OZOlife - your daily guide to smarter living

Diana Kaye is the co-founder of USDA-certified organic personal care products, TerrEssentials. She, along with her spouse and co-founder James Hahn, are also outspoken activists and educators who have been working for more than seventeen years to protect the word "organic" from attack by those who seek to exploit the word’s integrity and spirit.

What was your green turning point?
We both grew up in the ’60s and ’70s when "ecology" was everywhere. We were serious young design professionals and we both chose positions of employment in DC that allowed us do the natural thing – walking or riding our bikes everywhere, shopping at resale shops, and packing brown bag lunches (re-using our bags, of course!) for daily meals in the parks. Our major green turning point, however, occurred in 1988 when my frightening encounter with cancer and chemo left me physically ravaged and with my immune system out of control.  This harrowing experience drove us to begin our intensive chemical research quest that would change our lives forever. That led us to discover that the household and personal care products that we had assumed were safe were anything but.

What has been your biggest lifestyle change?
City girl and city boy move to the farm and grow an organic business from scratch! Once we started our company in 1991, we realized that, to expand the company, we were going to have to grow herbs – organic ones, naturally.  After a few years of searching, we finally found our old sheep farm in the mountains northwest of Washington, DC and left the city behind us in 1996. Funny thing is, at first, I had a difficult time sleeping at night because it was too quiet! We had traded fire trucks, car alarms, traffic and the neighbor's loud music for the sound of wind in the leaves, tree frogs and a rushing stream.

What has been your smallest lifestyle change?
We stopped using a dishwasher.

What’s something you hope to pass down to future generations?
I love majestic trees. We are truly connected with and dependent upon trees because they give us sustenance. They evoke deep emotions in us.  We are envious of their stable roots, their arms that perpetually reach up to the stars, and their strength, longevity and silent beauty. I have begun planting beautiful trees on our land so that future generations will have remarkable trees that they can fall in love with and find solace in.

What’s your little green secret?
Over the years, I have indulged my passion for identifying and cultivating edible native and wild plants for food and medicine.  Jim always jokes about my obsession with plants, but he has enjoyed my sautéed wild mushrooms and wild nettle soup, and lived to tell the tale, so he can't complain about my plant collection. I think everyone with and should create an edible landscape -- including stewards of public land.

If you had five minutes in the Oval Office, what would you say?
It's a good thing that I can talk fast! For starters, we must end corporate welfare for large, established and unsustainable businesses and close tax loopholes.  Jim has coined a slogan about this: bake sales, not bailouts! Number two, we must stop burning fossil fuels! Jim recommends a Manhattan Project for alternative energy sources. Number three, we must address waste management issues in our communities and finance the construction and implementation of resource recovery parks and alternative wastewater treatment systems. Number four, we must dramatically elevate the status and salaries of our nation's teachers, and drastically alter the quality of the American educational system in order to create great thinkers, instill civic responsibility and encourage competitiveness.