The E=MC² Company is a social business on a mission to change the world for the better. A "social business" is a mission driven enterprise that makes money, while benefiting society. We provide products and services that serve the LOHAS market.


What is LOHAS?

LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. It is a $355 billion market segment in the United States alone (growing about 10%a year) and a $546 billion market worldwide. The term LOHAS was first coined by sociologist Paul Ray and psychologist Sherry Anderson, co-authors of The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (also founders of Gaiam, LOHAS Journal and LOHAS Forum in 1999). Other authors, such as Richard Florida in his book the Rise of the Creative Class calls this group of people the Creative Class, while Ronald Ingelhardt in his book The Silent Revolution calls this group Post Materialists. LOHAS marketers call this group by many other names including: lohasians, conscious consumers, progressive consumers, tree huggers, humanist, responsible consumers, and green consumers, but none want to be labeled as such.

Who are They?

LOHAS consumers tend to make their purchasing decisions in keeping with their values of social and environmental responsibility. LOHAS consumers are those who are passionate about the environment, the planet, social issues, health, about human rights, relationships, fair trade, sustainable practices, peace, spiritual and personal development. The LOHAS numbers show that an enormous consumer market exists for sustainable and healthy products. The marketplace includes goods and services such as:

• Organic and natural food
• Organic and natural personal care products
• Yoga, Tai Chi, massage centers, spas and fitness products
• Hybrid and electric cars
• Green and sustainable building
• Eco-tours, hiking and wilderness trips
• Energy efficient electronics/appliances
• Socially responsible investing
• Natural household products (paper goods and cleaning products)
• Natural and preventive medicine (Naturopathic, Chinese medicine, etc.)
• Fair-trade fashion
• Eco-publications and advertising

The Marketplace

The marketplace includes goods and services (source: lohas.com) such as:

Sustainable Economy (US Market--$76.47 to $150 billion)

• Green and sustainable building and industrial goods
• Renewable energy
• Resource-efficient products
• Socially responsible investing
• Alternative transportation
• Environmental management

Alternative Healthcare (US Market--$30.7 billion)

• Natural and preventive medicine (Naturopathic, Chinese medicine, etc.)
• Health and wellness solutions
• Acupuncture, homeopathy, etc.
• Holistic disease prevention
• Complementary medicine

Healthy Lifestyles (US Market--$30 billion)

• Organic and natural food
• Hybrid and electric cars
• Nutritional products
• Dietary supplements
• Organic and natural personal care products

Personal Development (US Market--$10.63 billion)

• Mind, body and spirit products
• Yoga, fitness, weight loss
• Spiritual products and services

Ecological Lifestyles (US Market--$81.19 billion)

• Energy efficient electronics/appliances
• Ecological home and office products
• Organic products
• Recycled fibre products
• Environmentally friendly appliances
• Eco-tourism and travel
• Natural household products (paper goods and cleaning products)

Demographics

LOHAS consumers cuts across all age and demographic groups, comprising mainly of artists, writers, designers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, creative professionals, managers, venture capitalists, technicians , solution seekers, and socially conscious consumers.

Indeed, countries around the world are showing interest—Japan, Taiwan, China, Australia, New Zealand, India, Germany, Holland, England, France, Canada, and more—all want to understand and integrate LOHAS principles into their own cultures. LOHAS now represent 23% of the population (about 50 million adults) in the United States, and 29% of the population in Japan (about 37 million). What is astounding is the speed with which the group appeared, moving from less than 4 percent of the U.S. population in the 1960s to more than 23% percent in the 1990s, a new record for such a population trend.


