7gen Bloc

Cross-posted on Tampontification.com on 10.17.06:

Cross-posted by Jen and Stacie on Tampontification.com on 10.14.06: Three days in Burlington, VT were spent with our minds, gear and binders being jam packed. Sincere devotion, quality laughter, homemade apple pie and water soaked tampons (the ones we dipped in an effort to examine the differences between radial and linear expansion, of course…but more on that later) were the order of the day, despite our ambitious agenda.

Just days after I relocated to Burlington, VT last September and began my new job at Seventh Generation, I was given my first assignment: despite challenging distribution obstacles and a tremendous amount of conventional brand competition, I was asked to design a plan to promote our new line of chlorine-free pads and organic cotton tampons.

Congratulations to Jeffrey! He’s been named one of the Best Bosses of 2006 by Winning Workplaces, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping companies create great work environments. Though it’s no surprise to anyone lucky enough to work with him, it’s nice to see the recognition spread beyond our office walls. To celebrate Bosses Day this past Monday and discuss the award, Jeffrey was a guest on the Dave & Bob Show on the Grape Vine Talk Radio Network. Click our player and you can listen in… powered by ODEO

As many of you already know, this summer Seventh Generation over 100 students to Washington, DC to be trained by Greenpeace to become activists in the growing movement towards social and environmental justice. This 10 minute Change It video showcases some of the highlights from that training.

No, but… Business Week’s cover story on The Organic Myth continues to stir up a debate that first appeared in the mainstream press when Michael Pollan (an excellent writer who went to the same grade school as I did at the same time!) wrote a terrific book, and an excellent article, and provoked a debate of sorts in the New York Times.

This past Saturday I spoke at the Green Festival in Washington, DC. What I spoke about represented a significant departure from my usual focus on the business case for corporate responsibility or the growth of the natural products industry. Here are some notes from my talk: Love, I believe, is about relentlessly caring That means not just caring when it’s comfortable or easy. Or when you feel like caring. But caring all the time. Especially when you don’t feel like caring. It means that you never stop.

We knew last Friday was coming, but even so it was still hard to believe it was actually happening when it finally got here. And what a day it turned out to be. Certainly it was the most exciting few hours we’ve had yet in our (relatively) new offices. There was Robert Kennedy, Jr. standing in the Seventh Generation lunchroom amidst a gaggle of Vermont politicos, Seventh Generation staff members, media people and more to support Peter Welch, who is running for the House seat Bernie Sanders will vacate as he moves to fill Jim Jeffords’ open seat in the Senate.

I just finished watching Bill Moyers’ amazing special, Is God Green? If you missed it, take some time to watch this documentary and and check out one of the most amazing and hopeful movements I’ve ever seen, one that’s bringing everyone concerned with sustainability and global warming together with the hugely powerful and rapidly growing segment of the population that identifies themselves as evangelical Christians.

Eva-Marie Lind, CEO of EM Studios, AROME, was at 7th Gen today helping us think through new designs in organic and bio-dynamic scents for our product line. Eva-Marie is a specialist in aromatic and medicinal plants. The focus of her work is the science, aesthetic and formulation of cutting edge and authentic whole scent designs. It was an amazing experience to sit in the midst of subtle and very organic scents.