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Grow your own organic food and help others do the same.
Confession: We are newbies to growing food. There is not much that is more rewarding than growing your own food.
That feeling of knowing exactly where your food came from and how it was grown along with the pride of cultivating something as essential as food. Model Environment is learning and sharing information on organic ways of farming so we can grow together.
CRV FOR SEEDS
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Model Environment started a pilot recycling program for a public school garden in Venice, CA. Once a month on garden day volunteers and residents drop off CRV items to be redeemed for cash. The money is used to buy seeds.
Californians bought 20 billion CRV (California Redemption Value) bottles & cans in 2011. CRV containers under 24oz. have a $.05 redemption value. Containers over 24oz. redeem for $.10. That equals roughly 1 billion dollars in redeemable funds. (Data supplied by CalRecycle.CA.gov)
WWOOFERS
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If you do not know what a WWOOFer is? Start here!
Now meet Emily Vuong. Emily is studying Nutritional Science at UC Berkeley. She is dedicating her life to living as peacefully as possible. We think her example of living is so ME. Emily along with her friends Phil, Hannah and photographer Cory Goldberg are showing us a piece of daily life at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm. To find organic gardening volunteer opportunities search WWOOF-USA or WWOOF-International.
ME: Emily how are you helping the world?
EV: Right now I am in the process of cultivating and practicing a positive attitude towards everything. Positive energy allows me to focus my energy on problems bigger than my own worries. It empowers me to see problems as challenges to learn from and to dedicate my life to something meaningful and greater than myself.
My journey to inner peace and self-realization takes a lot of focus- I meditate daily and practice yoga to help. I like to use environmentally friendly household products like toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc. I rarely eat meat, My diet is mainly vegetarian. I never drink water bottles, they are a waste of plastic. Instead I carry a reusable canteen. I prefer to walk or bike rather than drive and I sort my trash, which is mainly compost because I only buy things I need and reuse as much as possible. I smile and pick flowers to give away.
I was walking in Golden Gate Park and offered daisies to an elderly woman who was also walking along. A smile and flowers can really make someone’s day sweeter. I am curious and enlightened by all things- I think it makes life a lot brighter and joyful when you see ordinary things as beautiful and magnificent. That is why I am drawn to karma yoga, which means selfless service. We spend time in the garden everyday taking care of it and giving love to the vegetables and plants. It’s community living and everyone shares the work.
ME: Who are your role models?
EV: My mentor Nurredina, she is an amazing human being, with compassion and intelligence that she channels to serve others and peace leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.
ME: If you could give 10k to three causes which would it be?
EV: World Peace, education, and green energy.
ME: What are your top three environmental good deeds you wish the world would practice?
EV: Grow organic, eat organic, and local and eat mindfully. Health is wealth, and diet is a huge part of that.
