Filed under: Education, Environment, Service | Tags: Fair Trade, Fairtrade Foundation, global food crisis, small farmers
On Wednesday, February 25th, the BBC ran a story on one of the most important issues facing our world today: the plight of the small farmer and the decision to eat Fairtrade food. The story was called “Food Crisis Hits Developing World Farms,” and it was written by James Melik. I want to summarize its main points for you and to dive more into detail on some of the issues raised, as buying and eating Fairtrade food is one of THE best ways we can serve our world…
Food prices are rising all over the world. It is scary, yes, for everyone involved, but here’s the scariest truth: the small farmers don’t see one penny of the price increase…Which means that yes, we the consumers suffer at the till, but as we cut back on our spending, the farmers suffer even more from our collective cut-backs. Moreover, the farmers are also struggling as they deal with higher costs for farm necessities like fertilizer. In many cases farmers are forced to sacrifice what should never have to be sacrificed: healthcare, education for their children, even meals (which seems unbelievable, seeing as they are growing everyone else’s meals).
To put this suffering in perspective, a third of our global population lives on a small farm. That means that one-third of all the world’s people are suffering in this way. But there is a solution, and we can all be a part of it. The solution lies in Fairtrade.
Fairtrade works in a “fair” balance between the market and the farmer. First Fairtrade systems decide what products are in demand, such as fruit, coffee, vanilla, and spices. Then it works with the farmers, guaranteeing a steady income as long as the demand for that product is still in existence. Such a system prevents the chaos that accompanies unsteady markets, such as the markets we are seeing now with the global food crisis. As Ian Bretman of the Fairtrade Foundation summarizes:
Providing the demand is upheld, farmers are guaranteed an income regardless of volatile prices and that enables them to conduct their business by planning ahead.
Therefore, through buying Fairtrade food products, you are helping provide the producers of our sustenance a steady income. Moreover, something that often gets overlooked is that with Fairtrade, you are helping to ensure that everyone in the world eats, as we can’t eat if the farmers can’t afford to grow food.
Here is the great news: the word is spreading and Fairtrade is flourishing. Despite the global economic crisis and its preceding global food crisis, Fairtrade products are getting more and more popular! For instance, in the United Kingdom in the past year, consumer demand for Fairtrade prodcuts has jumped by a whopping 43%! Even more exciting is Fairtrade success in countries like South Africa where Fairtrade is beginning to be demanded by the lower class masses, which is driving the price of Fairtrade products down due to a higher volume of products sold (good news for producer & consumer!!). Another exciting twist is that many supermarkets are realizing that it is cheaper for them in some cases to stock only one line of an item, and many markets are choosing a Fairtrade line. What exciting stuff!!! There are now 4,500 items that are officially marked as Fairtrade, and they keep a-comin!
But it’s not just good news…We have to be inspired by the good news, but remember the sad news that not every farmer has the chance to be a Fairtrade partner. Those excluded from this movement are the ones selling their land and/or starving because of unfair trading practices. We the consumer have the power to demand Fairtrade products, to double the current 4,500 Fairtrade products available, and then double that again!! Our money is our vote, so let’s spend it wisely, and let’s buy Fairtrade from now on.
Filed under: Environment, Service, Service Abroad, Spring Break, Tulum Eco Spring Break Service Trip | Tags: Akumal, bioregion, Cancun, cenotes, Centro Ecological Akumal, college students, Copal Cabanas, eco-serve, Ecotulum, Educational Ecological Service Trip, Enchanting Challenge, library, Mayan ruins, Mexico, serve, Service, Spring Break, Tulum, turtles, Volunteer, Volunteering
The Ecological Educational Service Trip is just about one week away!!! I can not believe that in this whirlwind couple of months in getting Enchanting Challenge on its feet, we are about to embark upon the first ever Enchanting Challenge-sponsored service trip! I am really excited. I am also really excited to share the results with our readers, through written reflections, videos, pictures, and more!! That way, all of our readers can see more clearly what an Enchanting Challenge-sponsored service trip really means…And hopefully be a part of one in the future!!
