Rachel Botsman is co-author of a fun, informative and influential book – What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption – which describes a powerful cultural and economic force that is literally re-inventing not just what we consume but how we consume it.

According to Rachel, four key factors are driving a major change in how we value products and services:

• A renewed awareness of the importance of community;
• The rise of peer-to-peer social networks and real-time technologies that bring people together in completely new ways (think Foursquare and Twitter);
• Ever-growing environmental concerns; and,
• The impact of a global recession.

Rachel characterizes this phenomenon as a shift in the way we think about ‘stuff’, from “what’s mine is mine” to “what’s mine is ours”.

SustainAbility’s Kyra Choucroun spoke to Rachel after her talk at NESTA on February 7, 2011. View the conversation below.