Sharing: The simple secret to saving the planet?

If humans continue to behave the same way they have always behaved, we’re kinda screwed. We all know this. We all know we need a new way of organising ourselves. We need a new relationship with the planet. We need to learn new behaviours.

But what kind of behaviours? Meditation? Electric cars? Everyone goes vegan? Stop having kids? A 4 day work week?

The answer might be much simpler. We need to learn to share. At least according to sustainability researcher Ray Tomalty — who argues in his journal article Ours Is Better Than Yours — that sharing is the secret ingredient to smarter communities, a stronger economy and a more resilient planet.

Tomalty explains that the behaviour that currently drives our economies is acquisitiveness (‘the excessive interest in acquiring money or material things’). We must acquire more stuff. All the time. None stop. More and more.

We train children to behave like this. We reward adults to behave like this. We have created a culture of consumption. We tell ourselves we must buy new things, needed or not, and to then dispose of those things, worn out or not. Thus keeping the greedy cycle of acquisition rolling.

The good news? It doesn’t have to be like this, and people are realising that. Around the world all types of people are re-evaluating their relationship with material things. Things like minimalism are growing in popularity. People are taking a fresh and critical look at everything around the products — the businesses that make them, the social and environmental impacts.

There is interest in products and services that have local content, build community between consumers and producers, and involve some degree of sharing. People are realising that ownership is not all that it’s cracked up to be. The costs can outweigh the benefits. When we own material things, we must also care for, store, clean, repair, refurbish and insure them.

Tomalty argues that most things can be — and are — shared to everyone’s gain: “food, clothes, taxis, bikes, cars, tools, hotel rooms, apartments, office space, streets, sidewalks, parks, libraries, train stations, buses, movies, books, music, stories, memories, efforts, even miseries.”

Lots of people already are sharing. The ‘sharing economy’ has been building global momentum for over a decade and is predicted to be worth $335 billion by 2025. Companies like Airbnb and Uber — now stalwarts of modern life — are based on the simple notion that you don’t need to own something to benefit from it.

Even industries like oil and gas have taken notice at the huge potential benefits of sharing resources. They have realised you can share things that don’t deplete as the number of people using them multiplies. Collaborative consumption over individual competition.

Of course, it doesn’t always make sense to share items. Heavy-use items might be best bought. Some things are fragile, irreplaceable or inexpensive. Some things are difficult to transport. (And sharing things like toothbrushes or underwear would just be weird)

Aside from those kinds of items, there is an impressive list of benefits of sharing:

To Neal Gorenflo (co-founder of Shareable) car are the “gateway drug” to other types of sharing behaviour. They are the ultimate symbol of our consumer-oriented society, but are simultaneously ideal for sharing, because they are both expensive and underused (most sit unused for 90% of the time).

Just like they leading the behavioural shift toward sharing clothes, young people are at the forefront of the movement toward car sharing. They are far less likely to get a driver’s licence and own a car today than their predecessors. Those that do drive do so more sparingly.

Sharing economies need sharing cities. They cannot happen in a vacuum. It needs fertile conditions in the environment and community. Car sharing, for example, works best with accessible urban settings where densities ensure a large pool of potential users.

Urban centres have many walkable destinations, good transit networks and a lack of parking. These factors tend to make car ownership less necessary to a good quality of life and more costly from a personal point of view.

This trend toward more close-knit neighbourhoods has broader benefits. All kinds of sharing opportunities thrive in denser communities where people tend to live in smaller living units with less storage space.

Sharing is really hard. People need to trust someone if they are going to lend them a book, let alone something larger or more valuable. People need to trust someone if they are going to share anything. They need to be reassured by good reputation.

People don’t want to share a charging cable for their phone, let alone share their car, food, or books.

Building trust in online communities is trickier because people can have multiple identities that flit in and out of existence, and there is no grapevine to pick up rumours and assess risks. Maybe blockchain technology solves this.

Another challenge is the hostility of established businesses and the legal barriers they are able to put up against emerging competitors from the sharing sector.

Exponential growth, hostile regulations, jealous attention from the taxman and the indignation of established industries all suggest that the sharing economy is becoming a force to be reckoned with.

The pandemic has revealed how strong our communities can be. Could it continue to be the catalyst for sharing throughout our society? But what does it mean for the design community? How can we help to shape it?

Through coordination, deep thought and intelligent design, how could we champion new, positive behaviours — like sharing — in a way that benefits both society and our planetary home? We are on the cusp of a major change in our way of meeting personal needs and how we relate to one another and the planet.

I’m excited. Are you? 🎉