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Conscious Business & Volunteer Travel


 -- 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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