g: the early years...

I have a dream...

70,000 supporters at Obama's biggest rally to date in downtown Portland.

Time to vote (No, not for a President but a TV commercial...

Check out the two TV commercials below, then go to Environmental Defense and vote for your fav.

To be frank, I have never been a fan of scare tactics so I am not sure either of them nail it. My two bob. A better approach is to replace "Global Warming" (sounds nice - how bad can "warm" be?) with a turn of phrase like Global Calamity, Global Implosion or End of Earth.

Thoughts on sustainability from Jake Murray

Sustainability as a term is not sustainable

Simply to sustain is like treading water: it will keep you afloat, but it won’t get you anywhere.

Sustainability is not green. At least, it’s not only green.

Sustainability is economic, social, and ecological, for starters.

Sustainability is a practice. Like any practice, it is a learning process.

There is no last word on sustainability. That wouldn’t be very sustainable.

To practice sustainability is to look for the better idea.

Sustainability is a matter of life and death. In the good way.

Everything is also something else.

Sustainability is not a new idea.

Everyone wants sustainability, in one form or another.

We’re not finished.

And the crowd goes wild

One of our retail partners just announced this fabulous news:

Wegmans snuffs out smoke sales

Supermarket retailer Wegmans will stop selling tobacco products as of Feb. 10, the company announced Friday.

"As a company, we respect a person's right to smoke, but we also understand the destructive role smoking plays in health," Chief Executive Danny Wegman said.

Wegmans spokeswoman Joe Natale said tobacco is a profitable area of business but would not disclose specific sales figures.

The company also plans to offer a smoking-cessation programs to employees who want to quit.

Tobacco sales accounted for more than $5 billion in sales for grocery stores in 2006, according to Progressive Grocer's annual consumer expenditure study.

No other major grocery chain has banned tobacco sales, according to Kathleen Thompson of the Food Marketing Institute in Washington, though she said some smaller grocery stores may have similar policies.

The news was praised by health advocacy groups, such as the American Lung Association of New York, where the Rochester chain has its headquarters.

"The American Lung Association commends Wegmans for its commitment to public health and for placing the well-being of its customers above profit by halting sales of cigarettes," the group said.

Herb Sorenson, global scientific director of Shopper Insights for TNS North America, said the move is more feasible for a retailer like Wegmans than a convenience store. But even major grocery chains have to contend with most shoppers making quick trips of one to five items, often including tobacco.

"Still, I do think that it's obvious that it's a trend that's not going away," Sorensen said, noting recent measures banning cigarettes in restaurants and public places, even in Europe

Can the little guy make the big guy green?

A terrific article in today's New York Times about Clorox's acquisition of Burt's Bees (That's Burt on the right of the pic). We have come along way from the days of the big company devouring the small, green business and destroying all the value of the smaller company (think Unilever demolishing Ben & Jerry's). In recent months along with this deal, Colgate has picked up Tom's of Maine and Hershey's has acquired Dagoba. The nature of these deals suggests that times are indeed a-changing. Time will tell how consumers will react.

Road trip Day Three

Today is the day the work really starts...10am - 6pm for three days boothside talking biz. Tommy Freidman has a timely piece about Wal Mart, China & US enviro policy....For it is at these natural products industry do's that the subject of supplying to Wal Mart invariably comes up. Interesting to read here how Wal Mart got to their current green position...

Bill, it appears Australia isn't with you when it comes to breastfeeding...

Alert the media...in contrast to Bill Maher's view on breastfeeding,it appears my home state of New South Wales has finally seen the light . The Premier has announced new legislation banning discrimination against breastfeeding. He said he was concerned that some mothers, especially those returning to work, were stopping breastfeeding for fear of discrimination.
"Unfortunately, there are still some people who retain unsympathetic attitudes towards breastfeeding in public, including in the workplace," Mr Iemma said.

Grist waving the flag for a plastic-free world and gDiapers gets a hit!

Go Grist go!

Hands to Hearts International

Hands to Hearts International (HHI) is a fabulous Portland non profit founded on two intertwining principles: To nurture children and empower women in developing countries. To develop secure bonds and attachments, children need consistent care from safe, predictable, and nurturing caregivers -setting the stage for future all relationships. Unfortunately, many orphanages in developing countries lack adequate resources and their staff has little to no training on the importance of early childhood development.

HHI began operations in February 2006, in Southern India. It provides a simple to apply education to caregivers. They learn about language, social, cognitive and physical skills necessary for healthy early childhood development and how they can promote a child’s growth in each area as well as the vital importance of attachment and bonding.

In their first year of operations, HHI trained 285 women, from more than 30 orphanages. Their reach is impacting the health of more than 1,470 orphaned and vulnerable children. Orphanage Directors report that after an HHI training: the children were sick less often, recovered quicker (thereby needing less medicines), showed increased weight gain, and were easier to soothe. The caregivers took greater pride in their work, were seen to be more nurturing and responsive to the babies, the hygiene was improved and in general living conditions were enhanced, and the list went on!

The gTeam here contributed to the organisation last month and in doing so sponsored an entire orphanage – which means that HHI was able to train and employ 30 local women to nurture up to 150 babies. This means they will be touched, held, rocked, read to and cared for for the first time in their tiny lives. The little ones even did a fashion show and sent these pics!

Canvas Bags going off...

With thanks to my friends Kierstin & Jason at Conscientious Innovation. Hilarious, from Australia and a good message to boot...