on June 19, 2020
Today, I made Kiva loan to Candace, a Mississippi caterer looking for a small loan to get her Black-owned, woman-owned business off the ground. Today, I also joined a city council meeting (online, of course), during which our Mayor presented the 2021 budget to the council.
on March 16, 2020
The state is about to go on lockdown, due to the Covid-19 crisis. Small retailers and independent restaurants will be the ones most hurt, yet they also make the character of our neighborhoods real. Today, I bought gift certificates from local businesses, in an effort to infuse a little cash into their balance sheets and [...]
on March 12, 2020
There’s been quite a discussion on the Buy Nothing Somerville forum about how we should respond to Covid-19. There are legitimate concerns about transmission risk in exchanges. And there are potential benefits to help people who will be financially and logistically stretched by the pandemic. Today, I listened to Buy Nothing members, consulted with other [...]
on March 10, 2020
Today, I dialed into a webinar on electric vehicles, hosted by the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. Notably, I wanted to learn what incentives are in place. I had no idea, actually, that the Green Energy Consumers Alliance had significant discounts in place through its Drive Green program.
on February 17, 2020
Today, I made another Kiva loan, this one to an avocado farmer in Peru. It’s my 18th Kiva loan, to recipients now in seven countries.
on January 11, 2020
Today, I spent some time cleaning a few items in the Buy Nothing Somerville community that I co-admin on Facebook.
on December 22, 2019
Last year, I switched my default browser from Google to Ecosia, because I’m not 100% comfortable with everything Google represents. I’ve since switched from Chrome to Firefox. Today, I took another step toward weening myself from Google by installing the Ecosia extension on Firefox.
on December 7, 2019
Climate Neutral is a new organization that hopes to make it easier for small and mid-size businesses to measure, reduce and offset their emissions. And if more consumers recognize their certification, it makes the process more valuable for companies. Today, I made offset my own emissions for a year, via Climate Neutral’s Kickstarter campaign.
on November 29, 2019
Today, I posted a new announcement to the Buy Nothing Somerville community. It was long overdue. I can see a drift in the posts toward a tone of where you can get free stuff, or recycling options, or donations to organizations. While we appreciate the spirit of those posts, Buy Nothing is about gifting among [...]
on November 4, 2019
I just returned from a ten-day trip involving flights from Boston to Las Vegas (via Los Angeles) and a whole lot of driving, from Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Zion National Park to the Hoover Dam and back to Vegas. That’s about 770 miles of driving. Still, the airplane travel was an order of [...]
