Issue 1:
Sep - Oct 2008

A STORE IS BORN

It's been just more than a month that we finally opened shop—at a dizzying speed and with a passion that can move mountains (and people!). EchoStore is now a reality.

NEWS BUZZ

Sustaining a Lifestyle

By Jeannie E. Javelosa

back to top

Reprinted from the author's column "A Spirited Soul" that appeared in the Philippine Star on September 28, 2008 (edited version).

Each of us defines the kind of lifestyle we want. Sometimes, we define it quite unconsciously as we allow trends, traditions, and friendships to define how we live or what "we should want and have." Our food choices, clothing style, what we enjoy, and how we spend our free time all add up to the definition of our individual personalities. I have always defined my own lifestyle consciously, even as family and friends thought me weird. So mine was always a trip to the organic market (I was one of the very first regulars when Mara Pardo de Tavera first opened her Organic Market decades back), and then to a healthy food shop, off to qigong (now yoga, meditation, and prayer), and the thrill of climbing or enjoying the serenity of Mount Banahaw while helping the local community with attempts at livelihood projects. And, in the course of it all, I found many kindred souls, many who, like me, embrace a more conscious way of life attuning to the planet. Whenever I would meet up with such people, there was always a similarity in our desire to help in the growing awareness of developing the inner Self as we moved through the transitions of our life journey, embracing community by wanting to help others, and the urgent desire to nurture our sadly ailing planet.

So it came as no surprise that during one casual dinner a month and a half ago, I sat with two friends, Reena Francisco, my groupmate since Grade 5 through high school, and our other friend, Chit Juan. Throwing ideas around with no thought but to share what we wanted to do in our work and lives, we came upon a concept that was just waiting to be born: We were fired up to put up a one-stop shop that would offer alternatives helping everyone live a sustainable lifestyle. And, like magic, the store was up. And the business, which is a social enterprise, was set in motion. A social enterprise is a business for profit, but with an added twist—the profits consider the triple bottom line, where there are environmental and social gains as well. We call it EchoStore Sustainable Lifestyle. ECHO is the acronym for Environment & Community Hope Organization.

It was a novel idea, revolutionary even, to try to be the umbrella or the home for sharing ideas for sustainable living. And we could feel the energy mount as we spoke to people about it. We rallied our network of social enterprises, communities, foundations, and charitable groups who badly needed a retail space to sell their goods as varied as home décor, fashionable accessories, gift items, and many more. Most of these products are made by marginalized groups, women prisoners, the urban poor, foundations that support abused children, and even the creative industries. We invited producers of organic, natural, and nontoxic goods to bring in their products which ranged from personal care and home cleaning products to staples like organic rice, sugar, and other produce. Many of these small producers do not have a main outlet in a high-traffic mall area. Also, many community groups need help with marketing, branding, and strategically positioning their products in a local market that is overloaded with nothing but global brands. We want to say we are Pinoy and proud of it. We want to show the creativity and excellence of which we know our race is capable of. We are idealists and we walk purposefully to make this idealism practical.

Because we wanted to start small, we chose to share space with another social enterprise called Kape Isla: Home of Philippine Coffee. We asked if we could manage the café so we could have a place to bring people together and discuss, exchange, and define all aspects of sustainable living, environmental advocacies, and the wholeness of the Self so relationships with the community can be deeper and more relevant. We've already had a Café Scientifique session, and future Kapihans will find their home here, too.

It has been barely a month and a half, and the concept is real, born, and alive through EchoStore. We've been receiving inquiries from abroad asking about and wanting to connect with EchoStore, barely a week after its opening. In our fast awakening world where, daily, people are going through internal processes of awakening to their roles in this Earth, reaching out to like-minded people all over the world is but a step away. And the mission: to help push forward the emerging trend of the conscious and caring consumer.

Sometimes, there are moments when blessings and graces of wonderful ideas come and root, and are born. And we, who are the recipients, are mindful of this gift, this responsibility even to make the seed grow and flourish. We often tell people that we want everyone to follow our concept, and echo it over and over again. People have to purchase products and goods anyway—why not buy a double gift where you get something you need and, at the same time, help a community? And we would look to the communities and ask them whether their own processes are sustainable for the environment, too. Wouldn't it be a great high to see such stores carry the best of the Filipino, or carry the spirit of care for and nurturing of our planet, become as common as a 7-Eleven in every corner? Where organic brown, violet, and red rice by farmers from Nueva Ecija are sold, where muscovado sugar from Negros is plentiful, where seaweed pancit from the far south is made available, where recycled items are beautiful and functional once more, and poor, marginalized people have steadier sources of income, because of fair trade? Now wouldn't that vision of an EchoStore in every corner be an exciting goal to go after?

