7gen Bloc

Over the last 20 years, we've had a lot of interesting weeks here at the company, but this week promises to be the most fascinating yet. Seventh Generation is hosting a landmark three-day summit of some of the country's top sustainability experts in Burlington. Organized with the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, our purpose is to produce a detailed road map to move the U.S. economy to one that is ecologically sustainable, socially fair, and economically efficient.

The first day of the summit will be held in Burlington's Main Street Landing Film House at 60 Lake Street on Tuesday, July 7th from 9:00am to 5:30pm and will be open to the public at no charge. This unique opening session will include time for audience feedback and discussion, and will feature a round-robin exchange in which voices and viewpoints from a wide variety of perspectives come together to begin to forge shared solutions.

Our discussion on Tuesday will focus on how to create a society that emphasizes quality of life rather than quantity of consumption; includes all external costs in the prices of its products and services; measures economic activity and social progress in a holistic way; offers full and fulfilling employment; provides a more equitable distribution of wealth and increased investments in social capital; rapidly reduces its greenhouse gas emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change; and conserves and enhances all forms of Earth's "natural capital." Summit participants will air their thoughts about the objectives and steps they believe are most crucial to the realization of these overarching goals.

On Wednesday and Thursday, summit participants will meet privately to further develop the specific strategies needed to achieve the transition to a sustainable US economy. The result will be a concrete action plan that provides a broad outline and details the steps needed.

When we're done, the Game Plan will be published in Solutions, a new journal focused on finding real solutions to society's pressing problems and creating a sustainable and desirable future. The Plan will also be distributed throughout the world via a number of other channels including this blog.

There's much more to come, but in the meantime, if you're in the Burlington area this week, I hope you'll consider joining us and adding your voice to the conversation.

Participants in Creating a Game Plan for the Transition to a Sustainable US Economy include:

Gar Alperovitz, University of Maryland
Jim Hartzfeld, Interface Carpets
Bill Becker, Presidential Climate Action Project
Bob Corell, Heinz Center
Robert Costanza , University of Vermont
Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University
Lawrence Forcier, University of Vermont
Richard Heinberg, Institute for Global Communications
Elliot Hoffman, CEO Just Deserts, now New Voice of Business
Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation
Jon Isham, Middlebury College
Wes Jackson, The Land Institute
Hunter Lovins, Natural Capital Solutions
Frances Moore-Lappé, Small Planet Institute
David Orr, Oberlin College
Will Raap, Gardener's Supply
Larry Susskind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University