Tuesday, 14 April 2026

Climate Coach: I tried renting everything from my neighbors for a month

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Climate Coach
Down-to-earth advice for life on our changing planet.

By Michael J. Coren

Welcome. This week, bloodroot bulbs and a MAHA wall. But first, what happened when I tried renting everything from my neighbors for a month.

It all started with a drill.

Americans use their electric drills for only 13 minutes each year, according to one widely cited estimate. Yet around half of households own one. As Uber and other “sharing economy” start-ups gathered steam in the 2010s, the drill was the perfect symbol for why the United States was on the verge of a revolution in which strangers or neighbors would rent out their belongings to one another.

The parable of the idle drill, repeated from the New York Times to the TED stage, helped launch a thousand start-ups on the seas of the sharing economy. Ecomodo, Crowd Rent, Share Some Sugar, NeighborGoods, Thingloop, OhSoWe, Yerdle and SnapGoods all promised to make money off your stuff.

All of them have now effectively disappeared. People loved the idea of renting from their neighbors. The reality? Not so much.

The problem that birthed those failed platforms persists: Most of our household items are rarely, if ever, used. Some 80 percent are picked up less than once a month, estimates the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Many of us would be thrilled to see our belongings put to good use by someone we trust, even without payment.

Can something useful be built upon the wreckage of the sharing economy? For a month, I tried to rent everything I needed on the latest generation of peer-to-peer lending platforms, seeking out a speaker, LEGO for my kids and party supplies. I also put my own stuff on there for others to borrow.

My experiment didn’t work, leaving me empty-handed. But I’d read about the failures of enough platforms to detect a pattern: The problem wasn’t primarily the drill (or any other item). It was turning local trust into a marketplace. So I tried the reverse: I teamed up with a friend in my neighborhood to launch a free app for neighbors to share their stuff.

Do you share with your neighbors? Tell me your stories at climatecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails.

Click here to read the column

Field Sample

As we lose polar ice, species are going along with it.

The emperor penguin and the Antarctic fur seal, two essential species on the frozen continent, were declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Read more about why Antarctica is an early-warning sign for the entire planet.

Emperor penguins with a chick at Snow Hill Island in Antarctica. (Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket/Getty Images)

Snapshot

The wildlife trade kills.

Not only does it decimate wildlife, but pathogens are more likely to jump between animals and humans, potentially sparking the next pandemic. Covid-19 is the best-known recent example.

“We are interacting really closely with these species at every step of the supply chain,” said Colin Carlson, a Yale School of Public Health professor and co-author of a study documenting the risks. “It’s that intensity that really lets pathogens make the jump very quickly.”

Read more about how nearly half of the wild mammals targeted by the wildlife trade share at least one pathogen with humans — and what that means for our health.

Bui Van Thu checks a Chinese pangolin as part of a Save Vietnam's Wildlife conservation program at the Cuc Phuong National Park. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

The Second Degree

Last week, I wrote about how to crunch the numbers and win a heat pump water heater payoff (gift link).

Some of you told me that you have struggled with the technology, like encountering faulty early models or the challenges of locating competent technicians or learning how to install the equipment.

Suzanne tried to replace her tankless water heater in Massachusetts recently. “I couldn’t find anyone who carried them or would tell me if it was a good idea,” she wrote. “In the end, we gave up and got a new oil-burning furnace and traditional hot water tank. … A few months later, and here you are with the heat pump water heater article!”

Others raved about their new models. Sid Madison of Piscataway, New Jersey, said that his $1,800 model has paid off handsomely since 2024. “Since I have no cost for electricity (we have solar), our savings are way greater than [yours],” he wrote. Sid estimates a total of $8,400 in household savings from retrofitting his home with electric appliances and solar panels. “The above savings DO NOT include reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he wrote.

In Minneapolis, Stewart Herman’s water heater was his last gas appliance before switching to heat pumps. “We have been running net positive for almost ten years on solar,” he said, about his hundred-year-old Victorian house. “No sacrifice in comfort, and LEED platinum to boot … I wish everyone could!”

On the Climate Front

From The Post:

Countries are rethinking U.S. fossil fuels in light of the Iran war.

The Trump administration’s rush to roll back environmental rules hits a MAHA wall.

Epic winter drought creates a bleak situation for farmers — and your food.

EPA chief praised a climate denial group for opposing government action on climate change.

From elsewhere:

Why this NASA climate scientist quit “to tell the truth” (Grist)

Maine set to become first state to ban data centers (CNBC)

‘Non-survivable’ heat waves are already here, with worse to come (The Guardian)

‘Climate change is kicking our butts.’ March smashed heat records in the continental U.S. (AP)

Spring has sprung. Thank you for sharing the bounty, Michele Sorensen.

“Bloodroot is one of the earliest native bulbs to bloom,” she wrote. “This is in my garden in Norwalk, CT.”

Send me your photos and stories at climatecoach@washpost.com

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday.

See you next Tuesday,

Michael Coren, Climate Coach

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