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Welcome to the Ei Fall Newsletter
In 2021, Elemental Impact (Ei) Founder & CEO Holly Elmore returned to her hometown, Sarasota, Florida, after residing in Atlanta for 40 years. Along with Holly, the Ei national and global headquarters moved to Florida.
After two years in Sarasota, Ei is well established in the new headquarters with our important work escalating with local, national, and global impact. The Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes Pilots continue as a primary focus along with establishing a Lambda Alpha International Central Florida Gulf Coast Chapter.
The Ei Newsletter continues as a powerful communication vehicle with the Summer Newsletter achieving a 45% open rate!
Indeed, Ei continues to thrive and lives the tagline, Regeneration in ACTION!
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The Ei Magazines, The IMPACT and Regeneration in ACTION (RiA,) chronicle Ei's incredible journey through the Era of Recycling Refinement and within the Era of Regeneration.
MILESTONES: On September 19, 2022 the RiA Magazine surpassed the coveted 500,000 pageviews milestone! The RiA Magazine article, RiA Magazine tops 550,000 views!, celebrates the monumental achievement. Readership Escalation: in September alone the RiA Magazine achieved over 26,000 views with total views surpassing 600,000 on September 25.
The IMPACT Magazine enjoys 221,800 views, with four to five articles published annually.
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In 2012, Ei introduced the WE Consciousness as a higher octave of the then tagline Sustainability in ACTION. When the "I" is replaced with "WE," the impact of our actions extends to the entire community and beyond; collective action accomplishes more profound results than singular effort. By working together, synergies are unlocked, unnecessary boundaries, including competitive barriers, disintegrate, and creative energies catapult possibilities into grounded realities.
The RiA article, Collective Consciousness: a movement, a solution, introduces collective consciousness with a brief history and substantiates how it is integral to Ei's important work via three examples: 1>Zero Waste is a Team Sport, 2> the Sustainable Food & Beverage Packaging Value Chain Meetings (2011 -2014,) and 3> the Nature Prevails platform.
Additionally, Crew Consciousness is showcased within Ei Advisor and Ringling School of Art & Design Professor of Environmental Studies Tim Rumage's This Spaceship Earth.
Inspired by a "I did not know," common response to his presentations, Tim along with David Houle and Bob Leonard published a free e-book, Now that You Know, that updates on the Earth's status, how we arrived at the current crisis point, and what we can do about it.
The article ends with a feature on the October 28 HUMANITY Day event hosted by I AM Humanity; Ei was intertwined within the virtual global event and the in-person event hosted in Sarasota. While Tim and Holly were interviewed for the virtual event, Ei Advisor Charles Reith served on the impressive panel at the in-person event.
Image credit: Kabbalah.info.
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Ei Food Forest
Upon moving into her Sarasota home in August 2021, Holly embarked on rewilding the yard within two pilots: 1> the front-yard native-plant landscape pilot and 2> the permaculture-oriented backyard pilot.
The RiA article, Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes Pilots, introduces the pilots along with the urban-wildlife and environmental impact; the Holly Elmore Images (HEI) Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes album documents the pilots' progress in a series of photo galleries.
Integral to the backyard pilot is a food forest planted on June 15, 2022 that has matured beautifully over the past 17 months.
As part of their 2023 Eat Local Week festivities, Transition Sarasota hosted dual for-pay food forest tours on October 18. As the curator of the Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes Pilots and a food forest at his parents' home, Zach Zildjian of ZZ Design Services spearheaded the tours. One of the most popular ELW events, the food tours were oversold!
The formal tour spawned numerous informal Ei Food Forest tours, with three spontaneous tours last week.
The RiA article, Food forests transform lawns into lovely, beneficial landscapes, educates on food forest basics, gives an update on the Ei Food Forest, and showcases the tours; the HEI album, 2023 Backyard Restoration, chronicles the before and after images of the major backyard restoration in preparation for the food forest tour.
The food forest photo compliments of HEI.
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NewGate Montessori School Food Forest
After over a year of planning, 7th- and 8th-grade students at NewGate Montessori planted a food forest on October 11, 2023 under the guidance of Zach. Due to limited space on the five-acre campus, the food forest footprint is long and narrow along the parking lot.
Under Zach's tutelage, the students selected the site, researched plant species, and determined the plant-purchase list. On Oct 11, Zach demonstrated best planting practices and the students planted the trees, shrubs, and ground cover.
The RiA article, Food Forest: a perfect Montessori school classroom, educates on the Montessori educational platform and showcases the food forest planting day; The HEI album, NewGate Food Forest Planting Day, chronicles the October 11 planting day.