Meet Gabriela:
She will lead the service-breakers through their ecological volunteer activities in Tulum, Mexico this March!! Here is what the final schedule looks like:
- Monday, March 16th: Arrival to Tulum, via a flight landing in Cancun and a quick trip on the ADO bus!
- Tuesday, March 17th: Visit the Tulum Ruins
(photo taken from this website) - Wednesday, March 18th: Visit and eco-serve in the beautiful BIOREGION, concluded by snorkeling in the bioregion’s CENOTES (holes with a rocky edge containing groundwater)!! Check out this awesome YouTube about scuba-diving in Tulum’s cenotes:
- Thursday, March 19th: Visit Akumal and eco-serve with the Centro Ecologico Akumal!!
- Friday, March 20th: Visit Akumal and volunteer at the library, donating books and reading stories outloud to the patrons!
- Saturday, March 21st: Free day, to celebrate your hard work in the waves of the Caribbean Sea!!
- Sunday, March 22nd: Depart for home…Think about coming back for the Summer Educational Ecological Service Trip or again for next year’s Spring Break!!
Price Recap:
- For lodging: $35/night/person
- For food: $16/day/person
- For transportation to-and-from the airport: $54/per person/total for both-ways (Includes:$10/per person for the ADO bus upon arrival into Cancun; the $4 cab-ride from the Tulum ADO terminal to the Copal Cabanas; the $40 bus charge to bring you from Tulum to the airport in Cancun for your return flight (if you have to be at the airport before ADO bus hours (normal business hours)))
- For transportation daily: $4/person/day
- For activities: $40/person/week (INCLUDES: $10 entrance fee into Tulum ruins and $30 snorkeling fee)
As the service-breakers embark upon their journey in just a little over one week, I will be blogging away, updating you on their journey as it happens. If you are interested in embarking upon this same journey this coming summer, please let me know!!! Good luck to everyone on their spring breaks! If anyone is interested, I am collecting videos, photos, and reflections on service trips happening across the US and across the world in order to compile it all into a service collage for the blog!! If you want to be involved, send me your videos, your pics, and your reflections to be a part of the project!
Filed under: Education, Environment, Service | Tags: Energy, Power Shift 2009, Power Shift 09, Paulo Coehlo, the Obama Administration, Congress, Washington, DC, February 27, Global Climate Agreement, climate, legislation, Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Blog
It is always a need to know when a stage in life is over. If you insist on remaining in it, more than the necessary time, you lose the happiness and sense of the rest…Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience…The only way to save our dreams is by being generous to ourselves…If you have a past with which you feel dissatisfied, then forget it, now. Imagine a new story for your life and believe in it. Focus only on the moments when you acheived what you desired, and that strength will help you get what you want…When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. ~Paulo Coehlo~
Now is the beginning of a new era, a new era in which we all must join hands to save our world. If we remain in the past, we will lost our chance, our window of opportunity to make the change that needs to happen.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a 10,000-people-wide effort to not let this chance pass us by, to not let the window close on us, for tomorrow begins POWER SHIFT 2009.
Power Shift 2009 marks the gathering of 10,000 people in Washington, DC from Friday, February 27th until Monday, March 2nd. These participants will bring to light energy and climate legislation and rally for Congress and the Administration to support, promote, and pass it. Here is how they sum up their goal:
Our window of opportunity is short and the first months of the new administration are critical in achieving significant, lasting change. We must use the time we have to redefine what is politically or financially feasible and achieve what is scientifically and economically necessary to safeguard our future. Our political moment is now and we must not let it pass us by.
