Sambazon's Symbiotic Relationship to the Brick Factory

During the açaí harvest season there are over 1,000,000 açaí seeds a day that come out (after the fruit has been processed) of the Sambazon factory located in the Brazilian Amazon. The seeds, a new found renewable resource, are used as fuel both Sambazon's own factory in the Amazon and a local brick factory that used to run solely on wood. The sustainable option, in this case, has become both an economically and socially viable choice.



Amapá Telhas, just two minutes from the Sambazon production plant, is a factory that produces clay bricks for industrial and residential use. Integral to manufacturing is the firing process, which cooks the soft malleable clay in to hard heavy-duty construction brick. Furnaces nearing temperatures of 2000 degrees Farenheit burn nearly all day long producing 500,000 tons of brick each day.



Before Sambazon began donating our seeds to Amapá Telhas, “we would use virgin wood from the surrounding area (Rainforest) to burn as fuel for the kilns.” Said owner Wagner Alonso Rodrigues.. It was calculated that each day one acre of native Rainforest wood was used to burn as fuel in the factory. That number has now been reduced by nearly 90%.

Saving an acre of Rainforest a day not only proved to be the socially responsible thing to do, it also proved to be economically advantageous. “We have reduced our wood purchasing so drastically that now we save $US 250 a day burning seed instead of wood,” comments Rodrigues. To put that number in perspective a bit, that is the same amount that the average factory employee gets paid in an entire month.

Making this process functional was not without its obstacles. The seed has to be stored properly, crushed and mixed with wood shavings to burn correctly and, in order to keep up with his modern equipment, Rodrigues installed a sophisticated distribution system for the seeds to be automatically added to each kiln as temperature dictates.



Sambazon and Amapa Telhas have wonderfully pioneered a socially responsible and economically profitable partnership. This symbiosis is exactly the type of collaboration we need to encourage and focus on as we continue to become aware of how precious our natural resources are.


Bridge to the future,

Scott Nemeth
Director of Lifestyle Marketing

Warrior of Change Seane Corn

Seane Corn is a modern yogini and renown instructor, her unabashed spirit has caught the eye of media around the country. Seane teaches a dynamic vinyasa flow and leads her students on an inner journey towards personal understanding, but beyond the studio, social change is her mantra.

Seane Corn, Hala Khouri and Suzanne Sterling founded Off the Mat, Into the World (OTM) in 2007. OTM helps individuals take the path of yoga “off the mat and into the world,” expanding the sphere of change outward to local and global communities through leadership trainings, fostering community collaboration, and initiating local and global service projects.

Using their expertise with leadership and positive change, OTM leaders will help us judge the Sambazon Warrior of Change Contest to elect the most realistic and impactful project proposals.

Through intensive weekends OTM empowers individuals to become leaders of social change in their communities by these simple, yet very important steps:

• Self-Inquiry: Who am I? What is my Purpose?
• Transformational Journey Work: Transforming our wounds into tools for healing.
• Community: Conscious collaboration skills.
• Action: Creating a group project that makes a difference.

If you’re interested in empowerment through yoga, OTM will be hosting leadership trainings in cities across the US next year. Till the end of November a 5% of all Sambazon’s Smoothie Pack Sales will be donated to scholarships that help yogis in need attend OTM trainings.

OTM is made up of thousands of yogis in action who practice, volunteer and teach all over the world. This network has created concrete positive change through tangible projects like the Global Seva Challenge that currently raises funds to support communities in crisis in South Africa, the Empowered Youth Initiative which immerses yogis with at-risk youth communities in inner city Los Angeles, and many more.
To get involved, visit www.offthematintotheworld.org


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Recipe: The Pumpkin Bowl

Fall's here, and that means feasts with the family, hot cocoa in front of the fireplace, and... pumpkins. So we got to a bit of experimenting and discovered a seasonal favorite.



The Pumpkin Bowl

2 Sambazon Original Smoothie Packs
1/4 Cup Pumpkin - I used organic pumpkin puree from Trader Joes, but you could use left over cooked pumpkin cubes as well.
1/4 Banana
A splash of spiced apple cider
A small squeeze of lemon juice



Blend up thick, pour into a bowl and top with banana slices, granola (try a pumpkin granola from your local health food market), and ground cinnamon.

Non-GMO Warrior: Jeffrey Smith

As you may, or may not, know this last October was the first ever Non-GMO month. The Non-GMO Project was sure to hand out Non-GMO shopping guides at local retailers and host educational events around the country that answered a very important question:

Why is non-GMO food important in the first place? Well, GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are created by various genetic engineering techniques to produce species with specific attributes (bigger/better/faster). However, GMOs are not proven to be safe for consumption, although they are widely distributed around the world in many foods you may be consuming. Interesting thing to note, GMOs are banned in Europe where people fought successfully to keep them out of the food system, but here in the US widespread common foods like corn and soy (including most corn syrup) are made from GMO crops.

One man, known by the world as the no-GMO guy, Jeffrey Smith has a lot to say about the matter. His organization, called the Institute for Responsible Technology, states that,

“Genetic engineers continually encounter unintended side effects – GM plants create toxins, react to weather differently, contain too much or too little nutrients, become diseased or malfunction and die. When foreign genes are inserted, dormant genes may be activated or the functioning of genes altered, creating new or unknown proteins, or increasing or decreasing the output of existing proteins inside the plant. The effects of consuming these new combinations of proteins are unknown.” But people can predict, and Mr. Smith in his best seller, Genetic Roulette, clearly outlines numerous health and environmental threats from GMO activity.

Jeffrey Smith, a long time friend of Sambazon’s, is joining our tribe of Warriors and you’ll be able to see his full profile on the Sambazon website in a couple weeks.

If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to check out the Institute for Responsible Technology.