[Event] Join the 7th Flow Surf Yoga Samba Retreat this April 2012

The 7th FLOW Surf Yoga Samba Weekend Retreat will be held from April 28 to 30, 2012 at the Ailya Surf Camp in Baler, Aurora, Philippines.

Join the three-day retreat and learn Vinyasa Yoga and Yin Yoga from certified yoga instructor Monica Manzano, surfing from the instructors of Aliya Surf School Baler, and samba dancing from Escola de Samba de Manila Diretora de Bateria and full time percussionist Toni Bernardo.

Develop your inner focus through yoga sessions, build your self-confidence while surfing, and loose yourself in dancing and music. Have fun and make new friends during this boutique experience. Healthy food and drinks will be served throughout the retreat to keep you nourished: body, mind, and soul.

For more information on Flow Surf Yoga Samba, do visit them on Facebook, Multiply, and Twitter, or email flowsurfyogasamba@gmail.com.

[Event] Kitchen Revolution Has Summer Cooking Classes for Kids

Do you have or know children 6 to 12 years old who would be interested in taking cooking lessons this summer? Don't just enroll them in any random class. Let them join Kitchen Revolution's Summer Cooking Classes for Junior Chefs this April and May.

Throughout the summer, participants will be preparing, healthy plant-based recipes for pastas, pizzas, burgers, chocolate, ice cream, cupcakes, and more!

According to Marie Gonzalez, founder of Kitchen Revolution, and facilitator for all classes, kids will learn how to:

• create nutritionally balanced, yummy, meat free meals
• cook with whole grains, beans & legumes, fruits & vegetables, nuts & seeds, and herbs & spices
• use wholesome alternatives to white flour and white sugar
• bake without dairy & eggs, and
• make holistic food choices without scrimping on taste

Give your kids the chance to learn healthy recipes the whole family can enjoy by enrolling them in these cooking classes. All lessons will be held at the Kitchen Revolution HQ in Ayala, Alabang.

Classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Then on May 26, the top junior chefs will be awarded while all participants cook for there parents.

Here is the schedule and themes of cooking classes for kids:

April 17 (pasta), 19 (chocolate), 24 (pizza), 26 (cupcakes).

May 1 (Mexican), 3 (pies), 8 (Japanese), 10 (ice cream), 15 (burgers), 17 (cookies), 22 (brunch), 24 (bars...as in brownies, lemon bars, etc.).

And here is the list of class fees and packages:

• P15,600 for 12 classes (P1,300 each)
• P8,400 for 6 classes (P1,400 each)
• P6,000 for 4 classes (P1,500 each)
• P1,600 for 1 class
• For the May 26 cookout it's P1,000 per guest (students are free)

You can view and print out the official brochure, and learn about payment details, by clicking on this link:

http://kitchenrevolution.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/kids-classes-brochure1.pdf

For more information, you can also visit the Kitchen Revolution Blog. 

Marie Gonzalez will also be teaching cooking classes for adults.

[Event] Kitchen Revolution April 2012 Cooking Classes

Marie Gonzalez's Kitchen Revolution has just released its list of cooking classes for April 2012. All classes will be held on Wednesdays at the Kitchen Revolution HQ in Ayala Alabang. Here is the list of workshops:

 

Fantastic Salads 3.0
April 11, 2012
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Now on it's third run, this cooking class will teach you how to prepare cooling foods, perfect for summertime, using a choice organic vegetables, fruits and other ingredients.

Life is Better Without Dairy and Cheese
April 18, 2012
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Back by popular demand, this cooking class will teach you how to prepare delectable dishes using plant-based alternatives to milk, cream, and cheese.

Dessert Mayhem: Get un-Baked
April 25, 2012
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Nauseated by the thought of cranking up the oven and baking this summer? Learn how to create mouthwatering desserts with only minimal heating required through this baking class.

Each class will cost a P1,500 deposit per person. Walk-in rate is P1,750. For more information, please visit the Kitchen Revolution blog.

Marie Gonzalez also has cooking classes for kids this summer.

