Monday, January 2, 2012

Can Gift Exchange Fix the Problems of Capitalism and Rebuild our Lost Community?

Can Gift Exchange Fix the Problems of Capitalism and Rebuild our Lost Community? By Charles Eisenstein


"... a gift circle reduces our production of waste. It is ridiculous to pump oil, mine metal, manufacture a table and ship it across the ocean when half the people in town have old tables in their basements. It is ridiculous as well for each household on my block to own a lawnmower, which they use two hours a month, a leaf blower they use twice a year, power tools they use for an occasional project, and so on. If we shared these things, we would suffer no loss of quality of life. Our material lives would be just as rich, yet would require less money and less waste."


This article is an interesting examination of an alternative to economics.


Bill

No comments: