Seventh Generation Blog

How to Party Like It's Earth Day 1999

the Inkslinger — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:50:01 -0800

With the holidays now reduced to a pleasant memory, mid-winter life can slow to a crawl. When cabin fever kicks in, something has to give. Here in the northern hinterlands, that usually means planning a party.

It's a noble goal this time of year, but only when we do it right. So we've created a new guide to sustainable entertaining. Use it to celebrate everything from a special birthday to just another Saturday night. Follow our suggestions, and you won't get the planet wasted in the process. Cheers!

photo: Hajime NAKANO

Making 2009 Mean More

Inspired Protagonist — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:57:39 -0800

And so we've come to the start of another year. It's a moment in time that's aptly marked by some necessary contemplation about where we've been and where we want to go from here.

We need these pauses in life, and the self-assessment they bring. Like birthdays and other calendar milestones, New Year's is a good occasion to peer inward and seek those things about ourselves that could use a little adjustment. It's a time to look outward, too, and to think about ourselves in the context of the larger systems of which we're part. The result for most is a handful of New Year's resolutions, and I've made a few of my own. My thought is that if we all make these resolutions together, 2009 will be a banner year for all of us and for the world itself. And that's the happiest New Year's wish I could ever hope to have.

The Gift We're Really Getting This Season

the Inkslinger — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:51:54 -0800

Though they call it the season of giving, let's be honest: The holidays are more like the season of buying. And this year, with the country in the grip of financial doldrums, we're buying a whole lot less.

Almost everyone I know has pulled back this season. While the effects are rippling through the national supply chain like an earthquake, I can't help but heretically wonder if this might be the best thing that's ever happened to us.

Because we need to switch gears. On a finite planet that's getting more crowded by the minute, you just can't have an economic system built on the acquisition of stuff. Yet we do. Our entire American operation largely hinges on people shopping. The more we buy, the healthier our economy. But the more we produce using current practices, the sicker grow the ecosystems that support us. We've got an economic system based on beating the planet to a muddy pulp when what we really need is an economy based on restoring the environment and protecting it from further harm. We need an economy based on deeds, not goods.

Seen through this lens, the current recession could be just what the doctor ordered, a great retooling in disguise. And it might be the most remarkable gift we've ever gotten.

The economic meltdown is creating a dramatic once-in-a-lifetime platform for our national leadership to do things unthinkable in better times. Like spend unprecedented mountains of money on public infrastructure. The bold new guy coming into the White House is assembling what in my view is largely a dream team of learned folk (imagine that!) ready to hit the ground running toward solutions to all kinds of problems. He's got a big, bold, audacious agenda (just look at the new environmental team being assembled, and tell me Christmas didn't come early!), and it's exactly what we need. I'm also 100% certain that if Americans weren't staring down the fiery maw of financial Armageddon, it'd be virtually impossible to get even a quarter of this stuff done. But we're about an inch from the flames, and when the house is on fire you really don't care what kind of hose the firemen use or where they get the water. You just want the darn thing out pronto.

It's a shrewd move. Use the recession as subterfuge for remaking our economy into one predicated on acts of thoughtfulness instead of one based on cramming our houses full of cheap plastic junk from overseas. Turn crisis into opportunity and save the world along the way. If I have to watch my meager retirement savings slip over the precipice of Wall Street ruin, this is what I want for that privilege. If massive good can come out of unmitigated disaster, the kind of good that will create a hopeful world for our children, then it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

photo: Neil Stewart

Raising Daughters, Razing Cancer

the Inkslinger — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:31:11 -0800

I've always taken issue with those who've labeled cancer largely a lifestyle disease borne of poor choices, like a diet full of fatty foods. My reading of the evidence strongly suggests that the majority of cancer cases in the western world are caused by environmental factors largely beyond anyone's control.

In fact, if you strip out declines in the most common cancers (lung, prostate, breast, and colorectal), which are mostly attributable to better screening and less smoking, you're actually left with rising cancer rates for much of what remains.

So while I think that I'm right, I've come to think that I'm also wrong. Because a fair amount of the environmental causes that I believe are to blame for all this rampant disease are connected to "lifestyle" factors that we actually can do something about. They're just not the factors we thought they were.

A recent NorthJersey.com article about breast cancer and early puberty provides a case in point. It's required reading for everyone with a young girl in their lives. The story reports that the sooner in life a girl begins menstruating, the greater her chance of getting breast cancer. And girls in general are getting their periods earlier and earlier these days.

Why? No one knows for sure, but there are likely suspects. Puberty is a hormonal thing. And we've been reporting for years that chemicals like phthalates and BPA mimic hormones in the body, specifically estrogen, which plays a key role sexual development. Early puberty is also related to obesity, which, in turn, is increasing linked to the same chemical toxins. So we've got a bunch of relatively new chemicals suddenly floating around in the environment and in our bodies at the same time that we're experiencing weird early puberty trends, rising cases of some cancers, growing obesity, and a diabetes epidemic, conditions which are all linked to each other in a great web of disharmony. I don't think it's much of a leap to finish connecting the dots.

What will we see if we do? My guess is we'll find that chemical pollution is the cause of most of the trouble, creating the early puberty that's triggering breast cancer. And on and on we go in other circles of chemical cause and effect.

Which brings us back to lifestyle. Choose the one with the least amount of chemical exposures and do whatever you can to keep toxins out of your body and the bodies of your children. We can go a long way toward minimizing what gets inside of us by eating unprocessed whole foods, keeping unsafe plastics out of the kitchen, shutting chemicals out of our homes and taking other steps to reduce our contact with them. The guides and lists we've assembled in our web site's Learn section are an excellent place to start. Because our daughters don't have to get breast cancer. But we have to help them evade the trap that's been laid. And that starts with knowing how.

photo: Mike Baird

T minus 21 Days 11 hours and 4.2 minutes

White Rhino — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:57:45 -0800

The Design Contest for the Corporate Responsibility Report comes to an end on December 31, 2008 at 11:59pm. We are working with Justmeans.com to engage folks in a social network design for submitting ideas and having the community discuss and rate these ideas. Good darn fun.

Go here.

Here's the film:

It Came Upon a Midnight Green

the Inkslinger — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:04:20 -0800

The holiday season is in full swing, and if you think things have gotten a little out of hand in recent years, you're not alone. Consumer Reports National Research Center says that, prompted by the economy or other forces, 76% of those surveyed plan to cut back on holiday spending this year.

Of course, that's easier said than done. It's no small challenge to face down the ingrained notion that seasonal joy is directly proportional to seasonal spending. Yet when we shrink our holiday consumption, we invariably grow the time and energy we need to make the memories that really matter. So how we do get from here to there? A good place to start is with our new guide to a greener holiday celebration.

We hope it will make your merry-making merrier.

photo: ali edwards

A Safe Visit to Toyland

the Inkslinger — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:40:07 -0800

'Tis the season to be giving, and if there are kids under your roof chances are that's going to mean some new toys.

As a parent, I find myself fairly bewildered by all the options and worried about hidden health and environmental hazards in playthings.

Here's the latest news report on the topic of toy safety, along with a new article about how to shop for toys. Give it a read and give your kids gifts you won't have to worry about this holiday season.

photo: Naama ym

Eating Organic For Three Years

MeghanB — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:55:22 -0800

One of our favorite doctors, Dr. Alan Greene, a practicing pediatrician, renowned authority on family health issues, and a partner to Seventh Generation, has done the close-to-impossible. He's spent the last three years eating entirely organic food -- sometimes going hungry for lack of options.

