MNN - Mother Nature Network

Long before the invention of the shekel by ancient Mesopotamians around 3000 BC, humans swapped, traded, loaned and borrowed. This was the original economy -- the sharing economy.

 

You've probably heard the term recently for good reason.. it is making a big comeback. The advent of digital technology to help facilitate these non-monetized transactions along with a whoop-ass recession has led many to seek a return to the sharing economy. New companies like HipSwap (essentially an online swap meet) and Zotwheels, AirBnB or Uniiverse, are taking the world by storm -- offering a new way for people to share and "profit" from their old stuff. 

 

That's why the folks at TriplePundit are launching a crowd-funded project to document the rise of this new parallel economy. Here's a demo video from their Indiegogo campaign:

 

 

TriplePundit Editor in Chief, Jen Boynton says the sharing economy is a radical new way to conserve on resources, boost the economy, and build community all at the same time. TriplePundit wants to document this exciting movement and so to make things interesting they issued a challenge to the members of their community to fund it.

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Learn more about the sharing economy and how you can support this cool project.