Why borrow what you need?
We spend lots of money on things we hardly ever use, or just don't need very often. Things like camping gear, or tall ladders, or DIY tools, all take up room and can be expensive, especially if they'll only be used for a few days of the year. With personal debt in the UK £1.4 trillion as it is, it makes sense for us to borrow the items we need only occasionally, rather than borrowing the money to buy them ourselves.
Based on a range of data, we've calculated that the carbon embedded within an average product is approximately 9.73 kg per item. See here
for the methodology behind this figure. Sharing the resources we have, and borrowing and lending items we own, saves on the raw materials used to make the product, as well as carbon emissions during manufacture and distribution. According to the United States National Academy of Engineers, a vast proportion of the materials used to manufacture an item, around 93%, do not even end up in the final product.
Coupled with the fact that 99% of what we buy falls into dis-use 6 months on (some sources say 6 weeks), and it's clear that at some point we'll be forced to change our behaviour, simply because we won't have the resources to continue as we have been.
Where you can borrow things from:
- From each other. We've become quite used to living relatively isolated lives, hardly knowing our neighbours and those who live down our street. Borrowing (and lending things) enhances a sense of community and trust, as naturally relationships and friendships evolve and strengthen the more we interact and 'do good turns' for one another.
- Websites like Neighborrow
and Loanables
are online communities where you can look for things you'd like to borrow, or post up things you have to lend. Traxtuff
specifically lets you borrow things and keep track of what you've borrowed amongst your network of friends.
- Libraries: in recent years they have become more than just places for borrowing books; you can also borrow videos, DVDs, music CDs, audio books, language courses and even computer games, either for free or for a nominal charge.
Other useful sites
Footnotes
