In an effort to promote sustainability to their dedicated ranks, Zappos held a sustainable fair at their home office to educate and inspire sustainable lifestyles and to learn more about what other companies do. We had the pleasure of joining them and sharing the eco-love! Check out more about the event at http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/zappos-family/2012/04/26/zappos-first-annual-earth-day
As we awaken ourselves this spring, we felt it was a perfect opportunity to focus on the idea of ORGANIC. Each week in April we are bringing you a voice from the organic movement to share with you details on the subject, why this is important to you and how prAna is mindfully navigating organic in our own business. This week’s post on Organics comes from Hood River Garlic and will be followed by posts from Textile Exchange and our own Director of Sustainability, Nicole Bassett. Tell us your thoughts…
prAna: Hood River Garlic is a certified organic garlic farm, located 60 miles east of Portland, in Hood River, Oregon. In 2010 they added 600 organic blueberry bushes with more to plant this spring. This blog post is by Terri Browne Hixson who owns the farm with her husband Eric. We reached out to Terri to hear more about why they chose organic farming and how the practice of organic reaches beyond just food, but to clothing as well.
HRG: We have been growing organic garlic since 1999. We have always been organic and we became Certified Organic by the Oregon Tilth in May 2002. This May marks our 10 year anniversary of our organic certification. From the very first garlic seed that we planted in 1999, to the 600+ blueberry bushes recently planted, we have always been organic. “A lot of farmers become organic to sell their crops for more money. For us, there was just no other way; we choose organic farming for the planet, children and the critters, not because of financial gain.” (This quote comes from the About Us section of our web site.)
If you are in a store and just look at price alone it can be easy to justify buying conventional products over organic. I think about where the product originated from and how was it grown, and I believe that organically grown food and cotton must come from a cleaner and safer environment. For example when planting garlic, I like to say “It all starts with the clove.” But in the bigger picture, when it comes to agriculture, “it all starts with the soil”. Soil health is an essential aspect of all farming, whether it is organic or conventional. Pesticides, herbicides and petroleum based fertilizers poison the earth; from the air we breathe, to the water we drink, to the soil we till to grow our food. It does not matter if the crop is grown for food, or clothing. Everything flows downstream, I prefer to buy organic knowing that I am not supporting agriculture that poisons the rivers and fish. One reason that organically grown food and cotton is more expensive than conventional is labor costs. A major labor expense for organic farmers is weeding, because we don’t rely on chemicals to kill and inhibit weeds, weeds are pulled by hand or mechanically. By spending a few extra dollars when you choose organic over conventional, you are helping to support organic farm workers to live happier and healthier lives by not being exposed to harmful chemicals.
prAna: And supporting organic farmers is not just about food – what about all the cotton farmers that are making their livelihoods from growing the fiber for many of our clothes.
HRG: Cotton is one of the most densely sprayed crops in the world. It is responsible for about 15% of the worlds conventional pesticide use. Most conventional cotton is grown in 3rd world countries where they do not have the restrictions on toxic chemicals like we have in the US and Europe. Many of these farmers are poor and cannot even afford to buy respirators or protective clothing to wear while spraying the poisonous chemicals, so it gets into their lungs and on their skin. They often spray all the way up to harvest time, so the overspray ends up affecting all of the farm workers in the field.
In organic farming, the field workers on organic cotton farms will not be exposed to these toxic pesticides. Instead of chemicals, they use mechanical and hand weeding techniques, the introduction of beneficial insects, crop rotation and intercropping (planting different crops together). They will not suffer from the respiratory problems and other health problems from being exposed to the toxic chemicals of conventional cotton farming.
The more we choose organic, the more organic products will become available to us. As consumers, higher demand of a product will help drive down prices, as long as there is supply and demand for that product. We are not talking about oil, we are talking about agriculture. And it all comes down to our planet, whether we are putting it on the dinner table or to clothe our backs, we need to take care of Mother Earth.
I have to acknowledge a company like prAna that provides organic products to consumers. Living in Hood River, I can’t afford the time or gas money to go to Portland to shop. I love to use prAna’s web site, buying prAna is so easy, the clothes have such great colors and designs, yet they are functional. From the yoga clothes, to casual clothes, to the hiking and climbing clothes, (I planted 600 blueberry bushes in the Bedford prAna pants I am wearing right now!) You don’t have to sacrifice anything to support your values when buying organic cotton clothing. As organic farmers, Eric and I love to support other organic farmers.
Your dollars are your voice. Please choose organic. It is the best choice for the soil, the air, wildlife, rivers, fish, animals and most importantly: children and you.
