Hooray!! The day has finally come for our earth to be celebrated by people around the world! Phew!! I was getting a little worried there… The other 364 days pass by and our little blue planet spins at 1,042 mph without much fanfare from the bi-pedal creatures with opposable thumbs. Besides those of us who hug trees on the daily and go to church under the stars as part of a normal routine, billions of people hike concrete jungles and harvest food from plastic boxes, only stopping to consider their place on this planet during one contrived semi-sacred occasion. The reality is that on any given day here upon this shiny orb, there are still 1.5 billion people in the developing world living without electricity, 1 in 10 people worldwide who have no clean water whatsoever, and 2.3 billion people in the world have no access to a toilet! These fragile souls live much closer to the natural elements and are left taking stock of all that planet Earth affords them upon every waking moment.

In stark contrast to the developed nations’ convention of daily living inside plumbed and refrigerated boxes requiring gobs of convenient on-demand power, resourceful humans all over the world employ ancient and innovative techniques that have helped them to endure and embrace their local environs for eons. Not always graceful, it’s the no-frills solutions used to meet basic needs that keep bloodlines going. Since adopting a full-time off-grid lifestyle here at Salahee, we’ve looked to long-standing cultures and the developing world to see what kind of strategies we can use in our everyday lives to help us follow through in living our planet-friendly philosophy.

From solar cooking and lighting to a composting toilet and water-wise hand washing, we’ve taken note of successful programs promoting self-sufficiency and sustainability around the globe, and have adopted for ourselves some critical tools used by NGO’s and other incredible organizations in helping millions of people live better in tandem with Mother Nature. You can read more about some of them and their work on our Passion for a Purpose page, but today, we’ll give a little extra love to our brilliant friends at MPOWERD…

In many places, as soon as the sun goes down, children can’t study, entrepreneurs have to stop working, women are less safe walking outside, health clinics have to close… The list goes on. Kerosene lamps are the most common solution in these areas – but they are dangerous, toxic and expensive. In partnership with 226 NGOs, MPOWERD is on a mission to reach over a million people in 105 countries with their solar-powered Luci lights.

Not only do we reap Luci’s benefits here at the homestead, but we are extremely proud to be an authorized sales affiliate for MPOWERD knowing that we can help others around the world find happiness and success where they live on Earth Day, and every day! If you ever need a reminder about where it is exactly we live in the universe, take an Astronaut’s point of view…

“I was inspired to start the project after I learned about the ‘Overview Effect,’” he says. “Coined by writer Frank White in 1987, the phrase speaks to the psychological shift that astronauts experience when they have an opportunity to look down and see the Earth as a whole. That vantage point inspires a new perspective of what it means to be alive, how everything that happens on the planet is connected, and how how we must work together to protect our planet. Later, when I realized I had the ability to compose and share these stunning Overview of our planet, the Overview Effect became the core mission (and source of the name) of the project and what I hoped to inspire for my audience.”

View at Medium.com