Karun Cowper speaks with urbanist, activist and “Audacities” initiator Sharon Ede on “cosmo-localisation” in the New Economy in Australia and beyond.
About Sharon Ede
Sharon is an urbanist and activist who works to build the sharing/collaborative movement in Australia and beyond. In 2017, she established AUDAcities, a catalyst for relocalising production of food, energy and fabrication in cities, in ways that enable more wealth to be retained and fairly distributed in the local economy: www.audacities.co
In 2012, she set up Share Adelaide, the first presence in Adelaide about the sharing and collaborative movement, and is the ‘ideator’ of ShareNSave, an initiative of the South Australian government which maps community sharing assets, and which has been made open source.
In 2010, she co-founded the Post Growth Institute to help spark a movement for ‘the end of bigger, the start of better’. Post Growth initiatives include Free Money Day, a global stunt designed to spark conversations about sharing; the EnRich List, a cheeky take on the Forbes Rich List, which instead celebrates those whose life and work contributes to enriching futures for all; and How On Earth, a book about how not for profit enterprise will become the primary business model by 2050.
For several years, she wrote a blog on helping change agents become more effective with communication and change for sustainability at Cruxcatalyst (crux = the heart, catalyst = change).
She has had a long association with Global Footprint Network, learning from GFN founder Mathis Wackernagel during an internship in the US in 2001.
During her university days, she spent five years working as a full time volunteer with Urban Ecology Australia, a nonprofit community group that promotes the development of ecological cities through education and example, which initiated Adelaide’s ‘piece of ecocity’, the international award winning Christie Walk.
Originally published in Perth Indymedia
Photo by NichoDesign
Great work Sharon!