Lightfoot is about writing letters. In 2025 we're reviving this idea using Nostr.
Lightfoot is a postal delivery community, expanding across the globe, connecting people. An open source service - Participate!
Lightfoot is a postal delivery community, expanding across the globe, connecting people.
Letters are great, but if all you do is drop it off at the post office, without a thought for what method they'll use to deliver it, or where your money actually goes, it's hard to tell just how much environmental impact you're having. The only real option to send post sustainably is the Lightfoot Way; which not only maintains a carbon-light footprint, but also connects people and builds community, fostering a sharing environment based on trust.
Real letters. Not a complex pattern of zeros and ones, transmitted via dubious technology of uncertain consequences, but real paper, written in your personal hand, carrying your scent and trace oils from your fingertips, your creativity, and your unique, one-of-a-kind style. There's something pure that inspires trust when a handwritten letter is delivered; a personal touch that strengthens your community, however far away they may be, in a way that the internet simply could never do.
Lightfoot boxes can be placed anywhere! Let's use the power of Trustroots and Nostr to revive this in 2025/2026!
NOW - Write a letter! Have it delivered absolutely free! As for when it will be delivered, your letter will be picked up by the next person passing through and on their way to somewhere nearby the address. Time-sensitive post will require more expedient methods.
Anyone can become a Lightfoot Postal Deputy - just drop a letter of your own in the box, and if there's one addressed to somewhere near your destination, take the Vow, and join the ranks of people who've found a better alternative to airmail consumption.
- Take it seriously
- Think ahead and know where to go
- Travel Light! This means using alternative transport only, and stay aware while you carry a Lightfoot badge - Lightfoot deputies are true champions of the Earth!
- Don't hurry
- Don't settle
Repeat the following words aloud: "I am open, not closed. I trust myself, I trust others. I travel Light and stay aware. I protect solidarity. I hereby invoke my promise to deliver this parcel."
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Write more letters! Maybe a quick note to say hello, or a "Hey does this Lightfoot thing actually work?", or to let your family know you're thinking of them; maybe an inspired rant, or a profound love letter, etched with emotion or doused in hope. Anything you think to write - just reach out to someone! Friends, family, lovers, strangers - everyone loves to get letters, and Lightfoot letters are the best kind!
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Pick up a letter! Reach on in there and see if there's anything going your way. If so, deputize yourself and off you go! Take it seriously - people are counting on you!
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Travel Light! Think about how you're living while you're carrying the letter. Walking, cycling; hitchhiking, sailing; choose sustainable methods of transportation, and be aware of the effects of your decisions.
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Deliver on your Mission! Find the address and drop it off personally - make new friends, share experiences, and be the bridge that spans the gap between separated communities.
The initial MVP is a simple web application built with HTML+CSS+JS that:
- Shows a map and list with
#lightfoottagged posts - Allows users to log in with their Nostr key (nsec)
Each Lightfoot box is represented as:
- A permanent (but deletable) note posted by a user
- Contains a geohash (precision determined by user)
- Tagged with
#lightfoot - Uses Nostr kind 1 for simplicity and exposure (may be reconsidered later)
- Availability options: public 24/7 / Trustroots profile / contact nsec/npub
- Letter presence notifications via
#lightfootletter @geohashfor users - Integration with nostr-email-notification-daemon and/or notification-daemon
- Public boxes in community spaces (hackerspaces, ecovillages, squats, ZADs)
- Physical relays that notify about presence of letters
- Geohash destination suggestions on letters
- Be creative! Use metaphors and similes, alliteration, or other literary tricks to liven things up.
- Ask questions to show your interest and encourage a response.
- Be forthcoming and honest; a letter composition is an opportunity to be frank.
- It doesn't have to be perfect; it's especially true with handwritten letters that "It's the thought that counts."
- Put extra information on the envelope - Lightfoot post doesn't pass through thousands of hands like a normal postal letter, so it's safe to adorn the envelope a bit.
- Include directions to the address or a quick note i.e. "50 km North of Paris"
- Anticipate language barriers - write a note in their language on there too
- List contents if they're perishable or if it has to cross tricky borders
- Put a return address, or at least an email, on the outside
- Add something that says "sustainable transport only"
- Recycle & reuse - second-hand paper always has more character anyway!
The ideal here is to have as many boxes in as many places as possible. If you would love to share your home/space and open it up as a Lightfoot Centre, that is one of the best ways you can help.
- Design a box and deck it out with the logo
- Get all your friends to start writing!
- Post location on Trustroots/Nostr and wait for the flood of lightfooted travelers with scrolls of scribbles!
This way letters can travel from Box to Box. Say a deputy is only going half the distance of the package, but will be passing a Lightfoot Post Box along the way... They drop it in to the new post centre where it will wait for the next deputy to finish its journey.
No Sustainable Post Box nearby? No place to build one? If you don't have a location for a Post Box in your life, ask around. Maybe someone nearby is keen to set one up. Maybe there is already a nomadic centre that is just waiting to find a lightfoot way of transporting letters!
If there is no Lightfoot Post Box in your city, and nowhere to build one, the simple solution is to check online, find the nearest centre to you, jump on a bike and take a holiday! Make sure you bring a bunch of letters to pop in the box, and take any suitable ones back with you.
Lightfoot Sustainable Post Boxes love visitors!
- Join the Lightfoot Circle on Trustroots
- Check out the Lightfoot wiki page
- See the TripChat Lightfoot page
Lightfoot Sustainable Post was an earlier iteration of this community postal service. We're reviving it in 2025 using modern decentralized technology (Nostr) while keeping the same spirit and values.
Write letters, connect communities.
Share your creativity, share your travels, share your space. Protect our Earth! Choose the Lightfoot Way!