Why spend good money on a power drill you’ll only use once in a blue moon — when you could borrow it from a neighbor for free? Trouble is, many of us don’t know our neighbors — let alone what tools they have in their garages.

Now a new site called NeighborGoods is trying to change that. Founded by Los Angeles resident and Worldchanging contributor Micki Krimmel, NeighborGoods wants to connect environmentalists with frugal-living enthusiasts.

I’m glad to see there are others out there with similar vision. So many of us are working together and we don’t even know it!

Keep sharing, folks. Keep giving your gifts. It doesn’t go unnoticed!

Much love,

Nate

“It’s really cool to get to save money and not buy a hammer,” Micki says. “But when your neighbor comes over to hand it to you, that interaction, that experience, I believe really improves the way that we live. And I think what I’m really aiming for here is to get people to spend more time together in the real world through this online tool. That’s really the kicker for me. This was definitely born out of a desire for something to help people live more sustainably, but in the end what’s most interesting to me is that human interaction.” LINK

Les and I are looking to borrow:

A video camera that uses a memory card/hard drive

Services we need:

An extra set of hands around the stable to put hoof ointment on and feed supplements. We need someone Tues-Fri around 3:30-4:30pm, Saturday around 11am-12pm. We would trade horsemanship instruction, web design, or? Age 10 or older, please.

Thanks!

Kali

Hi,

I’m new to switchboard and I’d like to register my portable plush massage table as an item people can borrow.

And more from Kali and Les (www.ponypro.net):

Food related

Vegan/Veg or Candida/Paleolithic cooking

Gluten free baking

Lifestyle related

teach/tutor (writing, math, art, art history, Spanish, public speaking)

pet sit

horsemanship lessons

snowboarding tips

Web Design: specializing in Ruby on Rails and websites with easy-to-use WordPress content management systems

dog/horse training assistance

Candida cleanse coaching

hang time/mentorship for kids

Lending:

nice-ish electronic keyboard with 100+ instruments

kid/lady sized electric guitar and amp

VHS/DVD player

Playstation 2 with Guitar Hero, Vice City, Tekken, etc

rides to Portland or Seattle (we go about every other month)

no-agenda walks with dogs/horses on the blm

freeform time around dogs/horses (riding a little more complicated to include)

rides from the West Side to East Side or Alfalfa Tuesday-Saturday

community dinners and board games Sundays

Thanks you guys!

From Bryan,

I have a service i would like to put up for trade,

I specialize in creating defensible space around houses and structures.

I use a chainsaw to clear brush and excess trees in order to make properties safer in case of wildfire.

I really like the idea of trading services and a local currency…

And from Drew,

I have 100′s of hand tools… and a large amount of power tools to loan. I am very skilled in carpentry and mechanical aptitude. More or less, if its broken, I can fix it!

Thanks guys.

If you are interested in putting any tools or appliances on the switchboard or skills to trade, please visit the “Getting Connected” Page.

Also, if you would like to participate in the switchboard, also go to the “getting connected” page.

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 09:54 Holly Grigg-Spall

The end of the world is nigh. We’re just polishing the brass on the Titanic. This is all going down. That got your attention, right? Apocalypse sells. FOX News feeds a diet of disaster—the swine flu epidemic, nuclear arms in North Korea—into our living rooms. The Apocalypse used to be so far off, now it’s always just around the next corner.

The economic crash has ushered in more doom and gloom with massive numbers of unemployed and homeless. Bend boomed big and the bust hit hard. A dire situation as this either brings communities closer together or pushes people further apart, getting us to hole-up-alone-in-a-bunker mentality. Locally there are a few folks who want to take a practical approach to problems we’re facing and make a step towards getting Bend back on track.

In the next couple of months, this community will join an increasingly popular movement with two new initiatives. Ethan Anderson, a real-estate agent, will be releasing a local currency, Bend Bees, and Nate Bettger, who works with BridgeWORKS, a community education non-profit, has recently launched the Tool Lending and Service Trading Switchboard. Both have taken inspiration from communities that have already initiated programs, like local currency and trading networks, in so-called transition towns. And if globalism was the buzzword of the last decade, then maybe localism will be the buzzword of the next decade, and if folks like Anderson and Bettger have their way, maybe the next century.