Values

It is truly a transformational lifestyle concept. The holistic world view of the LOHAS consumer is a belief in the interconnectedness of global economies, cultures, environments, and political systems, as well as the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit within individuals in order to achieve full human potential. As opposed to a typical demographical group defined by age, income, or other definitive means, the LOHAS consumer cuts across those boundaries and is representative of more "higher-being" ideals. Their social consciousness, rather than their generation or socioeconomic status defines these LOHAS consumers. LOHAS consumer cuts across demographic age boundaries and is representative of more "higher-being" ideals. Theirs is a lifestyle that includes:

• Brand loyalty (perceived benefits to themselves and to society)
• Express themselves, and influence over others
• Price insensitivity
• Creative people need to express themselves, to show their identity
• Hear different kinds of music and try different kinds of food
• Want to meet and socialize with people unlike themselves
•Trade views and spar over issues
• Combine "hip/cool" with "green"
• Quality that is as good as or better than that of typical non-green products
• Consume less and are less materialistic
• Make informed decisions, the ones who read the labels well beyond the ingredient list
• Decision to choose one product over another is based on the overall company ideals
• Environment is at the core of the LOHAS consumers' belief system
• Fair trade, sustainability, shade grown, or ethical practices, coincide with LOHAS consumers' interests, attitudes, and beliefs.

Throughout the United States the major natural foods supermarkets, such as Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Markets (recently acquired by Whole Foods Market -and many mainstream food supermarkets-are taking a macro view of health, stepping beyond their traditional services to meet consumer demands for a more encompassing approach to health. These stores are incorporating health-food restaurants, health clinics with an emphasis on alternative therapies, natural home centers featuring natural goods such as non paraffin candles and organic fiber products, massage centers and day spas, in-house nutritionists, and even eco-vacation planning.

LOHAS Sector Classification According to the Green Stock Exchange (GREENSX)

The LOHAS numbers show that an enormous consumer market exists for sustainable and healthy products. The Green Stock Exchange (GREENSX) has divided the LOHAS sector into the following sub-sectors below. Please click on each link to view each sub-sector:

1. Green Media (eco-publications and advertising )
   
   
2. Green Technology (hybrid and electric cars; energy efficient electronics/appliances, air purifiers, soy inks for printing presses, soy plastic, waste treatment, recycling)
   
   
3. Cultural Industry (Art & Entertainment)
   
   
4. Fair Trade Fashion and Eco-Fashion (fair-trade fashion, organic and natural fabrics)
   
   
5. Natural Foods & Beverages (organic and natural food/beverages)
   
   
6. Natural Health (vitamin and herbal supplements, natural personal care product manufacturers, yoga products/services, massage centers, spas, fitness products, natural diabetic friendly products, natural and preventive medicine, naturopathic, and Chinese medicines; personal development ...etc.)
   
   
7. Green Energy (wind power, fuel cell, solar power, biofuel)
   
   
8. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
   
   
9. Sustainable Products (green and sustainable building; natural household products, sustainable paper goods, cleaning products, gardening)
   
   
10. Carbon Trading
    
    
11. Everything Else Green (eco-tours, hiking and wilderness trips; environmental consulting ...etc.)

Quick Facts

• The two fastest growing countries in terms of LOHAS are Japan and Taiwan.
• LOHAS consumers go by many names including: Lohasians, conscious consumers, cultural creatives, the creative class , progressive consumers, and green consumers
• The grocery industry, has employed terms "whole-health marketing" and "health foods"
• The LOHAS industry has an annual event called The LOHAS Forum
• Other LOHAS industries includes, are environmentally responsible stocks / funds
• 61% of Americans have visited a natural foods store in the past year (source:HealthFocus);
• 12 % of Americans shop at natural foods store at least every two weeks (source:HealthFocus);
• 69% of Americans used complementary or alternative medicine (source:Stanford University);
• When price and quality are equal, 76% would switch brands or retailers if a company were associated with a good cause (source: Paul Ray);
• 80% of LOHAS consumers are willing to pay up to 20% more for LOHAS-related products (source:Joesph Marra, director of marketing at Natural Marketing Institute)
• An additional 30 million adults, or 38 percent of the Nomadics are LOHAS leaning in their beliefs and purchasing habits (source:Joesph Marra, director of marketing at Natural Marketing Institute)
• In Japan, four in ten know LOHAS by name here, compared to four in 100 in the United States
• Cultural creatives values include: brand loyalty, influence over others (opinion leaders) , price insensitivity

