Sean Jordan (left) and Pete Johnson, both of the Grandin Institute, gather various shapes and sizes of stones to lay in and around the water garden.

No one from the Grandin Institute is going to preach gloom and doom worst-case scenarios to the not-so-environmentalist-minded.

Quite the contrary, Executive Director Sean Jordan has faith in people to make the world a better place.

"I hope in my lifetime, there will be no need for activists," said the former farmer. If everyone would participate in creating sustainable environments, Jordan said, there would be no need for people to dedicate their whole lives to cleaning up after others.

Until that time, Jordan remains an activist, promoting environmentally sustainable communities through the Grandin Institute -- an environmental and community development organization -- with educational seminars, demonstrations and daily activities.

The programs, Jordan said, focus on three "economies" based on the theories of Indian activist Vandana Shiva. The first is the natural economy, the environment; the second is the social economy, which focuses on relationships among people; the last is the financial economy. Jordan said when the three are working in harmony, the valley is on its way to sustainability.

He believes with a little bit of environmental work and some community strengthening, Roanoke can be sustainable because it's a dense urban area surrounded by nature with the ability to provide some of its own food.

Jordan, 50, moved to Roanoke three years ago from Idaho. After a brief stint working with Habitat for Humanity, he became involved with the Grandin Institute at its inception 18 months ago. He's one of the organization's four employees.

The institute is a nonprofit affiliate of Grandin Gardens, a multiuse facility that includes two large buildings, two smaller buildings and about an acre of land at 1731 Grandin Road in Southwest Roanoke. Owners Pete Johnson and Kristen Reynolds want to help establish urban sustainability in Roanoke, so they rent space to a number of individual organizations.

Also, the property is home to community garden plots out front and two plots for microfarming in the back yard, both of which are managed by the Grandin Institute.

Community gardening -- small plots in public places used for growing flowers or vegetables -- is becoming a popular way to get in touch with the earth, said Jordan. He remembers only one community gardening program when he first moved to Roanoke and can now give details about a half-dozen, many managed by Mark Powell of the Roanoke Community Garden Association.

All eight plots at Grandin Gardens are currently reserved, but Powell has a few plots open in other parts of the city and is always willing to find more space for good gardeners.

"We have two or three spots in a Raleigh Court garden right off of Memorial Avenue, and we're trying to cultivate five or six more in a Southeast garden if we have enough interest," said Powell, who has seen the popularity of community gardening grow tremendously in the past three years.

Microfarming is also new to the Roanoke Valley, but growing in popularity as well. The concept takes small plots of land and creates "farms" in various places within a city. The farmer then travels among plots and produces crops to sell to local grocery stores and restaurants. Two microfarmers currently maintain plots in Roanoke and each has a space at Grandin Gardens.

The multiple organizations at Grandin Gardens, though separate, strive together to make Roanoke a more sustainable city. For instance, the Local Roots Cafe, on the first floor of Grandin Gardens' blue building, gets some of its produce from the microfarmers' crops. Jordan, who rents one of the smaller buildings on the property, turns the cafe's waste into compost, which then goes back into the microfarms and community gardens.

In addition to living on the property and facilitating the institute's programs, Jordan has yet another reason to spend his hours at Grandin Gardens: the Co-operative Office Project.

The project aims to provide a physical location for organizations that may not need or be able to afford a stand-alone office. It's open to anyone, not just environmental activist groups and nonprofits. In addition to providing a home base and computer access, two levels of participation provide various office privileges, including receptionist and printing services and physical and digital storage space.

Jordan said he likes working with the project because he gets to meet various people, such as the members of Plowshare Peace and Justice Center or Peter Krull, who specializes in socially responsible investing. And it's good for Mother Earth, too.

"Once you've made the commitment to take open land and building, I hope it can be used as close to 168 hours per week as possible," Jordan said.

Neither the Grandin Institute nor Grandin Gardens is open 24-7, but because Jordan lives on the property, the set hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. are fairly flexible. He wants people to be involved, so he's willing to stay up late sometimes or use bartering as a means of payment.

No one gets a free ride at the Institute, but Jordan acknowledges that charging for programs might inhibit some community members from attending. He encourages everyone to participate and donate what they can, whether it be money, time or knowledge.

"Everybody knows a lot about something," he said. "You just have to ask yourself, 'What are you passionate about? Are you willing to share?' "