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Friends and collaborators~Human Resources~Global Initiatives~Music~Contact Human Resources:
Maybe you've decided to begin improving your health by removing toxic chemicals from your home, but you don't know where to start. Debra Lynn Dad, and her amazing list of green resources for health and home will tell you where to start. Perhaps you'd like to reform your life, switch countries for awhile, live in a different atmosphere, get involved, get perspective, seek your life purpose, and live in the Spirit of Universal Service. These links will give you some ideas on how to move m ore logically through the world, no matter what your financial situation is.
I have personally been a member of the HC for over a year. It is the peachiest, best run, most culturally satisfying, and most extensive hospitality network, both culturally and geographically, in the world. I have been hosted by and hosted people who have changed my life for the better, all in the name of cultural exchange. I highly recommend this site for anyone who wants to have an authentic experience of travel, and who cannot or does not want to get to know a city from the inside of a hotel room. Whether you are old or young, single, or a family, there is someone out there who wants to save you some money, hear your stories, show you their favorite places, and cook you a dinner. The Hospitality club is a hymn to reciprocity and universal love. Even if you aren't planning a trip yourself, take fifteen minutes to post a profile, meet people from all over the place, read heartfelt reviews about their spectacular hosting and guesting abilities, start a correspondence with a like-minded soul, or host someone from an exotic land. What is the Hospitality Club? Our aim is to bring people together - hosts and guests, travelers and locals. Thousands of Hospitality Club members around the world help each other when they are traveling - be it with a roof for the night or a guided tour through town. Joining is free, takes just a minute and everyone is welcome. Members can look at each other's profiles, send messages and post comments about their experience on the website. The club is supported by volunteers who believe in one idea: by bringing travelers in touch with people in the place they visit, and by giving "locals" a chance to meet people from other cultures we can increase intercultural understanding and strengthen the peace on our planet. Come onboard - join the largest online hospitality exchange organization! You will meet friendly people and find free accommodation when you travel to any corner of the world. There are no obligations (you do not have to host anyone at your home!), membership is free and we would love to have you in our world wide web of friendly people! The Action Hero Network is a 501(c)3 social profit project of the International Humanities Center, dedicated to promoting what action heroes are doing everywhere. We create safe spaces for people of all ages and cultures to gather, communicate and share skills, so that everyone has the opportunity to be empowered, build community and travel freely.
Go Nomad is one of the best resources for travelers who are interested in independent and alternative travel. Here you c an find inspiration and information on destinations, adventure tours, airline tickets, and wonderful articles by the GoNomad travel community. You can search the site for guides to out of the way places written by adventurers who live to go off the beaten path. GONomad stresses that if you want to get close to the people and places you visit, you must get involved. On this site you can find out how to volunteer with children or help with community development, study Tibetan Buddhism or participate in an archaeological dig, teach English or work on a farm for a few days, weeks, or months. No matter your age or interest, there's an alternative travel opportunity for you at GoNOMAD.
Many San Francisco residents are unaware of the multitude of projects aimed at increasing sustainability taking place in our city. From the alternative fuel public transit vehicles to battery recycling bins at drug stores to residential composting programs and solar panels on public housing, San Francisco is a hotbed of green activity. With so much going on, however, it is difficult to find one location to learn about all these things. The San Francisco Green Map will provide a single information resource for the myriad local environmental initiatives, programs, issues and services.
Center for Sustainable Living and Education The Punta Mona Center for Sustainable Living and Education is an 100-acre organic farm and educational retreat center located on the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Our mission at Punta Mona is to provide a center where adults and children alike can be exposed to the ideals of Permaculture and sustainability through a dynamic and multifaceted educational curriculum. We aim to provide this within the context of a supportive and compassionate community against the backdrop of a beautiful and ecologically diverse physical environment. We are dedicated to teaching environmental awareness and consciousness and invite new people to come to our community, whether as part of an educational or retreat group, as an intern, or as a guest for a few nights. In Punta Mona our houses are built from local, fallen trees, solar panels provide our electricity and the majority of our food is grown in our extensive gardens. The farm has an incredible variety of tropical fruits and vegetables, medicinals, and nuts, all of which support us in our goal of becoming entirely self-sustainable.
