“Why The Sharing Economy Is Growing”
Taking a break from looking at the business side of the sustainability issue, I am going to talk about the other side of the story – the consumers.
The sharing economy is valued at around $26 billion. Some familiar examples include AirBnb, Zipcar, ThredUP, and Shareyourmeal. As expected, the tech savvy adults under 35 are more expected to participate in sharing or renting activities. While the motive behind these decisions are finance related, the surprise is that out of these sharing platform users, 36% said it was due to philosophical reasons. Helping others and promoting sustainability seems to be also fueling the sharing economy.
According to Joel Makower’s shades of green, I am a ‘conflicted’ consumer. I know what to do in order to practice sustainability but I am conflicted when I am hit with financial decisions. While I want to purchase the greener premium products, my brain (and perhaps my heart) is still not ready to justify the benefits in the long term over the cost. At other times, my lazy-self tends to argue against the extra efforts that is required to practice sustainability.
Although pursing sustainability is important, I think that balance is something important and I fear that it may be something that may be overlooked. It is a “right” thing for us to do something “green.” However, if the other aspects are ignored, such as performance and efficiency, these sustainable solutions may not be so sustainable in the long run.
The issue of balancing – looking at all aspects of the solution – lead me to a complex thought. I have talked about being great first and green second in my previous blog. I am very well support this criteria and perhaps regard it as the most important requirement. However, am I emphasizing this because we are somewhat more supportive of sustainability? If Earth was in a poorer condition and people are not waking up to the environmental issues, would I not care about being great first and pursue being responsible at all costs? Sustainability is something still fairly new to me and I have yet to discover where I am in this sustainability journey. Despite these difficult and multi-faceted issues, at the end of the day I am encouraged and inspired by the growing support and awareness of making our world a better place.
Article: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682080/why-the-sharing-economy-is-growing
