7gen Bloc

There is a sharp pinch and then not much else except a slight, unsettling sensation of something just under my skin. I watch as vial after vial fills quickly. There are fourteen altogether. Fourteen vials that hold my secrets and tell my story. Fourteen vials whose contents I have long wondered about. Fourteen vials that will reveal just how polluted I have become.

Summer's here, and with it a bounty of fresh food from nearby gardens and farms. It's a delectable time of year in every way.

My BYOB -- Bring Your Own Bag -- epiphany occurred last September, in the midst of my Rocky Mountain/Whole Foods high. I was traveling solo, visiting family in Salt Lake City and reveling in the warm sun and the short but sweet respite from my duties back home.

In a lot of ways, our destiny lies in the fate of our food. Do we want a chemically-fueled future of industrial products raised on the idea of ruthless efficiency at any cost? Or do we want a more home-grown tomorrow in which farms located close to our own backyards produce a seasonally-adjusted variety of plenty using sustainable methods and holistic nature-based strategies?

Giving your home a makeover where it counts is a lot easier than many people think -- it's the small changes that make a big difference. Real Savvy Moms has made a new video in which noted pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene shows the Brandt family how to keep their littlest ones safe and healthy without breaking a sweat or busting the bank.

Dear Nation Member: My name is Chris Miller, and I have been a member of the Seventh Generation Community for about a year. I work in our Corporate Consciousness unit, focusing on issues of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. I feel incredibly fortunate to play a small role in a company that's making a big difference.

Bethina's recent post about washing and reusing plastic bags triggered a major conversation about the practice.

It's easy to think ours is a small world. We get comfy in the limited geography of our home zones and content with the view from the porch while our remote controls open sanitized windows into what lies beyond that reduce it all to a kind of safe two-dimensional fiction.

I was thinking out loud yesterday about some of the ways that everyone can get to know me as I settle in. I received a couple of suggestions, but here's one that is even better: just watch it all as it happened. I kept one of those little Flip video cameras with me as I started my Seventh Generation adventure, and the footage I captured has been turned into a short video about my first few days on the job.

When attempting to teach our son, Matthew, about the importance of taking good care of the world in which we live, I'm well aware that I walk a very thin line -- even a hint of preachiness lands me in Charlie Brown's "wah wah wah" adult-speak territory.