Sustainable Living

By Chit U. Juan

back to top

In the circle called life, we sometimes feel like it is a cycle of being born, living well, and then leaving this world. But in the "living well" phase, we want to live well, but make a difference. How do we start?

The world is full of trash. It is only trash because we fail to find new uses for other people's excess. Paper, plastic, and rags are now used by creative producers and artists to recreate beautiful useful bags, purses, baskets, containers, and a whole gamut of products which recycle what used to be "trash" to what can be "cash." When we support such businesses, we contribute to:

THE POWER OF THREE

Me + Me

back to top

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.

Kahlil Gibran
Artist, poet, writer, philosopher, and theologian

You + Me
= We

back to top

Little pockets of inspiration slowly begin opening up, joining together, and building a collective force that can suddenly give way to tremendous change. What has always given me hope is that small steps can lead to great change. As important as the big picture, there's a profound power in pulling it down to a manageable scale, in bringing it home right down into our communities, and in taking action with available solutions.

Robert Redford
Film director, actor, producer, environmentalist, and philanthropist

We + Planet
= Sustainable Lifestyle

back to top

There are times in ... history ... when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits, and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. ... survival ... as we know it is at risk. And even more—if more should be required—the future of human civilization is at stake.

Al Gore, on meeting the challenge of global warming
Environmental activist, author, businessman, and former politician and journalist

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS

Strength comes in numbers. Great strength can arise in collaborations made for a shared vision. We at EchoStore Sustainable Lifestyle align with organizations that develop people and move them out of poverty through skills development, livelihood, and fair trade. Check out our partners to help build the initial EchoStore Sustainable Lifestyle community.

Rags
2 Riches

back to top

Rags 2 Riches (RIIR) is a social business enterprise in partnership with the women of Payatas.

Starting with only 24 women who were earning P200 per week from making rugs from rags, today, the group has expanded to more than 100 women profitably earning for their families and communities. Fashion designer Rajo Laurel inspires these women by designing for them elegant fashion items under the RIIR label.

Association of Negros Producers

back to top

The Association of Negros Producers (ANP) was formed in the 1980s, during the sugar industry crisis which crippled the economy of Negros. The House of Negros, which later became the ANP, contributed extensively to alleviating the plight of more than 150,000 displaced workers in a time that saw 84% of Negrenses living below the poverty line and 60% of their children languishing in malnutrition. The singular determination to create just one more job brought this stalwart association to where it is now—an established beacon of hope.

Filipinas Fair Trade Ventures

back to top

Filipinas Fair Trade Ventures (FFTV) advocates fair trade principles with more than 90 producer groups and close to 200 communities nationwide. It aims to promote the sustainable development of excluded and disadvantaged producers by providing better trading conditions, raising awareness, and campaigning.

Gifts and Graces Fair Trade Foundation

back to top

Gifts and Graces Fair Trade Foundation is a social enterprise that works with communities in developing their livelihood programs through two key business solutions: product development and market access. These interventions mean enhanced livelihood programs that help nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and their beneficiaries on the road to sustainability and poverty reduction. These groups are encouraged to apply fair trade principles to their social enterprises to ensure that their livelihood programs are sustainable and empowering for its members in the long run.

Philippine Business for Social Progress

back to top

Helping People Help Themselves is the guiding principle of Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the first of its kind in Southeast Asia being the only nonprofit consortium of corporations leading the advocacy on and the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate citizenship. For nearly 40 years, PBSP has been the business sector's vehicle in delivering organized, professional, and sustainable assistance to the Filipino poor, particularly landless farmers, fisher folk, rural workers, the urban poor, and indigenous cultural communities. It partners with people's organizations and NGOs in realizing organizational capability at the grassroots. PBSP supports policies in aid of poverty alleviation, and adopts the sustainable use of natural resources in all its programs.

Correctional Institute for Women

back to top

Set in the middle of Mandaluyong City and founded in 1931, the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) is a prison that keeps women convicts in custody for their safety and for the protection and security of society, as well as to prepare and rehabilitate these women for a better life upon eventual freedom from confinement. More than 1,500 inmates young and old join workshops to create crafts to earn a little money to pay for many of the prison's amenities, such as hot water and small additional comforts like three-in-one coffee sachets and snacks, or financing medical treatments. Craft making has become an essential part of their lives in confinement, and is a way for the inmates to focus their attention and release their creative energies.

