Description of Challenge
Making a sustainable living in a society which is based on consume and exploitation. We seem forced to make money and take credits from banks, like this we dont really have enough time to be self-sustainable.Solution
A gift economy, gift culture, or gift exchange is a mode of exchange where valuables are not traded or sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. This contrasts with a barter economy or a market economy, where goods and services are primarily exchanged for value received. Social norms and custom govern gift exchange. Gifts are not given in an explicit exchange of goods or services for money or some other commodity.
Property is not a thing, but a relationship amongst people about things.[13] According to Hann, property is a social relationship that governs the conduct of people with respect to the use and disposition of things. Anthropologists analyze these relationships in terms of a variety of actors’ (individual or corporate) “bundle of rights” over objects.
Gift-giving in many societies is complicated because “private property” owned by an individual may be quite limited in scope (see ‘The Commons’ below).[12] Productive resources, such as land, may be held by members of a corporate group (such as a lineage), but only some members of that group may have “use rights”. When many people hold rights over the same objects gifting has very different implications than the gifting of private property; only some of the rights in that object may be transferred, leaving that object still tied to its corporate owners. Anthropologist Annette Weiner refers to these types of objects as “inalienable possessions” and to the process as “keeping while giving.”[6]
Valuing and creating relationships, ressources and responsability a gift-economy is much more sustainable to grow independent communities. There is no debt, just surplus.
The coordination of ressources, people and knowledge can be supported by appropriate technology to be effective and accessible.
http://ecobasa.org, the gift-economy network for sustainable communities are working for this vision. By connecting people and sustainable communities in a global gift-economy network they facilitate the communication and exchange of experiences, knowledges, services and resources and create sustainable win-win relationships.
By participating in this network, our movement can grow into a true alternative to our current global exploiting capitalistic system!
