We want a legitimate sharing community, now how do we do that?

The sharing community arose in our new era of capitalism, utilising technology to bring people together and create a marketplace amongst society in a sustainable and ethical manner... and this is how it should remain!

We are a big advocate for the sharing community, but only when it is legitimate. There's a lot of greenwashing going around at the moment, and the same goes for the sharing community. One must be able to determine true carbon-reducing sharing from the bullshit.

So, what's the bullshit? You may ask...

Well, big corporations reaping the benefits in a big dollar sign are usually high on the bullshit detector. The reason being they are profit driven enterprises and skip over the true fundamentals of the sharing community. Exposing the so called enterprises part of the sharing community could help, for example Airbnb is a rental broker disguising as "sharing" and Uber is just an unregulated taxi service. There's plenty more that disguise themselves as the sharing community, when this is a complete misconception.

I think the sharing community needs to be done on a smaller scale, before it can move to a big-scale production. Sharing needs to work between people and yes sometimes there needs to be a larger intermediate to make sure it is fair and working, but predominately it is up to people to offer and receive. The idea of personal gain and profit needs to be eradicated, it is purely sharing and getting back in return only what you give.

So, here's some ways we think you can get involved with the sharing community and avoid the bullshit, nonsense, poppycock and hogwash.

Communal living

This is a sure way to be involved in the sharing community, sharing space, cooking, cars or anything else. It usually means having your own bedroom and space to yourself, but sharing those other parts of your life that create less impact on the earth and your pocket.

"It's all about living healthy and happy lives without harming the planet," says Sue Riddlestone, who co-founded a pioneering community of 82 low-energy, water-efficient homes called BedZED in south London more than a decade ago.

However, even communal living when taken to a big-scale can be too much. Purely creating expensive living conditions where you share a kitchen? No, it's better to take these things into your own hands. Create communal living spaces yourself.

Tushare and the item-sharing community

Joining the Tushare sharing community is also a great way to get involved. It is purely about getting rid of those items that you no longer use (but you know someone els could) and retrieving things that you want (that someone else no longer uses).

You can even be in charge of the pick up and drop off service. This helps others, helps you get things you need, and stops items going into landfill. So, it's like Ebay or Etsy for sharing!

Car sharing and Car pooling

So, there are Uber and car sharing companies. But this needs to be adopted on a smaller scale, amongst friends, amongst smaller communities. Car-pooling to work and school is great and can reduce CO2, having a car sharing service with your neighbours is a great way to save money on individual cars.

When public transport is so great, the need for cars is becoming less and less. But yes, you do still need cars sometimes which is why sharing them is a much cheaper way to do it.

Essentially the sharing community should make things cheaper, so Uber is just another service where you have to pay. It is another taxi service, which is fine, if you want a taxi. But if you want to join the sharing community, as said before, the profit seeking motives need to be removed.

Community Gardens

I think this one pretty much speaks for itself, you save money on food and you can involve your family and neighbours in a great bonding task.

Any produce you can grow at home will reduce CO2 emissions from the food supply chain in areas including transport and processing. Growing your own also makes a surprisingly powerful statement about reducing our reliance on others for basic sustenance, and therefore helps us to foster independence for taking further positive action.

We would love to hear any of your ideas on the sharing community. What do you think would work?

While it is a new concept, the idea of sharing has been around forever. Now we just need to incorporate it into our modern economic world in the right way. It's a learning process, but it can be done!