According to social media expert Rachel Botsman, our economy is about to embark on a transformation so complete it rivals the Industrial Revolution. “I think we’re going to look back and see the next decade as a momentous turning point: when technology reinvented entire sectors,” Botsman declared last month at an HP TECH@Work conference in Sydney, Australia.
Many have already begun turning over the hard-packed dirt of yesterday’s ethos and tending a new economy in the fertile ground of one primordial concept: sharing.
Botsman and her colleagues call it “Collaborative Consumption,” in which assets such as cars, tools, knowledge and even money are shared rather than owned and social status is based on access rather than ownership. Brian Walsh of Time Magazine named the concept one of the 10 ideas that will change the world, writing: “Someday we’ll look back on the 20th century and wonder why we owned so much stuff.”
Indeed, when the average power drill is used a total of 15 minutes in its lifetime, the thought of owning one seems kind of silly. The World Wide Web factors into the sharing economy less as a global network and more as a local tool, connecting those who are in need of, say, a power drill with those who own a power drill. (One crucial condition of Collaborative Consumption is trust.)
Here in Santa Cruz, the sea change has already begun. Locals are sharing everything from excess fruit and garden space to fabric scraps, old computers and bike parts. Profits don’t appear to motivate or result from these exchanges. Instead, the valuable currency is knowledge and the power to do it yourself.
Talking to the sharing enthusiasts in town has revealed one intriguing fact: It is the human-to-human interaction that Santa Cruz is getting off on. The environmental implications of reusing, refurbishing and wasting less are only a pleasant side effect to an emerging fetish to connect, teach, help and be helped by our fellow earthlings. Santa Cruz is learning to play exceptionally well with others, and loving it.
The Santa Cruz Fruit Tree Project The concept, modeled after a similar operation organizer Steve Schnaar’s friend came across in British Columbia, is simple: Share fallen fruit that would otherwise rot with people who would like to eat it.
Schnaar says the idea came to him after years of riding his bike around town and seeing so much fruit going bad on the ground. Although the project is just getting off the ground, it already has 27 sharing fruit trees marked out on the “Fallen Fruit Santa Cruz” Google map, and the Google group has 88 members.
“We knock on doors where we see trees really overladen with fruit or fruit on the ground, and line up places that are willing to let us pick,” says Schnaar. “Then people take whatever they can use themselves and give the rest to friends or soup kitchens.”
The Santa Cruz Fruit Tree Project teaches workshops on how to make jam and other products from surplus crops. Schnaar’s long-term vision is to make fruit trees inexpensively available to people in town and teach people how to maintain their fruit trees for maximum production. For more information, visit www.fruitcruz.org.
Garden Shares Urban Garden Shares acts as an online dating site for gardeners seeking gardens and gardens seeking gardeners, with listings by neighborhood to encourage convenient matches. In April the Seattle-born network came to Santa Cruz, where it now has 35 users.
“Urban Garden Share is addressing a need that exists within urban populations, because there isn’t a lot of arable land in urban spaces. It’s the perfect solution to a problem in smaller scaled cities, like Portland and Seattle and Santa Cruz, because there are a lot of apartments and there are also a lot of homes with yards,” says Amy Pennington, creator of Urban Garden Share.
Local gardener Lindsay Goldberg set up her own garden share when she found an ad on Craigslist seeking a gardener.
“We had looked into FarmLink, but it looked like it was too big a scale, and we just wanted something that was small,” says Goldberg, referring to the organization that matches retiring farmers with young farmers who have no land. She and her boyfriend now garden a sunny south-facing acre in Happy Valley owned by Will Feitelson. It’s a situation in which everyone wins.
“All I want is a couple carrots here, a beet, a couple tomatoes there, just enough for my table. I am one man, what do I need? The rest, they can take it. Spread it around, cook it, eat it, love it,” says Feitelson. “I had some kids who turned it over three or four years ago, and it was hard to comprehend how much stuff was coming out of this half an acre of gardening. It was remarkable, just really fascinating. It’s not a money deal at all. All I want is someone who can enjoy the land, and turn it into something that makes them feel good.”
Goldberg is growing as many different vegetable varieties as she can, and is excited to save the seeds for her seed exchange “Sweet Horizon Seed Exchange.”
“It’s just been a really positive situation. [Feitelson] is really excited to see that it’s not just laying fallow like it was, and that we’re committed to it,” says Goldberg. For information, visit www.urbangardenshare.com/santacruz/gardens/about.
Collective Wheels Recently expanded in Santa Cruz, Zipcar advertises itself as providing “wheels when you want them.” The idea is that people who don’t own a car can pay an annual membership fee of $75 and have access to a fleet of cars parked in strategically located sites around town. (There are eight shareable hybrid Zipcars in Santa Cruz’s downtown radius). An hourly rate ($8-9, or up to $72 per day) then covers gas and insurance. Some people love it; others have their doubts. “It’s very convenient and just ingenious the way it works, but as far as just trying to be a normal person and using it for rudimentary stuff it’s not realistic,” says Santa Cruz resident Jacob Bourne, noting that driving a Zipcar to something like a ballgame means paying hours for a parked car.
“Craigslist and Facebook usually offer me rideshares to where I’ve gotta go,” says local dancer Jade Dunnaville. “Zip looks pretty expensive, but I like the concept.”
For more information and car locations, visit www.zipcar.com/santacruz/.
The Santa Cruz Hub for Sustainable Living
Located at 703 Pacific Ave. in downtown Santa Cruz, the hub is a collective space that is home to the Bike Church, the Computer Kitchen and The Fábrica. They all follow the same model, sustaining themselves on donations and volunteer work in exchange for their work. Nobody is turned away for lack of funds.
The Fábrica Wish you had some cool hipster straight leg jeans but don’t have the money to buy new ones? The Fábrica can help. They see many young men come in with just that problem. The Fábrica shares the fabric, materials, machines and know-how with anybody who wants to learn how to sew. It relies mostly on donations of fabric.
“Historically, for women, this used to be their social life. Now everyone is so isolated on their computers. It’s a very old-fashioned way to help each other,” says Marie Wilkinson, a volunteer and retired school teacher.
“It’s not about being as radical as we can be. For me, it’s about community and seeing so many different people come through here,” says Steph Wolf, co-founder with Ann Altstatt of the Fábrica, as she helps 52-year-old John Fahey lay out the pattern for a bag he wants to sew his girlfriend for her birthday. “It’s about empowering them with the knowledge of how to do something yourself.”
The Computer Kitchen The Computer Kitchen set up shop about a year ago and provides the space, tools and advice to people who want to work on their own computers. They also refurbish old computers and give them to schools and nonprofits that need computers. “I’ve learned more here working here with people than in school. People have come in here with different problems we haven’t seen before, so we do the research on the spot,” says founder Robert Sese.
The Bike Church The first collective to set up at the Hub, the bike church was founded in 1998 by Joshua Muir and has continued to grow since then. It’s now collectively owned by 15 helpful mechanics, one of whom is likely to approach a newcomer no matter how busy the place is (and it’s always busy). They have the parts, tools and know-how to fix almost any bike problem and even help people without bikes build one from the frame up. “People come back here because it’s a cheap and generous shop and because it works,” says Muir. He prefers the collective approach because it “keeps it in the hands of the community. I don’t do this for the money.”
