Why Join Our Eco-Social Media Platform?
Let’s celebrate how we can all harmonize our efforts!
Collaborations
are vital among households, neighborhoods, businesses, nonprofits, schools, government departments… to include solutions coming from all directions.
Communications
work best when they are Spam-free, Bully-free, Rant-free, Troll-free, and Politics-free.
Consolidation
wherever possible, will save everyone time, energy and money.
Convenience
is key if the general public is going to shift in the direction of planet-friendly choices.
What's Possible Here...
DONATE ITEMS & MATERIALS (GIFTS)
Browse the galleries of other people’s gifts. See what’s available.
Click on a + to post a new gift of your own. So many useful items and materials go into the waste stream every day. Let’s sort this waste into resources!
All transactions will have a donation verification form / thank you letter.
Want to donate fibers (hair, fur, wool, fleece…)? Keep scrolling!
ASK FOR WHAT YOU NEED (WISHES)
Browse the galleries of other people’s wishes. See what people need.
Click on a + to post a new wish of your own. So many wishes never get heard. Easier to get what you want when you ask for it!
Anyone can make a wish, not just nonprofits.
DONATE HAIR, FUR AND FLEECE CLIPPINGS FOR OIL SPILL MATS
In partnership with MatterofTrust.org, our platform helps anyone donate waste fiber clippings, such as hair, fur, wool, fleece, feathers, and laundry lint.
We use those clippings to create felted mats that soak up oil. Households, salons, pet groomers, and ranchers generously pay to ship boxes of clippings to the nearest cottage industry felting factory.
For more details, see the MatterofTrust.org Hair Matters program. Or to find recipients in need of fiber, simply sign up and click on + Donate a Gift to post your donation (process takes 30 seconds; we never spam or share your info). Together we are helping to keep pollution out of waterways around the world! Thank you!
EVENTS CALENDAR
Our local-to-global Eco-Events Calendar conveniently consolidates information for coordinators and attendees and showcases inspiring examples for building healthy environments.
From climate summits to green-building, open-house walking tours, celebrate eco-actions, great and small. Promote your restaurant’s climate-friendly menu, nonprofit’s volunteer day, school’s edible garden, airport’s new recycling center, local shop’s sale on sustainable products, dog park’s model poo composting station, electric car parade, clean water art expo, bike-friendly neighborhood roundtable…
Let’s gather momentum and build on each other’s ideas. The world is watching!
ECO-COMMITMENTS ADD YOURS TODAY!
Do you ride the bus, recycle, garden, shop for secondhand clothes or sell antiques? Plan to install solar or drive a hybrid car? Input estimates for what you (or your business, your city…) plans to spend in hours and/or funds on eco-choices. This site will show growing tallies on a local to global map.
FORUMS
Discuss real-life eco-challenges. Add green incentives for work and home. Connect with innovators from different regions and across sectors.
Discover the value of perspectives from every rung of the ladder. Help consolidate environmental news with links back to your sites for program details, research, fundraising, products, etc. Upvote experts with solutions to barriers.
Volunteer to moderate this rant-free, troll-free, politics-free zone so that vital collaboration can happen. Humanity has boots on the ground, seats in the boardroom and eyes on the future, so coordination is key!
FAQ
HOW DO I DONATE HAIR, FUR, WOOL, FLEECE AND OTHER FIBERS?
Hair Matters donations (even one-time hair ponytail donations) are all made through The Hum Sum.
We get a lot of wonderful fiber on The Hum Sum, and cottage-industry mini-factories have limited space so matches are made with the nearest addresses and with emergency spill needs.
Hair less than 2 inches (~5 cm) goes to mulch. Hair between 2-5 inches (~5-12 cm) goes to filler. Pet hair goes to both mulch and filler.
Loose hair must be natural and unbraided. Natural hair can be dyed, permed etc. Please note wigs and synthetic extensions won’t be accepted for the oil spill hair mats.
Regarding matted, knotted, dreadlocks, shower drain hair, and hair from brushing – we do take it, though we also highly recommend using it in gardens, farms, flower pots, other soil, etc.