Gawad Kalinga

back to top

Gawad Kalinga (GK) is a total community development program that aims to transform slums into beautiful and productive communities to restore the dignity of the poor. GK is currently helping its villages establish sustainable community-based enterprises. All village beneficiaries are being taught to be self-sustaining entrepreneurs.

Alter Trade

back to top

Alter Trade products are produced from certified organic farms. Producers are regularly updated and trained to comply with international organic and fair trade standards. Alter Trade, which was founded in Negros during the 1986 sugar crisis, now serves more than 5,000 small producers in five regions in the country and 14 federations of networks of Consumers' Cooperatives and Fair Trade consumers in nine countries in Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Yabang
Pinoy

back to top

Yabang Pinoy is a campaign to raise awareness and heighten the Filipino people's ethos, dignity, and pride by advocating the use of a piece of braided abaca that aims to make a statement. Other products, such as shirts, bakya, bags, and bookmarks, promote Filipino design and product excellence.

The goal of Yabang Pinoy is to unite the Filipino people in believing in themselves and in fellow Filipinos. The campaign was founded by a group of young, active, and nationalistic Filipinos who realized that one of the gravest problems faced by the Philippines today is Filipinos not believing in their nationality and doubting their identity.

Steps Scholarship Foundation

back to top

Each year Steps Dance Studio gives out scholarships to deserving students from around the country who wish to further their study in dance. With the Steps Scholarship Foundation, the studio hopes to extend the support of its scholarship funds to more gifted but needy students. It sponsors the training, transportation, and habiliments of students with exceptional facility in dance, but do not have the means to study in a dance school.

Proceeds from the sale of the studio's special gift items help aspiring and talented Filipino dancers achieve their goals.

Peace and Equity Foundation

back to top

The Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) was formed in 2001 to support the work of civil society in eradicating poverty and marginalization. P EF administers an endowment fund from the net proceeds of the Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) Bonds developed and sold on the capital market by the Caucus of Development NGOs. The foundation also provides civil society organizations with developmental financing

First Community Commerce Corporation

back to top

First Community Commerce Corporation (FirstCom) is a partnership of people with long experience on agribusiness development with the aim of uplifting rural communities through commerce. Products come from communities all over the country.

And many more joining the EchoStore Sustainable Lifestyle community!

EVENTS HUB

Equity Finance talk

Sept. 25

back to top

PBSP and Business in Development (BiD) held a talk on equity financing at Kape Isla/EchoStore last Sept. 25. It was a full house as entrepreneurs got insights from angel investors and venture capital companies into the different ways of getting bright ideas financed so they can become a reality. Participants then pitched their new ideas for business startups. It was a fun afternoon for the angel investors and their potential business partners.

Café Scientifique discussion

Sept. 6

back to top

Café Scientifique is a worldwide movement where popular issues with a science flavor are discussed in coffee shops. A host moderates the freewheeling discussion, and a guest speaker—usually a noted scientist or academic expert—answers questions from the floor. The first forum this year was held last Sept. 6 at Kape Isla/EchoStore with the titillating topic "Passion: Are you born with it? Or is it learned?" The event was hosted by the Philippine representative of Café Scientifique, Mitzi Borromeo. The guest speaker was cognitive scientist Dr. Emy Liwag.

Schools of Living Traditions speaking engagement

Oct. 3 - 4

back to top

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) invited Jeannie Javelosa to speak at the National Summit of the Schools of Living Traditions. EchoStore Sustainable Lifestyle was introduced to the indigenous peoples during the event at Davao last Oct. 3 to 4. Reena Francisco and Chit Juan joined Jeannie at the summit.

ALL ABOUT COFFEE

Coffee Break Festival 2008

Oct. 15 - 30

back to top

It's a full house of seminars, lectures, and events this October for the

COFFEE BREAK FESTIVAL 2008

Seminar Schedules in Kape Isla

Call 901-3485 to sign up!

DESSERT COFFEE
October 15, Wednesday, 1 - 4 p.m.
Coffee is not just a a drink, but a dessert, too. Barista and dessert coffee expert Chris Domingo shows how coffee drinks can be desserts with the use of flavored syrups from Torani. Learn how to make espresso and brewed coffee as bases for real desserts! This course is great for home entertainers and restaurants and cafés wanting to offer more interesting drinks.

COFFEE FARMING
October 18, Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m.
For those interested in venturing into the business of coffee farming, Nestlé Philippines' Head of Argi-Services Glicerio Joel Lumagbas will speak about the history and background of coffee, as well as the processes involved in pre-planting, planting, and harvesting coffee.

