The New Green Economy

In Step 1 of Rejuvenation, we discussed how most people work their entire lives striving for the basic freedoms of a place of their own, with plenty of good food, water, and air; only to live paycheck to paycheck, barely scraping by; with the looming fact that if they don’t get their financial heads far enough above water, they’ll spend the REST OF THEIR LIVES working to live! We also examined: If we didn’t create this system, and it doesn’t represent who we want to be; do we have an alternative?

We do, and it’s possible, practical, and achievable.  It’s based on four basic systems of life: shelter, food, water, and electricity.  In this section, we’ll discuss the first two: shelter and food.

I had the amazing opportunity to work through the international organization Wwoof, on an organic farm in the rare coastal jungles of Ecuador. Here's what I learned about the ultimate in organic living and farming.

What was once just a company known for organic plant food is now not only a "Worm Poop" company, but a Sponsored Waste company as well. Sponsored Waste is an idea created by TerraCycle's founder and CEO Tom Szaky. The  idea allows TerraCycle to get zero cost materials, free PR and help schools and other community groups. TerraCycle works with multi-million and billion dollar sponsor companies such as Kraft Foods, Stonyfield Farm, CLIF BAR and Frito Lay to pay for collected waste packaging that the companies use in the manufacturing of their goods. TerraCycle then upcycles that ‘waste' material into new products. Last year alone, TerraCycle donated almost $100,000 to charities, schools and churches.