The LOHAS Market that we are Engaged In The LOHAS market is vast and worth $546 billion market worldwide, we are however only engaged in 2 major market segments of the LOHAS market, namely the Green Media market and Community Driven Brands market, as described below: 1. Green Media (part of New Media; also called Online Media)     E=MC² Creative Friends Network :: social network, like MYSPACE.COM, but for LOHAS   Ad Charity :: ad distribution & ad auction network like GOOGLE's ADSENSE, for LOHAS   LOHAS Magazine :: magazine for LOHAS, created by citizen reporters & blog journalists   Green Stock Exchange (GREENSX) :: a electronic trading board for trading small green stocks   Green Charity Network ::  easy way to donate to charities; linked to Ad Charity     2. Community Driven Brands (for healthy and sustainable living)     Organic drinks ::  Revolution! Cola, E=MC² Super Energy Drink, Energyade, E=MC² Smart Drinks, HerboTea   Sweet Heart :: organic zero calorie sweetener   HALF Sugar :: organic cane sugar blend, ½ the calories of white sugar   E=MC² :: organic fair-trade fashion and sporting goods   Save Our Planet Project :: limited edition shopping bags created by artists & celebrities       Find Out More Info >   1. Green Media (part of New Media; also called Online Media) The primary market and industry we are engaged in is the Green Media (part of New Media; also called Online Media) market, with the primary business being social networks; our major competitors are MYSPACE.COM, FACEBOOK.COM, BEDO.COM, YOUTUBE.COM, and YAHOO! We are not a general social network, like MYSPACE.COM, FACEBOOK.COM, and BEDO.COM; we differentiate ourselves by using our social network to serve the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) market. Once members join our grass-roots green social network, they will become loyal and lifelong partners in creating a greener future. As explained earlier, LOHAS consumers are those who are passionate about the environment, the planet, social issues, health, about human rights, relationships, fair trade, sustainable practices, peace, spiritual and personal development. LOHAS Consumers represent a sizable group in the United States: 23% of the population (about 50 million adults) -- 29% of the population in Japan. What is astounding is the speed with which the group appeared, moving from less than 4 percent of the U.S. population in the 1960s to more than 23% percent in the 1990s, a new record for such a population trend. Our major source of income is advertising revenue on blog portals and from doing blog search; a blog portal is our proprietary technology that allows to people to create their own mini-personalized-portal, like YAHOO!, on their blog. People can add news, weather, sports, photo galleries, shopping malls ...etc. to their blogs. Other sources of revenue include revenue derived from classified sites, jobs sites, dating sites, membership upgrades, and transaction fees from online shops. Most of our new media revenue is from advertising. Since our main source of revenue is derived from advertising, therefore we have created our own ad delivery system like GOOGLE'S ADSENSE. A detailed description of each market is shown below: Social Networks Online social networks experiencing stellar growth, are the new watering holes and the new reality television of the 21st century, where people come to make friends, share photos and music, exchange videos, blog, find jobs, find dates, and to socialize. About 100 million Internet Users belong to online communities, says Pew Internet Project. eMarketer predicts that, US social network ad spend is estimated to reach $2 billion by 2010; it will total $865 million by 2007 (up from $350 million the year earlier). Myspace.com, acquired by News Corp. for $580 million, takes the lion's share of the ad spend, at $525 million. The rest is then carved up between what eMarketer calls 'generic social network sites' which includes Facebook, Bebo, and 'portal' social networks such as MSN Spaces, Yahoo 360, and AIM Pages. The top social networks by ranking are shown below: Market Share of US Internet Visits to Top 20 Social Networking Sites April 2007 Rank Name Domain Market Share 1 MySpace www.myspace.com 79.70% 2 Facebook www.facebook.com 11.47% 3 Bebo www.bebo.com 1.28% 4 Imeem www.imeem.com 1.03% 5 BlackPlanet.com www.blackplanet.com 0.87% 6 Tagged www.tagged.com 0.84% 7 Yahoo! 