Writing Exercise: Interview Summary/Synthesis

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Because Green is Profitable
As the cultivation of genetically modified crops (GMOs) and chemical farming spark debates worldwide, a small company in the Philippines decided to take matters into their own hands. Armed with strong passion for all things natural, and a love for her fellow Filipinos, Paula Aberasturi with husband Niccolo, runs My Flower Depot (, established in 2003), an online flower shop that offers flower delivery and Down to Earth (, established in 1999), which sells locally sourced, naturally-grown meat products. Everything they sell on their websites is cultivated in their own land, utilizing ecologically-sound agricultural practices, by farmers whom they treat as part of their family. Their business philosophy is clear: there is no conflict between environmental preservation, profitability and kindness. One can be kind, love nature and still earn enough to sustain the family’s needs and a little bit more. When asked about the importance of GMOs, Paula’s response leaves no room for confusion: "There has never been any need for GMOs, and perhaps, we will never have a need for it, if only we remember: human beings have survived for millions of years without them. Nature has its own way of providing for all our needs, but it can never sustain our greed."
MyFlowerDepot was one of the first flower shops to offer deliveries in the Philippines ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "URL" : "/about-us/", "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015", "3", "25" ] ] }, "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "FlowerDepot", "given" : "", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "FlowerDepot", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015" ] ] }, "title" : "About Us", "type" : "webpage" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=d2946195-6e0c-40d1-8231-6db396736103" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(FlowerDepot)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(FlowerDepot)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(FlowerDepot, 2015)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(FlowerDepot). While their website was established only in 2003, the flower farm itself has been operating since 1996. It utilized conventional farming methods: monocropping, chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Paula, who was slowly becoming more conscious of the food she serves to her family, began to purchase organic produce. Because there was very little supply of wholesome products in the Philippines, going organic was expensive. "I began to get rid of chemically-laden products, but as my grocery list for wholesome products grew, so did our weekly grocery receipts. It was absurd to spend so much for food we could grow ourselves" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "URL" : "/life-and-style/886-paula-and-biodynamic-farming", "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2015", "3", "25" ] ] }, "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Tapales", "given" : "Panjee", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }...