The Rise of Collaborative Consumption

[marmar]

Social innovator Rachel Botsman charts the growth of a movement that is transforming the way we consume and contribute.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Excellent, thank you!

In an attempt to not purchase products manufactured outside of the U.S., I am trying to buy everything either made in the U.S. or second hand.

My new goal is to put together an outfit that looks hot and very cool all put together with items from a second-hand store.

[BrendaBrick]

2. HUGE K&R!!!

Thanks for posting this marmar! I was getting ready to post it myself until I saw your post - which is even better than the one I have, (only 16 minutes.)

Incidentally, I found out about this via an email from YES! magazine rec'd today & found here, dated 1-11-12:

http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/why-own-when-you-can-share?utm_source=jan12&utm_medium=yesemail&utm_campaign=CollaborativeConsumption

Hope this excellent information continues to gain momentum!

[marmar]

3. I saw the YES piece too....then looked it up on YouTube and found this longer segment.

[BrendaBrick]

4. I just finished watching it

Excellent!

Tomorrow in my city I will be attending a workshop that is looking for ideas for a new reality show. I think the premise of this would be a perfect fit in say, following 3 or 4 families across the US in introducing, adopting and implementing some of these new practices. Also, as an added bonus, perhaps steer the current "self-centered ME mentality" surrounding many of these realty shows towards a more collaborative *WE* mindset.

[JDPriestly]

6. Could you provide a link?

[marmar]

7. Got it....

http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/why-own-when-you-can-share

[JDPriestly]

8. Thanks. I forwarded the link to a friend.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

5. I have the oddest urge to go out and buy some car insurance

[markdood]

9. Collaborative consumption for things

We think this is a great idea, and can certainly help the world reduce consumption, which is why we created freegler.com, which allows you to rent your possessions to those around you, like gardening tools, camping equipment, sporting goods, household items, etc. After all there are now 7 billion people in the world, and we certainly don't need 7 billion lawnmowers!

[RentMyItems]

10. Collaborative Consumption - sharing and renting

Nice to see this marmar, and markdood, congrats on freegler.com.
We have started RentMyItems.com in the UK which works along the same lines as your own where little used household items can be listed by Rentors for the renting by others (we call them Rentees) in the local community.
Research we commissioned in September last year showed that £2.9bn of goods were purchased in the UK in the last twelve months that were either little used or not used at all - a truly staggering sum. We hope that sites like ours and freegler.com start to make a difference!