Are you making a difference?

Musician Jack Johnson has created a social action network All At Once, where you can take action in your local and world community. Through this network Johnson separates the ways you can accomplish change, Your Action, Your Choice, Your Voice. Each category allows supporters to find volunteer opportunities, ways to donate, how to speak out about your Eco concerns and many forms of creating local and global change.


This year's All at Once campaign is focusing on supporting Local Sustainable Food Systems, and Plastic Free Initiatives. On his website, http://www.allatonce.org/, there are numerous ways to get involved. Whether you contribute by small everyday strives to live more sustainable, or become a member of All At Once. It doesn't take much to make a difference, but once you do, the impact is contagious.







Johnson is teaming up with over 150 non profit groups on his To The Sea tour. These groups focus on plastic free initiatives, sustainable local food systems, and environmental education opportunities that include oceans & watersheds, tree planting and many hands-on community projects. All tour proceeds go to these groups and support their projects.

I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to be informed about what some non-profits are doing in order to make our world a better place. Next, self reflect on what your doing or not doing to actively make a difference in your community. Remember, here at Community Seeds we believe that its the small changes people make through information and encouragement that really produce a better world- the best thing you can do is be informed socially and environmentally.

For more ways to get involved with Community Seeds go check us out at: http://www.communityseeds.com/

The Community Seeds Foundation

The Community Seeds Foundation is the non-profit, philanthropic part of Community Seeds. We are dedicated to provide information, resources, and an a publication, Community Seeds Eco-Magazine, in order to promote sustainability. With your help, we can continue to educate, support, and inspire the local community and world communities through our publication and outreach.

Donate today and help us support sustainability, community, and charity groups. You can make a donation at any time and we will publish your name in our next issue under a special section called "Making A Difference". To donate and for more information go to:
http://www.communityseeds.com/ and click on the "Community Seeds Foundation".

"Be the change you want to see in the world.." - Mahatma Gandhi

Our Summer Issue is here!

Just in time for Summer!

Our Summer issue is officially available online and ready for review.

Be the first to read about all the fun you could be having this summer while being green!

Check it out! Located on the front page of our website:

http://www.communityseeds.com/

We are very excited about this issue, highlighting some of the best ways to be Eco concious while enjoying your Summer season. Be sure to check out our delicious Summer recipes, Eco- friendly must have products and how other non profits are changing communities around the world.

Love what you see? Interested in writing, advertsing or crurious how you can contribute to Community Seeds?

Check out our website and discover how you can help make a difference.

http://www.communityseeds.com/

Winter Issue preparations..

Hello everyone,

Community Seeds Eco Magazine is planning for the winter 2009-2010 issue. We have brainstormed a bit and have come up with a tentative themes for the winter issue: social responsibility.

We would love to know what you are doing to be more green and tips you can give others in our community.

As you might know, our magazine is a forum for the public to come together for a common cause. We would like to encourage our readers to send in an article that would be informative to other readers.

We would also like to encourage local businesses, as well as non-local businesses, with websites to place an ad with us. Our magazine is quarterly, so your ad would run for 3 months. We are one of the cheapest ways to advertise that you will find, and we are targeting a different market: internet users. In the event that you don’t need the advertising, you could also become a sponsor! Being a sponsor is a great way to get involved in a worthwhile cause and as a sponsor you will receive a great deal of exposure.

The deadline to place your ad, become a sponsor, or send in an article is October 25, 2009 so mark your calendars!

For more information, please visit our website at: http://www.communityseeds.com/ or send us an email at: info@communityseeds.com .

Thank you for taking the time to read this and we hope you are having a fabulous day!

-Community Seeds Eco Magazine

Being Green is Not a New Concept

My Eco Friendly Grandma
Being “Green” may be a new term, but it is not a new concept...Ask my grandma.
By DeAnna Holman

Last year, the magazine I publish, Community Seeds Eco Magazine, sponsored The Threshing Bee at the Patrick Ranch in Durham (As we will this year).While at our booth, I met great people, had great conversations, and learned a great deal. One sweet woman came to our booth and was interested in the magazine. She shared with me ways she has been “green” for over 40 years. Over 40 years! How can that be? It got me thinking about my grandma, now 95, and how she has actually been being “green” ever since I can remember. Actually, before I can remember because she tells me her stories, true stories.

My grandma did so many things to be kinder to the earth. She would always turn off the water when brushing her teeth and she would never leave a light on in an empty room. I remember she had fruit trees in her backyard and she used “natural” ways to keep pests off. She did not have access to many chemicals and she wasn’t interested in them anyway. Granted, she was living in Los Angeles and the pest problem was minimal, but still it is noteworthy. I remember she would bury compostable items in her yard to make “mulch” and I thought that was odd. Now, I am making compost or “mulch” and people are writing about it for my magazine! I remember her telling me time and time again how coffee grounds were so good for her roses. She had a bowl near her kitchen sink for composting materials and come to think of it, she had very little waste at all.

If my grandma did not finish a glass of water, she would dump the rest into a house plant. She never had a dry, wilting plant in the house. Those house plants emitting oxygen in her house was just another way she was being green. She has the smallest carbon footprint of anyone I know. She has even taken public transit or walked all of her life. She has always thought there is no need to get a car if you live in a city. I always thought she was being frugal, but she was simply not being wasteful.

Perhaps having parents that were immigrants from Russia helped my grandmother to be more conscious of wastefulness. Or maybe it was because of WWII and the hardships faced. Everyone around her worked, they had to ration food and necessities, and no one was wasteful. People appreciated the smallest of things. It may seem like it was a complicated time, but there was no TV, no clutter, no fast-pace rat race and no, “what’s in it for me” attitude. It was innate to reduce, reuse and recycle. It was not a chore to be eco-friendly, it was a way of life... Yes, over 40 years ago!

We can learn so much about being “green” from our grandparents and their grandparents. It would certainly be worth while to interview them about the ways they were less wasteful. And, although I always chuckle when my grandma tears a napkin in half to use the other half later, I now appreciate that small gesture.

For more articles like these, go to www.communityseeds.com!