Santa Fe Farmers’ Market

The profit motive, when it is the sole basis of an economic system,
encourages a cutthroat competition and selfish ambition
that inspires men [and women] to be more concerned about making a living than making a life.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The systems we live in affect us, often more than we know. The economy is one of the most powerful yet invisible systems that impact our lives on a daily basis.

I know some of my friends would argue this point, but the way I see it, the problem with capitalism is that it prioritizes commodities over people and economic transactions over relationships. Over time, this can condition us to do the same. There are even indications that “selfish capitalism,” a term coined by psychologist Oliver James, has detrimental effects on our mental health.

Returning to a more relationship-based economic model can give us the freedom to value each other rather than money.

What if we could find ways to connect with real people in our own community for the services and material things that we need, rather than giving our money to a huge, faceless corporations that aren’t concerned with our wellbeing? How would this liberate our creativity and resources, and support other people to do the same?

Well, fortunately there are ways to do that. Here’s a list of some of the options that I’m aware of—all of them encourage people-to-people interactions and shared resources.

If you know of more, please do share them. You can leave a comment below or write to me at maia [at] liberatedlifeproject [dot] com.

Work and Finance

1. Try Out Time Banks: Time banking means that you spend an hour doing something for somebody in your community, that hour goes into a Time Bank, and then you have a Time dollar to spend on having someone doing something for you. This can be anything from haircuts to computer support to plumbing. It’s a very cool idea. You can either join a Time Bank in your town (see this directory) or consider starting one with this “start-up package.”

2. Explore “Local Currency”: This is similar to the Time Bank concept, but a bit more complex. Local currency is a system of exchange that is created and maintained in a regional area–a great example is the Ithaca Hours program. Here’s a local currency directory for the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Local currency systems also encourage recycling and reduce the amount of carbon emissions from the transportation and manufacture of goods.

3. Create Your Own Business: Stop working for someone else–particularly for a non-local company–and start your own business and invest in your own community. If you need some encouragement and information about how to set off on the path of being an entrepreneur, check out this post as well as this one, and pick up a copy of Pamela Slim’s Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur and/or Jonathan Fields’ Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love. Both are full of lots of ideas that you can put into action right away.

4. Use Credit Unions: Credit Unions keep more of your money in your own community, and they offer great rates and services at the same time. They usually have some kind of eligibility criteria, but there are so many credit unions now that it’s pretty easy to fall into some category that works–even being a resident in a certain county is sometimes enough to qualify for membership. Here’s a directory of credit unions across the U.S.

Shopping

5. Check Out Collective Ownership Models: This means that groups of people get together to share resources. These can range from cars (like Zipcar for example) to housing (see the Co-Housing Association website) to groceries (find out about food cooperatives from Local Harvest). These options generally save you money as well as wear and tear on the planet.

6. Join a Local Community Garden or start your own. The website of the American Community Gardening Association has some great resources to help you.

7. Support Community-Supported Agriculture (CSAs) and Farmers’ Markets: These are great ways to get fresh, local produce and support your local farmers and growers. Again, Local Harvest helps out with this comprehensive directory. And how about this wonderful quote from Barbara Kingsolver to inspire you: “Food is the rare moral arena in which the ethical choice is generally the one more likely to make you groan with pleasure.”

8. Give Away Stuff That You Don’t Use. This includes clothes, books, shoes, anything old and broken that you’re going to fix “someday,” anything you haven’t used for over a year. Take your old clothes to your local Goodwill store or post that collection of books you don’t look at anymore on Craigslist–you’ll bring more simplicity into your own life and you’ll probably make someone else’s day. For the ultimate giveaway, participate in a Really Really Free Market in your area or start one up if there isn’t one already.

Travel

9. Couch Surfing is a worldwide network of people who are willing to host travelers in their homes for free. It’s a volunteer-run organization with a number of guidelines designed to keep both hosts and travelers safe and happy.

10. Hospitality Club also brings hosts and guests together, all around the world. Members help each other when they are traveling, be it with a roof for the night or a guided tour through town. Membership is free.

11. Start a “Casual Carpool” In Your Area. This is a great concept that I learned about when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve never seen it anywhere else, though it may exist. Casual carpools are informal car pools that form when drivers and passengers meet–without specific prior arrangement–at designated locations. In the Bay Area, for example, there are locations in Oakland where passengers start lining up early in the morning, and then drivers looking for passengers come by to pick them up. The advantage to passengers is that they get a free ride across the Bay to San Francisco (saving them the train fare) and drivers benefit because they can use carpool lanes (beating heavy traffic) and don’t have to pay the bridge toll if they have 3 or more people in their car. It’s a win-win situation.

What’s #12? Well…. it used to be Airbnb until its damaging effects on local economies became apparent. So — #12 is up to you! Do you have more ideas to add to this list of liberating economic options? Let us know!

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