Clothes to take on the sidewalk
Gifting is that aspect of productive and supportive activity that manifests as beings presenting what's valued to other beings, without expectation of direct exchange.
Human gifting, freely and generously undertaken, has inherent psychological and spiritual benefits.
At a societal-cultural level, a gift economy exists to the extent that the gifting activity of all participants generates broad and dependable mutual support with little or no direct exchange. Gifting economies are usually supported by cultural expectations, morals, peer pressure, duty, and social status, in addition to the psychological benefits of gifting.
Gifting is part of virtually all economies, manifesting through the free productive contributions of natural systems, of families and friendships, and of healthy communities. The fact that these gifts are not monetized serves life; but the fact that they are not noticed or accounted for - or are devalued compared to monetized transactions - degrades life.
Economy Sandwich
The conscious enhancement of gifting in economic activity - especially reclaiming productive and supportive funtions out of the monetized economy back into living relationships - enhances human, social and natural health while reducing individual and communal dependence on (vulnerable, domineering) centralized financial and economic institutions. This evolution towards greater gifting economy can be furthered by the conscious creation of intimate gifting networks as well as technologies that support gifting and sharing among trusted strangers. This evolution is also being facilitated by the creation of electronic resources that can be given with no loss to the giver, by increased localization enforced by contracting economies and resource supplies, and by emerging scientific, social and spiritual narratives that reveal and promote our interconnectedness and co-creativity.
Supporting Softwares[]
Kindista - a very sophisticated software to support inclusive gifting communities - will be launched in July 2012. See http://kindista.org for its current status. See also http://GiftFlow.org.
See also[]
- Ecoomics and Technology of Sharing
- Open Source Production
- Trust-nurturing Systems
- Free Education
- Generiosity
- Crowd-sourced Funding
- Creative Commons
- Gifting Circles
- Mutual Credit
- Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Economics
- Motivational Approaches
- Legal issues re sharing
References[]
- www.SustainableEconomiesLawCenter.org
- http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_case_for_collaborative_consumption.html
- http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/153/the-case-for-generosity.html
- http://www.freemoneyday.org/
Open Source Economics[]
- http://www.ted.com/talks/yochai_benkler_on_the_new_open_source_economics.html
- http://opencollaboration.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/gift-circle-faq/
- http://www.shareable.net/blog/charles-eisenstein-gift-economy-gift-circles
- http://communitytools.info
- http://justfortheloveofit.org
- http://giftflow.org
- http://freecycle.org
- http://ilovefreegle.org
- http://letsallshare.com
- http://ecomodo.com
- http://repaircafe.org