Listen to the interview by clicking the arrow on the audio player below.
In this episode, I speak with Liesl Clark (left) and Rebecca Rockefeller (right), co-founders of the Buy Nothing Project, a social movement focused on the development of hyper-local gift economies.
Clark and Rockefeller don’t make a living from their work on the Buy Nothing Project, but it does require heaps of their time. When we sat down to talk last weekend (amidst the chirping of both birds and children—sorry about that), they explained what inspired them to launch the Buy Nothing movement and why exactly it’s catching fire.
About The Buy Nothing Project: The Buy Nothing Project began as an experimental, hyper-local gift economy on Bainbridge Island, Washington. In just a few months, it has become a bona fide social movement, involving more than 4,000 members in 23 chapters around the country. Using specially-created Facebook groups, Buy Nothing members follow these simple rules: “Post anything you’d like to give away, lend, or share amongst neighbors. Ask for anything you’d like to receive for free or borrow. Keep it legal. Keep it civil. No buying or selling, no trades or bartering…we’re strictly a gift economy.”
Photos: courtesy of Liesl Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller.
Also: thank you to Chris Walton for recording this conversation. I hesitate to credit him since the sound quality is totally not his fault, but the fact is: his help was critical. With the kids milling around (a first for the podcast), I’d probably have forgotten to hit ‘record.’
Podcast: Download
Listen to the interview by clicking the arrow on the audio player below.
