Seventh Generation

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility

Seventh Generation, of Burlington, Vermont, is "committed to becoming the world's most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and environmentally responsible products for a healthy home."

A small environmental organization called Renew America had an even smaller mail-order catalog of energy conservation products. It was a good idea and a good catalog, but like many worthy endeavors, the money needed to help it grow and prosper just wasn't there. Rather than see it fade away, the people at Renew America asked some people they'd been working with in Burlington, Vermont, if they'd simply take the catalog and run with it, no strings attached.

The year was 1988 and within months Jeffrey Hollender and his associates had packed their new catalog with previously unheard-of things like energy-saving light bulbs and devices, water conservation items, non-toxic cleaning products, and even bathroom tissue made from unbleached recycled paper. The group started selling their products to natural food stores and co-ops until one day in 1995 they realized they had two growing businesses but only enough time and energy for one. So they sold the catalog to a company in Boulder, Colorado, called Gaiam, freeing the group to devote all their blood, sweat, and tears to filling store shelves from coast to coast with household products that are "safer for you and the environment."

The company’s brand name products are made from 100 percent recycled fiber and manufactured without the use of chlorine bleach, and are renewable resource based, phosphate free, and biodegradable. Seventh Generation markets and distributes to natural food stores, supermarkets, and mail-order catalogs in the United States and Canada.

A Native American employee suggested the name Seventh Generation in 1988 as the group began looking for something that fit their new company, its catalog, and the company's mission. She suggested they draw inspiration from the Gayaneshakgowa, the Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Providing wisdom to its people and the inspiration for the US constitution, the Gayaneshakgowa says that "in our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

That idea embodied everything the group believes: that the environment is only temporarily entrusted to us and our actions upon it will affect it well into the future. And so the company name was chosen, a name that reflects not only the company philosophy but also the founders' dream of restoring and protecting the earth for their children and all who will follow in their path.

Seventh Generation strives to be a company with the authority to lead, the creativity to inspire, and the will to foster positive social and environmental change. It strives to create a community in which individuals possess the resources, knowledge, courage, and commitment to make the world a better place. It strives to create a society whose guiding principles include environmental sustainability, social justice, and compassion for all living creatures. And it strives to restore, protect, and cherish the earth for this generation and those to come.