My favorite number in all these statistics: every shared vehicle replaces 15 individually owned vehicles. Another cool number: An average ZipCar user can save up to $435 per month by driving shared vehicles.

The numbers don’t lie! Car-sharing is here to stay.

Something I thought was cool is that the concept has met with no resistance from the taxi company with exclusive rights to service Sea-Tac, whose representatives said “If people want to be creative and save money and be more green, we’re absolutely OK with that.”

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission is on board with taxi-sharing, too. In July of last year the “Commissioner’s Corner” column addressed the different ways the Taxi and Limousine Commission was supporting taxi-sharing, including pilot programs to develop multi-fare meters, support group riding at reduced rates from taxi stands at points on busy corridors, and place “livery stands” at places like shopping centers.

In U.S. cities, where taxis usually supplement public transportation systems, cab-sharing is a great way for consumers to save money while, in many cases, generating additional revenue for the cab driver. In other parts of the world, taxis actually are public transportation. When I was in Amman, Jordan last year, we went everywhere by cab–there is no public transportation, and taxis are super cheap and always available. And according to Wikipedia, dozens of other countries use taxis as the main form of transportation, calling the service everything from “multi-hire taxi” to “taxibus.”

It’s probably best to face the two challenges in the order listed, so that you and the other sharers can hire the nanny together and be sure everyone is fully on board with that crucial choice. There are a lot of issues to negotiate in setting up the sharing arrangement, too–hours, transportation, what the children are to be fed, what types of activities you want them to be engaged in, and how you’ll share costs and deal with taxes. All of these questions are resolvable, especially if you talk about them in advance–as with most sharing agreements, communication is key here.

Sharing child care has a ton of advantages. It saves money for everyone, conserves resources, and provides children with opportunities to socialize with others in a home environment. Challenging as it may be to find the right setup, once you do it’s likely to benefit your family in the short and long term.
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And I’m glad she chose to focus right in on this, because skeptical readers might otherwise roll their eyes an article that extols the virtues of sharing, without addressing the barriers. This is especially important, because she didn’t just write about simple sharing arrangements, such as lawnmower sharing. She actually gave examples of what we might call EXTREME SHARING, including a moving example of organ sharing (donating a kidney to a stranger). She even touches on the sharing of lovers among members of a commune (noting, however, that the commune members found that possessiveness and jealousies eventually got in the way of sharing everything). Very interesting stuff!

Actually, this is a sharing art installation by Emily Doskow and Luan Stauss, meant to draw the curiosity of and start conversations with the herds/flocks of passers by at our San Francisco Green Festival booth last weekend. Oddly, during the course of the weekend, not one, but TWO of the cows disappeared. Now who in their right conscience would steal from a booth about sharing? (The chickens have been brooding about it ever since.) Whoever you are cow-nappers, just know you got a special cow on your hands and she fully expects to be shared.

* No more houses that are giant storage units for too much STUFF
* Simple mobile structures
* Eliminate divide between indoors/outdoors. Build outdoor kitchens, living spaces, and gathering spaces.
* State where we are; work with what we have. Transform pre-existing structures, remove asphalt, and retrofit our urban spaces to build ecovillages.
* Creating jobs for green builders artisans, and people who really care about the craft of building
* Access to land is a basic human right
* Building in place with on-site materials and appropriate technology
* Designing homes that get us outside and doing permaculture
* Homes that can adapt over time (Moveable walls, etc) “LivecycleBuilding.org”
* Reading the fine print, understanding the meaning and consequences of the loan and purchase documents we sign. Making informed choices. SLOW choices.
* Creating our homes, not just buying mass-produced cookie-cutter homes.
* Building with local materials, non-toxic, renewable, recycled, and recyclable materials
* No more “Buy and Flip!”
* Homes are not stock markets. No more “flippin’ it,” and investing in bigger and bigger homes. Slow down. Put down roots.
* Lots of campgrounds for longer-term living in mobile structures
* Design of communities to facilitate open space preservation
* Investing in lifestyle, not just houses
* No more billboards (especially lighted)
* Take your time for LUNCH!
* Removing land and homes from the market, preserving them for the commons; ensuring long-term affordability; limited equity housing
* Finance that does not come from big evil lenders. (Citibank = Boooo!)
* Tasting our homes, savoring our homes, experiencing our homes, breathing our homes, loving our homes, sharing our homes.
* Creating a space for solitude, sanctuary, stillness – an uninterrupted place to dream
* Bau-biologie
* Combining residential and commercial spaces to facilitate walkable communities, and allow people to work near home. Fosters local economy.
* Designing homes that foster interaction, sharing, community, and connection among residents
* Homes that inspire creativity, beauty, and joyful activities. Aesthetically pleasing, brings pleasure to the senses.
* Barn raising!
* Slow water!
* Homes that encourage slow food, slow water, slow everything!
* Home as a conduit for relationship. Home as a place that connects us to Earth and people.
* Housing integrated with smart transportation, bus routes, bike sharing, car sharing, and no more laws requiring 2.3 parking spots per household.
* More hostels and networks of simple housing for people who travel
* Home ownership and stewardship based in permaculture and whole systems ethics and principles

This is Frugal Foodies, a Bay Area group that brings people together to cook and eat in community. Founded by J Moses Ceasar in 2005, Frugal Foodies has thrived since then in Berkeley and San Jose. Menus vary (according to the site’s blog, a recent evening was an experiment in veganism) but are always vegetarian and mostly organic.

My friend Margaret went a couple weeks ago and came back glowing with great things to say about how it works and how much fun she had. I hope to try it soon and report back on another fun way to share food.