Since co-founding EO® in 1995, I have been increasingly drawn to the idea of "responsible business" and how my participation in the world reflects my ability "to respond." My hope is that this photo blog will provide you with an insight of how and why I/we do what we do at EO® and beyond. The ability to respond is a 24/7 journey that keeps challenging what i see, how i see it and what i want to do about it. I'll bring you along as I encounter the world in my search for right action. Please feel free to participate and let me know what you think.
Whole Foods updates their position on organic personal care products. This is good news for consumers, EO and the industry as most label claims of "organic" are unsubstantiated and deceitful. EO is in compliance and will continue down the path of keeping the meaning of organic agriculture credible and trustworthy.
Download WFM Position on Organic Personal Care November 20 2009
I attended a dinner/event hosted by FoodBuzz.com. They describe themselves as - "We aggregate, organize and curate more than 1 Million blog posts from 10,000 food blogs worldwide". 220+ bloggers attended the event and I met and chatted with about 10 bloggers (I was invited because EO donated products, not because of this blog - maybe next year). Since then, I read their blogs and I'm glad that I did because I found them to be very interesting, funny, engaging (an hour flew by before I knew it) and most importantly real - blogs are a refreshing alternative to main stream media. If you haven't already, see what blogs are available out in cyberspace by passionate people who are interested like minded things that you are. You will be pleasantly surprised.
I'm a traveling sales guy. I schlep my goods around the globe hoping to make a difference and a buck. I've spent many a day/night/morning wading through security to catch my fancy bus in the sky. I've made the most out of traveling by arriving to the airport early to reduce the stress of waiting, joined the airline's clubs to lounge and catch up on emails, and I try to stay at nice hotels with 300+ thread count sheets - these simple things ensure me peace of mind and hopefully a good night's rest. One of the things that I look forward to when I'm flying through the sky are the clouds. I find them fascinating and beautiful. Here are a few that I hope you enjoy.
I tubed 42 miles down the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon. It took 5 days and I joined 20 others - most of the 20 have done this consecutively over 10 years, some almost 30!!! You know that it has to be an amazing experience to do it that many times - in a row. Saw a bear, rattle snake, eagles, otters, osprey, and floated no faster than the river would take me. Very relaxing, grounding and rejuvenating. Cheers to all.
I don't see many movies, although I love popcorn. So, when I'm craving popcorn and I'm able to sit in a theatre for a couple hours, I'm there. As a result of my pickiness, I enjoy most of the movies that I see. This week I saw an amazing TWO movies - Food Inc. and Unmistaken Child. I recommend both and I'm sure shortly they will be available on DVD, so please see them. Food Inc. is about the need to clean up our food supplies - yuck, no more GMOs, mega food companies and cruelty to animals - go local and/or organic. Unmistaken Child is about the journey to find the reincarnation of Lama Konchog, a renowned Tibetan master - I believe in reincarnation and karma, so what other reasons do I need to be conscious, present and responsible.
China's ban on thin, single-use plastic bags meant that 40 billion fewer bags were distributed in the country June of 2008, when the ban was implemented. The numbers came from a recently-released survey by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, which said the reduction of plastic bags distributed amounted to a 66-percent reduction of the number of sacks.
China prohibits the production and distribution of bags under 0.025 millimeters thick and mandates charging for other thicker or reusable types of bags.
According to Friends of Nature, a non-governmental Chinese environmental organization, daily bag use in China has dropped from one billion to between 200 and 300 million.
From: Plastics Recycling Update
Mushrooms are wonderful ingredients and not just for eating. We’ve included them in our lotions, creams and hair repair. I visited our certified organic mushroom supplier and saw how they grow many of their varieties. They have over 30 years experience growing such mushrooms as Alba and Brown Clamshells, Trumpet Royale and Velvet Pioppini. They start with making their own media ingredients, the stuff that the mushrooms grow on, fill it into a bottle and sterilize the whole thing. Each bottle is then inoculated with the mushroom spore and sent off to its own room where the environment is controlled very carefully optimizing it's growth. Then, after several days the magic starts to happen. After my tour and chat, they gave me a box for dinner that night - yummy.