Please see our short VIDEO for instructions on how to send hair.
We always need ponytails that are 5 inches (12cm) or longer – please separate from short hair. We use this long hair for scrims for the lacy outer layers of the mats.
All hair and fiber must be debris-free – no garbage (pins, rocks, rubber bands, extension tips, cigarette butts, foil, food… ), just pure hair, fur, wool, fleece… If any trash is seen we have to throw away the whole box because debris breaks the felting needles, and that’s dangerous.
1) Take a PHOTO of your GIFT.
2) Log in / sign up and complete profile so we know your city, zip etc. It takes 10 seconds, and we do not spam or share our database.
3) Click on the + (on desktop: left sidebar ; on mobile: bottom center)
4) Select Donate a Gift, add photo, then in Title type Ponytail or Fur or Haircut Clippings or Fleece… for example. You will see the dropdown and department, category, subcategory autofill for you.
5) Complete title and form and click Publish.
Check for email notifications as a nearby hub will contact you, usually within 72 hours, to request your gift of fiber. Please click on the email link and accept a request to get an address and thank you letter.
You can mail the fiber in a plain envelope (no plastic baggies or rubber bands, please), or box (ideally lined with a paper bag or compostable bag). Often salons receive boxes of shampoo bottles and reuse those to ship hair clippings to us.
We also love seeing photos of salons collecting long and short hair in 2 different plexiglass containers, so that their clients can see their contributions to clean water!
Thank you!
WHAT IS THE HUM SUM?
The Hum Sum is a platform dedicated to everyone who wants to offer suggestions and to engage in solutions for environmental challenges.
Our staff, interns and volunteer moderators are devoted to providing a space for practical, useful and planet-friendly posts. We are a cost-free, spam-free, rant-free, politics-free, troll-free and bully-free zone.
We encourage nonprofits, businesses, government departments, and projects to set up profiles, add their URLs, consolidate event calendars, create wish lists, and use our platform as a green directory.
Every day we see humanity buzzing with activity. We want to map, count and collect good ideas working for a healthy and harmonious planet!
Also see our Intro Video and Homepage
HOSTING OR SHARING ECO-EVENTS?
You can share anyone else’s event. If you are Hosting, then you can accept RSVP’s.
The Hum Sum, cannot and will not guarantee that you are the Host. Please post how best to reach you and as much validating info as possible in the description below.
WHAT ARE GIFTS AND WISHES?
Spring Cleaning? Feeling overburdened by too much stuff?
Post a Gift!
Wishing you could find free items and materials?
Post a Wish!
Just click the + (plus sign) to post once you are logged in. It is very quick and easy. Add as many as you like.
Together we are all helping to turn waste into resources, which is good for society and the environment.
You can also post services like green jobs, repairs, deliveries, and funding opportunities.
Use our site for home and work. Sign up is free. Be sure to browse the galleries to see what’s already here. Be sure to keep your profile updated and check your dashboard for messages and thank you letters.
WHAT IS AN ECO-COMMITMENT?
Do you ride the bus, walk to work, recycle, garden, shop for secondhand clothes or sell antiques? Plan to install solar, drive a hybrid car or develop a green-job training policy?
Post guesstimates for how much money and time your household, your business, your classroom, your nonprofit, your city department… plans to spend on environmental choices.
Add your hours / expenses, and watch the tallies grow on our map, which allows us to quantify the collective impact we are having locally and globally.
WHAT ARE THE FORUMS?
This is where we can get some real work done!
Let’s connect and discuss – peer-to-peer, boots on the ground, around the world, sector by sector – how to tackle pollution, green job creation, sanitation, composting, recycled material stockpiles, renewable resources, protecting old growth forests, over-fishing, affordable housing, climate refugees…
The challenges we face are complex, but we can solve them together. Our forum is a place where eco-enthusiasts can stay connected, get organized, and be heard.
JOIN THE HUM SUM
The Hum Sum is a platform dedicated to everyone who wants to offer solutions for environmental challenges. Every day we see humanity buzzing with activity and good ideas for a healthy and harmonious planet!