Old Junk, Anybody ?

This caught my attention when I was at yahoo.com this morning :
http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/27257/freecycle

In case the link is not available anymore, it is about an online flea market where people post up an advertisement on what they want or what they do not want. They will give away what they do not want for free in exchange for something someone else doesn't want online.
It's a barter system.

Once in a while, when I'm ranting to Boy about how some people's life revolves around money and how greed has taken over humanity, I always say we should revert back to the olden days when barter system ruled instead of monetary exchange.
Perhaps with barter system, people don't have to think about money 24/7.
Those who are willing to work hard should be rewarded for their effort.

In Marian Keyes' "Shushi for beginners", it was written that in Ireland, if a person hasn't got a place to stay, he cannot get a job. The funny thing is, if he hasn't got a job, how is he gonna get a place to stay? That's because he hasn't got money to pay rent, what more buy a house.
I'm not sure how true is this situation in Ireland but I assume Marian Keyes has done her research before writing that in her chick-lit.

The beggar in Marian Keyes' book was willing to work but no one would give him an interview because he hasn't got an address.
If he were to be living in the olden days, he can always go into farming, where he can plant let's say sweet potatoes and in return, he can exchange his sweet potatoes with a butcher for meat.
He wouldn't have to live rough and beg for money.
This is just a scenario, so don't ask me where is he gonna get seeds and soil etc. in the first place.
Nowadays, with the law and all, we cannot even dig up a patch of soil in the city without being sued. Sigh... how the law tries to restrain our lives.

Anyway, back to the Yahoo article.
I'm glad that someone has came up with the idea of an online barter system and actually got it running (big time) and that man is Deron Beal. He created Freecycle.

His picture, on the right is taken from the Yahoo article.

Below is an excerpt from the article :

"Freecycle is a website that helps connect people in their own neighborhoods with folks who want stuff and folks who want to give stuff away. And that simple concept has had some surprising side effects, like strengthening community relationships while reducing the amount of waste that goes into landfills.

Freecycle began in 2003 when Tucson resident Deron Beal got married and needed to get rid of an extra bed. The former Procter and Gamble executive and self-proclaimed "tree hugger" says Goodwill wouldn't take it. So instead Beal sent emails to 30 other people asking if they or anyone they knew wanted it.

No one did, but then something funny happened.
When those 30 people collectively replied to Beal, they also mentioned they had things they wanted to give away themselves, or things they needed. Everyone cc'd on the note began talking to each other. Givers and receivers began swapping stuff online for free.
That's when Beal realized there was a need much bigger than just his bed. He created a website to help organize the participants and it caught fire. Today FreeCycle has more than 3 million members in 75 countries. "

Not only did he create something which allows people to give away things for free in return for something they need, thus resulting in them not throwing away something which might be useful for others and wasting it, he is also saving the environment. There will be less waste prouced because things are recycled.

"One man's junk is another man's gold"