yerdle.com, 84, 96-97 YourView.org.au, 112 Zaarly.com, 109 Zafèn.org, 163 Zidisha.org, 163 Zilok.us/.com, 101-102 Zimride.com, 139-140, 143 Zipcar.com, 131

About the Author

B

eth Buczynski is an independent writer and editor who covers clean technology, sustainable design and environmental issues for some of the most popular green sites on the web. Her previous publications include Coworking: Building Com­munity as a Space Catalyst and Share or Die: Voices of the Get Lost Generation in the Age of Crisis. She lives, shares, and brews beer in Colorado with her partner and their very spoiled kitty. 

180

About the Illustrator

M

ost of the time, Leah Pearlman is an explorer of consciousness and the human experience. Sometimes she’s a dancer; sometimes she’s a cat. She began drawing Dharma Comics in 2010 when she found words weren’t enough, and has discovered she’s something of an artist. A Colorado native, she now lives and loves in Berkeley, asking herself and everyone else: “What makes you come alive?”  Visit her at www.dharmacomics.com



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A Guide to Responsible Digital Reading Most readers understand that buying a book printed on 100% recycled, ancient-forest friendly paper is a more environmentally responsible choice than buying one printed on paper made from virgin timber or old-growth forests. In the same way, the choices we make about our electronic reading devices can help minimize the environmental impact of our e-reading.

Issues and Resources Before your next electronic purchase, find out which companies have the best ratings in terms of environmental and social responsibility. Have the human rights of workers been respected in the manufacture of your device or in the sourcing of raw materials? What are the environmental standards of the countries where your electronics or their components are produced? Are the minerals used in your smartphone, tablet or e-reader conflict-free? Here are some resources to help you learn more:   

The Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics Conflict Minerals: Raise Hope for the Congo Slavery Footprint

Recycle Old Electronics Responsibly According to the United Nations Environment Programme some 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste. Toxic chemicals in electronics, such as lead, cadium and mercury, can leach into the land over time or can be released into the atmosphere, impacting nearby communities and the environment. The links below will help you to recycle your electronic devices responsibly.   

Electronics Take Back Canada - Recycle My Electronics United States - E-cycling central

Of course, the greenest option is to keep your device going as long as possible. If you decide to upgrade, please give some thought to passing your old one along for someone else to use.

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