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Collaborative Consumption

Eight Ways to Prevent Household Waste for Fun and Profit

Jacquelyn Ottman | Posted 05.06.2013 | Green
Read More: Reduce Reduce Recycle, Jacquie Ottman, airbnb.com, Prevent Household Waste, wehatetowaste.com, Use It Up, Patagonia, Collaborative Consumption, zipcar.com, Sharing Economy, Responsible Consumption, Tiny Apartment, Fix-It C, lifeedited.com, Green Marketing, Green News
Jacquelyn Ottman

Ask a roomful of consumers, "Who here hates to see things go to waste?" and every hand will likely shoot up. But, if everyone hates to waste, then how come we generate so much of it? And what can we do to prevent waste from being created in the first place?

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What Collaborative Consumption and the Sharing Economy Can Learn From Microfinance

April Rinne | Posted 04.27.2013 | Business
Read More: Collaborative Consumption, Sharing Economy, Policy, Microfinance, Women Microfinance, Venture Capital, Microfinance Sharing Economy, Business Microfinance, Business News
April Rinne

At first glance, it may seem that microfinance and the Sharing Economy have little in common. However, this first impression is incomplete. Further investigation reveals a multitude of similarities key lessons that collaborative consumption could learn from microfinance.

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From Crowdsourcing to Crowdstorming

Shaun Abrahamson | Posted 04.24.2013 | Technology
Read More: Crowdstorming, Crowdsourcing, Collaborative Consumption, Crowdstorming Projects, Crowdstorm, Crowdsource, Social Media Week, Collaborative Crowdstorm, Collaborative Crowdstorming, Technology News
Shaun Abrahamson

Over the last decade, organizations like GE, P&G, DARPA and LEGO have pioneered working with crowds to brainstorm. And in recent years, startups like Quirky, Localmotors and Giffgaff have put "crowdstorming" at the core of their strategies to bring better products and services to market.

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Top 10 Sustainable Business Stories of 2012

Andrew Winston | Posted 02.22.2013 | Green
Read More: Nrdc, Emc, Mit, Big Data, Green Business, China, US Drought 2012, Staples, Apple, Nike, Hybrid Cars, Saudi Arabia, Jeremy Grantham, Bill Mckibben, Bcg, Solar Power, Global Warming, Clean Economy, Fuel Economy Standards, Microsoft, Unilever, Biofuels, Corporate Sustainability, Mayor Bloomberg, Collaborative Consumption, Marks and Spencer, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Zero Waste, Clean Air Act, Transparency, Mckinsey, Natural Capital, Universal Pictures, Carbon Tax, Al Halvorsen, Foxconn, Heineken, Ups, Solyndra, Walmart, John Elkington, Do the Math, Pwc, H&M, Kimberly-Clark, President Obama, Patagonia, Green Supply Chain, Cop18, Greenbiz, Hertz, Dupont, Coca-Cola, Hurricane Sandy, Crayola, Climate Change, Dunkin' Donuts, Flyknit, Tazreen Fashions Fire, Gm, B&Q, Carbon Disclosure Project, Tyson Foods, Open Innovation, Carbon Footprint, Energy Efficiency, Mississippi River, Tesla Model S, Columbia University, Lca, Pepsico, Sasb, Gisr, Green News
Andrew Winston

We may not be keeping pace with these pressures, but leading companies continue to evolve more sustainable strategies and tactics. Let's look at some top macro- and company-level stories.

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2013 Living: Austerity With Double-Dip Frugality

Marian Salzman | Posted 02.05.2013 | Home
Read More: Debt, Europe, Poverty, Global Economy, Economic Crisis, Renting, Sharing Economy, Austerity, Education, Unemployment, Credit, College, Millennials, Spain, Collaborative Consumption, Greece, Frugal Consumption, Home News
Marian Salzman

Americans are deleveraging to reduce their debts to manageable levels. What will they do once they get debt to relatively manageable levels, predicted for around mid-2013?

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A "Buy Nothing" Holiday Season? Why Collaborative Consumption Makes Sense This Year

Judith Samuelson | Posted 01.26.2013 | Business
Read More: Collaborative Consumption, Environment, Consumerism, Holiday Season, Buy Nothing Day, Locavore, Sharing Economy, Impactx, Black Friday, Black Friday 2012, Business News
Judith Samuelson

The belief that we can grow our way out of our economic woes through buying more stuff is DOA if you consider the effects on a groaning planet. It's time for some fresh ideas.

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Sharing Economy Law: Outdated Rules Create Opportunity

April Rinne | Posted 01.20.2013 | Business
Read More: Collaborative Consumption, Sharing Economy, Legal Reform, Public Policy, San Francisco Sharing Economy, shareable.net, Car Sharing, Business News
April Rinne

Today presents an unparalleled opportunity for current and aspiring lawyers, policy makers, and engaged citizens to help redefine the enabling environment for the Sharing Economy and, in the process, to help rewrite the cultural narrative about what "the good life" means.