360 360.yahoo.com 0.71% 8 Xanga www.xanga.com 0.69% 9 hi5 www.hi5.com 0.58% 10 Gaiaonline.com www.gaiaonline.com 0.58% Note - data is based on a custom category of 20 of the leading social networking websites ranked by market share of US visits, which is the percentage of traffic to the site, based on the Hitwise sample of 10 million US Internet users. The percentages represent the market share of visits among the websites within the custom category. Source: Hitwise US Visits to - MySpace increased by 70 % (April 2006 to 2007), - Facebook increased by 126 % and - Bebo was up 184 percent Compete US Web stats company concludes that social networking sites are quickly approaching the traffic level of the big portals like Google and Yahoo. Their key findings: (1) In June, 2 out of every 3 people online visited a social networking site; (2) Since January 2004, the number of people visiting or taking part in one of the top online social networks has grown by over 109%; (3) Social networking sites are now close to eclipsing traffic to the giants - Google and Yahoo, as shown below: People join social networks to increase their social, intellectual, and cultural capital. Their reasons for contributing are the following: 1. Keep in touch with family and friends (75%) [part of this is keeping up with the joneses who already have one - eg. my mate uses it, so I'll get one too] 2. Being "nosey" - 62% 3. Express my opinions and views (55%) 4. Meet people with similar interests (49%) 5. Specific reason, documenting trip to wedding, etc (13%) 6. It's a good way to date (7%) Social networks includes blogs. Blogs (user-generated content) Blogs, allows members in our social network to express themselves. Blogs are the homepages of the 21st Century; it is easy to set up and use. There are more than 70 million blogs worldwide, with about 120,000 new weblogs created each day. (source: The State of the Live Web, Technorati, April 2007).   Advertisers including Paramount Pictures, the Wall Street Journal, and The Gap are successfully reaching niche audiences for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising via blogs, and a handful of bloggers are earning six-figure incomes from their blogs.  No wonder why advertisers are interested in blogs: • 50 million U.S. Internet users visited blog sites in the first quarter of 2005. That is roughly 30% of all U.S. Internet users and 1 in 6 of the total U.S. population. (Source: Comscore Networks – Aug. 2005). • Compared to other internet users, blog readers are much more likely to live in wealthier households, be younger and use high-speed ISPs. (Source: Comscore Networks – Aug. 2005).                 Notes: 1. at the time this research was conducted, available measurement systems could not distinguish MySpace.com blogs from MySpace.com social networking content. As a result, blogs hosted by this fact growing site were not included in this analysis. Subsequent analysis suggests that MySpace Blogs would have been among the top blog host sites of Q1 2005 if comparable data were available. 2. LiveJournal, TypePad AND blogs.com are properties of Six Apart. Note that TypePad.com data do not include visitation to blogs that are hosted exclusive domains not related to TypePad.com even if it use the TypePad application. • Blog readers visit twice as many web pages as the internet average. (Source: Comscore Networks – Aug. 2005).   • Blog readers are much more likely to shop online. (Source: Comscore Networks – Aug. 2005).   • 7% of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the Internet have created a blog (source: Pew Internet & American Life Project)    • 62% of all Internet users do not know what a blog is, means there is room for growth and allows us to re-position blogs for business, art, music, movies…etc. (source: Pew Internet & American Life Project) •  Blogspot.com now reaches more visitors than NYTimes.com, USAToday.com and WashingtonPost. Blogs are an extension of personal websites, like Geocities; blogs really took of in 2002 when Six Apart introduced Movable Type, a software that made it easier for people to publish online. Major blog providers are shown on the table above. Our revenue will exponentially as more and more “user-generated content”  is created via our Blog Portal. Some interesting facts by the Pew Internet & American Life Project: 44% of Internet users (18 yrs +, 53+ million people) - have created content for the online world through building or posting to websites, creating blogs, and sharing files. 21% of Internet users say they have posted photographs to websites. 17% have posted written material on websites. 13% maintain their own Web sites. 