The Top 10 Ways People Are Changing the Economy

The Top 10 Ways People Are Changing the Economy

The Top 10 Ways People Are Changing the Economy:  And of course, one of the ways I enjoy promoting, supporting and working on: social entrepreneurship!! A new way to do business having social impact. If you to explore more about it you will fine more info HERE.

If you want to meet social entrepreneurs or/ and have social enterprise and need support look for a local HUB, incubators of social enterprises. They have spread around. I am partner at HUB MAdrid and know first hand how useful it is to have a network of likeminded people. And to short videos that explains that concept.  And this one by the British Foundation UnLtd describing the journey of a entrepreneur.

2. Small Is Beautiful:

Tired of the isolation, anonymity, and lack of accountability, people are supporting the local and small movement: moving their money to small cooperative banks; frequenting local businesses; and buying food at farmers’ markets.

 

 

3. Gross National Happiness:

The tiny, remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan first invented the idea of using happiness as a measure of good governance. They developed the Gross national happiness (GNH)

that measures not only the economic output,

 

but also the environmental impacts,

the spiritual and cultural growth of citizens,

mental and physical health and the strength of the corporate and political systems.

4. Community Currency:

Big banks always seem to need bailing out, and cash spent at corporation leaves the community almost instantly.

What if we had local money that served local businesses

circulated amongst the community, and celebrated the uniqueness of the places we live in?

Instead of disappearing into fictional derivatives

folks are generating script that serves to strengthen

and uplift neighbourhood and keeps the wealth flow at home.

5. Freecycling:

Freecycle IS about keeping useful things out of the trash. It IS about giving away something that has on use in our life anymore to someone who could extend its usefulness a little longer.

Another off-shoot of the gift economy, freecycling includes everything from Clothing Exchanges, to Crop Swaps, to Book Trades, to more! By clearing out of what we don’t need or use, and getting it into the hands of those who could put in to good use, we decrease clutter, hoarding and consumerism, for great environmental, aesthetic and social justice impact.

There is a Freecycling network, made up of 5,106 groups with 9,318,506 members around the world that is organised an entirely non-profit movement of people who are giving ( and getting stuff for free in their own towns.

6. Gift Economy:

 

Beyond barter, this is the Pay It Forward movement. You receive a service or product as a gift from someone (often anonymously) and you contribute what you can to provide for the next person.

The karma kitchen, where your meal is already paid for and your tip provides the meal for the next hungry soul, are leading the way with this model. In Spain there is a similar initiative called, Cafes pendientes that is rapidly expanding.

7. Worker-Owned Business:

Gone are the days when CEOs sit the corner office and workers toil on the ground. In these new businesses, the workers are the owners and they are making decisions together, to share in the profits and losses, and figure out ways to sustain or grow their businesses.

8. Time Banking:

 

Timebanking is a means of exchange used to organise people and organisations around a purpose, where time is the principal currency.

For every hour participants ‘deposit’ in a timebank, they are able to ‘withdraw’ equivalent support in time when they they themselves are in need. In each case the participant decides what they can offer.

Everyone’s time is equal, so one hour of my time is equal to one hour of your time, irrespective of whatever we choose to exchange.

In Spain there are many Time Banks (Bancos de Tiempo) and an Association (Asociacion para el Desarrollo de los Bancos de Tiempo). They introduce the concept of Time banking in this video as well as their role to support the sector in Spain.

9. Collaborative Consumption:

A new class of economic arrangements is arising……….on in which participants share access to products or services, rather than having individual ownership. Often this model is enabled by technology and peer communities.

The collaborative consumption model is used for example in:

• Marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist,
• Emerging sectors such as social lending (Zopa),
• Peer-to-peer accommodation (Airbnd),
• Peer-to-peer travel experiences (LocalGuiding),
• Peer-to-peer task assignments (TaskRabbit) or travel advidsing (Locish),
• Car sharing (Zipcar) or commute-bus sharing (RidePal), Australia’s (GoGet CarShare) and peer-to-peer RelayRides0).

There are a lot more examples and l leave you this this if you are interested in exploring more: Collaborative consumtion.

10. Impact Investing:

The Global Impact investment network is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing.

Ther is a crisis out there, but also a lot of people that are thinking of new ways to change the economy for the good and that are implementing them.

Here is a list of 10 trends you may be considering……we are also mapping them in this maps: planet for Change so if you want to complete the list or upload other examples….just joint the movement!