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LOHAS rocks Boulder, Colorado
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The annual Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) that took place in Boulder Colorado this past week was definitely the stomping grounds for anyone into the eco lifestyle. LOHAS' Director Ted Ning had this to say, "Considering the economic climate right now, to have this sort of turnout, I'm thrilled and grateful."
Over 500 ecofriendly businesses and nearly 400 attendees made the trek to the St. Julien Hotel located in the heart of Boulder to learn, network and have a good time with like minded folks. Cooperation and collaboration were the buzzwords at this years convention as the leaders of the sustainable movement discussed sustainability and health in the current volatile economic and political atmosphere. The speaker roster was extraordinary including experts in sustainable design like Natural Capitalism Solutions Hunter Lovins, Saatchi & Saatchi's Adam Werbach, Facebook Causes.com's Joe Green,Wal-mart's Candace Taylor plus executives from BMW, Earthsense, MiniUSA and many other well known companies. Speakers covered a multitude of topics from Method Products Adam Lawry describing the corporate culture of Method including their mantra, "What would MacGyver do" to Wade Davis of the National Geographic Society alerting attendees to the need to help ancient indigenous cultures worldwide to sustain their lifestyles from assimilation into typically Western thought dominant cultures. LOHAS' youngest speaker was Carly Wertheim, founder of Teens Turning Green, an organization which has singlehandedly pressured several top tier cosmetics manufacturers to stop putting lead in lipstick.
An interesting occurrence showed the power of public pressure. Pet Promises' Anthony Zolezzi had just given a high spirited speech on how he had developed an organic dog food which, against all odds, was doing very well. So well, in fact, that Purina bought them. Pet's Promise now makes up a healthy portion of Purina's profits. As everyone basked in the warm glow of Pet Promise's success, Zolezzi then announced that Purina had decided to close down Pet's Promise. The ballroom full of people was silent in its shock but quickly that shock turned to anger and the questions began pouring in as to why Purina would do this now. Zolezzi said, " I just found out the night before I left to come here that Purina is closing down Pet's Promise. I'm probably not supposed to tell you as they haven't announced it yet but at this point, its a moot point." Zolezzi left the stage dejected and the ballroom buzzed with our frustration and disappointment at this outcome.
Two days later, Purina told Zolezzi that they were reconsidering that decision. Now here's the interesting thing, I know for a fact that many people emailed Purina in anger after Zolezzi spoke. One hopes that Purina came around due to the mass emails they received, however, they may just be condescending to the greenies for the time being. Whatever their reasons, it gave us all hope that corporate America sometimes does listen and attempt to do the right thing.
Mariel Hemingway was also there speaking about the importance to our health of organic foods. I've heard Hemingway speak before but this time she said something that was really profound. "When people ask me what my overall goal is with my books and lectures, I've come to this conclusion," Hemingway said."I will know that things have taken their proper course when organic food is just called food. No more fungicides,herbicides, pesticides or genetic modification. Just good nutritious food as nature intended it."
Some of the most encouraging information to come out of this convention is that although LOHAS has been around 13 years, the sustainable movement is still in its infancy. Those that jump on the bandwagon now have the opportunity to be sustainable leaders in whatever field they choose to focus on. one can begin by looking at any product or service and figuring out how to make it sustainable. That means from the beginning of the process or supply chain to the finished product or service through its distribution and marketing until it reaches the end user, everything must have minimal or no impact on the environment and all the people involved in the process must be treated justly while earning fair wages. It sounds like the way things should be but in the current corporate culture, sustainability is still mostly a fairy tale. So, that said, let's begin anew. A sustainable business model that takes the lead in promoting sustainable process design, fair trade and fair wages. A business model where people are an asset as opposed to a line on a spreadsheet. Let's write a new story of American business, just begin it. Once upon a time, there was a sustainable business...
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