Over the weekend, Power Shift 2009 will seek to do the following:
- Urge Congress to pass key energy and climate legislation
- Hold educational seminars to empower participants with KNOWLEDGE
- Create and pass a strong Global Climate Agreement that will faciliate international involvement and activism
- Build partnerships with like-minded organizations and initiatives
A bundle of really amazing people will be speaking to empower Power Shift. Some of the keynote speakers include the following role models:
- Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi
- EPA Administrator, Lisa P. Jackson
- Congresswoman Donna Edwards (MD-4)
- Congressman Ed Markey (MA-7)
- Majora Carter, President of the green-collar economic consulting frim, The Majora Carter Group, LLC
- Adam Gardner, Co-Founder of the environmental nonprofit, Reverb (and the singer/guitar player for Guster!!!)
To check out their full agenda, click here. Power Shift 2009 and all its participants can accomplish all of the things they set out to do, because just like Paulo Coehlo says, “When you want something, the whole world conspires in helping you achieve it.”
If you live in the Washington, DC area, register today!!! If you don’t live in the vicinity, but are interested in being involved in Power Shift 2009 and their future efforts, join their shout-outs from the online community!! Below is a list of all the online venues that you can be a part of! Good luck! Here’s to a shift in power for our world!!!
Filed under: Education, Environment, Family Volunteering, Service, Service Abroad, Spring Break, Tulum Eco Spring Break Service Trip | Tags: Adventure Camp with the Colorado Youth Program, Break Away, eco service, Educational Ecological Service Trip, Enchanting Challenge, Environmental Service, Get Outdoors Nevada, Habitat for Humanity, Keep El Paso Beautiful, Kids Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup Day, Kids of the Bay, Kids vs. Global Warming, Leave No Trace, Service, Service trip, Sierra Club, Spring Break, Village of Round Lake Beach Beautification Program, Volunteer, voluteerism
”Everthing would be great and everything would be good, if everybody gave like everybody could…” ~My Morning Jacket~
As we all know, we have got to change our world. And it won’t be one person changing the world; it has to be a collective action. If we all do a little, the result will be a domino effect of positive change, the quintessential butterfly effect.
So where can you begin? With spring break just around the corner, I think this week-long vacation is a perfect opportunity for some community work. I don’t mean you have to devote your entire, valuable and rare vacation time to service. But maybe an afternoon of that free week? Or even a day? Imagine the change that could happen if all the university students across the country did a little service work during their spring break. The results would be uncountable.
Okay, so what are your options? Well there are service trips, such as Enchanting Challenge’s Educational Ecological Service Trip to Tulum, Mexico. There are also wonderful service trip opportunities through your university, Break Away, Sierra Club, and Habitat for Humanity.
And if you can’t give your whole break to service? Don’t worry–there are PLENTY of shorter-term options. In yesterday’s post we talked about Leave No Trace eco-service projects you can get involved with, such as educational workshops and/or partnership initiatives with hiking groups and state park services. Leave No Trace focuses on natural restoration, placing nature as the highest priority on our to-do list. On their website they have the beautiful Frank Loyd Wright quote: “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” If Mother-Earth is your bag, I recommend contacting Leave No Trace today!
(photo taken from the Leave No Trace website)
Another great place to go for eco-service is your state’s department of conservation! Most of the 50 states have a Department of Conservation, and most of those departments ask for service work to help them accomplish their environmental goals. For example, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources asks its citizens to help them in their forest clean-up efforts. On their website they give their residents the following message:
We can only return our forests to their natural state if we work together to combine our time, energy, and resources to remove existing trash and stop the dumping in our forests.
(photo taken from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources site)
Once again, a call to collective action. No one can do it alone. If you think you would like to help your state in its wildlife restoration efforts, I encourage you to visit your state’s department of conservation website and notify them of your desire to help!
Even if you feel that Leave No Trace and/or your state’s department of conservation do not offer programs just right for you, they may be able to point you in the right direction. Another great resource to check out is the Sierra Club, as the organization has chapters in all 50 states and all of those chapters have lots of local opportunities for you to devote as little or as much of your time as you please.
Below is a list of some great eco-service initiatives in the US. Unfortunately, they are state-specific, so are not applicable to all of our readers, but it can help give you an idea of what is out there.