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Making the Switch From Buyer to Borrower

Women & Co | Posted 09.17.2012 | Home
Read More: Collaborative Consumption, Eco-Conscious Consumers, Home News
Women & Co

The concept of collaborative consumption really isn't new: libraries and community gardens have been around for years. What's different today is that social networks and the Web are facilitating the sharing of goods and services across geographies and time zones.

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Second-Hand Clothing Gets a Second Life

Vivian Weng | Posted 09.09.2012 | Style
Read More: Ebay, I-Ella, Collaborative Consumption, Y Combinator, Material Wrld, 99dresses, Re-Commerce, Fashion Start-Up, Threadflip, Second-Hand-Clothes-Shopping, Second Hand Shopping, Ebay Clothes, Used Clothing, Second Hand Clothing, Second Hand Clothes, Ebay Shopping, Style News
Vivian Weng

Over a dozen venture-backed peer-to-peer fashion marketplaces have launched in the last year. Re-commerce, it seems, is green in more ways than one.

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The Evolution of Online Trust

Leah Busque | Posted 07.10.2012 | Small Business
Read More: Collaborative Consumption, Airbnb, Startups, Taskrabbit, Trust, Online Identity, Relayrides, Small Business News
Leah Busque

Listening to problems, owning up to mistakes when necessary, responding at lightning speed, and diligently protecting user privacy are the cornerstones of trust-building customer service.

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How the Sharing Economy Is Helping Small Businesses Thrive

Leah Busque | Posted 06.09.2012 | Small Business
Read More: Leah Busque, Jamie Wong, Loosecubes, Citizen Space, Vayable, Coop, Collaborative Consumption, Small Business, Small Business News
Leah Busque

Collaborative places like San Francisco's Citizen Space, Chicago's COOP, or global options like Loosecubes have popped up, making it easy for startups (particularly tech, nonprofit, and creative ones) to get off the ground without breaking the bank.

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How Technology Is Building A 'Sharing Economy'

Tim Hyer | Posted 05.20.2012 | Impact
Read More: Collaborative Consumption, Consumer Exchange Economy, Consumer Internet Sharing, Sharing Economy, Internet Buying, Internet Sharing, Internet Consumption, Social Entrepreneurship, Spring Into Action, Impact News
Tim Hyer

Twelve years into a new millennium, hyper-consumption seems almost a 20th-century fad. The sharing economy, or Collaborative Consumption, is an emerging ecosystem of exchange where people maximize the efficiency of their resources.

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How 'Collaborative Consumption' Is Transforming Startups

MIT Entrepreneurship Review | Posted 05.25.2011 | Business
Read More: Small Business, Lendingclub, Lending, Collaborative Consumption, Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Consumption, Business Model, Demand, Small Business America, Thredup, Startups, Zopa, Getaround, Zipcar, Netflix, Entrepreneurship, Peer to Peer, Business News
MIT Entrepreneurship Review

Collaborative consumption market places are everywhere: media, car rental, lodging, staffing, textbooks, apparel, custom graphic design and even finance.

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The Gift of Money

Claire Gordon | Posted 05.25.2011 | Technology
Read More: Paywalls, Couchsurfing, Neighborgoods, Linus Olsson, Peter Sunde, Collaborative Consumption, Freecycle, Craigslist, Landshare, Tripping, Giftflow, Flattr, Anya Kamenetz, Technology News
Claire Gordon

With the Internet reducing search, transaction and distribution costs to near nil, savvy start-ups have been able to thwart the capitalist order and make use-value the sole value of a good once again.

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Goodbye Hyper-Consumption, Hello Collaborative Consumption

Rachel Botsman | Posted 05.25.2011 | Books
Read More: Ebay, Groupon, Social Networking, Smart Grid, Collaborative Consumption, Real-Time-Web, Freecycle, Zipcar, Netflix, One Block Off the Grid, Books News
Rachel Botsman

The likes of Zipcar and Netflix have rapidly become household names. But what do the next generation of businesses based on shared resources and reinvented market behaviors look like?

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The Next Industrial Revolution May Be Led by Personal Civil Engineering

Jillian Burt | Posted 05.25.2011 | Arts
Read More: Blade Runner, Civil Engineering, William Gibson, Collaborative Consumption, Arup, Dan Hill, James Dyson, Industrial Design, Arts News
Jillian Burt

Maybe a new generation of designers will make civic and social responsibility cool -- the Walkman of this era might be a personal solar power storage unit that can be carried around and snapped into power grid anywhere in the city.

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