10% have posted comments to an online newsgroup INTERNET ADVERTISING Internet advertising revenues (US) for the first six months of 2007 were nearly US$ 10 billion - up some 26 percent from the US$ 7.9 billion in the first half of 2006 - and yet another new record. Internet advertising revenue totaled nearly $5.1 billion in the second quarter of 2007 - for the first time exceeding the $5 billion mark in a quarter, IAB said; that was a 25.4% increase over the equivalent period in 2006, as well as a 4% increase from the $4.9 billion in the first quarter of 2007. (source: IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers). See chart below: Between 2006 and 2009, internet ad spend will grow 85 percent and raise its market share from 6.1 percent to 9.5 percent. Online video and local search will drive the 30 percent growth in internet ad expenditures in 2007 - nine times faster than the rest of the ad market. (source: ZenithOptimedia) However, online advertising remains concentrated with the 10 leading ad-selling companies, which accounted for 70% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2007. The Internet is well established as a key media distribution channel for driving advertising. The recent results demonstrate that advertisers recognize the continued growth in the online audience and the growing opportunity to target and monetize the audience, says Peter Petrusky, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Consumer Advertisers Lead Spending—Consumer-related continues to lead all sectors as the largest category of Internet Advertising Spend accounting for 54 percent of 2007 second-quarter revenues, up from 49 percent for the same period in 2006. Financial Services, the second-largest category, accounted for 15 percent, followed by Computing advertisers at 11 percent. Within the Consumer category the biggest sub-categories are Retail (46 percent of 2007 second-quarter consumer revenue category), Automotive (21 percent), Leisure (13 percent) and Entertainment (9 percent). Search Continues to Lead while Display and Lead Generation Gain—Search revenue accounted for 40 percent of 2007 second-quarter revenues, consistent with the same period in 2006. Display advertising, the second largest format, accounted for 22 percent, followed by Classifieds (17 percent) and Lead Generation (8 percent) of 2007 second-quarter revenues. Our ad delivery system AD CHARITY, is similar to Google's AdWords/AdSense program, except we serve the LOHAS market and a portion of all ad revenue is donated to charity. We are trying to reach web publishers and audiences usually turned-off by online ads, however since our program supports charity (the charity of web publishers's choice), people are more acceptable to viewing ads, similar to the GOODSEARCH.COM's approach. Our focus on delivering green ads to the fragmented LOHAS industry, allow us enter into the online advertising market easily, without overlapping with GOOGLE'S ADSENSE program. In terms delivery advertising to audiences online, Google's AdWords/AdSense program represents a great leap forward in ad delivery. Google has a great product with AdWords/AdSense, and they're slightly ahead of the marketing industry as a whole. They're able to deliver ads people want to see on a much more consistent level than a broadcaster. Google also delivers analytics which give a detailed breakdown of how your ads are performing individually, and against various keywords, as well as the ability to track ad clicks from the point at which the ad is selected to the point at which users complete a transaction. For a few dollars they were able to get the ad in front of someone who was deeply interested in what they sell, to the exclusion of others. Try that on TV. Google has opened web advertising to small players -- someone with $50/month to spend or less, a non-existant budgets by industry standards. We hope to complement GOOGLE'S ADSENSE program by serving the LOHAS market, for green revolutionaries who normally do not like seeing ads. 2. Community Driven Brands (for Health & Sustainability) Our second source of revenue comes from online community driven brands.The "community driven brand" concept allows millions of members from the E=MC² Creative Friends Network to jointly-participate in the creation, the design, the development, the selection, the marketing, and the promotion of good-for-you green products for smart, healthy, social responsibility and sustainable living. The best ideas are selected via a democratic voting system, not unlike reality TV shows AMERICAN IDOL and DANCING WITH THE STARS, for commercialization. Community driven brands are a new phenomenon. Some successful community driven brands includes