The photo of Zach educating the students is compliments of HEI.
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Inspired by the tremendous surge in Ei Magazine views, Holly committed to publish shorter, interesting articles on a regular basis. The two snippet stories chronicle photo-shoot series from the backyard food forest and Holly's annual beach vacation.
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Atala Butterflies Return from Near Extinction
Atala Butterflies Return from Near Extinction
The once abundant Atala butterflies were thought to be extinct from the 1930’s until 1959 when a few specimens were discovered. In 1979, a colony of Atala butterflies was found on an island off the Miami Coast. It is likely that the current population are descendants of the island butterflies.
Like the Monarch butterfly’s relationship with the milkweed plant, the Atala butterfly has a symbiotic relationship with the coontie palm; the female only lays eggs on the coontie palm. Thus, when early Florida settlers overharvested the coontie palm for its starchy root, the Atala butterfly population declined and disappeared along with its host plant.
The Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes Pilots contain three coonties, one in the front-yard native-plant landscape and two within the backyard food forest. This summer Zach noticed a female Atala butterfly laying eggs on one of the food forest coonties.
Over the next weeks, Holly documented the transformation of ravenous caterpillars into the chrysalis stage along with their emergence as magnificent butterflies. With perfect timing, Holly captured one Atala butterfly literally emerging from its cocoon.
The RiA article, Atala Butterflies Return from Near Extinction, educates on the demise of coontie palms and Atala butterflies from an historical perspective and showcases their return from near extinction; the Holly Elmore Images (HEI) album, Atala butterflies return from near extinction, gives a pictorial recount of the magical experience.
The photo of an Atala butterfly emerging from its cocoon is compliments of HEI.
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Sargassum, a hurricane's gift
On Tuesday August 29 and Wednesday August 30, 2023, Hurricane Idalia's outer storm bands pummeled Florida’s Gulf Coast before making landfall on the peninsula’s big bend. In addition to significant flooding from storm surges, Idalia deposited tremendous mounds of sargassum seaweed infiltrated with boater and fishermen trash on barrier islands and coastal beaches.
Until the Longboat Key beach was cleansed, each sunrise residents, vacationers, and Turtle Watch volunteers filtered through the smelly sargassum mounds and collected boater and fisherman trash washed up from the Gulf of Mexico. The variety and quantity of trash carelessly disposed of in the open water was astounding.
It was literally heartwarming to witness the cheerful cleanup teamwork amongst residents, visitors, non-profit volunteers, and local government. The sargassum deposit was a community gift by Hurricane Idalia; strangers worked in unison to return the Longboat Key beaches to their pristine state.
The RiA article, Sargassum, a hurricane's gift, educates on the origins of the The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt and showcases the collaborative beach clean-up on Longboat Key; the Holly Elmore Images album, Idalia's Gift of Sargassum, chronicles the community-driven teamwork for the clean-up.
The photo of the sargassum-infested beach is compliments of HEI.
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LAI Central FL Gulf Coast Chapter (underdevelopment)
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Lambda Alpha International (LAI) is investing in a Central FL Gulf Coast (CFGC) Chapter to augment the Environmental Leadership Group formed over the past two years. Follow the link to view the impressive Sarasota leadership who accepted LAI-member nomination.
LAI is the honorary global network for thought leaders in all fields related to the preservation and sustainable development of land.
As a 93-year-old organization, LAI boasts prominent industry leaders from across the globe via the network of 27 chapters and At-Large members. Holly serves on the Global Executive Committee in her capacity as Global Assistant Communications Director.
In February, the CFGC Chapter underdevelopment hosted the 90-minute LAI Global Webinar, Coastal Water Quality: Challenges, Solutions, and Economic Impact. It was an impressive webinar with global accolades.
For those who reside in the Central FL Gulf Coast region, please join us for the inaugural LAI CFGC Chapter (under development) event on Tuesday, November 28 5:30 – 7:30 pm hosted at the Nathan Benderson Park Finish Tower.
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Join the Ei Team
Through active participation, Ei Supporters work with industry leaders on establishing regenerative business practice standards. To join the close-knit Ei Team and commit to active participation, contact Holly at holly@earth-impact.org or 404-510-9336. |
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Ei MISSION:
To work with industry leaders to create best regenerative operating practices where the entire value-chain benefits, including corporate bottom lines, communities, and the environment. Through education and collaboration, establish best practices as standard practices.
Ei appreciates tax-deductible donations of any amount to support our important work. Thank you in advance for your generosity and validation of the Ei mission.
DONATE HERE |
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