Promote community-building and make your town or city a greener place to live.

Looking for easy ideas to promote sustainability and community building at the same time? We got you covered.

1. Get Involved with Government and Politics – If you aren’t already involved within your community’s government, you might be surprised at the opportunities for everyday residents to influence policy decisions. Make sure to attend public meetings, reach out to elected officials, and even serve on local boards and commissions.
2. Start a Community Garden – Growing food together in a sustainable way isn’t a radical new idea in community building. It’s one that our grandparents and great-grandparents practiced to grow food and to help communities work together. A community garden is about more than just fresh fruits and vegetables; it’s about creating connections with neighbors to create a better and more resilient community.
3. Become a Bike Advocate – Here in my home state, we have two local bike groups–the Urban Bike Project and the Newark Bike Project. They are nonprofit groups with the goal of encouraging and supporting bicycling as a healthy, affordable, and practical means of transportation, recreation, and community building. Maybe you could start something like this in your town.
4. Pick an Issue and Work on It – There are plenty of worthy, local issues that need advocates just like you. Promoting backyard egg-laying chickens, curbing the use of plastic bags, allowing backyard beehives, and more are all great issues that you promote along with your neighbors. Make change in your community while you build relationships with neighbors!
5. Advocate for Local Food – Whether it’s getting a farmers market started in your town, getting a community garden off the ground, working on policy to allow fruit trees and foraging on public lands, there are so many worthwhile local food projects to advocate for while community building.
6. Certified Wildlife Habitat –  Work with your neighbors to turn your lawns into certified wildlife habitats through the National Wildlife Federation and allow nature to flourish in your town. The antiquated idea of what a yard is supposed to look like dates backs to the 16th-century aristocracy!
7. Promote Open Space – Walking paths and parks are one of the quickest and most effective ways to build a sense of community and improve the quality of life. Gather your neighbors together to reach out to your elected officials to identify and protect open spaces in your community.

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This is third post in our series on the Sharing Economy. Part One explained how sharing services can help you save money. Part Two highlighted ways collaborative consumption can reduce waste and our impact on the planet. Today’s installment will demonstrate how participation in the sharing economy can boost local economies and rebuild important community ties.

The sharing economy is more than swapping clothes or finding a cheap place to stay on vacation. While saving money and reducing waste are pleasant by-products of a sharing lifestyle, they’re not the end goal. The most exciting, promising, and truly revolutionary thing about moving from a “that’s mine” culture to a “this is ours” mentality is a refocusing of our attention on what’s really important: each other.

Embracing collaborative consumption, especially peer-to-peer sharing, requires us to acknowledge the wants, needs, talents, and resources of those around us. Consumerism teaches us that everyone is competition. We compare ourselves to our peers, using ownership of material possessions as a measuring stick of self-worth. That kind of judgement won’t last in the sharing economy.

When liberated from the burden of ownership, we gain access to knowledge and resources, become more active citizens, and are supported by a network of friends and neighbors who collaborate to solve problems. Simply put, when people share, communities become stronger. Here’s how:

1. Restores Relationships

Whether it’s made up of neighbors on a cul-de-sac, members of a church, or far flung friends on a social networking site, community is what makes sharing economy possible. In fact, some have even suggested calling it “the relationship economy.” Unfortunately, we’ve become very isolated as a society. Sure, we talk with coworkers and hang out with friends. But when’s the last time you greeted a passerby or borrowed a cup of sugar from your neighbor? We’ve become withdrawn, reluctant to share our thoughts and feelings, never mind our precious possessions. But in order to swap, barter, or rent, we must initiate contact, negotiate terms, and sometimes, go out of our way for our fellow humans. This exercises our relationship muscle, and helps us reconnect with those we previously ignored.

2. Creates Stability

Whether it’s debt, unemployment, illness, or family issues, our communities are full of unstable families, just barely making it from day to day. When times our tough, collaborative consumption reminds us to utilize the wealth we have, and share it with others. Lending libraries, food swaps, ride sharing, nanny sharing, time banks and community supported agriculture allow those with limited liquid assets to access tools, food, transportation, child care, and perhaps even work with dignity. These sharing services require a small investment on the part of each member so that all can reap a big reward. Participants realize they are not alone, and that sharing is a shortcut to accessing what they need.

Generates Solidarity

When people know and share with each other, they become unified. Instead of fearful isolation, sharing communities live with openness, generosity, and solidarity. Once we remember how awesome it is to be a part of each others’ lives, we’re more willing to become involved in other aspects of our communities as well. Being part of a community means sharing responsibility as well as rewards. The sharing economy encourages us to crowdsource solutions to community-wide problems as well as our own. All over the world, citizens are reengaging with their governments, looking for ways to get involved in the planning of budgets, support of local business, and development of neighborhoods. Sharing forces us to realize our similarities, and helps organize our efforts to realize common goals.

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