Get Outdoors Nevada (NV)
Adventure Camp with the Colorado Youth Program (CO)
Kids of the Bay (CA)
“Kids Adopt-A-Beach” Cleanup Day (CA)
Village of Round Lake Beach Beautificiation Program (IL)
Filed under: Education, Environment, Family Volunteering, Service, Service Abroad, Spring Break, Summer Break, Tulum Eco Spring Break Service Trip, Winter Break | Tags: Argentina, Ecological Service, Ecoservice, Educational Ecological Service Trip, Enchanting Challenge, Environmental Service, Leave No Trace, Mendoza, Mexico, Patagonia, Puerto Madryn, Service, Spring Break, Tulum, Volunteer, Volunteer Abroad, Volunteer Locally, Volunteer Work
The clock is ticking: it is officially 3 weeks until the service spring breakers arrive in Tulum, armed and ready for their ecological rescue mission. We are so thankful for these service breakers (and so is Mother Earth!). Remember to check the blog after Spring Break (around March 25th or so) for video footage catching the ecoteers in action! The video clips will get you excited for future Enchanting Challenge service trips (destinations: Mendoza, Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, and MORE!).
BUT, hold the phone: Enchanting Challenge service trips are not the be-all and end-all to service. Rather, they are exciting opportunities within the realm of service. Through this blog and through our website, we seek to show you the world of service, and that world stretches far beyond our borders. Our goal is to bring information about the world of service to your fingertips, and allow you to choose which paths of volunteerism are meant for you.
With time and budget constraints, doing an eco-service trip is not always attainable. Have no fear though, because there are plenty of eco-service opportunities right in your own backyard. Honestly. And one of the best programs is the Leave No Trace State Advocates Initiatives.
(photo taken from the Leave No Trace website)
The Leave No Trace nonprofit organization seeks to educate volunteers and its certified trainers how to care for the Earth and how to enjoy its natural earthly offerings in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. They accomplish their mission through a number of educational programs and training programs that equip their students, volunteers, and employees with skills needed to teach communities about sustainability and also to lead eco-friendly natural educational adventure missions. Pretty cool, huh?
(photo taken from the Leave No Trace website)
More than likely, the Leave No Trace organization has a state advocacy initiative close to you, as they have partnerships in almost all 50 states! I urge you to visit their state advocacy listings here and see if your state is listed as a partner. If it is, go ahead and contact the represenative point of contact linked next to your state name to find out more about the Leave No Trace activities goin’ on in your neck o’ the woods. And, if your state is one of the few not listed, again–have no fear!!! Simply contact their advocate, Dave, at dave@lnt.org for information about programs available to you in your locale!
Examples of environmental community work that you can partake in through Leave No Trace State Advocacy activities include the following:
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Training courses to become a Leave No Trace workshop instructor
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Working with Leave No Trace to partner with local scout troops, hiking groups, and state parks to help each organization become more environmentally aware
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Blogging for Leave No Trace
If any of these activities sound interesting to you, then you should contact your state Leave No Trace rep today!! It is a GREAT opportunity for local community ecological service!!
Filed under: Children, Education, Environment, Family Volunteering, Language Study, Service, Service Abroad, Spring Break, Summer Break, Tulum Eco Spring Break Service Trip | Tags: Amigos de Sian Ka'an, Desierto Lavalle, eco service, Ecotulum, Educational Ecological Service Trip, Enchanting Challenge, Fundacion Viviencias Argentinas, Huarpes, Mendoza, Mexico, Spring Break, Tulum
24 Days Until Tulum!
We are busy bees here at Enchanting Challenge, little elves working away in our service-trip workshop!! Plans have come underway to finalize the itinerary of the service spring breakers in Tulum, which is looking action-packed with awesome eco-work! We have exciting news of a partnership with the Amigos de Sian Ka’an , meaning that Enchanting Challenge service breakers will work to fulfill some of the Amigos’ projects, such as wildlife management, bird conservation, and community-based natural resource management. It will be a week filled with fun AND important activities! Enchanting Challenge will film this week of eco-service and post videos on our blogs and websites, so that our readers can learn about these service trips and be inspired to take part in the future.
