6 Ways to Go Green by Sharing

A green community is an amorphous enough concept that it might not be the first thing that pops to mind when you consider the idea of living green. Things like buying local, organic food or improving your home's energy efficiency might be more obvious after a cursory thought, but engaging in a greener community will give you access to more resources, save you some money, keep you from accumulating so much stuff, and help you be greener on an individual level, too.

It all makes sense, once you think about it for a bit. Tapping in to the resources of many means you not only have access to the physical objects you might need to go about your day-to-day life, but you'll have the shared knowledge of the people who have gone before you and executed life without a car, or some such other daunting-sounding task. Part product service system, part crowdsourcing, and all green community, these concepts can help you go green at home, at work, and at play.

1. Hop on board with car sharing
   Do you live in or near a city? Does your car stay parked in one spot more than it's on the road? Are you tired of paying for insurance, maintenance, and gas? If you answered yes to these questions, you're the perfect prospective person for car-sharing. A great alternative to car ownership, car-sharing services like Zipcar and others you'll find via the Car Sharing Network offer the opportunity to have ready access to wheels without the hassles of paying for gas and insurance, and even finding parking. And, if that's not enough to convince you, Zipcar users report saving in the neighborhood of $435 every month when using the car-sharing service versus paying for all that stuff that comes with owning your own wheels.


2. Put the pedal to the metal with bike sharing
   The two-wheeled version of the system described above is gaining traction around the globe, and why not? It has many of the pleasures of car sharing, with fewer moving parts and an easier time finding a parking spot. Users of the service can access the bikes 24 hours a day, and bikes can usually then be returned at any of the stations in the city. All you have to do is remember your helmet. Faster than walking, cleaner than driving, the bicycle just might be the most perfect form of transportation ever devised, and, now, you don't have to worry if yours is going to get stolen while you're at the movies.


3. Join a community-supported agriculture co-op
   Also known as a CSA, the mouthful of words represents a simple concept: the farm share. You support your community by buying a share of a local farm; then, at regularly assigned intervals—often every week, or every other week—you get a box of delicious, fresh, local, seasonal food. It's a bit like getting the best of your local farmers' market, picked out for you all summer long. The number of CSAs in the United States was estimated at 50 in 1990, and has since grown to over 1000, so its increasingly likely that there's a farm near you that offers a sharing program. To find a CSA near you, click on over to Local Harvest's CSA section, which allows you to search by zip code for a program near you; they also have a great article on the history and importance of CSAs which is well worth reading.


4. Use your local book library
   This one may seem like a simple no-brainer, but libraries are great, often underutilized resources that provide a service that fits very neatly into the green lifestyle. Part "why buy what you can own" and part "the greenest stuff is that which you don't own," libraries offer vast quantities of knowledge and information for free (unless you're tardy in returning books you check out). And, since we've seen resources to help you find any library book, anywhere, and even download audio books for free from your local library, there's not much reason to have all those books from college still collecting dust. If your answer to the question, "How many more times are you going to read Shakespeare's entire canon" isn't more than "Once a month for the rest of my life," it might be time to consider making the library a regular stop in your green community routine. Don't forget, all this goes for college texts, too.


5. Borrow from your local tool library
   Attention DIYers and crafters: this one's for you. Unless you're a general contractor or are currently executing a whole home or bathroom renovation, you don't need a full complement of reciprocating saws, seven-inch gangly wrenches, or dual variable speed rotary tools. Enter the tool-lending library, which allows you the handy—and cheap!—option of borrowing the tools you need for fixes around the home, and then giving them back when you're done, without having to maintain, store, or, perhaps most importantly, buy them. The list of libraries is always changing, so hit up Wikipedia for an up-to-date list.


6. Rent toys for your kids
   If there's one thing for sure, it's that kids grow fast, and that they're hard on stuff. It's with this in mind that we present the idea of sourcing their toys from the community; by renting, you won't have them long enough for them to outgrow them, and (hopefully) they won't have the chance to really trash them, either. The young ones in your lives can get started on learning to own less stuff at an early age thanks to a handful of ingenious services that allows you to rent toys for them like you would borrow books at a library. BabyPlays is one such option, but, chances are that your local community offers similar options through play dates, churches, and other small-person get-togethers; check out the International Toy Lending Association to see what's available in your neck of the woods.

So, there you have it: by taking the concept of green living beyond the narrow, individualistic approach, we can learn to see our interconnectedness to our environment and our fellow inhabitants. By getting involved in our communities, by getting out of our cars, by engaging with local services, and by re-imagining where we live, we can green not only our own lifestyles, but our streets, neighborhoods, towns, cities and, ultimately, our societies. Who knows, you may even make friends doing it.

Read more about the green community:
Take a Look at the International Green Health Community
Green Glossary: Craftivism
Give Thanks To The Planet by Enjoying It!
Green Glossary: Eco-Dance
Check out Planet Dog—Canines Online
10 Green Things to Be Thankful For

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