Seventh Generation Hosts Summit on Creating a Game Plan for the Transition to a Sustainable U.S. Economy
BURLINGTON, VT, Jul 06 (MARKET WIRE) --
Seventh Generation, the nation's leading provider of recycled and
environmentally safe household products, will host a meeting of some of
the country's top sustainability experts in Burlington, Vermont, July
7-9. The landmark three-day summit, Creating a Game Plan for the
Transition to a Sustainable U.S. Economy, will produce a detailed road
map to move the U.S. economy to one that is ecologically sustainable,
socially fair, and economically efficient. The event is being organized
in cooperation with the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for
Ecological Economics.
"From poverty and hunger to extinctions and the climate crisis, the
challenges we're facing today are unprecedented," said Seventh Generation
Executive Chairperson and summit co-leader Jeffrey Hollender. "We know
what the problems are. We know how to solve them. All that's left is the
detailed plan that gets us from here to there. That's the missing piece of
the puzzle, and that's what this summit is going to provide."
To further that end, 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. This unique
opening session, which will include time for audience feedback and
discussion, 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. This opening day is free and open to the public.
The discussion 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.
During the following two days, the participants will meet privately at
Seventh Generation's Burlington, Vermont headquarters to further develop
the specific strategies needed to achieve the transition to a sustainable
U.S. economy. The result will be a concrete action plan that provides a
broad outline and some of the details of the steps needed.
"Business as usual is not only unsustainable due to climate disruption and
other environmental and social impacts, it is also undesirable because it
is degrading quality of life for the vast majority of people," said Gund
Institute Director and summit co-leader Robert Costanza. "The current
economic crisis is a window of opportunity to shift to a more sustainable
and desirable path. The summit intends to use this historic opportunity to
chart a detailed course for that transition."
When completed, the Game Plan will be published in Solutions, a new
journal that focuses on finding real solutions to society's pressing
problems and creating a sustainable and desirable future
(www.thesolutionsjournal.org). The Plan will also be distributed
throughout the world via a number of other channels.
Participants in Creating a Game Plan for the Transition to a Sustainable
U.S. 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 Desserts, 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-Lappe, Small Planet Institute
David Orr, Oberlin College
Will Raap, Gardener's Supply
Larry Susskind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University
About Seventh Generation
Seventh Generation is committed to being the most trusted brand of
household and personal-care products for your living home. Our products
are healthy and safe for the air, the surfaces, the fabrics, the pets,
and the people within your home -- and for the community and environment
outside of it. Seventh Generation also offers products for baby that are
safe for your children and the planet.
For information on Seventh Generation cleaning, paper, baby and feminine
personal care products, to find store locations, and explore the company's
website visit www.seventhgeneration.com. To read more about Seventh
Generation's corporate responsibility, visit the Corporate Consciousness
Report at: www.seventhgeneration.com/corporate-responsibility/2007.
About the Gund Institute
The Gund Institute aims to shift the world's economies away from their
present emphasis on infinite economic growth and toward a focus on
sustainable human wellbeing. To forge fresh and visionary approaches to
the economic challenges and opportunities that await us in the 21st
century. To blur traditional academic boundaries and bring together
experts, teachers, students, and stakeholders from all disciplines in
order to pioneer vital new developmental tools and ideas. To guide the
way to true global economic sustainability through teaching, research,
design, and the practical application of those economic solutions that
will generate natural capital even as they create human profit.
For more information about the Gund Institute visit:
http://www.uvm.edu/giee
Media Contact:
Brandi Thomas
Seventh Generation
802-658-3773 x760
bst@seventhgeneration.com
www.seventhgeneration.com
Copyright 2009, Market Wire, All rights reserved.
-0-
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved



