The Millennial Generation has its collective issues--overuse of technology, self-absorption, and poor human interaction skills--but the members of this generation have virtues that we can all learn from as well. One of the unintended consequences of coming of age in a time of economic insecurity is that many of Millennials are forgoing the dubious pleasure of owning in favor of renting.
Home and car ownership among this group is noticeably down. But younger Americans are not stopping there: new economies around the United States are springing up to take advantage of young American's new-found desires to rent music, tools, household, and even clothes.
Needless to say this trend doesn't sit well with corporate America which would have us all buy new things all the time--especially things that we don't actually need or even want. But the new rental economy might be just the thing that the planet needs after decades of excessive consumption and the environmental degradations associated with our manic need to own just about everything.
So while I'm still not quite sold on all the behavior traits of the Millennial Generation--put down that damned cell phone for just a second, will you!--in this particular area, perhaps the Millennials might actually be setting a trend that all of us would do well to follow.