COFFEE CUPPING
October 20, Monday, 2 - 5 p.m.
Coffee connoisseur Manny Torrejon will demonstrate cupping to teach guests how to "taste" coffee before even roasting a whole batch of green beans. Sampling coffee by "cupping" is the proper way of discerning the beans' qualities. Manny will be joined by food writer and critic Lori Baltazar, who will be launching her new website www.coffeecomesnext.com on the same session.

SPECIALTY COFFEE AT HOME
October 22, Wednesday, 1 - 4 p.m.
Bring the coffeehouse menu to your own home. You don't need an institutional espresso machine to enjoy great specialty coffee at home. Stovetop espresso makers can do the work of coffeehouse machines. Barista and coffee expert Chris Domingo will show you how to make "coffeehouse quality" specialty coffee using coffee paraphernalia designed for home use. Learn the basics of coffee brewing and impress your friends!

ORGANIC COFFEE FARMING
October 25, Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m.
The More Crops For More Cups Coffee and Organic Farming Seminar Series is conducted by the Figaro Foundation as a response to numerous requests by coffee enthusiasts nationwide for basic information on coffee farming. The seminar orients guests on the entire coffee production cycle—from seed propagation to planting, farm maintenance, harvesting, and post-harvest processing.

COFFEE 101
October 28/29, Tuesday/Wednesday, 2 - 5 p.m.
Coffee advocate Chit Juan will share the history of coffee and coffee information that every enthusiast wants to know. The course is an introduction to the wonderful world of coffee.

BARISTA 101
October 28/29, Tuesday/Wednesday, 2 - 5 p.m.
Perfect for the café operator or coffee aficionado who wants to learn how to "pull" an espresso and make espresso-based beverages like capuccino, mocha, and macchiato. The course also teaches guests the different ways of brewing coffee.

HOW TO PUT UP A COFFEE SHOP
October 30, Thursday, 2 - 5 p.m.
Coffee shop founder Chit Juan shares her secrets to how to make a business out of a café or small restaurant serving good coffee. How much capital do you need? Who studies the market? How profitable is a coffee shop business? Do you operate a franchise or set up your own?

HOW TO HELP

Hold your seminar at EchoStore

back to top

EchoStore is open for use by groups and individuals who need space for lectures and workshops related to the sustainable lifestyle. Here are details to get the space exclusively for your event:

Donate old newspapers

back to top

Donate your old newspapers and foreign magazines, and we'll give them to communities to help in their production of one-of-a-kind bags.

Contribute to eView

back to top

We welcome newsletter contributions to the EchoStore eView. Articles can be related to EchoStore's philosophy of sustainable living or its principles of nurturing the self, the community, and the planet. E-mail your article to Jeannie Javelosa at jej.echolifestyle.store@gmail.com.

FOCUS: PRODUCTS

Something for everyone!
Home décor * gifts * fashion accessories * health and wellness * body, beauty, and nutritional products * food and beverages * environment-friendly products * books * music ... and so much more, all showing Filipino design ingenuity and creativity.

September/
October Bestsellers

back to top

Our best sellers for September and October include:

Christmas
Gift Baskets

back to top

Give a gift of HOPE this Christmas!

We offer a variety of Christmas baskets with a heart. Each basket is filled with goodies ranging from food and household staples to beauty products and baby essentials—all of which sustain community livelihood programs and nurture Mother Earth.

For more details on our gift baskets, e-mail us at echolifestyle.info@gmail.com.

SIMPLE GREEN STEPS

Unplug your power!

back to top

Unplug your power! 10% of the electricity you use in your home is burned by communication devices and appliances—even when they're off! So unplug your electric fans, microwave, TV, computer, and cellphone charger from the wall if they're not in use or totally unnecessary.

Turn off your tap!

back to top

When you're not actually using the water while brushing your teeth, turn off the tap. You can save up to 5 gallons of H20 a day—that's as much as one plastic bottle on a water dispenser!

Subscriber Info

EchoStore eView is the bimonthly e-mail newsletter of EchoStore* Sustainable Lifestyle.
*ECHO: Environment & Community Hope Organization STORE

Subscribe | Unsubscribe

EchoStore shares space with Kape Isla, Home of Philippine Coffee
G/F Serendra Piazza
McKinley Parkway
Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tel: 901-3485

E-mail feedback on EchoStore eView to Jeannie Javelosa at jej.echolifestyle.store@gmail.com.
E-mail inquiries about products to echolifestyle.store@gmail.com.