WWOOF World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms I have met several people who have traveled the world working on organic farms through WOOF. It has been wonderful to hear the stories and the beautiful enthusiasm that allows these farms to thrive, while giving people of all ages the ability to travel, work and educate themselves, culturally and physically. WWOOF is dedicated to helping those who would like to volunteer on organic farms. The aims of WWOOF are to : WWOOF organisations compile a list of organic Host farms that welcome volunteer help. When you become a member of a WWOOF organisation, you will be put in contact with these Host farms. It is then up to you to contact the Host farms that interest you and make your own arrangements with them. Many countries have a national WWOOF organisation. To find out about WWOOFing in that county, you need to contact the national WWOOF organisation directly. Each national organisation has its own membership arrangements and a separate membership fee. If you want to WWOOF in a country that does not have a national WWOOF organisation, WWOOF Independents and WWOOF Australia publish lists of independent hosts. A typical Woofer's experience: "When I tell people that I spent three months travelling around some of the most beautiful parts of Italy for less than £100, they tend not to believe me. But as well as that, I ate the sort of food that London's finest restaurants charge a king's ransom for, learnt skills that will stay with me for life, and came home fitter than I have ever been. And some people manage it for far longer than three months. During my time in Tuscany, I met an Irishman, a former advertising mogul, who'd signed up for three weeks and was still going strong ayear later." Debra Lynn Dadd has been a leading authority on eliminating toxic chemicals in the home since self-publishing the first book on the subject in 1982. Debra is the author of Home Safe Home: Creating a Healthy Home Environment by Reducing Exposure to Toxic Household Products (Tarcher/Penguin 2004). She also publishes the online directory "Debra's List," which contains nearly 1000 links to nontoxic, natural and earthwise products, and the popular "Green Living Q&A" blog. Debra is a regular contributor to Ecological Home Ideas magazine, is a consultant to individuals and businesses, and lectures frequently. She lives with her husband and cat in Clearwater, Florida.
Find your perfect carpool instantly! Carpool world works best if you live in the USA. Although they advertise 20 countries, if you're looking outside the USA a better bet is Rideshare Board Worldwide. Just tell the Carpool World system where you live and work, and see your best matches instantly. Then phone or e-mail the other travelers to share the ride. Carpoolworld.com is free for all personal use! This is a mighty impressive site. We all know how wonderful carpooling can be. Here's how to make it easy for you. Carpoolworld.com is the only Internet web site with the power to match any trip anywhere precisely and instantly: - 20 different controls to filter and sort your matchlist.
Looking for someone to butter your bread while you are driving? Or for someone who knows how to handle maps? Maybe you would like to share your personal problems with a total stranger? Or you just like to have some company on that long journey? Grab your chance and add a ride! Welcome to Rideshare Worldwide, Carpool World's totally laid back and happy Dutch cousin, AKA the Hitchhiker's Site. Worldwide in this case means most places in the world except the United States. "Welcome to the Hitchhikers site! Drivers with e mpty spaces in their cars and in need of some laughing, a serious conversation or a (small) compensation, please click here for submitting a ride! If you are also driving back, you can submit the journey as two rides." RBW i s run by a bunch of really fun and happy and mostly Dutch people: &q uot;the creators of this site, are all enthusiastic hitchhikers and surfers. However, we never surfed into a site where we could look for rides, and offer rides - in case we get cars when we grow up - so we decided to develop one. The site you just looked at/used! We are happy to receive your email with questions, remarks, hints and compliments...." To understand Pandora, you need to know about the Music Genome Project. For almost seven years now, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts have been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country. We've now created an interface to make this available to music lovers so they could use this musical 'connective-tissue' to discover new music based on songs or artists they already know. Pandora is the doorway to this vast trove of musical information. With Pandora you can explore to your heart's content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you. You can create as many "stations" as you want. And you can even refine them. If it's not quite right you can tell it more and it will get better for you. The Music Genome Project was founded by musicians and music-lovers. We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help YOU connect with the music YOU like.