(photo taken from the Amigos website)
Coming Up Next: Mendoza!
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, if you can not make it to the Tulum service trip in March, do not fear that you have lost your opportunity to embark upon an Enchanting experience!! Our next service trip opportunity will take place in August in Mendoza, Argentina!
Service Trip to Mendoza with Enchanting Challenge
& Fundación Viviencias Argentinas
Attention all study-abroad students, backpackers, ex-pats, and tourists!!! Come join Enchanting Challenge and their Mendocino (meaning from Mendoza) partners at Fundación Viviencias Argentinas this August for a two-week service trip in the Mendoza province. As a re-cap, this is what the trip will entail:
Week One:
Week One will be spent in the city of Mendoza, working with the disadvantaged children of this community. All English-speaking volunteers will stay with a Mendocino family for this week, learning about the Mendocino culture, sharing in the language experience, and eating meals with their host family. During the day, volunteers will work with the children, participating in the following activities:
- Organizing a donation drive for shoes, clothing, toys, and games
- Coordinating and participating in recreational activities
- Assisting children with their school work
- Addressing any health-care needs that are not being met
Week Two:
Week Two will be spent in the Desierto Lavalle, working with the indigenous Huarpes community on various community development projects. 20-25 Mendocino volunteers are expected to go—all school children between the ages of 15-18 from the Colegio San José de los Hermanos Maristas de la Provincia de Mendoza. English-speaking tourist/back-packing/study-abroad/ex-pat volunteers will work side-by-side with their Mendocino counter-parts, taking part in the following activities:
- Organizing a donation drive for shoes, clothing, toys, and games
- Teaching and demonstrating methods for sustainable living and farming practices, such as cooking in a solar-powered kitchen
- Coordinating a donation drive for items necessary in a rural region, such as electricity generators, vaccines, and medications
- Collecting items for school children, such as computers and clothing for uniforms
- Participating in community cultural events and festivities
This experience has the ability to turn your stay in Argentina into something more than just a vacation. It can help give you a profound sense of place, and Argentina will leave its mark upon you as you simultaneously leave your mark upon it. There is perhaps no more rewarding way to travel than through service travel.
Filed under: Children, Education, Environment, Family Volunteering, Language Study, Service, Service Abroad, Spring Break, Summer Break, Tulum Eco Spring Break Service Trip | Tags: Argentina, Community Development, Desierto Lavalle, Educational Ecological Service Trip, Fundacion Viviencias Argentinas, Huarpe Community, Indigenous Communities, Mendoza, Mexico, Orphans, Service, Tulum, Volunteer
ECOTULUM HERE WE COME!!!
2 students have officially bought their plane tickets to MEXICO for the Educational Ecological Service Trip!!! Hurray!! We are on our way to rainforest reconstruction, learning lessons in sustainability from the ancient Mayan culture, and so much more…4 more students are looking into plane tickets, but there are more spaces awaiting, so just let me know if you want to join in this exciting ecological mission!!!
The students will arrive in Tulum on Monday, March 16th. At the resort, they will be met by the lovely Gabriela Miranda, who will welcome them and help them to settle in. The service breakers will eat a scrumptious dinner on the evening of their arrival, and then will go to sleep in their cabana, getting ready for the first day of service on Tuesday, March 17th.
Service activities will be planned for Tuesday, March 17th; Wednesday, March 18th; Thursday, March 19th; and Friday March 20th. Saturday, March 21st will be a free, do-as-you-please beach day. Go splash in the Caribbean Sea and reward yourself for all your eco-accomplishments during this wonderful week!! The specifics of the service activities will be planned in the upcoming days ahead. (Join in the planning: the first meeting is on our Facebook Group: Tulum-Bound, tonight at 5:30 pm CST!) The options for the activities include a beach clean-up at the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, volunteering in a Mayan hospital and/or Mayan library, a day in the jungle (perhaps accompanied by a biologist!), a day learning and participating in Mayan cultural activities, and a day visiting and learning from Mayan ruins!!
