(15) Eric Snyder – Google+ -

Found on Google+ this morning…

Freecycling has viral effect on community spirit and generosity »

Reinforcing that the best things in life are free, a new study shows that online freebie-exchange communities such as “Freecycle” and “Couchsurfing” foster greater team spirit among their members than…

StreetBank – Sharing in your Neighbourhood

in a nutshell

We made this little diagram to show what Streetbank does, and how sharing occasionally used items like ladders and DVDs can make the world a little bit nicer.

before

after

World Environment Day – United Nations Environment Programme

The global financial crisis that began in 2007, and is still resonant today, is considered by many economists as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. One of the key lessons we can draw from this experience is that running economies the way we’ve always done, doing business as usual, is clearly not an option. The new Green Economy is therefore a proposal for an alternative and far more sustainable way of doing business.

A green economy is described as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In other words, we can think of a green economy as an economic environment that achieves low carbon emissions, resource efficiency and at the same time is socially inclusive.

Picture (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently learned that I’m going to be a great uncle once again.  I was thinking that my nephew could probably use some advice and assistance on frugal parenting.  An addition to his household is going to add a financial burden for sure.  To reduce the financial burden, at the same time as increasing the family’s capacity to support the new family member, it seems to me that he needs to learn about freecycling and about living “The Compact” life style.

I found some great advice from a new Mother on “The Compact“, a Yahoo!group community of people committed to a 12 month flight from the consumer grid.  Shopping on FullCircles and Freecycle groups for baby stuff can save a family tons of money… money that can be used for other things.

The advice has been extracted and forms the content for a FullCircles newsletter entitled, “Having a Compacty Baby”.  The new Mom provides advice on breastfeeding, co-sleeping, cloth diapers, buying used, “wearing” your baby, telling others about your compacty preferences.

Here’s the newsletter: “Having a Compacty Baby“.

(19) Eric Snyder – Google+ – It’s simple, easy… Let’s all do it...

Grasscycling :: City of Edmonton »

Grasscycling. Tired of dragging your grass? Start grasscycling. It works. You don’t. Use any mower; Mow often (every 4 – 5 days during peak growing season); Mow high (blades should be 2.5 – 3 inch…

Amsterdam Tries to Change Culture With ‘Repair Cafes’ – NYTimes.com

An Effort to Bury a Throwaway Culture One Repair at a Time

Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times

Gathered around tables in what appeared to be delicate operations, participants tried to fix items that had been set for the trash.

AMSTERDAM — An unemployed man, a retired pharmacist and an upholsterer took their stations, behind tables covered in red gingham.Screwdrivers and sewing machines stood at the ready. Coffee, tea and cookies circulated. Hilij Held, a neighbor, wheeled in a zebra-striped suitcase and extracted a well-used iron. “It doesn’t work anymore,” she said. “No steam.”

Ms. Held had come to the right place.At Amsterdam’s first Repair Cafe, an event originally held in a theater’s foyer, then in a rented room in a former hotel and now in a community center a couple of times a month, people can bring in whatever they want to have repaired, at no cost, by volunteers who just like to fix things.

Conceived of as a way to help people reduce waste, the Repair Cafe concept has taken off since its debut two and a half years ago.