Tuesday, March 25, 2008

VHS all gone

I found a home for the remainder of my used VHS tapes, via the Greensboro Freecycle Network (TM). Freecycling is like a Craigslist for household discards that are otherwise headed for the landfill, the dump, etc. It is stuff that might not be worth the trouble to buy or sell, but someone out there would take it off your hands for free. Like small amounts of scrap, broken appliances, obsolete technology, clothing, etc. You can request what you need, or offer what you have. Then folks reply if they have it or want it. You never know what a stranger might value that you find worthless. I think it's great that my tapes didn't end up in the trash.

Freecycling reminds me of a good documentary I got from Netflix: The Gleaners and I. Gleaning, which is picking up other peoples' castoffs and leftovers, or recycling, is one way for the poor to get what they need at the same time we protect the environment from waste. We should make more gleaning opportunities available in America.

In Leviticus 19:9 and 10, God commands us "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God."

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to check out that documentary. I love this idea of freecycling. I was just thinking the other day of what will happen when we all store movies on hard drives and then what will happen to all those DVDs floating around in the world. They'll be just as useless as VHS tapes.

    Holly/The Motley Queue
    http://motleyqueu.blogspot.com

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