INSPIRATION
Check out the amazing site “Imaginative Traveller” for inspiration on why service vacations are the MOST rewarding and the MOST fun!! As the volunteer-trip organizer Bruch Haxton sums up, “There is a huge amount of fun [in service trips] and people don’t always understand that. It is about having fun & doing something worthwhile at the same time.”
MORE ON THE DOCKET…
If you can not come to the Educational Ecological Service Trip in Tulum this March, do not despair, for there are a handful of other exciting Enchanting Challenge opportunities just around the corner! The next one takes place this August in Mendoza, Argentina. Here is a profile of the Mendoza program scheduled for August.
Fundacion Viviencias Argentinas
For the Mendoza service trip, Enchanting Challenge will partner with Fundacion Viviencias Argentinas, a foundation that has been running service trips for the past 10 years in Mendoza. This year they have decided to open their doors and welcome anyone to do service with them, which is where Enchanting Challenge comes in! We at Enchanting Challenge want to invite any interested parties in joining on this lovely adventure to serve the Mendoza community. Together on this trip we will spend one week working with orphans and disadvantaged families in the city of Mendoza. After one week we will trek out to the nearby Desierto Lavalle (also in the Mendoza province) for another week, where together we will work with the indigenous communities, participating in various community development activities. Read below for a list of activities that will be covered in these two weeks.
Working with Orphans and Disadvantaged Families in the City of Mendoza
During our one week in Mendoza, we will do a number of community-enriching activities with the children of Mendoza. These activities will include the following:
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Helping with school work
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Helping with health care needs
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Organizing donation drives for clothing, shoes, toys, games, and more
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Organizing and participating in recreational activities
Working in the Desierto Lavalle
For the second week of the Mendoza service trip, our group will head into the Desierto Lavalle, where we will work with the Huarpes Community, an indigenous community native to this region. We will participate in the following activities:
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Organizing donation drives for shoes and games for more than 35o children (a tall task, but one that I know we can accomplish)
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Organizing donation drives for the fundamental elements necessary for rural life, such as electricity generators, medicines, and vaccines
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Organizing donation drives for school-children’s needs, such as clothing and computers
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Helping to teach energy efficient living and farming practices, such as cooking in a solar kitchen, sustainable planting and harvesting methods, and methods to increase the quality of the drinking water
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Participating in the important cultural events of this region
Contact Me if You are Interested!!
The two core parts of the Mendoza service trip–the week in the city and the week in the desert–come together to create a rejuvenating and rewarding experience. Volunteers on this trip will stay in homestays, making it a cultural experience as well!!! For more information on the Mendoza service trips, check out Agustin’s blog here. If you are interested in joining this trip, please contact me at sarahannmaxwell@gmail.com and I can give you more details!!! And, most touching and exciting of all, check out pictures of this service trip here and here. They will melt your heart!!!
Filed under: Animals, Children, Education, Environment, Family Volunteering, Language Study, Service, Service Abroad, Spring Break, Summer Break, Tulum Eco Spring Break Service Trip, Winter Break | Tags: AmeriCorps, Educational Ecological Service Trip, Enchanting Challenge, Going Abroad, Green Corps, Green for All, Mendoza, Peace Corps, Puerto Madryn, Service, Tulum, Volunteer Work
With the economic crisis affecting us all in some way, and with scary headlines sweeping our newspapers everyday, it may feel like a pretty dark time. However, although it might be hard to believe, this is also a time of unlimited opportunity. As the saying goes, “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste” (Paul Romer, economist). Let me explain.
This week, Luke Russert interviewed former President Bill Clinton. And you will not believe the advice Bill Clinton gave to young people who are about to finish their 4-year degrees! Read it and get excited:
- Stay in school if you can or want to
- Volunteer
- Go abroad
- Any combination of the above options
Because of our shaken-up economy, now is most likely not the moment you are going to find the career that allows you to save millions of dollars. Though that may seem to be a gloomy fact, that reality also frees you from obligations of normal societal expectations, such as embarking upon your career path. Now is the time that you have nothing to lose, which awards you the freedom to take risks, to follow your dreams and to do the things that seem unwise and unsafe when you have a secure office job at stake. A crisis truly is a terrible thing to waste, as it allows you to remake and redefine the reality of your life.