Most remarkable is his motivation for the adventure, as documented in The New York Times: Dr. Greene wondered if becoming 100 percent organic might improve his own health -- as it is shown to do for livestock -- and settled on a three-year goal because that's how long it takes for livestock to be certified organic by the Department of Agriculture.

His insights are particularly inspiring and applicable to anyone interested in transitioning to an organic diet or well on their way. I know next time Little Martha Stewart, here, is in the grocery store, I'll put my pretty pennies toward the healthier organic options.

Happy eating!

Story of Stuff Revisited

White Rhino — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:44:34 -0800

We posted Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff when it was first released a year ago. I wanted to repost the short film to remind everyone about what "mind" we need to create the deep shift needed in both the economic and environmental realms to "reach" true sustainability. This "mind" (or way to think) is brought out most profoundly in this film.

The story also gets to the heart of the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy:
"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

If every one of us began to design our lives with this much consciousness, I truly think a new abundance of spirit will come into existence and lift us out of this "the sky is falling" feeling that the media perpetuates -- there is hope. Thank you Annie!

Give Better to Get More

the Inkslinger — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:18:55 -0800

And so the season of giving is upon us. It's a peculiar time of year to be environmentally aware. We're flooded with messages urging us to shop and spend, buy and give even as our better instincts caution us against consumerism in a time of growing ecological and financial pressure.

My proposed answer to this dilemma is something I call "conscious giving." This means give unto others in a way that gives something more -- gifts whose purchase sends hopeful ripples of good tidings and positive change out into the world. We asked around the Seventh Generation office for some ideas about where such gifts might be found. Here are a few staff favorites. We hope you will read them, then respond to this post with some of your own suggestions.

As a company, Seventh Generation believes in charitable giving, dedicating 10% of our profits to non-profit community, environmental, health, and responsible business organizations working for positive change. One of our favorite causes is the Whole Planet Foundation, which makes grants to microlending institutions that offer small business loans to poor, working individuals in the developing world, with a focus on women. Whole Food Market covers all of the foundation’s operating costs so 100% of your donation will go to the microlending programs.

Another charity we recommend is the ABC Home & Planet Foundation. Their Gifts of Compassion program lets you give the people on your list gift certificates that include providing a Congolese war survivor with a year of schooling, purchasing birth kits that save the lives of mothers and children, and channeling funds to preserve polar bear habitat. The certificates come in an envelope made of vintage silk sari material.

Here in the office, chocolate is rightfully omnipresent during the holidays. A new favorite are the goodies from Tcho, an eco-minded company sourcing the world's best beans and providing their growers with an equitable price.

The non-profit that wins both our heart and our award for most clever video marketing campaign is Changing the Present, an organization that lets you browse causes to find gifts that make a difference, or search from a list of non-profits to make a donation in your own name or in the name of a friend or family member.

Those of us into the convenience of gift cards love the offerings from Global Giving. Recipients get to browse the organization's online catalog of worthy projects and choose one or more.

Fair trade is the name of the giving game at Global Exchange, which has all kinds of handmade gifts, including food, whose purchase provides artisans and farmers with just compensation for their labors.

A Greater Gift is another resource for fair trade goods that promote livable wages, women's rights, and environmental sanity around the world.

If you're looking for unique handcrafted objets d'art, try World of Good, an program that links indigenous artists and artisan cooperatives in other countries with U.S. consumers while supporting fair wages, safe working conditions, and economic sustainability.

Another wonderful gift-giving resource is Ten Thousand Villages, which offers a large collection of one-of-a-kind creations from the four corners of the Earth (and lots of ways to shop for them, too).

For some re-gifting of a different kind, try Green With Envy. They've got a slew of unique recycled-material gift ideas from art to clothing that you'll not likely find anywhere else.

That's what's on our shopping list. What's on yours? Where are you shopping and what interesting eco-items and socially responsible gifts are you giving this year? Share your finds with us by replying to this post, and help us make this a sustainable holiday season for everyone.

photo: Michael Wade