In an earlier posting, I mentioned my garden. That it’s organic, in keeping with its very sensitive eco-surroundings. What I didn’t mention is that we’re on a glacial lake and next to a nature conservancy. The conservancy was established by the environmentalist, John Stissing. He’s not well-known outside of the Hudson Valley. All he did was love the eco-system of this place and work to preserve it. Birds and plants, permitted to exist as nature intended, are his legacy. Those who hike, swim and live here are the beneficiaries of that legacy.

Heinz Hess was also an environmentalist. He decided to take his beliefs beyond his local community in his determination that more babies than his son would know the benefits of organic clothing. This desire led to the creation of the world’s first organic cotton farming project in Egypt. Not only would other parents be able to purchase safer clothing for their children, but also the children of cotton farmers would be protected. Growing conventional cotton is truly hazardous to children. The pollution of the land, of the drinking water with chemical pesticides and insecticides, degrades all life. What began as a tender act of love for Hess’s newborn turned into hessnatur.

I realize as I plant, weed, prune and glance at the mountain and lake protected by John Stissing, that good people starting with small plans can change the world – at least their parts of it. Imagine what could happen if we all just changed from conventional to organic. Whether it’s our soil or our tee shirts.

Tags: eco-consciousness, Heinz Hess, organic farming, sustainability

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 8:23 am and is filed under Collection, Environment, Material, Production, Projects, Social responsibility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.