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Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production

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of I Heart Radio. Listen.

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You already know this, but it's an election year.

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You might already be tired of hearing about it.

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But here's the thing. Democracy

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doesn't work without you. I'm

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Holly Frying, and I'm sitting down with

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many of my fellow podcasters, from Will

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Ferrell to Stephanie Rule as well as

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other luminaries to find out about

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their relationships with the ballot box and

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ultimately just to find out why they

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vote. I hope you're

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exercising your right to vote, and if

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you're not, I hope that their stories inspire

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you. Welcome

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to today's episode of Why I'm Voting. My

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guest today is Joey Bergstein, who is

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the CEO of Seventh Generation. That

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is, in case you do not know, a household in personal

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care brand that is focused on health

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and sustainability. And if I did

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my math correctly, Joey has been with the company

1:01

almost a decade and now

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he's spending time here with me. Joey, thank you

1:05

so much for being here, Thanks for having

1:07

me. It's great to be with you. Is my math

1:09

correct? Your you hit your decade next year,

1:12

next year, I will hit a decade. That's right. Nice

1:14

congratulations. But of course today

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we are talking about voting, and I

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found out that this is actually going to be your first

1:21

presidential election. Will you

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share with our listeners why that is the case.

1:26

Well, it's not because I just turned eighteen. I'm

1:28

a little bit older than that. No, not

1:30

exactly, which means you started when you were eight

1:33

at your company, a

1:35

young prodigy, as they say, there you go. No,

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it's my first election as a US citizen.

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So we got her a citizenship just

1:42

over a year ago and decided,

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I think about two years ago that

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after having lived in the United States

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for quite a long period

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of time, that with green

1:55

cards, we were tired of taxation

1:57

without representation, and that

1:59

this election was a really important one and we wanted

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to make sure that we were all and I say by we,

2:04

my my wife and my family, that we were all

2:06

in a position to be able to have our voices heard

2:08

at this really incredibly important moment

2:10

in history. Now, you grew

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up in Canada, so I'm wondering.

2:15

Obviously, most Canadians I know are

2:17

pretty well aware of American politics

2:19

as well as their own. Were you always

2:21

politically minded or is that something that's developed

2:24

as you've grown and matured. I would say

2:26

that I've always been politically aware and

2:28

interested, always interested in what's

2:30

going on about how policy

2:32

gets made and about

2:35

how we advanced society collectively.

2:37

I wouldn't say that I was politically active as

2:40

a kid growing up, or really

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my political activism came

2:45

to life mostly in my time at seven

2:47

generation. It's an amazing thing

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to be working inside a business that

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is not just trying to create

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safer, healthier products for

2:58

people and for planet, but really knowing

3:00

that our role is much bigger than that.

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Our rule in society is to really

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advocate for change, to change

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the world around us. And you

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do that both through the products that you create,

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by being demanding with your suppliers

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on ingredients and materials

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that are truly sustainable to help them actually

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move forward in creating sustainable products,

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but also in in advocating for change

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and trying to shift the

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way that other businesses are creating

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products, taking accountability for where they

3:30

stand, but also working with

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a partnership with public and

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private partnership in moving

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legislation to a place that is

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trying to create a world that's better, that's safer

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for you, for people, and for planet.

3:45

I'm glad that you mentioned this because Seventh

3:47

Generation did something interesting recently.

3:49

A couple of weeks ago, your company

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posted an open letter to the co chairs

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of the Commission on Presidential Debates asking

3:56

that climate be given some attention

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as we go forward to this election cycle. How

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did that open letter come about and why did

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you decide that that was a step that you wanted

4:06

to take as a business leader. I mean, that's a big statement

4:08

to make for a company. Yeah, well, it started

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because we have really realized

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that time is running out on addressing

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climate change. The science is really clear,

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that's not up for debate. The

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question is really what are the leaders

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going to do to be able to

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navigate us through the crisis we find ourselves

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in today. We are

4:28

looking at less than a decade

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to take meaningful action to arrest

4:33

climate change, and UM

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really wanted to make sure that that was an

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issue that was on the minds of

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voters as they're selecting leaders

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to represent their views. We wanted

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to ensure that they were armed

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with the information that they needed to be able

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to understand where leaders stand on the issues. How are they

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going to lead us through this crisis, and

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so that's been the genesis of a lot of the work that we've

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been doing around this current election

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cycle. And we decided

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that once important

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thing for us to do was to call on

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the Debate Commission to ensure

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the climate was a subject

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in the debate, so that people could understand

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where the different candidates stand on

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this issue and what they're going to do to address this crisis

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that's in front of us now. Obviously, Seventh

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Generation makes it very clear with this letter

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that they are a company that is not afraid to participate

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in raise their voices a corporation

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as well as as people who live

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in this country around these issues.

5:31

What else is the company focused on, as

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you guys, all as business leaders, look

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to the future and try to make sure that the generations

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that come after us have something even better. It's

5:41

a great question, Holly, and as

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a company, a very name

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actually speaks to this question that you're asking.

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We Our name is inspired by the great

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law of the Iroquois that in our every

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deliberation we must take into account the impact

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of our decisions on the next seven generations,

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and that is really deeply woven

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into everything we do. All

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the products that we make and all the actions

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that we take, because we really are trying to think ahead

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and thinking about the unintended consequences

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often that come about as one

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goes through the normal course of doing business.

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And so when we think

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about how we take accountability

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or how we address the issues that are in front of

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us, we really think about three things. We think about

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first and foremost, the products that we create.