LINUX, MYSQL, SURVIVOR, AMERICAN IDOL, APPLE, HALO, SECOND LIFE, and AVON. Communities that support the brands become a two-way street in which participants actively provide feedback to grow the brands. Community members can help contribute to building our green brands. In return, we give back 15¢ to $1.00 from each package sold to the E=MC² Creative Friends Network members, in the form of cash incentives, loans & investments (like for art, documentary film and music projects), and prizes to members contributing the best new ideas and creating the best promotions. Through the community driven brand model, we do business in the following categories: Health Drinks (mainly energy drinks and health drinks) Organic Zero Calorie Sweetener Fair-Trade Fashion Health Drinks (Functional Drinks) LOHAS members are very interested in health and sustainability, which fits well with our mission to create a greener lifestyle. Our organic health drinks provide our social network members with the following benefits and values: better health, weight loss, happiness, longevity and sustainability. In addition, we give back 15¢ for each bottle sold to the E=MC² Creative Friends Network members, in the form of cash incentives, loans & investments (like for art projects, documentary film and music projects), and prizes to members contributing the best new ideas and creating the best promotions. Through our grass roots approach, we intend to have our health drinks distributed in health food stores, convenience store, supermarkets, price clubs and at events. Everything is moving fast like the speed of light. People are overworked and are having less spare time for themselves. Gadgets, such as cell phones, pagers, home faxes, emails, and instant messengers put people on constant alert, bringing more stress and work. With worries of mortgages, kids, work, threats, education, and the future, people need little miracles to keep them going. The new paradigm shift occurring in society towards healthier living, offers an unprecedented opportunity in the healthy living and organic products category. The new paradigm shift speaks to living in a manner that is more healthy, economically, environmentally and spiritually sustainable, fits well with our organic health drinks. The category goes by other names, such as functional drinks, better-for-you beverages, wellness drinks, alternative beverages and nutrient-enhanced beverages. Another reason driving health drinks is that the FDA in the USA and it's equivalent in Canada, only recently allowed the marketing of beverages with health claims; this opened up the opportunity for a whole slew of new functional beverages, such as energy drinks, and heath drinks. Furthermore, carbonated soft drinks have been banned from most primary schools, due to health concerns. Beverage Industry Magazine states that currently, sales of functional beverages are US $50 billion and will exceed US $60 billion by 2010. In the United States, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and cancer is not far behind. People are looking for a magic potion to keep them healthy, happy, energized, and provide a longer life. Our company's line-of-drinks provide all these health benefits and more. Functional foods and beverages are at the beginning of the growth wave in the USA. Products with ingredients such as these below are positioned for growth: Antioxidants found in tea, chocolate, coffee, super-fruits (pomegranate, açaí berry, blueberry, goji berry), ginseng Heart products, dietary fiber, plant sterols, omega 3 Weight loss extracts, such as green tea, hoodia, garcinia, dietary fiber Anti-cancer and anti-aging extracts, such as green tea, açaí berry, goji berry, reishi, mushroom, panax ginseng, holy Tibetan rhodiola, lecithin, omega 3, rosemary, grape seed, ginkgo biloba, antioxidants, Vitamins B3-B3-B5-B12-C-E, calcium, CoQ10 The energy drink category is surging with a more than 50% increase in sales this year. Bottled water, ready-to-drink coffee, ready-to-drink tea and sports drinks follow close behind with substantial dollar sales increases of 25%, 23.2%, 22.6% and 20.8%, respectively. Some important beverage rankings are shown below: People need instant fixes for their health. The health drinks are designed with specific health benefits, such as energy, detoxification, anti-stress, anti-aging, antioxidant, to lose weight, make people happier, aphrodisiac, sports, anti-cancer, lowering cholesterol, immunity, vitamins…etc. Large competitors, such as PepsiCo and The Coca Cola Company jointly control more than 80% of the non-alcoholic