We’ve come pretty far since the first recognized Earth Day celebration on April 22, 1970, haven’t we? The push to bring environmental concerns to public consciousness has resulted in a better quality of life through less toxic products and government intervention in minimizing our drain on the environment.

But where are we really going, 42 years later? Major cities like New York still have landfill bound trash that is comprised of 50% recyclable items. Earth Day fairs are more freebie grabs and product hawking than awareness and concern for how to help minimize our impact on Earth’s natural resources.

There’s much work to be done to ensuring a clean, sustainable, and healthy environment for us and future generations. This Earth Day, let’s make the theme Less is More. Here in America most of us tend to consume far more than what we need. We buy a house that’s oversized, buy more things to fill it, spend more energy and water to maintain it, and wind up exhausting ourselves and the environment. You can do your part by using what you need, when you need it, and share what you don’t immediately need with others. Let’s create a better environment for us now, and later.

How are you enjoying this most wonderful time of the year?  When we are reminded of peace on earth and goodwill towards men! … What? No? You’re thinking about how hard it is to get a leap pad? How frustrating it is to find a parking spot while shopping? How many presents you still need to get?

It’s hard not to get caught up in the the Season of Stuff. Over the years the marketing forces grow stronger and stronger, reminding you earlier and earlier to Buy Buy Buy! As I struggle to walk through crowded aisles- forget about pausing to browse shelves, it’s about grab what you can- I am not ashamed to admit I am not feeling the holiday spirit. Why do I need to find a present for my Mom right now? Not only do I buy and give her things I know she’ll appreciate year round, but we have multiple Spring Cleanings a year now to help manage all the “stuff”. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of that cycle!

Celebrate what matters. That which is not dependent on something that can be broken or discarded in five minutes. Celebrate the memories you’ll make with your loved ones. Cherish the conversations, insights, food, laughter… and even the awkward moments. When ready to be laughed about, those always make the best memories.

And we at Rentalic cherish you all. We continue to grow in leaps and bounds, each month outpacing the previous. As we welcome more and more members daily we are inspired and further renewed to continue doing what we do. Thank you all for your continued support. Together, we are making a difference.

Happy Holidays,

Kim

Rentalic at Pittsburgh High School for the East Bay Family Day

Hey there!

My name is Eric Johnson and I’m pumped to have joined Rentalic recently, especially as more people are embracing the new sharing economy.  On behalf of the team, I’d like to extend thanks to the East Bay Family Fair for inviting us to their event!  Rentalic had a blast meeting new and old friends and is excited to see the early roots of Rentalic taking hold in Pittsburg.

Lill enjoys the available rental items

As a new member to the team, I was excited to see that the buzz about peer-to-peer rentals was shared by members in the local community.  While many were discovering Rentalic for the first time, it was clear that they recognized the value of sharing and renting within the community.

In addition to making new friends, acing fitness tests, meeting Smokey the Bear and learning Zumba, Rentalic was thrilled to meet many supportive individuals. Hailing from all over the Bay Area (some from the other side of the country), Rentalic was able to show how anyone can save resources, earn money and meet neighbors through peer-to-peer rentals and sharing. A warm welcome to the new Rentalic members! You’re helping your community take another step towards a greener, friendlier and more responsible world.  Keep checking the blog for more updates on what is new with Rentalic and continue the great work!

Having been an intern only a few short weeks, this was by far the largest event that I attended while representing Rentalic. With such a large gathering brewing, we could not pass this chance up. The seasoned Lill showed Caitlin and I the ropes of approaching people. Armed with pamphlets, flyers, and the all too tempting SWAG of Doublemint gum, our trio set out to spread the word about the P2P sharing network that has investors and community members abuzz. Timidly at first, we soon gained the confidence and poise to enthusiastically explain to receptive folks about Rentalic.

The overall response was quite positive. People were interested to learn what it was we were so passionate about and why we were all wearing the same t-shirts. More than once, Rentalic was complimented to be an awesome idea, and the park goers genuinely wanted to know more. The outlook of Rentalic is bright and has this particular intern very excited.

Without your support and feedback, Rentalic would not be where it is today. We’re coming out of Beta testing!  We want to thank each of you personally and celebrate with a day of fun in the sun. We look forward to meeting you in person at this Saturday’s Rentacular Spectacular!

You are cordially invited to join us at:

Marx Meadow, Golden Gate Park

When:

Saturday, July 16th from 12pm-4pm

For:

FOOD! We’ll provide some but feel free to bring some goodies to share for a potluck picnic!

SPORTS! Bring your A-Game for a competitive BOCCE BALL tournament, learn or show off your SOCCER skills at a soccer clinic, BEAN BAG toss, and more lawn games!

