A giving economy
Aug. 22nd, 2007 by Al 
I’ve found out the main culprits hindering the recovery of our environments and the better usage of our current energy supplies are global capitalism headed by faceless corporations worldwide who’s only objective is the bottomline.
There may be another way of looking how we run our economy in light of the fossil energy decline in the future.One of which is called the Gift Economy.
Gift economy can be also called a sharing economy where goods and services are given without any form of agreements of immediate or future returns.This can only happen in a society that placed high values in honour, loyalty and gratitude, somethings that’s sadly not predominant in our modern societies.Imagine a world with no money and wage labour.
People are motivated to give by social status or pleasures of giving.
Take farming for example. Producers would see no advantage in overusing their land. Instead they would seek to conserve their agricultural and environmental resources; to ensure their ability to live well in the future and to continue to be able to gain status by giving farm produce to others. In a capitalist economy it makes sense for entrepreneurs to market anything that can be sold, regardless of the effect on the environment. It also makes sense for consumers to purchase these goods, since they are already tied into a life of forced labour. These factors cause overproduction and overuse of land and other resources. In a gift economy people’s efforts in production would be tempered by the desire to enjoy a leisured existence and a beautiful and healthy environment.
Creativity and options, which now only find an outlet in leisure, would be here turned to creating a productive process which was also environmentally benign. In terms of farming, a sustainable agriculture based on polycultures is the ideal complement to such an economic system. Creating and harvesting a stable polyculture is an enjoyable appreciation of the bounties of nature as well as a sustainable mode of agricultural production.
To me, this is really a chicken or egg issue, which will come first, consumer or producer?
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