Let’s face the absolute truth. Technology has successfully made the world smaller. A population of billions upon billions of people has been shrunken to a small screen sized box. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. This smaller community has the potential (and I use that word intentionally because not everyone is willing to use this small box you’re using for good) to do some very productive, intentional and valuable deeds.
What is collaborative consumption? According to collaborativeconsumption.com :
“Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in swapping, sharing, bartering, trading and renting being reinvented through the latest technologies and peer-to-peer marketplaces in ways and on a scale never possible before.”
A movement for using this small world as a smaller market place, not necessarily for products, but also services. Need a couch to sleep on as you journey on a quest of self discovery? Places like couchsurfing.org help connect you to a world of people who also like to live on the edge. Need a product in exchange for another? Swap.com is the place to go to find what you’re looking for in exchange for what you’re looking to get rid of. Part of Occupy Wall Street? Try sharing or swapping instead of buying and this top 1% won’t have ‘so much power’. The internet is your online flea market.
To go deeper here is a TED Talk from the creator of collaborativeconsumption.com. I encourage you to use some of these resources…this may be the next (if not entirely replace) green movement.
cybergothpandas 
Leave a comment