Read about Maura's trip to Honduras further down in this post and on her blog
Meet my younger cousin Maura… (I point out that she is younger because it is a rare distinction given that I myself am the youngest in my family of 9 children…) I can actually remember when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, Maura’s famous reply was that she wanted to “be a lightbulb!” We thought it was funny and silly. Now that I’m older and just a bit wiser, I think Maura may have met her “lightbulb” goal, metaphorically speaking at least…
Among other things, Maura is the moderator of the Freecycle board in her area south of Boston… Hats off to you, Maura! Clearly, Maura is involved with a worthwhile and active community… She posted about my pre-launch efforts and I unexpectedly experienced quite the spike in visitors! I feel strongly that those who will lead the movement to more socially and environmentally responsible life choices in the suburbs are those same people who support the Freecycle movement. So, I think it’s a topic worth revisiting even though I blogged about Freecycle and Craig’s List way back in May when I started this weblog… Here’s my original post for what it is worth…(Bear in mind this was way back in May of 2008 – hahaha – and I knew little of blogging skills like linking to other sites - oh my!). Better yet, just check out the sites (FreeCycle and Craig’s List) directly for yourself!
I’m surprised by how many people DON’T know about Freecycle yet… (“Free-what? Re-cycle? Oh, FREEcycle… What’s that?”) I hope to help change that with the new business…
I also hope that maybe we could even encourage some of the Craig’s List free stuff posters to be a bit more respectful of time and the environment by at least frowning upon those who post things like “don’t email me or call me… It’s on the curb, first come first served!” I have visions of too many people spending time, gas money, as well as wasting the gas to go to the location to find the desired items have been taken already. What a silly waste of time and unnecessary increase to that scary “carbon footprint” (that so many on Freecycle and Craig’s List are try to avoid) related to the reuse of the item(s) being freecycled. Note to self: Add emailing “Craig” regarding my concern. Don’t Laugh! Craig’s List founder Craig Newmark would likely be receptive, as he is a good guy by all accounts and cares about more than maximizing profits. Here’s a bit from an interview he gave to Bizrate.com:
Craig Newmark: We’re trying to basically just make enough to pay the bills. We don’t think we should try to make as much money as we could. Nothing pious about this, but how much money does a human need?
Bankrate: And that’s why you turned down lucrative offers for the company?
Craig Newmark: We’re not anti-commercial, we’re not pious, it’s just that … I ascribe it to nerd values, that say, “Hey, if we’re making a comfortable living, after that it’s a lot more satisfying to change the world a little.” And we get a lot of feedback that says we are changing the world just a little.
No time to ramble on (like I haven’t already?!) but I’d be remiss if I didn’t encourage anyone reading this (those of you who aren’t coming from Maura’s site) to go to her site and take 5-10 minutes to see Maura’s post about her trip to Honduras.
