Generation Share: The change makers building the sharing economy, Benita Martofska and Sophie Sheinwald (Policy Press, 2019) £25
Sharing can help to address all global issues, argue Benita Martofska and Sophie Sheinwald.
In their book, they pay tribute to change-makers who use the power of sharing to transform lives, communities and the planet.
The book is the result of a 10-year journey which saw them interview around 200 people.
While the idea of sharing is not new, the sharing economy took off in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Millennials were the initial drivers of the sharing economy but nowadays 28% of the global population are participating in such activity.
One of the projects featured in the book is the Jerusalem Food Co-operative, which keeps costs low and sells food at cheaper prices while focusing on reducing waste.
Also studied are kibbutz collective communities in Israel, which function on principles similar to co-operative ones. Everything is collectively owned within the community while members help each other with daily tasks, sharing tools and knowledge.
“It is a very resilient form of co-operation and living,” says Amos Davidowitz, a leader and activist in the kibbutz movement.
A former journalist, co-author Benita Martofska has been head of global entrepreneurship for Enterprise UK.
She was a counsellor at the One Young World Congress in 2010, and that year also set up People Who Share, a non-profit helping people and organisations to discover and participate in the sharing economy.
“Generation Share, rather than a demographic, is a mindset, a lifestyle that we can choose to adopt,” she says.
“It represents a new consciousness that is emerging, an awareness that consumption doesn’t lead to happiness or wellbeing. But through sharing, caring for people and planet and harnessing the power of technology for good, we can create a more equal, human, happy, healthy, resource efficient, connected and sustainable economy.”
