-- Quote of the Day --
“I really wanted to travel, I was a good writer but I
hadn’t really developed my travel writing voice – and that is where my blog came
in. I blog on it regularly – the first few posts are a little embarrassing …but
you develop your voice over time, it was only through practice really… you know
that 10,000 hours at something to really become good at it. …The blog allowed
me the opportunity to be able to see what really resonated with people, to
digest their feedback. Before I wrote my first book I had already had years of
writing experience and communicating with others interested in this topic.”
~ Shannon o’Donnell
Today’s quote originates
from the Conscious Discussions Talk Radio episode that aired back on … titled: Volunteer Travel
(*Click on the title to access the full
discussion)
-- Positive News --
I read an interesting
press release about the Kroger Co (subsidiary of Food 4 Less) who have utilized
Feed Resource Recovery’s design for an organic waste system that actually
generates energy for the grocery store. They utilize an anaerobic digester
system that serves about 360 stores in California on a 59 acre site… the
organic waste is ground, filtered (to remove any non-organic contaminants) and
then is stored in large bins. The mixture is kept moist from the waste water
produced by a local dairy site, and stored in a silo like container where the
gases produced are collected via pipes running through the bins. The “waste”
from the natural energy production is actually a sludge-like fertilizer. The
Kroger Company can then reduce waste by over 150 tons every single day through
this system, offering a 18.5% return on their investment – they plan to create
similar systems for other store locations as well.
Thousands of other stores have tried to
reduce their waste in other ways as well – such as utilizing existing municipal
composting systems, which involves trucking the waste away.
Other companies, restaurants and hotels have
invested in bio-digester systems that grind and dehydrate the waste, which then
becomes a dried product with a coffee ground consistency, and is used as a fertilizer by local farmers.
Sustainable businesses have started to donate unsold or unwanted items to local missions for the
poor, charity thrift stores, or sell slightly marred or not-so-fresh items at a discount.
We’ve also
seen a lot of stores like Whole Foods and WalMart and others who are utilizing
solar, wind and fuel cell power sources, and reducing lighting energy use by
converting to LED lights.
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