A UNISEX CLOTHING AND TOY SWAP! Bring a minimum of five (5) items to participate!

A FASHION SHOW! Strut your stuff on the runway to model your newly swapped items!

And PRIZES! Delicious and Exciting ones!

Admission: 5¢ That’s right, only 5¢ for Rentalic members!
Bring a nickel to join the fun!

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Getaround

Your next ride is just next door with Getaround, a social car sharing service that facilitates car sharing between neighbors. Getaround will be sponsoring the bocce ball tournament and providing awesome car rental prizes to the winning teams!

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Green Choice Moto

Located in Berekely, Green Choice Moto rents the best electric bikes and scooters (no gas!) in the Bay Area. Four lucky winners will be cruising around town with five hour rentals from Green Choice Moto- yee haw!

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The San Francisco Cookie Company

A local fav, the San Francisco Cookie Company will be sampling their award winning, all-natural, chock full of premium ingredients, gourmet cookies at The Rentacular Spectacular!

A couple of lucky winners will walk away with their awesome Keepsake Crates full of cookies as prizes! WOOT!

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Laundry Locker
Our super friends at Laundry Locker will be contributing beverages and eco-friendly laundry and dry cleaning prizes! Experience why this ridiculously convenient earth-friendly dry cleaning company was voted SF Weekly’s Best Dry Cleaner of 2011- for free!

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Us Pure Water

Has generously donated water to keep us hydrated throughout the four-hour fete!

Just to name a few! There will be live music and even more surprises at The Rentacular Spectacular. We look forward to seeing you there.

Rent. Share. Be Green!

Team Rentalic

My name is Lillian Miller, but most people call me Lill. I have been interning with Rentalic for a little over a year and it has certainly been an incredible experience. I love what I do! I am a Marketing intern and my focus is community outreach and event marketing. I raise awareness and generate excitement about Rentalic at events/gatherings all over the Bay Area.

The Haight Ashbury Street Fair is an example of an event at which I represented Rentalic. Decked out in our Rentalic t-shirts and totes, Kim and I worked the event together and spread the word like wildfire. I was happy to meet so many likeminded people that shared our enthusiasm for Rentalic. From local San Franciscans to out-of-towners, all were very receptive and showed real interest in our money making, money saving, peer-to-peer rental site. I made some great connections and had a lot of fun. Not including the hour and a half it took to find parking before the event, the Haight Ashbury Festival was time well spent!

Kim and Lill at the 34th Annual Haight Ashbury Street Fair

Share Fair

Team Rentalic is heading to the largest city in California’s Wine Country tomorrow. We’re bypassing all the wineries in favor of the awesome Share Fair! It’s a guaranteed good time. Tell us a fun fact about wine or Santa Rosa at our booth tomorrow and we’ll give you a fun surprise.

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Rentalic booth at ShareFair 2011

Hi!

I’m Caitlin and I’m a recent graduate from UC Davis. I’m traveling to Europe in the fall for five weeks but in the meantime I have the pleasure of working for Rentalic! As my first post-graduate job, I couldn’t be happier to be part of a company doing such great things for communities and individuals alike.

At the first annual Santa Rosa Share Fair with an estimated 1,000 people in attendance, it was a great day to meet the Santa Rosa community and other like-minded organizations. Rentalic was quite at home at this sharing centered event. With about 100 different vendor and food booths, the sharing community as reflected by tool lending libraries to clothing swaps to re-usable cup rentals was out in full force promoting local crafts and neighborly camaraderie.

Me meeting new friends

Attendees were excited to learn about Rentalic and our new partnership with their local Santa Rosa Share Exchange. This partnership is especially exciting in that Membership in the Share Exchange’s Rentalic group removes any additional work on the part of renters and borrowers to coordinate the exchange of their items- they can use the Share Exchange as a convenient drop-off and pick-up location when they rent/rent out items on Rentalic.

The Share Exchange functioned not only as home base for all the vendors in attendance but provided Rentalic with a special opportunity to demo our site to new members. Punsri was able to run workshops allowing people to walk through our site and better understand how Rentalic transactions work.

Thank you to Kelley and Debbie for organizing such a wonderful event. It was a great day at the Santa Rose Share Fair and we hope to see many of our sharing community friends again soon. Check out our facebook.com/rentalic page for more fun photos!

Ryan and Eric going above and beyond

Eric seriously spoke to 95% of festival attendees

We’re pulling back the curtain to reveal the marketing team at Rentalic! Introducing the Rentalic Class of 2011.

You’ll be hearing from each of us on this blog this summer. Please say hi if you see us around town. We look forward to meeting you at  The Rentacular Spectacular on July 16

Thank you dear members for your all support. Please join us to celebrate our coming out of Beta! We’ll have lots more fun and surprises- stay tuned for updates next week!