[p2p-research] Marina Gorbis: crowdsourcing abundance

[Ryan]

  Sent to you by Ryan via Google Reader: Marina Gorbis: crowdsourcing
abundance via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz on 2/8/10


(CC image: "Distributing surplus commodities, Johns, Ariz.," 1940,
Library of Congress)

Former BB guestblogger Marina Gorbis, exec director of Institute for
the Future, considers how small groups/organizations can achieve scale
and do good by sharing resources. Essentially every person (and every
company) has a surplus of something that other people want/need: Not
everyone has a large house to trade or a large sum of money to donate
but look around you -- we have excess of stuff, talent, ideas,
information--in our homes , in our communities, and in our
organizations. We are over-producing and under-utilizing resources all
over the place. Witness the recent example of clothing retailers like
H&M deliberately mutilating and tossing unsold clothes in the trash.
Many experts in retail concede that the practice is not uncommon--for
some unfathomable "economic" reason it makes more sense to destroy
clothes than to release them into a local community. The situation is
even worse when it comes to food. We over-produce and waste a lot of
it. According to the USDA, just over a quarter of America's food --
about 25.9 million tons -- gets thrown into the garbage can every year.
University of Arizona estimates that the number is closer to 50
percent. The country's supermarkets, restaurants and convenience stores
alone throw out 27 million tons between them every year (representing
$30 billion of wasted food). This is why the U.N. World Food Program
says the total food surplus of the U.S. alone could satisfy "every
empty stomach" in Africa. How about empty stomachs in our own
communities?

The list goes on an on. We have surplus of space--many commercial
buildings, schools, corporate and government spaces are underutilized,
while many small organizations and individuals are struggling to find
spaces for their work. We also have excess of talent--musicians,
artists, designers, educated unemployed people, young and old--needing
audiences, venues to work in, or contribute ideas to. Crowdsourcing
Abundance or "Screw' em, Let's Do This Ourselves"

Previously:
- Marina Gorbis on organizational change


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