In the second part of this book, each chapter covers a particular type of sharing. These chapters include a section that describes your "triple bottom line." The triple bottom line is the essence of why we share—because it's good for our pocketbooks, it's good for the planet, and it's good for the social world we live in. Later chapters provide information about specific sharing scenarios, such as shared housing or a shared car. Here's the triple bottom line as it applies to sharing in the most general sense.
Social and Personal Benefits
These are some of the ways that your life and society as a whole will be better because of sharing. For example, sharing can help everyone:
- get to know our neighbors and make neighborhoods safer
- make friends
- find resources and referrals more easily
- find new ways to relate to friends, relatives, coworkers, and neighbors
- lighten our load of responsibilities
- create more free time
- meet the needs of seniors and people with disabilities
- increase resources and opportunities for low-income households
- support small businesses and buy local
- access better nutrition, and
- access higher quality goods.
Sharing is as green as it can be, because it:
- uses space, energy, and resources more efficiently
- reduces consumption
- reduces waste
- reduces energy use
- helps us invest in green products, alternative energy, and durable goods
- shrinks your carbon footprint
- sets a green example for others, and
- helps take cars off the road.
The financial bottom line is undoubtedly important to you. The benefits of sharing are evident here. Through sharing, you can:
- spread the cost of owning high quality and durable goods
- reduce the cost of caring for a child or other family member
- reduce the cost of food, fuel, and supplies
- accomplish home repairs without paying for labor
- spread the risk of loss, damage, and depreciation
- share homeownership and build equity
- save money through collective buying, and
- get access to luxury items you couldn't afford alone.
We hope that this chapter has given you lots of ideas about things you can share and the many benefits of having more sharing in your life.