It’s about more than finding an alternative to the almighty dollar at a time when many banks aren’t lending and many consumers aren’t spending. Local currencies have a philosophical reasoning alongside the practical—a desire to turn the divisive nature of money on its head and humanize those transactions, proponents say.

Local currencies are not a new idea, but they have recently seen a resurgence as communities, including regionally in Ashland and Corvallis, look to save their small businesses in the face of the increasing corporatization of Main Street and the challenges of the ongoing recession.

First used during the Great Depression, many alternative currencies have come and gone without finding the support needed to make an impact on an area’s economy. However, some have flourished. In Detroit they have Cheers notes; in Ithaca, New York they have Hours. Both benefit from wide business participation and local interest.

The Bend Bees system will seek to emulate the success of the BerkShares—the currency used in the area of the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. At present there are around $2.5 million worth of BerkShares circulating through local businesses. Some 80 percent of the money spent in a chain supermarket leaves that area immediately whereas local businesses are twice as likely to keep money spent in their shops within the community, according to studies by the New Economics Foundation, a London-based economic think tank. The money that stays in the community in turn creates more jobs, a concept referred to by economists as “velocity.” The theory holds that the faster money circulates, the more people it reaches, and the more the locals benefit. Bend Bees are designed to be more than just Monopoly money. Organizers are trying to line up a bank to back the currency. Consumers would then exchange their dollar bills for five percent discount as an incentive—if you want 100 Bend Bees you’ll exchange $95.

The aim is that Bend Bees will encourage people to buy, eat and drink downtown more frequently. But some communities have also taken on a wider philosophy. On the Pittsboro, North Carolina bank notes—named “Plenty”—there is inscribed the words, “In Each Other We Trust.”

This different outlook is hoped to feed back into other transition initiatives such as the Switchboard, the burgeoning tool and service trading forum, which will rely heavily on communal thinking. Switchboard founder Nate Bettger explains his drive: “I think human beings are made to live in a close community. Right now we all have a consumer mentality, I’d like to see that change to a more communal outlook.”

Many local currencies have risen up and fallen rapidly. There are obvious limits to what downtown-only dollars can do. Large chain stores offer cheap goods and will be their first point of call to people struggling to get by. Local shops cannot sustain such low prices and the discount on Bend Bees might not be enough encouragement. Most of the downtown stores, having prospered on tourism, do not offer the essentials, but the luxuries of life. People can’t live on bath salts and expensive jeans. But alternative currencies and trading networks are about more than finding the cheapest pair of shoes in town. It’s about changing our relationship with each other and the planet.

“We live in a society that can’t function without oil. Our system of chain stores selling us cheap goods is not sustainable. I want to prepare people for when you can’t use your car. If change isn’t made close to home, it won’t last,” says Switchboard founder Bettger.

Bend Bees founder Ethan Anderson agrees, but says change might come slowly.

“This is a long process, it’s not something we can shift in a year. We are hoping to build a working system to replace the one we have now. If the problems of climate change and peak oil are resolved, that will be fine, because we want this change anyway. We want to create connections in our community, for people to give a hand to their neighbor, look them in the eye and be compassionate.”

Kali Vanagas and Leslie Freeman have already contributed to the Tool Lending and Service Trading Switchboard, offering for loan their horse trailer, bikes, rock climbing equipment and snowboarding gear. There is also a kayak, lawn mower and truck ready to be borrowed. People have put forward services as disparate as counseling, harp playing and welding. “People live in Bend because they want to enjoy life to the fullest, but doing that can be expensive. By lending people our equipment we want to take the stress out of fun pursuits,” says Vanagas.

The Switchboard operates on a website (www.switchboardbend.com) and doesn’t require a membership fee, but merely relies on those looking to trade tools or services to keep it operating. Bettger’s non-profit organization, BridgeWORKS and the Manala Yoga Community bring people together for exchanges across the online database. The Switchboard is hoping to function more organically than other similar models and Bettger believes that disputes will be worked out along the way.

“This needs to happen relationally, not transactionally. There should be an attitude of trust, rather than fear,” he says.

