Lily Cole and the impossible

Model and enviromentalist Lily Cole. Photographer: Geoff Robinson

I really have a soft spot for Lily Cole, the 25 year old British supermodel who has a double first from Cambridge University in History of Art. She is beautiful, intelligent and articulate.
I love her attitude - she seems to care for the environment and for a better world. I know that cynical people will immediately jump on the fact Lily is a millionairess, so perhaps it is easy for her to be 'ethical'. Perhaps. But why do people always have to criticise a rich person for being socially committed?

Photographer: Nagib El-Desouky

I am particularly intrigued by Lily's new venture impossible.com, a social networking app through which people connect and swap skills. It works on the basis of wishing for something eg 'I wish someone would babysit my dog next thursday evening' and then someone offers to fulfil that wish.
At the moment the impossible.com app, free from iTunes, is only available to Cambridge students and staff on a trial basis, but later it will be accessible by everyone. It can already be downloaded.
No money can be exchanged through impossible.com and people are encouraged to thank each other. The app also encourages people to be vigilant. I have not tried it yet, so I don't really know how it works, it would be great to get some feedback by those who have.
How are people stopped from asking for sexual favours, for example? There must be some mechanism, no doubt.

Lily expects this to be of help in developing a gift economy.
There are many people that seem to embrace an alternative life style. Theresa Webb, a vegan raw food nutritionist, founder of Kitchenbuddy is currently teaching people to use herbs and more unusual plants which they collect while going on foraging walks and then prepare into fresh, uncooked lunches.
We live in a world that is full of riches and yet so many people live in abject poverty. It might sound simplistic but if we start making small changes in our lifestyle it might lead to big changes around us. It is certainly worth a try.

(Photos modelled by Alex B, unless otherwise specified)