Beautiful Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA (http://www.esalen.org/) is worth a visit from anywhere in the world. I spent a week there taking a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation workshop with Daniel P. Brown. Dan is an amazing teacher and if you desire to really learn how to meditate, he's your man - tender, direct, knowledgeable, confident, experienced, passionate; WOW!
Our organic jojoba oil is a fabulous vegetable oil - it's light, absorbent and feels great on the skin. I visited our supplier and saw their fields and manufacturing facility. The jojoba shrub grows well in the dessert where the seeds will dry on the plant, then fall to the ground and get gathered up. They will then get cleaned, crushed and filtered into an clear and odorless oil. We use this oil in our body oil, lotions and creams.
Rock & Recycle
“While at the Festival, do your part to help recycle and help us reduce what ends up as landfill. Throw your recyclables and trash in the right containers. Throughout the park you'll find recycling containers and we have a team of volunteers devoted to the cause.”
Here are some photos from my trip to our Hinoki essential oil supplier in Japan. It's a wonderful, family run operation very passionate in what they do. You may be familiar with Hinoki from Japanese soaking tubs - which are made with Hinoki wood. Hinoki is known for its relaxing and respiratory properties, is a species of white cedar and has a clean, light woody and, . . . , relaxing smell. Great for the bath.
Japan takes recycling very seriously. In the first photo below, you'll notice a ticket on the bag of trash - because the labels on the plastic bottles were not removed. I was told that the neighbors will go through the bags to find out whose garbage it is and harass them. Japan collected 69.2% of its plastic bottles in 2007 - that's 396,529 tons!!! - Japan Environment Ministry. The USA collected 24.4% of it's plastic bottles in 2007 (about 1.2 million tons).
September 06, 2008
San Francisco, CA
The Breast Cancer 3-Day® is a 60-mile walk for women and men who want to make a personal difference in the fight against breast cancer. Participants walk 60 miles in three days and help raise millions of dollars for breast cancer research and patient support programs.
Big Bear Zoo
A wonderful zoo with a wonderful mission.
“A forest fire swept through the San Bernardino Mountains in 1959. Many injured animals were rescued, and a makeshift facility was established for their care. Some wildlife was returned to their habitat after rehabilitation, but for the others release was not possible. Those animals were the foundation of Moonridge Animal Park.”
August, 2008
Moss Landing, CA
“Elkhorn Slough (pronounced "slew") harbors the largest tract of tidal salt marsh in California outside of San Francisco Bay. This ecologicaltreasure at the center of the Monterey Bay coastline provides much-needed habitat for hundreds of species of plants and animals, including more than 340 species of birds.”
August, 2008
Mono Lake, CA
Yosemite National Park, CA
“Located in California's spectacular Eastern Sierra, Mono Lake is an oasis in the dry Great Basin and a vital habitat for millions of migratory and nesting birds. For 30 years the Mono Lake Committee has been working to protect Mono Lake from destruction, to heal the damage done in the Mono Basin, and to educate the public about the natural environment and wise water use.”
www.monolake.org/
“Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more.”
http://www.nps.gov/yose
July, 2008
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
"The Met is a universal museum: every category of art in every known medium from every part of the world during every epoch of recorded time is represented here and thus available for contemplation or study -- not in isolation but in comparison with other times, other cultures, and other media."
“I didn’t feel that the American people were mindful of the terrible price we were paying – and were about to pay – for the invasion and occupation of Iraq” says Stephen Sherrill. “The statistics in the newspapers were just tiny little numbers, too easy to breeze over.”
I spent two hours at Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA) in San Rafael, CA. I walked over 1 mile with Robert Cole, their Environmental Services Manager, touring their water treatment facility. Since many of our products are washed down the drain I wanted to learn more about what happens to EO after the drain - and this is where CMSA comes in. Their job is to clean up the waste waters of Central Marin before it’s sent out into San Francisco Bay.
