The Uniiverse is full of Extraordiinary People like Mark A. Cadiz

Have you ever found yourself in front of a breathtaking or interesting image, captured a frame in your mind and wished you had your camera out and ready at that exact moment?

It rarely happens when we have a camera in hand, because we never really know where or when these picture-perfect situations are going to present themselves to us.

This is the story of a special day, the day in which I went to chase those “picture-perfect” moments, and discovered that it is quite possible to capture them, if we are careful and observant enough.

The occasion was “Shooting Strangers,” a cool group photography experience offered periodically on Uniiverse. Having registered for the class on the site, I woke up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday, and headed off to Kensington Market with my camera in-hand, not really knowing what to expect.

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As April comes to a close, we should all think back about what we’ve done to improve the environment – why? Because April is Earth Month! Did you know? If not, no need to fret because Earth day is TODAY, and we want to celebrate and let you know some simple things you can do to make a difference and get a little greener.

Here are 5 ways you can use Uniiverse to go green:

1. Planning to drive anywhere? You can organize a carpool on Uniiverse! Let’s reduce the amount of cars on the road.

2. Share, don’t toss – borrow, don’t shop! If you have belongings lying around the house that you rarely use, lend your items to someone else via Uniiverse. Avoid buying something if you’re only going to use it once. Instead, see if anyone is offering to share items with you on Uniiverse.

3. Have a green thumb? Find some like-minded people to share your garden with on Uniiverse. Grow some local produce. Plant a tree.

4. Want to get around the city but don’t have a bike? See if anyone in your area if offering to lend theirs out on Uniiverse. Have a fixie, road or mountain bike you rarely use? Let someone else borrow your bike.

5. Have something to teach people about lifestyles that will improve their well-being? Have some green tips and tricks? Offer a class or workshop!

Watch out world! We’re proud to announce the growth of Uniiverse in the past two months. People in over 300 cities and 47 countries around the globe have joined the sharing economy and created unique listings on Uniiverse. 

If you have created a listing on Uniiverse, then one of these green pins represents the positive impact you are having in your city. We’re excited to watch this expand!

Embracing Uniiverse and the sharing economy will continue to and increasingly have a positive economic, social, and environmental impact. 

Our goal is to have all of the land on this map hidden by green sharing pins! Have you started sharing yet? Join the movement to make the world a better place and create your first Uniiverse listing today: uniiverse.com/offering

For inspiration, here are some great listings from around the world:

• Learn basic Japanese from Susan or check out the food trucks with Luke in San Francisco 
• Share your books or run by the sea with Hayley in Melbourne, Australia 
• Rent this Earls Court flat from Anne-Claire during the Olympics in London
• Borrow a violin from Craig or join a Groove Yoga class with Tamara in Toronto

It’s been a very exciting couple of months since Uniiverse launched! We are loving the listings being created by people all over the world. Thanks for showing how extraordinary and unique you all are.

We’re constantly working hard on making improvements to the site, and we want to ensure the Uniiverse experience is as amazing as possible. We’ve been listening to your suggestions, and are happy to announce some exciting new features!

We’re thrilled to introduce an improved sign-up process! In addition to our original Facebook log-in option, we’ve added Twitter, Google+, and email as options to sign-up.  In order to further improve trust between users, we’ve added mobile phone verification to the new sign-up flow. 

If you’re already a user, you can connect your other social networks via your settings page.

Stay Tuned….

There are other fantastic freshly-created features that we are excited to announce to you in the coming weeks!

Please continue sending us feedback and let us know how you like our new features . We always appreciate your help in designing Uniiverse.

Sharing: More than just a pre-school lesson

In kindergarten we were taught the importance of sharing and its purpose has become much more than making friends and avoiding playground tiffs. Our capacity to share will have a huge impact on our future, and recent trends are showing a shift in the right direction. The sharing economy revolution is under way!

The Problem

The gap between rich and poor is growing and accelerating; the environment is suffering, and as a result happiness is withering. It can be argued that all of these issues can relate in one way or another, to our capacity as societies to share assets. Are we sharing enough to make a difference?

Perceptions of consumerism are being re-evaluated. Does having more stuff truly make us happier, or does it hinder our time, space, and bank accounts? Society has put ownership and ego above access, experiences, and convenience. With recent economic and environmental struggles, this attitude is no longer efficient.

The Solution

The term sharing economy is soon to become omnipresent. It argues that sharing assets, such as our belongings, space, skills, time, and resources, can have not only economic and environmental benefits, but can also increase happiness, overall well-being, and create stronger communities. Sharing is an activity that can solve so many problems and provide so many benefits at once.

Several reports have shown there is a desire to share within our society on a larger scale but most are not good at it or don’t know how. Technology and the social web are going to play the most dominant role in the sharing revolution. Our online sharing habits have made people more open to the idea of sharing off-line.

Uniiverse is providing a solution for those with a desire to share with the new platform for collaborative living. Sharing in the physical realm is now made easy. As a person-to-person marketplace for services and activities, Uniiverse enables anyone to share what they have to offer, or discover what they wish to find.

• Do you have a guitar that sits around collecting dust? Share it
• Are you a yoga enthusiast looking to teach your passion? Share it
• Is there extra room in your car for your drive to New York? Share it
• Can you teach people how to cook? Share it
• Does your garden have extra room for someone to plant on? Share it
• Have a parking spot that you never use during the day or at all? Share it

The shift from hyper consumption to collaborative consumption is happening; are you going to be a part of it? Let’s make a dent in the Uniiverse together.

What will Ü share?