“Saving the Planet”. That was top of mind today – earth day 2013. How are health and environment conjoined? In every way. This isn’t just answering the question “how can we best equip ourselves to deal with inevitable bombardment of environmental toxins?” (BPA in plastics; chemicals in our air and waterways; off-gassing flame retardants from our carpets, etc). This is more than how to avoid toxins. This is about supporting nutraceutical companies who are also focused on protecting mother earth. Because, first and foremost, if we don’t take care of our planet… how are we taking care of ourselves? We certainly can’t expect to be around to enjoy our health!
Below is a message from Marc St. Onge, the CEO of a very forward thinking and environmentally conscious company – Ascenta Health. At Ascenta, they ‘walk the walk’.

“The eco-story of us”

By Marc St. Onge, CEO Ascenta Health

Established in June of 2003 the Ascenta story is nearing a decade. It seems like an appropriate stage of a company’s life cycle to reflect back on what you set out to accomplish and what you’ve achieved since. Being that it’s Earth Day this reflection is centered on Ascenta’s long term vision of sustainability and ecological prosperity.
Back in 2003 I have to admit that I had yet to fully define what my vision was for Ascenta. I naively followed my passion for natural health and a belief that we could transform lives with omega-3, the “missing” ingredient. After contemplating the broader meaning of health the story of Ascenta began to evolve. The goal of creating health became a goal of building prosperity and a notion that everything is interconnected.
As we began to shift our thinking we soon realized there were so many areas within our business that needed attention. The challenge was that we were still a relatively small growing company, resources were scarce, and seemingly never enough time to get everything done. The prospect of adding new tasks and a different way of thinking was a bit daunting.
This is typically the juncture where most companies adopt a “good enough” mentality and shift their primary focus towards fiscal responsibility. A good analogy would be a student graduating from university and excited to take on the world. As they take those first steps into a brave new world they quickly realize their goals and dreams don’t line up that well with how society defines success. You therefore let go of your dreams or at least give them a hard pruning.