MUM courses:
- Energy Use by Man and Nature
- Hands On Course In Sustainable Technologies
- Permaculture Design Certification
- Sustainability Forest Academy
- Artisan Foods and the Slow Food Movement
- Local Economy
Grinnell College courses:
Resource Center
Written Report
Online Community Trading Networks
For this project I have been researching online community networks, trading communities and similar organizations who work to connect people wishing to trade, barter, or sell goods or services. There are local communities to global communities exchanging online everyday offering many models and alternatives to traditional purchasing of goods and services. These communities help reduce waste buy recycling products and connecting people to get needs met, most often for a lower that retail price. They create a social space that frequently includes forums, chat rooms, educational articles and links, local event calendars, local business offers, community resources, video, audio, and more.
There are many ways in which value is determined and many forms of “payment”, including barter, value points, LETS and the IMS network (International Monetary Systems), which has approximately 18,000 members businesses in 50 markets. IMS is the largest membership based trading network in the United States. Using the trade dollar economy it has been operating for more that 20 years. The trade dollars are deposited into a personal online IMS account and you shop and buy with these trade dollars instead of cash. Other sites work more like LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) which are local community trading groups where members exchange their goods and services with each other like exchanging favors with a genuine desire to help each other.
A LETS system is locally initiated and democratically organized as a not-for-profit community enterprise which provides information and acts as a bookkeeper of LETS Credits exchanged through it’s members transactions. It acts as a scoring system, which keeps track of member’s transactions within the community marketplace, strengthening the community’s economy. It can offer food, transportation, clothing, repairs, baby-sitting, legal services, health services, business services, entertainment a more. Most often there is no cost in federal dollars. Unilets online website explains this system in more detail and gives access and information of these timetrading systems in 53 nations.
Some websites like your-community.org and americantowns.com, which offer communities a “single online location for everything and everyone needed to navigate daily life in their town”, bring neighbors together helping to keep money within the local economy. They offer
Craig's List is perhaps one of the most famous of the online trading networks for posting personal advertisements for trading goods online with local residents.
Give-Get-Nation is a gifts and wishes pool, forum, and blog where people share “goods, services, brainpower, people power and the indomitable human spirit”. The site says, “Think of us as a free eBay without the race against time. Think of us as Freecycle, Craigslist, Volunteermatch, Idealist.org, Universal Giving, the Hungersite, NetAid, and The One Campaign all rolled together. It's hard to imagine all that you can do in Give-Get-Nation. The potential is unlimited.” It is “..The human values economy where your gifts and wishes are the capital for creation.” There is nothing for sale, barter or trade and there are no fees. All transactions are rated for integrity. GiveGet Nation’s uses a reputation based currency called ‘Whuffie’, coined by science fiction writer Corey Doctorow, which is a rating of the transaction experience.
Helping Hero, based in Australia, helps rebuild communities by helping them swap common services like babysitting, pet sitting, garden chores, carpooling and house sitting. Like a babysitting coop with a point system, members agree to share responsibilities of providing and using services amongst each other. Families connect with other families in the community and save money. It is a reciprocal system; no money changes hands except for a small annual service fee. HelpingHero manages the process tracking bookings, exchanging points, communicating needs etc…
Websites like Zwaggle offer online communities for parents to share with other parents. Zwaggle is an online community for parents to share with other parents. Using our points based sharing system, parents spend less money, time and resources providing for their children. At Zwaggle you can give away used goods that are no longer needed by your family and then receive value from these used goods via a proprietary points based system, called Zoints. Using those Zoints, you can obtain items you need for the family.
http://www.zwaggle.com/
Formal Trading Communities are business run websites that often charge a fee for a successful transaction. A less experienced trader is indicated by the trade history or feedback and they often have to send their half first. Usually, items must be accurately, honestly represented by the seller and the buyer must come through efficiently to receive positive feedback.
Online Trading Circles swap TV Series and episodes and other episodic media. Many sites like Peerflix, SwitchPlanet and Swaptree exchange DVD’s, CD’s, video games and the like, recycling entertainment, health and fitness videos and educational materials. Sometimes a small flat fee is required and on other sites you just pay shipping costs. http://Peerflix.com http://SwitchPlanet.com http://Swaptree.com http://gametraderworld.com
Books and Paperback trading sites are also extremely popular, ecowise, and convenient.
http://bookmooch.com/ Peer-to peer clothing exchanges like Swango and Rehash Clothes have created innovative, quick and easy to use methods of renewing wardrobes. Unlike eBay the seller does not put a price tag on the items which can go against the spirit of swapping in to money making. Multiple items can be swapped at one time which is easier that making multiple trips through the checkout process and PayPal. http://swango.com/
These online community trading networks offer us many more options that were not available for previous generations and help promote more sustainable living practices, build community, and add convenience as compared to the local newspaper. With the forums, and articles many of these sites help educate the public on sustainability issues and reconnect the people of the planet in new ways.