[Business] Good Food Company and Community Shared Agriculture

Good Food Company Celebrates its First Birthday

On February 10, 2012 the Good Food Company (Good Food Co.) celebrated its first year in business. With over 9,000 kilograms of organic vegetables grown and shared, plus 20 farmers in its organic cooperative, the company is looking to grow bigger this year. Now, the goal is to increase the number of organic farmers to 50 and the number of stakeholders to 350.

Good Food Co. -- Where Good Food Meets Good Company

By now, you must be confused with all this information, so let's take a step back:

Good Food Co. is a local business operating on the model of community shared agriculture, which mutually empowers farmers and shareholders. In essence, the shareholders pledge to support the farmers for an entire planting season by providing monetary support. In return, the farmers will give shareholders a portion of the crops harvested, proportionate to each shareholder's contribution.

Thus, the farmers have the seed money to plant, grow, and harvest their crops, and the shareholders receive a constant supply of vegetables.

Green, Healthy, and 100% Organic Vegetables

Good Food Company brings this to the next level by requiring member farmers to plant vegetables organically. This means all crops must be grown without using any harmful chemicals. Studies show that organic vegetables have more nutrients and antioxidants from their chemically-aided counterparts.

Aside from producing healthier crops, organic farming also benefits the farmers because they may get a higher yield. And the soil they plant on stays healthy for a longer time as well.

The current working team of the company is Charlene Tan, Galvin Ngo, Philip Lee, Jr., and Mariel Vincent Rapisura. All of them are members of the Christian Life Community (CLC).

Become a Stakeholder of The Good Food Company

Become a Stakeholder and Visit the Organic Farmers

If you're interested in receiving a supply of healthy and assorted organic veggies, and want to help local organic farmers at the same time, then why not give community shared agriculture a try?

Choose among three sets depending on the level of commitment you are currently prepared to make:

Double the Green with Eco Bags and Organic Vegetables

There's Set C, or "I'll Give it a Shot." Get a single serving worth P280 or a family size share worth P500. Your contribution will help the farmers for one week.

Next is Set B, or "You Have My Support," which is a four-week commitment. Get a single serving worth P960 (P240/week) or a family size share worth P1,800 (P450/week).

Say "I'm a Believer," and choose Set C, which is a one-year commitment to the community. Get a single serving worth P2,700 (P225/week) or a family size share worth P4,800 (P400/week).

You can pick up your organic vegetables weekly, on Saturdays, from 9:30am to 1pm, at any of these designated pick-up points: New Manila, Valle Verde 5, Mary the Queen Parish (San Juan), and Loyola Heights (Quezon City).

For more about the company and how you can be a stakeholder, please visit the Good Food Company website and the Good Food Community Facebook page. You can also watch A Good Food Story, the company's official video:



*All photos taken from the company's website and Facebook page.

[Event] The Philippines, Miranda Kerr, gearing up for Earth Hour 2012

The World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF-Philippines) is going nationwide for the fifth Earth Hour celebration in the Philippines. Local environmentalists are looking forward to the country earning a four-peat as having the most number of participants this 2012.

Want to join in the festivities? Here are the places to be:

Come to the Ayala Triangle Gardens at 8:30pm on March 31, 2012 and join the celebrations for Earth Hour 2012 with event host Rovilson Fernandez. The nights revelries will be highlighted by Caracol Dancers and glow-in-the-dark dance troupe Bailes de Luces, among many other performances.

(Photo of Bailes de Luces from The Visayan Daily Star website)

In Cebu, the Sinulog Dancers will perform from Fuente Osmena to Plaza Independencia. This will be followed by the releasing of sky lanterns. Meanwhile, SM Davao will be host to fire and black-light dancers among other performances. Mark Nelson will host the festivities in Mindanao.

Concerned peoples in the Philippines and across the globe are invited to Go Beyond the Hour this 2012. Locally, WWF-Philippines launched the I Will if You Will campaign in support of this global initiative. The campaign seeks to encourage Filipinos to establish a green contract with fellow Filipinos.

