Sustaining a lifestyle

Each of us defines the kind of lifestyle we want. Sometimes, we define it quite unconsciously as we allow trend, tradition and friendships to define how we live or what “we should want and have.” Our food choices, clothing styles, 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), then to a healthy food shop, off to chiqong, 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 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 towards helping everyone to living 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 — that 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 to share 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, 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 non-toxic goods to bring in their products from body personal care, home cleaning stuff and home staples like organic rice, sugar and other food 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 strategic positioning of their products in a local market which is overloaded with nothing but foreign products and brands coming in from the global market. 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 cafe so we could have a place to bring people together to gather and discuss, exchange and define all aspects of sustainable living, environmental advocacies and the wholeness of the Self so relationship to the community can have a deeper and more relevant meaning. We’ve already had a Café Scientifique session there, and future kapihans will find their home there, too.

It has been barely a month and a half, and the concept is real, born and alive through EchoStore. Our initial partners are as varied: from the Philippine Business for Social Progress, Filipinas Fair Trade Venture, Rags2Riches, Association of Negros Producers, Correctional Institute for Women prisoners, Gifts and Graces Foundation, Steps Dance School, Full of Grace, Altertrade, Peace and Equity Foundation, and pioneering natural brands like Ilog Maria (allowing us to be the first store to ever carry its products outside its Silang, Cavite bee farm) and Daila Herbal Communities, and many more!

We’ve began to have inquiries from abroad asking and connecting with EchoStore, barely a week after its opening. In our fast awakening world where people daily go 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 recipients, are mindful of the gift, the responsibility even to make the seed grow and flourish. We often tell people, we want everyone to follow our concept, echo it over and over again. People have to purchase products and goods anyway — then 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 and nurturing for the planet, become as common as a 7-11 shop 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 a goal to go after?

(EchoStore Sustainable Lifestyle shares space with Kape Isla, the Home of Philippine Coffee. It is located at the ground level of Serendra Piazza, McKinley Parkway, Fort Bonifacio Global City. Open from 12 nn to 10 p.m. daily.)