Shareable Australia, launched by Darren Sharp and friends, helps to facilitate and spread the word about Meetups, unconferences, swap meets and the sharing marketplace, and reports on local movements and events.

Cat Johnson explains:

“The recently-created Australian channel of Shareable Magazine, Shareable Australia acts to create person-to-person connections within the sharing movement. The channel helps to facilitate and spread the word about Meetups, unconferences, swap meets and the sharing marketplace, and reports on local movements and events.

“The sharing movement provides a compelling alternative vision for succeeding in the 21st century by placing commons-based models at the centre of our politics, economics and society,” says Shareable Australia editor Darren Sharp. “The central idea of the commons is that resources, both physical & knowledge-based, can be shared for mutual benefit that give people access to an ends (a ride to work, lemons or an encyclopedia) without needing to own the means to produce these assets.”

Sharp notes that sharing enables individuals to define themselves through relationships of trust, reputational standing and social connectedness rather than the commodity treadmill of mainstream consumer culture.

“Common sense tells us that relationships matter and provide the basis for happy, productive people and communities,” he says. “The sharing movement can help us get over our attachment to stuff and re-frame idle material possessions and surplus knowledge as an exciting opportunity to share, learn and connect with those around us.”