Tool lending libraries have seen success across the country, as have Local Exchange Trading Systems (or LETS). The Fourth Corner Exchange, founded by Francis Ayley and based in Bellingham, Wash., helps communities set up exchange systems using Life Dollars. Since its launch in 2004, some $650,000 worth of goods and services have been exchanged. Ayley recently bought a car with Life Dollars.

“There are people I know who use Life Dollars for 90 percent of their needs, including paying their rent,” he says.

Essentially, this is the “Make Local Habit” stickers seen in storefronts all over Bend, in action.

“The biggest misconception is that it can’t be done,” says Anderson, “We need to shift the ‘can’t’ to a ‘can.’ This change will be for the better. Life feels at its fullest when you’re working, and playing with your community.”

Posted by :

TSWeekly

…you can put my kayak up on the switchboard as well– one-person Necky Santa Cruze kayak with paddle. great for flat-water paddling adventures (lakes, mellow rivers)

This is great! You can find the kayak and other recreational items up for lending available on the Recreation and Leisure page.

People are beginning to find and use the switchboard… Keep spreading the word and if you are interested in registering items for lending or services for trading, contact Nate at bettger@gmail.com.

I am also interested in whether people would like to have a page for services they are looking for… let me know.

Talks about the West Philly Tool Library, a non-profit that has been going for a couple years and has 1600 tools for lending. Pretty elaborate! I love it. Anyone in Bend, Oregon willing to donate some space and some tools to make this happen? Anyone up for donating some funds? This is in the works folks. We’re laying the foundation.

West Philly Tool Library [Website]
Article on West Philly Tool Library [Penn Current]

yard and outdoor tools

Air Compressor (small, no tank variety)
Pin nailer for compressor
Chop saw
Circular Saw
Rotary grinder
Cordless Drill/Screw gun
Cordless circular saw
Heat Gun

Electric hedge trimmer
Toolkit with screw drivers, nut drivers, socket wrenches, pliers, etc
Horse trailer (we have two now, a 2 horse and a 4 horse)
We also drive a 1/2 ton Chevy pickup. It’s our only vehicle, so its usually in use, but we may be able to carry loads for people, etc.

Recreation

Quickdraws and Harness for rock climbing
160cm Snowboard
Size 10 snowboard boots
Mens Medium snow clothing

Horse training dvds

We’re looking for:
Wire feed welder
Body work and painting for our new horse trailer

Also Jessie says:

… what a GREAT concept!! As far as kitchen appliances go, I have a food processer that’s barely been used when I was doing the raw food thing.  Works great.
With Rec/Leisure, I have a sweet cruiser bike and tennis racket that can be borrowed.

Money has gotten us into the perspective that the only way we can get a return on the things we are good at or have in our possession is if we can get money back.

One of the first things that many people say when I ask if they want to get involved is to say, “Hmm… I’m not quite sure I have anything to offer… I’ll have to think about that one.” I can see the gears spinning. How much did that thing cost? Can I afford to let someone borrow it? (even though it only gets used once a month!) I don’t really have any services that might be useful to someone… (ie I’m not sure someone would pay me for what I do, so it’s not worthwhile to the community).

If you have something that gets used infrequently at best, if you have a BODY(!!), or a car, or a hobby… then you have something to share, lend, trade. It doesn’t matter if you get money for it. See, our value to the community does not have to have anything to do with how much money we make or how much money we can give for something. Our value in sustainable and transformational community, village culture, is about what we can give within the context of a relationship. The possibilities are endless!

Trading services and lending tools.appliances is about looking at ourselves from a different perspective. It’s about knowing, and living in the knowledge, that we have more than enough to go around… if we work together. We have our selves to offer… all goofy, quirky, insecure, broken parts of ourselves. What if every person in Bend, Oregon was willing to ask themselves, “What do I have to offer my community?” and then they registered that with the switchboard? The database would grow and continue growing and people would begin working together on a local to make this our lives and our earth a better place. We wouldn’t have to keep buying and buying more STUFF!

Bend would be a completely different place…

Find out more of the values of the Switchboard HERE.

Find out how to register HERE.

Check the various pages at www.switchboardbend.com for ideas of what people are already offering.