The sleepy Northern California town of Mount Shasta has taken the swapping lifestyle to heart, holding monthly swap meetups where residents can come to exchange handcrafted goods, homemade foods, garden produce and even intangible goods like their skills.
Like many around the country, the town of Mount Shasta was initially drawn to holding swapping events for the enormous ecological and financial benefits that come from sharing and exchanging goods. The town is apart of a larger ecological movement known as Transition Towns. These are cities, villages and towns all over the globe that have taken dramatic steps towards leading a healthier and more sustainable way of life and encouraging others in their community to do the same.
The swap meetups proved so successful that the town has begun to expand their swapping by allowing folks to trades not just goods and merchandise, but with both time and skills. If someone has a service or ability to share with residents they can list themselves under a new “hours currency” in which a certain number of hours of work translates to a certain physical good, or someone else’s hours.
Although only in its infancy, the new program has already proved extremely successful, and could lead to another new swapping programs.
Would your town consider setting up a monthly swap events? We’d love you help listing local swapping events on our Swap.com events directory, post events near you to share in the swapping experience!
(Photo by Jim Gardner)
Swap.com Mobile is a free iPhone is app that lets you scan items into your HAVE and WANT lists, manage your account, see what you can get for your stuff, and participate in swaps.