Terri Browne Hixson, Owner, Hood River Garlic
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The Tadasana Festival of Yoga & Music is a three-day transformative experience in Santa Monica, CA to be held over Earth Day Weekend, April 20-22, 2012. Attendees will be able to choose from 60 master teachers offering 75+ classes and workshops with live, in-class musical performances by artists from around the world, as well as dozens of lectures and an eco-conscious shopping market in an outstanding location, a mere five-minute walk from the famed Santa Monica Pier.
The Tadasana Village, located at the edge of the beach facing the Pacific Ocean, will feature five themed yoga tents, The Daily Love Lounge Lecture Dome, artwork, chill zones, an organic food court, 60+ booths of eco-goodness and so much more!
Tadasana will treat attendees to an outstanding community experience, featuring world class yoga and one-of-a-kind musical events, in a city that has become the epicenter of yoga in America. A typical day begins around 8 am with beach strolls, smoothies, organic food and of course, yoga. Morning meditations will be on tap for early risers. Throughout the day, attendees choose from a variety of classes, workshops and lectures. In addition to practicing yoga, the Tadasana Village will offer an awesome place for people to connect, shop, eat and hang.
Join prAna Ambassador Shiva Rea and a host of amazing yogi’s, musicians, artists and speakers!
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Six years ago I had the idea of making a documentary film about a man named Ruedi Beglinger. I was living in Santa Monica, far from the snow-covered majesty of the Selkirk Mountains where Ruedi makes his home and his living, as a world renowned mountain guide. With no roads leading to his hand-built chalet, and only access by helicopter, Ruedi has created an oasis among some of the most majestic and unforgiving mountains in North America. He shares this existence with his wife, his two young daughters and anyone who ventures into his world to climb mountains under his tutelage.
I was drawn to this story on many fronts. It had been ten years since I had been to the Selkirks to climb and ski with Ruedi in his extreme backyard and I was interested in trying to capture the poetic beauty of these mountains and Ruedi’s passionate and consuming relationship to them. I also wanted to explore the simplicity of a family life so off-the-grid and different than my own, raising kids here in California. And I was also curious about how Ruedi and his family were coping three years after a tragic avalanche killed a number of the guests he was guiding.
I am interested in stories about people, about what makes them tick, about how they come to terms with the hurdles in life, and about how they transcend life’s challenges. It was that interest that brought me to make this film. When I started I didn’t know Ruedi very well. I had witnessed his incredible drive and his gifts as a mountain man, but I could only sense what lay buried beneath his sun-drenched skin. I wanted to better understand his relationship to fear and his dedication to the simple yet physical life that he lived. And I knew that I was also looking for answers to some deep questions I had about my own life.
Mountains have always held a paramount place for me. Growing up in Denver, mountains framed everything. From every vantage point, the Rockies called out to be explored. At six, my father rode me up the hills of Winter Park and pushed me down. That was the start of a life long affair with mountains that continues until today.
This movie in many ways is an honoring of that part of my life, and an exploration into the complexities of that relationship. Over the years, I have found in mountains unrestrained freedom, loneliness, personal triumph, fear, a deep connection to things beyond me, limitations, the sense of peace that comes in the isolation and grandeur of nature and the healing that comes with being alone with the triumphs and losses in life. But film making is a different endeavor. There is this microscopic observation followed by the period of crafting a story. And in that process even more gets revealed. For a long time, I thought I was making a film in the mountains about loss and redemption. That is where I started. But just like climbing a mountain, a transformation happened along the way. Now, I see that this creative and cinematic journey has been more about hope and possibility.
What a gift that has been to discover along the way, and I’m finding it as a thread through so much of what I do in my life. Its why I climb mountains, practice the piano, surf, do yoga and read books. There is the work, the struggle, the failure, the challenge of it all, and then there is the arrival at the previously unimagined vista. And from this new place comes an understanding of what came before, and all the possibility of what lays ahead.
I set out to film and observe an incredible life lived by the Beglinger family simply and way up on high. What I got in the end was a much better view of my own life down here in urban America, with the constancy of distraction and the ever presence of noise. But now I have a different sense of it. There is the hope and possibility of the quiet and solitude that lies around the corner, be it in the most remote wilderness or the mountains looming above LA. This is where I will continue to find myself, and where I will continue to take my children so they can see all the gifts that are at their fingertips if they just look for them.
I hope you get a chance to see A Life Ascending and will let me know if it has any meaning for you.
~Stephen Grynberg | Director | A Life Ascending
A Life Ascending is out on DVD today. You can watch the trailer and support the film at http://www.alifeascending.com
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