Inspirations

How do we change? How can we focus the efforts of 'responsible' consumers, small farmers, environmentalists, good corporate citizens, labor and environmental and social activists to change the basis of our profit driven society? How will we feed our children's hungry stomachs, our soils, and our souls so that Spirit and humanity will transcend our insatiable greed and imbalanced need for material wealth and technological solutions?

Doing Well By Doing Right

Many conservative economists argue that corporate citizenship takes value away from owners and any attempt to require companies to become better stewards of the environment is market manipulation. However, recent studies and surveys indicate that consumers are now demanding that companies become more responsible and are willing to support those who are. In addition there's a growing movement to measure the negative consequences (externalities), of business activities not captured by traditional economic measurements.

Large companies like Timberland, the Body Shop and Working Assets as well as smaller companies such as Tome's of Maine, Annie's Homegrown, Honest Tea, Newman's Own and CitySoft have proven that a business can "do well by doing good". These companies have woven socially responsibility into their business models and provided inspiration for us to start Hiroko Kurihara Designs.

Recent Readings of Note:

Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andre Kimball, 2002 by the Foundation of Deep Ecology

The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture
Wendell Berry, 1997

"A healthy farm culture…nourishes and safeguards human intelligence of the earth that no amount of technology can satisfactorily replace. The growth of such a culture was once a strong possibility in the farm communities of this country. We now have only the sad remnants of those communities. If we allow another generation to pass without doing what is necessary to enhance and embolden the possibility now perishing with them, we will lose it all together. Then we will not only invoke calamity but we will deserve it."
-Wendell Berry

Fast Food Nation, The Dark Side of the All American Meal
Eric Schlosser, 2002

Pleasures of Slow Food: Celebrating Authentic Traditions, Flavors, and Recipes
Corby Kummer, 2002

Lichens of North America
Brodo, Sharnoff, and Sharnoff, 2001

Mississippi Floods
Anuradha Mathur and Dilip Cunha, 2001

The Quilts of Gee's Bend
Beardley, Arnett, Arnett, and Livingston, 2002