market, however they do not dominate the organic beverages category. Anyway, LOHAS members are often suspicious of large corporations like PepsiCo and The Coca Cola Company; our organic beverage will allow us to enter the market quickly and to be distributed internationally. We learn from our experience, when millions of consumers demand it from our social network, it will receive wide distribution. Our company will stand out from our competitors by linking health, and social networking, with social consciousness (example our MakeHungerHistory.com program), which will set us apart from other competitors. Organic Zero Calorie Sweetener (100% natural) We specialize in organic zero calorie sweeteners (100% natural), with very few competitors and there is no sweetener on the market that is also thermogenic like ours; thermogenic means it speeds up your metabolism to burn more fat and calories in a process called thermogenesis. Our organic zero calorie sweeteners provide a healthy solution for those who are overweight, and also for diabetics. Our main competitor is Cargill's Zerose (Organic Erythritol Sweetener). Artificial zero calorie sweeteners such as Splenda, Sweet'n Low, Equal, Acesulfame-K and Twin, now make up a majority of the zero calorie market. However, more and more people are reading labels and becoming more suspicious of putting artificial ingredients into their body. Read letter to FDA below: Generation Green is an advocacy group made up of parents and other concerned citizens throughout the United States favoring corporate and governmental policies to secure children grow up protected from exposure to harmful toxins. They have taken a public stand against Splenda. The slogan "made from SUGAR so it tastes like SUGAR" seeks to mislead and confuse consumers into believing that Splenda is a natural product of sugar. It is a deceptive claim.The first step in manufacturing Splenda is the chlorination of sugar. This process chemically changes the structure of the sugar molecules by substituting three chlorine atoms for three hydroxyl groups. Following chlorination, a further chemical process is applied using phosgene, a poisonous gas described by the Centers for Disease Control as a major industrial chemical used to make plastics and pesticides. That is why organic food is the fastest growing segment of the food industry. These revealed that US sales of organic foods totaled nearly $17bn in 2006, exceeding last year's forecasts of $16bn.  This marks a 22 percent increase compared to sales of $14bn in 2005. Organic foods' 3 percent share of total food sales is up from 1.9 percent in 2003 to approximately 2.5 percent in 2005. (source: Organic Trade Association's 2007 Manufacturer Survey) A recent report by Freedonia revealed, "that the US sweetener market is poised to increase 4 percent per year, to reach over $1 billion in 2010. A company that could offer a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners may have found the winning ticket to reaping the rewards of this growing market." A recent report from Business Communications (BCC) predicts that although sugar alcohols and HIS (high intensity sweeteners) are still relatively new and unexplored sweeteners in the $10.92 billion global sweetener market, their presence in the market is growing rapidly. Our organic zero calorie sweeteners provide a healthy solution for those who are overweight and also for diabetics.         1. Weight Problem: About two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese. All adults: 133.6 million (66 percent) Women: 65 million (61.6 percent) Men: 68.3 million (70.5 percent)           Overweight and obesity are known risk factors for: diabetes coronary heart disease high blood cholesterol stroke hypertension gallbladder disease osteoarthritis (degeneration of cartilage and bone of joints) sleep apnea and other breathing problems some forms of cancer (breast, colorectal, endometrial, and kidney) 2. Diabetic There are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 7% of the population; while in Canada over 2.25 million Canadians are estimated to have diabetes and more than 60,000 new cases of diabetes come to light every year. This translates into 150 million potential customers in the USA alone, since our Sweet Heart ® ~ organic zero calorie sweetener not only have 0 calories, but it is also thermogenic, which speeds up your metabolism to burn more fat and calories in a process called thermogenesis. Our organic zero calorie and low calorie sweeteners fit well with our mission to create a greener lifestyle. Organic Fair-Trade Fashion