For example, you can say "If you segregate your garbage for a month, then I install energy-saving light bulbs all around my house." Thus, we will be challenging each other to do acts of green and perhaps even adopt a lasting green lifestyle. Visit the WWF-Philippines website and make your own 'I Will if You Will' statement. Then, at the end of your dare, write “Let’s support #EarthHour” the hashtag #IWIYW, and mention @WWF_Philippines.


Oh! and check-out this 'I Will if You Will' statement from Miranda Kerr:

[News] The Styro Project - recycling Styrofoam for a greener Manila

'How do you make things better? You make better things.' This is the tagline of The Styro Project, a collective effort to Make Manila greener by recycling Styrofoam. Is this even possible? It is, through the use of limonene, a byproduct from your regular orange. Here's how the process works:

This group, The Styro Project, managed to work with engineers in creating a machine that can recycle Styrofaom using limonene. After going through the machine, the Styrofoam is dissolved into a high quality material that can be in manufacturing a variety of products.

Come to The Pocket Universe Gallery at SAGUIJO to show your support. MARCH 17/SATURDAY/8PM for the LAUNCH of The Styro Project, featuring art inspired by recycled polystyrene. 2nd Floor of saGuijo Cafe + Bar, Guijo St., San Antonio Village, Makati City

For more information on and regular updates from The Styro Project, you can visit them on Facebook and on Twitter by clicking on the respective links.

[Business] Globe Telecom joins Sail for Light in bringing solar energy to 250 households in Palawan

Leading telecommunications company Globe Telecom is set to support the communications requirements of Sail for Light, an outreach component of the Blackberry 12^th Philippine Hobie Challenge, involving the donation of solar lanterns to 250 households in remote communities of Coron, Culion, and El Nido in Palawan.

Globe Telecom Head for Corporate Social Responsibility Rob I. Nazal (right) together with (from L-R) Stiftung Solarenergie (StS) Marketing and Communications Associate Marigold Manlosa; Mt. Everest Expedition Teams Technical and Support Group member Fred Jamili; and Hybrid Social Solutions Chief Finance Officer Red P. Padilla

Through Sail for Light, local and international teams competing in the sailing event from Busuanga to El Nido on March 10-17 will distribute solar lamps to identified Palawan fishing communities with the assistance of local non-government organizations such as El Nido Foundation and Cartwheel Foundation.   

Lamps are charged by a solar panel throughout the day and can provide up to 100 hours of light when fully charged.  The Sun Transfer 1 solar lamp contains a 100-lumen LED bulb that can light a small room or hut, and also includes a USB port which allows mobile phones to be charged.

As the official telecom partner of Sail for Light, Globe is helping raise awareness and support for the advocacy by donating smartphones, Tattoo broadband sticks, and pre-paid load allowance for mobile and internet as well as netbook computers for the Stiftung Solarenergie (StS) field staff. These communication tools will enable the foundation to reach out to 250 families in remote communities in Coron, Culion, and El Nido who still do not have electricity.  StS is an international non-profit organization which works for rural development and poverty alleviation by providing solar energy in rural and marginalized areas worldwide.

Globe will also give out 250 Globe Bridging Communities (GBC) SIM cards to the beneficiaries.  The special SIM cards offer discounted rates for calls and text messages plus retailing function to allow families to sell load top-ups as additional income.  Beneficiaries can also be connected to StS through the Globe Text Connect facility. 

“The GBC SIM will enable families to maintain contact with Sts and their local NGO partners for purposes of monitoring and evaluation on the use and impact of the solar lanterns. Through the text connect facility, advisories can be sent to the StS growing list of beneficiaries for better post-donation technical support and tracking of progress,” said Rob I. Nazal, Head of Globe Corporate Social Responsibility.
 

This is the second time for Globe to support StS campaign to provide four million homes across the country with safe, reliable, and sustainable solar energy.  The move is part of the social commitment of Globe to uplift the lives of marginalized sectors of the community and to help save the environment by reducing carbon emissions.

