#landshare

LandShare!

Collaborative consumption and the sharing economy are fast becoming household names and taking root worldwide. Companies and investors in the private sector are transforming marketplaces and redefining exchange.

Meanwhile, cities and public sector stakeholders around the world are grappling with new realities: budget reductions, technology-driven innovation, and an increasingly diverse set of demands from their residents. This is redefining the urban planning process itself.

Inconspicuous consumption, or what lunching ladies have to do with social web karma. By Maria Popova.

Stuff. We all accumulate it and eventually form all kinds of emotional attachments to it. (Arguably, because the marketing machine of the 20th century has conditioned us to do so.) But digital platforms and cloud-based tools are making it increasingly easy to have all the things we want without actually owning them. Because, as Wired founder and notable futurist Kevin Kelly once put it, “access is better than ownership.” Here are seven services that help shrink your carbon footprint, lighten your economic load and generally liberate you from the shackles of stuff through the power of sharing.

1. NEIGHBORGOODS

The age of keeping up with the Jonses is over. The time of linking up with them has begin. NeighborGoods is a new platform that allows you to do just that, allowing you to borrow and lend from and to your neighbors rather than buying new stuff. (Remind us please, what happened to that fancy blender you bought and used only twice?) From lawnmowers to bikes to DVD’s, the LA-based startup dubs itself “the Craigslist for borrowing,” allowing you to both save and earn money.

Transparent user ratings, transaction histories and privacy controls make the sharing process simple and safe, while automated calendars and reminders ensure the safe return of loaned items.

Give NeighborGoods a shot by creating a sharing group for your apartment building, campus, office, or reading group — both your wallet and your social life will thank you.

2. SNAPGOODS

Similarly to Neighborgoods, SnapGoods allows you to rent, borrow and lend within your community. SnapGoods takes things step further by expanding the notion of “community” not only to your local group — neighborhood, office or apartment building — but to your social graph across the web’s trusted corners. The site features full Facebook and Meetup integration, extending your social circle to the cloud.

You can browse the goods people in your area are lending or take a look at what they need and lend a hand (or a sewing machine, as may be the case) if you’ve got the goods.

3. LANDSHARE

Growing one’s own produce is every hipster-urbanite’s pipe dream. But the trouble with it is that you have to actually have a place to grow it. And while a pot of cherry tomatoes on in your fire escape is better than nothing, it’s hardly anything. Enter Landshare, a simple yet brilliant platform for connecting aspiring growers with landowners who have the space but don’t use it.

Though currently only available in the U.K., we do hope to see Landshare itself, or at least the concept behind it, spread worldwide soon.

4. SWAPTREE

Swaptree is a simple yet brilliant platform for swapping your media possessions — from books to DVD’s to vinyl — once they’ve run its course in your life as you hunt for the next great thing. Since we first covered swaptree nearly three years ago, the site has facilitated some 1.6 million swaps, saving its users an estimated $10.3 million while reducing their collective carbon footprint by 9.3 million tons.

Inspired by the founders’ moms, whose lunch dates with girlfriends turned into book-swap clubs, swaptree makes sure that the only thing between you and the latest season of 24 is the price of postage.

5. GIFTFLOW

Most of us are familiar with the concept of regifting. (No disrespect, but the disconnect between good friends and good taste is sometimes astounding.) Luckily, GiftFlow allows you to swap gifts you don’t want for ones other people don’t want but you do. The platform is based on a system of karmic reputation, where your profile shows all you’ve given and taken, building an implicit system of trust through transparency.

So go ahead, grandma. Hit us with your latest sweet but misguided gift. Chances are, there’s someone out there who’d kill for that kitschy music box.

6. ZIPCAR

We’re big proponents of bikesharing but, to this point, the concept has failed to transcend local implementations. While some cities like Paris, Amsterdam and Denver are fortunate enough to have thriving bikesharing programs, we’re yet to see a single service available across different locations. Until then, we’d have to settle for the next best sharing-based transportation solution: Zipcar, a 24/7, on-demand carsharing service that gives its members flexible access to thousands of cars across the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Zipcar has been around for quite some time years and most people are already familiar with it, so we won’t overelaborate, but suffice it to say the service is the most promising solution to reducing both traffic congestion and pollution in cities without reducing the actual number of drivers.

7. SHARE SOME SUGAR

Lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor. More than an Outkast lyric line, this is the inspiration behind share some sugar — a celebration of neighborliness through the sharing of goods and resources. Much like SnapGoods and NeighborGoods, the service lets you borrow, rent and share stuff within your neighborhood or group of friends

So not sure why I hadn't thought to try this yet. Here's to hoping something comes of it...

