March 2nd, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Stuff. It’s piling up in our garage. Stealing space in our bathroom closet. Lurking in the attic. We modern homo sapiens gather gadgets, what-nots, mementos and widgets like our forebears gathered nuts.

Except that, in winter, the ancestors ate the nuts. We’re just nuts about our stuff.

Now it’s time to get crazy about sharing that stuff, spreading the wealth, so our burnished treasures can enjoy a second life – just not in our living room!

America’s Freecycle is one way to give it away, it’s been hooking up people with junk to jettison with those who are tickled to get it for six years now, growing from a cottage industry in Tucson to 6.5 million members worldwide — despite the near certainty that your 1989 La-z-boy, your fake ficus and definitely your plaque with the fish singing the Macarena all have limited appeal (even with a price tag of zero).

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December 3rd, 2008

By Diane Porter
Green Right Now

We’re too familiar with the downsides of the holiday season. Bags of new things come into the house and get hidden in already-full closets and drawers. Boxes of decorations come out of their hiding places, muscling their way into your living space. Wrapping paper and ribbons multiply like guppies, scissors and tape go missing, cookies come out of the oven and the doorbell rings. When it’s all over, we work to find places for the new stuff, stash the decorations again and vow to make next year different.

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