Save Our Planet Project and E=MC² are our 2 organic fair trade fashion labels. The Save Our Planet Project labels works with artists and celebrities to produce collectible limited edition shopping bags, with the possibility to branch into jeans and t-shirts. The E=MC² fair trade fashion brand meanwhile will focus on higher end fashion items and sporting goods. Organic and Fair-Trade Fashion is a relatively new phenomenon, which rose from citizen protest of unfair working conditions, extremely low pay, dangerous, pesticides, and sweatshop conditions, often using child labor. Street protests against companies such as NIKE, GAP, WALMART, ADDIDAS brought improvements to the notorious fashion industry. It wasn't until the late 1980s that an international system of Fair Trade certification and labeling was introduced; that was only about 20 years ago! Still, "fair trade" and "ethical" fashion have yet to find their footing in America's popular culture. They are terms that still remain too esoteric for the general public, particularly because fair trade is more often associated with foodstuffs and artsy-crafty products. There are few fair fashion labels and very few fair trade fashion houses, with low brand recognition. People are becoming more and more aware of fair trade, with the most well known products being fair trade coffee and fair trade chocolate. Most coffee shops and supermarkets now stock fair trade products, which range from coffee and chocolate to cakes, bananas, honey, and even roses. What does fair trade mean? Fair trade, as defined by the Fairtrade Foundation, means paying better prices, ensuring decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. Cotton is one of the basic materials of the fashion industry. However, is likely that the cotton you are wearing was grown using large amounts of strong synthetic pesticides and fertilizers - because cotton isn't a food product, the laws on the use of chemicals are not very strict. As a result, dangerous chemicals go into the air, soil and water around the cotton fields, harming and killing farm workers and wildlife. Each year, three million people around the world suffer the effects of pesticide poisoning and 20,000 die. The most well known and one of the pioneers of organic fair-trade fashion is People Tree, which is also our main competitor, providing both organic and fair trade clothing principally sold in the U.K. and Japan. American Apparel is also a competitor based in Los Angeles, providing sweatshop free working conditions, but is not known for its organic clothing. Kuyichi, a style-conscious jeans company based in the Netherlands, which produces jeans, sweatshirts, lightweight pilot jackets, T-shirts, and casual shirts is another model for organic fair trade standards. Mercado Global, a fair-trade line of fashion accessories originally founded by Echoing Green winners Ruth DeGolia and Benita Singh, has also announced a partnership with Levi's, which will include a collection of fair-trade bags and accessories from Guatemala. Lotus by LOA, the newest fair-trade label that I have worked with, focuses on skilled artisans' cooperatives in India. They are helping raise the profile of fair trade by offering chic and sophisticated decor and accessories through traditional retail outlets, partnerships, and corporate gifts. Indigo Handloom, a company focused on creating an elegant line of clothes in partnership with handloom weavers in India, was brought to my attention a couple weeks ago. From the looks of their initial website, they are a prime example of a company with terrific brand potential. World of Good, which works with 133 artisan groups in 31 countries, has also taken an interesting approach with its accessory line. They distribute their products through colorfully displayed kiosks in spas, salons, bookstores, yoga studios, and malls. Fair Indigo is one of the first mainstream fair-trade apparel brands in the U.S., on the heels of several recent European start-ups, where customers can scan the bar code of any item at an Internet kiosk at the center of the store to read detailed information about the factory in which it was produced. Programs such as these will help give a fresh look to fair-trade fashion and make products more widely available to the general public. Brands can leverage the concept the same way "green" has been leveraged in the marketplace: as an aspirational, good-for-the-world way of life. Like organics, fair trade is growing in double digit percentage points every year, a telltale sign that the concept of "fair-trade fashion" is truly taking off.