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How do we ensure that we're creating products that are mindful

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of people in planet. Secondly,

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we actually sign an internal carbon tax

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so that we have our own

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incentives to continually decrease

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the size of our carbon footprint and use those

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funds to invest in improving that. And

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then thirdly, it's as you were, you're saying,

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raising our voice advocating for

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a better way of doing business. You

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know, our hope is that other companies follow

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suit and are really thinking holistically about

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how do we not just do good business,

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but also be a force for

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good at the same time that you're going

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about doing your business. And what we find is that

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people reward companies like that with

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their loyalty. They want to get behind

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companies that are championing them

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and issues that are important to them. That

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makes me want to pivot back to talking about

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you as a voter, because now

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knowing how much thought goes into your work

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in business, as you look to the future and

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as you think about the bigger picture, I

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suspect you are probably similarly

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thoughtful about your personal relationship

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with voting and the decisions you make in that

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space. Do you, especially

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since it is your first election, have a

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research process as a voter, particularly

7:39

when it comes to things like the more local elections

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that are going to be on your ballot and not just the big ones

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that we see on debates on TV. Yeah,

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process would probably be an overstatement

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for the way that that I'm going

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about educating myself, But I do feel really

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compelled to be educated about where

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each of the different candidates stands on the issues

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that are of concern to me, and

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so going to their sites and understanding

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what they are saying, attending debates

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virtually where I can, so that I

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can hear with my own two ears where

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they stand. Engaging in phone calls where

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that's possible as well. I've been able to do

8:15

that on a couple of occasions to be able to really understand

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where different leaders stand on different issues, and

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so I would say the process has really just been

8:23

Yeah, the great thing about the world that we live in today

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is is actually quite easy to understand where

8:27

candidates stand on various issues. So the

8:30

seven Generation is doing that, trying

8:32

to make it easier for people to understand

8:34

by giving them by giving everybody

8:36

access to the publicly available

8:39

information for where each candidate is on a particular

8:41

issue. And then I use that as

8:44

well as you know, just vociferously reading

8:46

the papers and and keeping up with

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what's going on in the world around me. Now we are

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in a strange year, and I might

8:52

know the answer to this, but are you planning

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to do a mail in vote in early

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vote or do you want to go day of since it's

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your first time around. That's a great question.

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So we just received our mail in votes. We

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did actually vote in the primary in March

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with the mail in ballots, and

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I actually would like to go do it in person if

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I can, on the on the day of. So

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I'm looking for the full election experience. I

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hope you get to because it really is super

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fun. So many of our guests have talked about how

9:21

connected they feel to their community just in

9:23

seeing other people walk up and get in line,

9:25

or or walk into their polling place. It's

9:27

a really there's almost like a little bit

9:29

of a festival atmosphere about it, and I

9:32

hope, hope, hope you get that experience. Well,

9:34

I'm looking forward to the experience. I will say in the

9:36

primary that I have a crazy

9:38

travel schedule normally, I'm normally

9:40

out in about all over the place all the time, and I wouldn't

9:42

have been able to vote had to not been able to mail in a ballot.

9:45

So I'm grateful for the ability

9:47

to do that. I think it's really important that, however

9:50

people decide to vote, that they're taking

9:52

the opportunity to do so and

9:54

do so in a safe way. You mentioned also

9:56

that your wife is also now

9:58

going to be voting in her first presidential election,

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as well as I think some other members of your family. Are

10:03

you guys planning a celebration. We

10:06

haven't planned that yet. We're certainly going to

10:08

be watching the results really carefully

10:10

the night of, and but also knowing

10:12

that we need to be patient for you

10:15

know that it's going to take some time for us to to be

10:17

able to really understand the full results

10:19

of the election. We'll start planning something delicious

10:21

now, now that I've planted the seed, my

10:24

last question, I think you'll have a unique perspective

10:26

on Since you are a naturalized

10:29

citizen who is voting their first presidential

10:31

election, if you could tell someone, particularly

10:34

people like yourself that maybe haven't voted

10:36

before, who isn't using their

10:39

right to vote, why it is

10:41

so important that they get out and do this

10:43

thing and participate in this way. What would that

10:45

one thing be. Why wouldn't you want

10:47

to raise your voice at a clearly

10:49

historic election that's going to have

10:52

real, big implications for years

10:54

and potentially generations to come. And if

10:56

we don't address issues like climate change that in

10:58

front of us right now, if we don't address

11:01

racial equity which is in front of

11:03

us right now, if we don't ensure that

11:05

we have a safe

11:07

transition back into a healthy world

11:10

through this COVID nineteen crisis that's

11:12

in front of us, and do so in a way

11:14

where our economy emerges actually

11:16

stronger um as we come out

11:18

than it was going in holistically

11:21

investing in infrastructure for clean

11:24

energy, clean water, clean air, really

11:26

using this this crisis to be able to make a meaningful

11:29

step forward. Why wouldn't you want

11:31

to use your voice to help guide

11:33

where we're going to go in the future and for future

11:35

generations. Hey,

11:40

are you not registered to vote yet but you

11:42

think it's something you want to do. You may

11:44

still have time. Voter registration

11:47

deadlines vary by state, so to find

11:49

out the scoop for where you are, check out

11:51

a nonpartisan registration voting

11:53

site like head count dot org or

11:55

fair vote dot org. Why

11:57

I'm Voting is an I Heart Radio production.

12:00

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