RENTAL VALUE

A new California startup has a novel idea to reduce waste and help families save money at the same time. It’s sort of a re-imagination of the hand-me-down kids clothing model many of us remember from our childhood. Though my younger brother didn’t appreciate the Mork & Mindy sweatshirt as much as I did, it was still, by and large, a good model. From Treehugger.

FAIR TRADE FINE PRINT?

A student at the University of Illinois has an interesting concept; applying fair trade principles to social media and personal data. But privacy is a really tough nut to crack. The uncomfortable truth is most of us will answer “no” when asked “are you ok that websites you visit share your data with others?”  But most of us experience the micro-benefits of data sharing every day in the form of online content that’s more relevant to us. From The Daily Illini.

DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

Right or wrong, the enduring stereotype of the Millennial is someone who misses the essence of the beautiful sunset because they’re preoccupied capturing the perfect selfie and figuring out the ideal Instagram hashtags (#sunset? #CaliLove?). So here’s a bit of counterintuitive news. Millennials are a big reason public libraries are thriving. 53% of Millennials visit libraries, higher than Gen X or Boomers. #LongLiveBooks! From Quartz.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I didn’t want to believe this when it first bubbled up on my radar last year, but apparently the fanny pack…is back. Whether you’re on Team Fanny-tastic or Team Ban the Fanny, the cool kids are sporting The Pack. I wonder if this is a good time to nudge our designer Stacy to work on that fair trade alpaca fanny pack – the FannyPaca.   From Harper’s Bazaar.