I am looking for a landshare in the Asheville, NC area. We (myself, my partner, our son, and more than likely our dear friend and current room mate) are looking to move to the area hopefully by October/November of this year if we can get everything to fall into place to allow it-- for the culture, to open our business, and for me to train to become a Midwife. Our ultimate goal is to become as off-grid and self-sufficient as possible, but we realize that it will have to be taken in increments and not all at once. We are also a young family and are trying not to get into any more debt (student loans are enough)-- we'd like to avoid taking out a loan for our home/land or getting sucked into a 30-year mortgage, or for our business, if at all possible. So where do you come in?

We are looking to try and find someone who has a bit of land that would let us stay on said land for a currently-undetermined amount of time (but probably a couple years at least, unless something else came up). We would like to build our own off-grid home, but we realize some people may A. not want a more permanent structure such as a cob home built on their property, and/or B. may have a home of sorts for us to stay in. If there is no place available on the property (such as a cabin/loft/apartment/studio/other home) and building a more permanent dwelling would not be welcome, we would like to build a yurt to live in which would be able to be taken down whenever we were to leave. 

So, landshare? As mentioned earlier, we are a young family already with a bit of debt and also trying to start a business. We are looking for a work-trade kind of set up or something similar, at least until we have steady reliable income-- if "rent", or a small payment of some kind, is something you think you'd really need from us. In case it wasn't obvious, we are looking for a place that either already has garden-space and animals and/or would allow us to have our own garden-space and some animals. 

We would like to build a community of sorts, be a "family"/"tribe". Work in the garden together, grow food and raise children together (we have a currently-14 month old), share meals and experiences together. 

I am studying to become a midwife, my partner is studying to be an herbalist. I will be taking a Permaculture Design Certification Course next month, and I am also a Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist in the state of NC. My partner and I are both artists and I am a dancer interested in circus arts. I am really big on traditional nutrition (Sally Fallon and Weston A. Price-- so no, we're not veg*ns but it's cool if our hosts are), fermentation, self-sustainability, DIY,and crafts. My partner is into art (mostly drawing and some painting and learning digital art), martial arts, and video games and is getting more into the "crunchy" side of things since he's started his herbalism training. Our room mate has  a healthy obsession with crystals and stones and is another video game nut. We are all rather spiritual people of eclectic tastes (mostly pagan with some Eastern influences). 

If this is something that you would be interested in doing with us, or you know someone who might be, and would like to talk more about what you have to offer and what we're looking for, please contact me :)

So not sure why I hadn't thought to try this yet. Here's to hoping something comes of it...

I am looking for a landshare in the Asheville, NC area. [[EDIT: really looking anywhere at this point.]] We (myself, my partner, our son, and more than likely our dear friend and current room mate) are looking to move in order to start our business [http://twistedtreefarmbirthandshoppe.webs.com]] and to get practicing herbalism, midwifery, and permaculture. Our ultimate goal is to become as off-grid and self-sufficient as possible, but we realize that it will have to be taken in increments and not all at once. We are also a young family and are trying not to get into any more debt (student loans are enough)-- we'd like to avoid taking out a loan for our home/land or getting sucked into a 30-year mortgage, or for our business, if at all possible. So where do you come in?

We are looking to try and find someone who has a bit of land that would let us stay on said land for a currently-undetermined amount of time (but probably a couple years at least, unless something else came up). We would like to build our own off-grid home, but we realize some people may A. not want a more permanent structure such as a cob home built on their property, and/or B. may have a home of sorts for us to stay in. If there is no place available on the property (such as a cabin/loft/apartment/studio/other home) and building a more permanent dwelling would not be welcome, we would like to build a yurt to live in which would be able to be taken down whenever we were to leave. 

So, landshare? As mentioned earlier, we are a young family already with a bit of debt and also trying to start a business. We are looking for a work-trade kind of set up or something similar, at least until we have steady reliable income-- if "rent", or a small payment of some kind, is something you think you'd really need from us. In case it wasn't obvious, we are looking for a place that either already has garden-space and animals and/or would allow us to have our own garden-space and some animals. 

We would like to build a community of sorts, be a "family"/"tribe". Work in the garden together, grow food and raise children together (we have a currently-14 month old), share meals and experiences together. 

I am studying to become a midwife, my partner is studying to be an herbalist. I will be taking a Permaculture Design Certification Course next month, and I am also a Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist in the state of NC. My partner and I are both artists and I am a dancer interested in circus arts. I am really big on traditional nutrition (Sally Fallon and Weston A. Price-- so no, we're not veg*ns but it's cool if our hosts are), fermentation, self-sustainability, DIY,and crafts. My partner is into art (mostly drawing and some painting and learning digital art), martial arts, and video games and is getting more into the "crunchy" side of things since he's started his herbalism training. Our room mate has  a healthy obsession with crystals and stones and is another video game nut. We are all rather spiritual people of eclectic tastes (mostly pagan with some Eastern influences). 

If this is something that you would be interested in doing with us, or you know someone who might be, and would like to talk more about what you have to offer and what we're looking for, please contact me :)

I've shared this before I think but the more we spread the word about these types of websites, the more useful they become...