So what are your options? If you are graduating, programs like AmeriCorps and PeaceCorps are amazing options. So are shorter-term volunteer opportunities, such as Visions in Action .
(photo taken from Peace Corps website)
(image taken from the AmeriCorps VISTA site)
There are also some certification programs that you can embark upon either before or after graduation that can lead to altnerative career opportunities, such as a job within the emerging and highly-demanded green economy. One of the best of these programs that I can recommend is Green For All, a vocational program (for which you DO NOT need a 4-year college degree!) that trains people and helps to place them somewhere in the alternative energy field. Another interesting option in this genre is Green Corps, a very cool one-year program that teaches its trainees to organize environmental service and volunteer drives within communities, campuses, and more. Let me know if you are interested in any of these programs and I can help to give you more information!
(photo taken from the Green For All site)
And of course, what else can you do?? Enchanting Challenge service trips!!! We are getting ready to embark on the first one next month in Tulum, Mexico; we are busy plotting away the second one in August in Mendoza, Argentina; and we are putting together the pieces for the third one scheduled to take place in October in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Get ready for tomorrow’s post, as it will be a re-cap on all of these amazing service destinations!!!
Filed under: Environment, Family Volunteering, Service, Service Abroad, Summer Break | Tags: community supported agriculture, CSA, Local Harvest, organic, Organic farming, serve, serving, Volunteer, Volunteering, work-for-share, WWOOF
As mentioned on Friday’s post, perhaps the healthiest way to serve the world (and yourself!) is through eating locally. This can be, of course, accomplished through farmers’ markets and growing a small (or large!) amount of your own produce right at home. However, there are also some other pretty cool ways to become even more involved in the local food movement. If you have an itch to more deeply understand the journey of our food from seed to meal, then you might want to consider becoming involved in Community Supported Agriculture or volunteering on an organic farm.
Community Supported Agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a process by which a patron buys a share of the farm, thereby becoming farm members or shareholders. The members/shareholders then receive a weekly share of the farm’s in-season produce. Shares typically cost around $500 for a seasonal membership (depending upon your agricultural region, usually somewhere around 20 weeks), and can usually provide enough produce weekly for about two people. Check out this YouTube video about CSA to learn more!
Work-for-Share
A $500 membership fee is quite a steal for a duo. However, if you are a struggling college student, the work-for-share program is probably a better option for you. As its name suggests, this set-up involves paying for your share of the farm by working. Generally, farms will probably ask for an 8-10 hour/week commitment from you in exchange for your weekly produce (perhaps the perfect part-time summer job!). To find a list of CSA farms near your home, click here.
(photo taken from the Local Harvest website)
Organic Farm Service Heaven
Another way to get involved in the local food movement is by volunteering on an organic farm. WWOOF, the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is an amazing network of organic farms spanning 6 continents. By signing up to become a WWOOF member, you can apply for placement on an organic farm in your preferred region, whether that be the sandy farms of the Middle East, or the foresty greens of Germany, or the savannas of Africa–it’s up to you! Programs are generally set up as a home-stay, with the volunteers living with and as part of their host family. Volunteers are expected to help in the daily farm work, and in return are well-fed and provided with clean, safe, and dry living quarters. There is no cost besides a small contribution to WWOOF to help them maintain their organization. If you are interested in learning the ins-and-outs of organic farming, WWOOF may be the perfect opportunity for you.
(photo taken from the WWOOF website)
The local food movement is healthy for our world and for our own bodies. It is a wonderful way to help move our world into the hopeful and healthy direction we are now moving. CSA and WWOOF are just two ways to get involved. There are many more options out there, so don’t hesitate to email me with any questions you may have on this topic!!
