Dive in to Shareable.net - a deep and rich repository of bottom-up, community-driven ideas and examples
From Shareable’s The Response page
We had a meeting with the extremely interesting Alessia Clusini of Trybes Agency a week or two ago - more to come from that - but as she listened to us, she said excitedly, “you must visit Shareable.net, and meet their people! You have such similar interests!”
So we have, and Alessia is completely right! Shareable’s strapline is “people-powered solutions for the common good”. Going since 2009, they describe their functions as an “award-winning nonprofit news, action and connection hub for the sharing transformation.” As their blurb continues:
What’s the sharing transformation? It’s a movement of movements emerging from the grassroots up to solve today’s biggest challsenges, which old, top-down institutions are failing to address.
Behind these failing industrial-age institutions are outmoded beliefs about how the world works; that ordinary people can’t govern themselves directly; that economic growth leads to shared prosperity; and that more stuff leads to happiness.
Amid crisis, a new way forward is emerging — the sharing transformation. The sharing transformation is big, global, and impacts every part of society.
New and resurgent solutions are democratizing how we produce, consume, govern, and solve social problems. The maker movement, collaborative consumption, the solidarity economy, open source software, transition towns, open government, and social enterprise are just a few of the movements showing a way forward based on sharing.
The sharing transformation shows that it’s possible to govern ourselves, build a green economy that serves everyone, and create meaningful lives together. It also shows that we can solve the world’s biggest challenges — like poverty and global warming — by unleashing the power of collaboration.
At the core of the sharing transformation is timeless wisdom updated for today — that it’s only through sharing, cooperation, and contribution to the common good that it’s possible to create lives and a world worth having.
And herein lay the engine of the sharing transformation: When individuals embrace sharing as a worldview and practice, they experience a new, enlivening way to be in the world. Sharing heals the painful disconnect we feel within ourselves, with each other, and the places we love.
Sharing opens a channel to our creative potential. It is fun, practical, and perhaps most of all, it’s empowering. And sharing enables us to experience and do things we never thought possible.
We at Shareable can say this because we’ve experienced the sharing transformation ourselves. We are sharers. We’ve told the stories of sharers to millions of people from all over the world since 2009. We’ve seen this transformation time and again, in people from all walks of life.\
It’s why we do what we do. And it’s why we believe the sharing transformation is unstoppable.
A stirring manifesto, and we entirely agree! We’re quite startled about the degree to which we are, fractally and in synch, matching their functions - to be an editorial space, a “connection hub” and an action facilitator. But we’re particularly delighted by their own news space - which is very much parallel to our own Daily Alternative blog (thought mostly, but not entirely, from an American perspective).
Here’s a sample of some of their most recent articles:
How Disasters Can Increase Our Community Power:
“Reporting routinely underplays how local communities come together to respond to the hardships they face while supporting each other during times of disruption. It’s a good thing that people gravitate together during a crisis rather than pushing each other away because all signs point towards an increase in climate change-fueled disasters in the coming years and decades.”
10 companies that make it easier to build a sharing economy or platform cooperative startup
“Launching a platform business is difficult and complex. For entrepreneurs focused on sharing, it can be even more challenging, especially if they operate a two-sided marketplace.
“To lower the barriers to entry, a range of services have emerged to support sharing economy and platform cooperative startups. The services allow entrepreneurs to save money, and better manage users and service providers, while also giving them more space to focus on their core business – sharing.”
Get Shareable’s free ebook: “Community Solutions to the Loneliness Epidemic”
“From what we’ve learned so far, we see two choices — either restructure life for more community in the 21st century through a variety of supportive institutions or continue down our current path towards more loneliness and division.
“We’ve seen that loneliness and social isolation can be successfully countered by more and better civic engagement, workplace solidarity, and social connections. We can tackle this challenge. The only question is, will we? As always, the choice is ours”.
Download here (sign up required)
Europe takes two big steps toward decentralized energy
“Late last year European Union lawmakers approved new rules allowing communities and households to generate, consume and sell their own renewable energy — a move called a “climate game-changer” by Friends of the Earth Europe. Then in early June, European parliamentary elections delivered strong results for Greens, who are expected to support the transition to renewables and community energy….”It seems that youth protests around climate change issues started by Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg are having serious political implications,” said Toni Vidan, a member of the European Social and Economic Committee who chaired its energy cooperatives work group.
More about Shareable.net here.