            

At present, 26.4 percent of the country's population lives in rural, mountainous and farming areas that lack access to electricity. Because of this, productive activity decreases or is brought to a standstill when the sun goes down.  Most households use kerosene, wood, and disposable batteries to meet their basic energy needs, incurring high financial, health, and environmental costs in the process.  The use of solar energy and solar-powered products can change the lives of these off-grid Filipinos by harnessing the sun's energy and empowering them to take control of their economic and social development in the long run.

[Green Living] Liquid Sunshine: Organic Fruit and Vegetable Juices at an Affordable Price

I signed-up for the Babaenihan Talk 2012 by Astigirl, in celebration of International Women's Day, at the Filipinas Heritage Library on March 8, 2012, when I was given this yellow paper heart. I could hand-it over for a free bottle of Liquid Sunshine, the lady at the registration table said.

I assume she was a writer because there were lots of women writers and environmentalists at that talk. I definitely spotted Marie Gonzalez of Kitchen Revolution and Reese Fernandez-Ruiz of Rags2Riches in attendance, and was quite surprised they weren't one of the six Astigirl (awesome women) speakers that night. It just goes to show how many amazing women there are in the Philippines.

So after my officemates and I got our yellow hearts, we proceeded to the Liquid Sunshine table to claim our free bottles, of what happened to be organic fruit and vegetable juices. At first I thought, they were going to give some kind of energy drink. Upon further reflection, they could be advertising themselves as an all-natural/organic energy drink.

I think the owner was handing out the juice, but I forgot her name. I can remember faces easily, but I'm so terrible at remembering names.

Anyway, there was a variety of organic concoctions on display. They had Grace (pineapple, cucumber, and ginger), Kindness (beet, cucumber, garlic, and apple), Wonder (malunggay, apple, carrot, and pineapple), and Rapture (orange, carrot, pineapple, and basil), among other flavors.

 Grace

If I'm not mistaken, Wonder is their best selling juice. I got a bottle of Grace and drank it while having lunch the next day. I got a slight gingery burning sensation each time I put down my bottle after a sip, which was odd (I don't remember ever drinking anything like it) but it was not in any way uncomfortable. It tasted really good and healthy actually.

 Kindness

On the other hand, I saw my officemates passing around the bottle of Kindness during merienda that same day in the hopes someone would be kind enough to finish the drink. The first woman who took a sip really didn't like it at all. However, someone drank the bottle's contents before it reached me, so I really can't comment on the taste.

All of us took "shots" of Wonder that afternoon as well, and boy was it wonderful. No wonder it's their bestseller. We had a bottle of Rapture left in the fridge, but its owner was absent so we might give it a try on Monday.

According to the official website of Liquid Sunshine, their organic juices are always freshly pressed and have a shelf-life of only two to three days. Thus, these juices are made-to-order.

For a minimum order of just three 250-ml bottles you can have Liquid Sunshine delivered to your doorstep on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Each bottle costs only P100 each!

They currently deliver to San Juan, Taguig (the Fort), and some parts of Quezon City.

The menu for the week is posted on their website or sent via email. Here's the contact information of the company:

Email: love@liquidsunshinejuice.com
SMS: 0905-3780290
Phone: 211-9537

You can also visit Liquid Sunshine on Facebook and Twitter.

*Photos of Liquid Sunshine products taken from their official website and Twitter page.

[News] Amazon.com under pressure to permanently stop selling dolphin, porpoise, whale meat

Amazon.com, under pressure from the Environmental Investigation Agency and Human Society International, removed dolphin, porpoise, and whale meat from its online store last February 22, 2012. However, the company has yet to adopt a policy that would permanently ban the sale of these meat.

 (Photos not mine)

Melissa Seghal and her supporters have launched an online petition in the hopes of convincing Amazon.com to make a concrete commitment to protect the rights of dolphins, porpoises, and whales. Over 190,000 of the targeted 200,000 persons have already signed the petition, but they still need your help.

Every year, thousands of dolphins, porpoises, and whales are killed in Japan each year. Their is being sold in supermarkets and consumed by humans. Getting the world's biggest online retailer to support the protection of these marine life species will send a strong message to the Japanese government, that change is needed.

Help save the lives of these animals. Tell Amazon.com to permanently ban the sale of whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat.