A group of pioneers in the "green business" were getting back to their roots with a two-day hike through a pristine rain forest in Costa Rica when they hit Fer-de-lance Hill.
"Dare I ask why this hill is called Fer-de-lance Hill?" one of the hikers, Tom Newmark, had asked another, Frank Joyce, a University of California biologist.
"Well, this is where they hang out," Frank answered.
"They" were aggressive and deadly snakes.
"Sure enough, we round this bend and this fer-de-lance is rattling away at us," recalled Newmark, the chief organizer of the hike and co-chief executive of the organic vitamin maker New Chapter. "It was about as thick as Albert Pujols' baseball bat."
One hiker, Stephen Brooks of Kopali Organics, was attacked, but his boot kept the snake's fangs from digging into his skin.
The trouble did not stop there. The hike was so physically taxing -- 28km up and down mountains -- that some members of the entourage barely made it.
There was even talk about trying to bring in horses or a helicopter to rescue the stragglers. That did not happen, but Newmark ultimately was hauled out of the jungle on a stretcher after injuring his knee.
The trek, intentionally or not, served as a metaphor for the difficulty many of the executives are having as they transition from niche marketers to big-business leaders who have grown wealthy as demand for their products has surged.
That is a good problem to have, of course, but it has stirred worries among them about selling out and reaffirmed a desire to stay true to their cause.
"The whole landscape is shifting and I think everyone is struggling to redefine their strategy in the midst of huge change that ain't finished," said Jeffrey Hollender, the president of Seventh Generation, which makes nontoxic household products like cleaners and diapers. "It's still sort of in the early stages."
The hike was organized, in part, to help raise US$10 million to expand a swath of preserved forest in the northwest part of the country that includes the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the Children's Eternal Rain Forest. Among those on the trip on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 were Walter Robb, co-president of Whole Foods; Anthony Zolezzi, a founder of Pet Promise, a natural pet food company; and Bryan Meehan, the founder of Fresh & Wild Stores in Britain who is now chief executive of Nude Skincare.
They are, Newmark said, "the true spiritual warriors and visionaries of our industry."
They also invited a reporter and photographer from the New York Times -- who paid their own way. They joined the eight green business leaders, as well as Joyce and his wife, Katie; two conservationists; two Costa Rican medical doctors; and three local guides.
Newmark said the idea for the hike came to him last summer when he invited Michael Besancon, who oversees the environmental task force at Whole Foods, to visit his company's spice farm and lodge nearby.
"I really had no idea how daunting a task it was going to be," Newmark said.
The hike began in a remote and picturesque mountain town, Monteverde, on a sunny and crisp morning. We shoved sandwiches in our backpacks, grabbed walking sticks and set off through the cloud forest that runs along the tops of mountain ridges. On a wooden platform above the tree line that straddled the Continental Divide, Newmark pointed out the corridor of land running to the Pacific Ocean that conservationists hope to buy and turn back into a rain forest.
RSS