Meet Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers Authors of What's Mine Is Yours

What's Mine Is Yours is an exciting new book about the power of Collaborative Consumption that we recently reviewed on TreeHugger. The authors are collaboration expert Rachel Botsman and social entrepreneur Roo Rogers, founder of OZOcar and OZOlab. Together they have put together a book that maps out the amazing social and sustainable businesses that have been created by combining the power of technology and social networking.

What's Mine Is Yours describes how we've cut out the middleman supplier and are now doing it for ourselves, creating "an explosion in sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping", with brands such as Zipcar, Netflix, and Bixi. Rachel and Roo talk to Change Makers about being inspired by Bill McKibben, harnessing innovation and how they came to be involved in the new sharing movement.

Planet Green: How did you get into this line of work?

Rachel Botsman: It's not a simple answer! My background is a smorgasbord of the public, private and academic sectors across brand, innovation and sustainability. From the time I graduated from Oxford, I decided I would work incredibly hard to create ideas that build social bridges and emotionally connect with people. Over time, I have grown more comfortable that the output might be a social venture one year and a book the next.

Roo Rogers: I'm still not sure what "line of work" I'm in! Over my varied career, I've always let great ideas lead me - innovative ideas with positive social impact. If something does not impact the collective for the better, improving people's lives, it's not worth doing.

PG: When did the green bug strike?

RB: Around seven years ago. It was less about "going green" and more a rising consciousness that I was on the "hedonic treadmill." The distance between what I had and what I wanted seemed to keep getting wider. I started to become very fascinated with the whole system of consumerism and the unconscious behaviours it has created. Around the same time, I realized that purchases and stuff were not what I truly valued; I was happiest when I felt truly connected with people.

RR: For me it struck when in 8th grade, I created a science display on Global Warming. I

devised a simple presentation of a sandbox, a clock, and dripping water. Each minute

represented 1 year, with the sand eventually being submerged by the water to show the

tipping point of Global Warming. Sadly, I didn't win the science prize, but the lesson

stuck.

PG: Who is your green hero?

RB: Bill McKibben. From his movement 350.org to his books such as Deep Economy he manages to take a passionate approach to a wide range of eco-issues without heavy-handed finger wagging or angry blame. We need more environmentalists like McKibben who understand how to make people act around a common purpose, turning good intentions into real action.

RR: I don't believe in "Green Heroes." Our global warming challenge isn't going to be solved by heroes or miracles. A solution demands a much more methodical and systematic approach that inspires a collaborative solution across economies, nations, and languages.

PG: What is your ultimate green goal?

RB: To help drive "The Big Shift"; away from the 20th Century defined by hyper consumption, towards the 21st century, the age of Collaborative Consumption. I would like us to be able to look back and be proud of a society that leapfrogged over decades of waste and emptiness into a new era marked by trust between strangers, access over ownership and the primacy of experience over "more stuff." I want to help make that happen.

RR: My goal is to harness innovation to help create solutions for our social and environmental challenges. By "harness" I mean creating businesses, inventing adaptive product solutions, or simply connecting the ideation dots to facilitate adoption.

PG: What is your motivation?

RB: You get what you give. As Mother Teresa said, "If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies; succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway."

RR: My children. I am an optimist, but I also have this strange thing for apocalyptic movies: Terminator, Deep Impact etc. They act as a really strong visual motivator of what the world could become and the horrible plight my kids could face.

PG: What is most important to you, ecologically speaking?

RB: The reinvention of the meaning of 'more'. I would like to see our economy transformed from being dependent on 'more stuff' to politicians, business leaders, designers, - you name it - to having the vision and conviction to recreate a more sustainable system. I believe this involves more shared services, more community, more local markets and more cooperation.

RR: Your question made me look up the difference between "ecology" and "environment!"

From an ecological standpoint I am interested in distribution and equality. Income

distribution is a political issue that is very close to my heart and I would extend that to the

fair distribution of our environmental assets. Of course, to do this fairly we would have to

assign a fair value to all living species.

PG: What is the most challenging part of your job?

RB: My ideas often involve joining the dots between seemingly disconnected fields and the type of projects I like to work on involve companies taking bold leaps into the new. I know when the ideas are ready when they shift from being met with a "huh?" to "wow, that is so simple!" But that process takes time, pushing through insecurities and outright "no's" and requires a lot of mental and emotional energy.

RR: Staying focused. When I look at those who have achieved the most in this world they

often devoted their life to solving one intractable problem. I, on the other hand, thrive on

taking on many things at once. There are just too many interesting people, problems and

ideas in this world to devote oneself to.

PG: What is the most rewarding?

RB: Without a doubt it's hearing the stories of entrepreneurs and change makers from around the world starting ideas connected to Collaborative Consumption. I receive emails from people all around the world telling me that that they have started a tool lending library; raised the money for their venture; or are quite simple changing their own habits. Knowing you have inspired someone is a gift and it's my fuel.

RR: Meeting people. I hate that there is a new professional ethos that says that meetings should be short and few, and doing is somehow better than thinking. I think that a day filled with meeting people and brainstorming is a perfect day.

PG: Of the people you have worked with, who impresses you most?

RB: People impress me in different ways but I am most touched by unassuming change agents with the passion and self-motivation to make a genuine difference to people they have never met.

RR: Honestly, my wife Bernie. She is so focused and consistently capable to instill the highest level of integrity in everything she does.

PG: What green thing do you do everyday?

RB: I don't own a car and walk whenever possible. It might take 15 more minutes to get somewhere, but it actually creates the time for me to slow down and notice random things.

RR: I live in New York City. I walk to work, use public transport, can only buy what I can carry home, and have an apartment with only the number of rooms that I need. High density cities force the pooling and sharing of resources.

PG: What do you wish you could do?

RB: On a personal level I wish I could be self-sustainable in terms of food (as a kid I wanted to be a gardener!). On a professional level, I wish I could declare the age of 'Gordon Gekko' as officially over, wave a magic wand and take away the fat checks of business with no purpose other than pure profits.

RR: Move New York to Switzerland. Put another way, take the most beautiful city in the world and put it in the most beautiful natural setting. Just think of the poetry, mountains of buildings surrounded by mountains of mountains all living harmoniously together as a symbol of the best of man and the best of nature.

PG: What is your biggest eco-sin?

RB: Long flights from Australia. It is hard to truly experience the world and give speeches over Skype!

RR: Flying. But I also think we have to be careful not blanket air transportation with

condemnation. Perhaps one of the greatest threats to our environment is human

ignorance and I believe that travel - meeting people and seeing our planet's beauty - is a

fundamental necessity in the campaign to persuade people that we need to take action.

PG: If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

RB: Ignorance. The root cause of so many global problems, I believe, is not evil intentions but misunderstanding, miscommunication, and a lack of awareness of each others motives.

RR: Inequality. No wait...inequality and poverty. No...inequality, poverty, and ignorance.

No...inequality, poverty, and ignorance of our planet's impending environmental self-

destruction.

PG: What is your best green advice?

RB: Don't see 'green' as an add-on or a sacrifice. I believe it's less about stocking your cupboards with Seventh Generation products and more about shifting away from a seismic zeal for individual getting and spending towards a rediscovery of collective good.

RR: Millions of people die a year from environmental "disease." Now imagine that instead of affecting people millions of miles away, it is your daughter, son, father, mother, or friend.

Now do something about it.

Change Makers is series of interviews with people famous and obscure who are creating a more sustainable world through their work. Meet more Change Makers here.