International Cell Phone Troubleshooting For most of us, as soon as we leave North America, our cellphone switches from being an essential business/communication tool to a useless piece of junk, due to incompatibilities between the American cellphone system and the GSM system almost universally adopted elsewhere in the world. So frustrating, isn't it? Well, this wonderful resource guide not only explains why this problem persists, but also offers a full education regarding Frequency and Compatibility Issues, Multi-band phones, Dual Band phones, Triple Band phones, US GMS service, where to buy, what to buy, and many other scintellating topics on how to communicate wherever you go, if that's your cup of tea. this is one of the best explained articles on how to understand International Cell Phone uses I have ever read, and it certainly helped me figure it all out. Why Aren't All Cellphones Compatible? There are two answers to this question. First, there are various different types of radio frequencies and encoding services which different cell phone services use - and if your phone doesn't receive the frequency and encoding of the local service, it becomes, of course, useless. The second problem is a commercial problem - your phone will only work on other companies' services if there is a cross-billing (ie roaming) agreement between the companies. Roaming is common within the US, but becomes more problematic internationally. Find out much more on the Travel Insider's Road Warrior Resource Page.
Free Wireless Hot-spots around the World Whether you're a local resident or a business or vacation traveler just passing by, The Wi-Fi-FreeSpot™ Directory will help you find all types of Free Wi-Fi locations. You'll find cafes, restaurants, coffeeshops, libraries, downtown business districts, malls, stores, laundramats, auto repair shops, RV parks, airports, Hotels, vacation rental properties, etc. that are open to guests, customers and/or the general public. Read the Interesting Faqs to learn more about Free Wi-Fi and using these Wi-Fi-FreeSpots. In addition to the main State-by-State listings there are several specialty pages that will be of interest as well.
Craigslist is an example of an exemplary universal service. Here we have the community bulleting board, a classic idea, reformed around a modern design to include and embrace the whole world as far as the whole world wants to participate in it. Craig Newmark, the man who started Craig's List should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing such a well-loved and applauded global structure into being. In 1995 craigslist.org was born: a free, down-to-earth and uncensored bulletin board that revolutionized the ease and speed with which people could communicate, exchange goods and services, and create community. Primarily focusing on housing, jobs, it ems for sale and personal ads, the site soon became a hub for San Francisco's wired community. By 2003, Craigslist was big. Really big. Over 1/3 of all Bay Area internet users utilize craigslist on a regular basis. Outside of the Bay Area, craigslist had sp read to 31 cities across the globe, with no sign of slowing. In San Francisco alone, the site received over 23,000 posts daily, with page views close to 29 million daily. With no advertising, no commercialization and only word-of-mouth promotion, craigslist had become a phenomenon. By 2006 Craigslist is the most prevalent community bulletin board in the world today, and it's still free.
changing the world one gift at a time The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by clicking on the region on the left. You may then go directly to your local group by clicking on "Go To" or you may immediately join by clicking on "Join." It will generate an automatic e-mail which, when sent, will sign you up for the local group and send you a response with instructions on how it works. Can't find a group near you? You might want to consider starting one (click on "Start a Group" for instructions). Have fun! T he Freecycle Network was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson's downtown and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to "recycle" unwanted items. One person's trash can truly be another's treasure! When you want to find a new home for something -- whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door -- you simply send an e-mail offering it to members of the local Freecycle group. Or, maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member's offer, and you just might get it. After that, it's up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure. Our main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages. Non-profit organizations also benefit from The Freecycle Network. Post the item or items you want to give away and specify that you wish the gift to go to a nonprofit cause. It's entirely your choice! It's a free cycle of giving. Number of Freecycle™ Communities: Number of Freecycle™ Members:
Couchsurfing is a looser, far less grounded form of hospitality network compared with the Hospitality Club. Sort of like a station wagon, compared with a fully loaded tour bus. In my opinion, couchsurfing is definitely for a looser, more 'mellow' set of traveler. The site recently crashed and has only just been restored, however, it has come back as The Couch Surfing Project, a newer, cleaner version, and if you are a 'mellow' type of person who relates to the image of couching it, then it would be simply wrong of me not to include this resource here for your benefit. What is Couch Surfing? CouchSurfing.com helps you make connections worldwide. You can use the network to meet people and then go and surf other members' couches! When you surf a couch, you are a guest at someone's house. They will provide you with some sort of accommodation, a penthouse apartment or maybe a back yard to pitch your tent in. Stays can be as short as a cup of coffee, a night or two, or even a few months or more. When you offer your couch, you have complete control of who visits. The possibilities are endless an d completely up to you. The friendships made through CouchSurfing enhance members lives and contribute greatly to making the world a better, safer, more peaceful place. Signing up for a free couch and ending up with amazing adventures and a global family--that's what CouchSurfing is all about!
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