Ethics and stuff

06/02/2021

Is this Vegan Leather a genuine alternative? Piñatex is the real deal.

✅Alternative to animal leather
✅Reduces agricultural waste
✅Hardy, REACH tested material

While there are still plastics in the end product (resin finishes and bonding agents), Ananas Anam have produced a material that is a genuine contender to replacing leather.

Most faux and vegan leathers are entirely plastic based. Piñatex, using the fibres from pineapple leaves, makes a material that is mostly plant based (72%).

Discarded pineapple leaves are usually left to rot, or are burned. Ananas Anam takes those leaves and gives them a new life. The product is sourced and manufactured in the Philippines and finished in Europe.

We should add that Dr Carmen Hijosa, founder and inventor of the brand received a PhD in Textiles at the age of 62 - an extraordinary feat!

We hope that they make industrial degradation and recycling easier at the end of life for users of their products. At this stage they state they are not 100% biodegradable. While PU is a much safer material than PVC, it’s still a plastic and can take centuries to break down.

The company could show much more transparency around their ethical claims, and whether or not all the pineapple farmers receive a living wage. The Philippines sometimes lacks transparency in the agricultural industry, particularly around seasonal contract workers.

Photo cred to Jo-Anne Vernay & ARTESANO

04/29/2021

04/26/2021

It’s depressing...

Poverty, inequality, human rights abuses, climate change, animal cruelty - the list of depressing issues is staggering and goes on and on. These things can be fixed, but definitely not overnight, nor by any one human being. They require collaboration, institutions and hard work.

Also, you won’t be helping anyone or anything unless you’re ok.

“Feeling responsible for something without having the power to change it is profoundly demotivating. It makes you less helpful to those around you, less present, and certainly much less fun.” John Paul Flintoff

Climate Anxiety is real.

The feeling of helplessness is real.

And don’t forget, It’s impossible to control the behaviour of others.

“Today you can be hit by news of disaster and upheaval from all over the world at any time of day or night. And the more you are exposed to troubling information that you can do nothing about, the more you become depressed. I mean, clinically depressed. You need to protect yourself.” Flintoff

Please remember that it’s normal and completely understandable to feel overwhelmed and exasperated when being exposed to the world’s problems.

You are not alone.

04/06/2021

P**P! 5 of our favorite Brands of Ethical & Sustainable Dog Bags

According to Oh Crap a whopping 4% of landfill is made up of dog p**p. Gross.

And a lot of that arrives wrapped in non-biodegradable plastic… in fact 1.3 billion plastic dog waste bags go into landfill each year.

Encouragingly more companies are now selling biodegradable and compostable alternatives. Be aware though, not all biodegradable bags are compostable.

And depending where you live in the world, there can be a lack of regulation meaning companies are free to label their bags biodegradable when they may not be earth-friendly at all (won’t break down within a year).

Generally, compostable options are best as they will degrade over a few months as opposed to decades.

04/03/2021

RubyMoon - Ethical Swimwear

‘Activewear for Activists’

‘A social enterprise for women powered by women’

RubyMoon is a not-for-profit brand using ocean waste to make ethical swim and activewear. They donate 100% of profits into micro loans for women entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities. In fact, they are the only not-for-profit swimwear company that we're aware of!

We just want to repeat that: THEY DONATE ALL NET PROFITS TO FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS.

One of their key pieces, the 'Yasmeen Rash Vest' is named after Yasmeen Zain All-Deen, a 27 year old who runs a hairdressing salon in Palestine. She requested a loan to buy new equipment that will cost more than $5,000, and she plans to hire more women. Just one example of the micro loans provided to women in 14 developing countries by RubyMoon.
RubyMoon have a transparent supply chain with ethical and safe manufacturing from the UK and Spain.

Their environmental footprint is reduced through the use of 100% recycled and biodegradable mailing bags. They don’t use priority mail to send items, reducing emissions further.

Swimwear is chlorine and salt water-resistant, with long term shape retention and UPF 50+ Protection. PETA-Approved Vegan and Oeko-Tex certified.

In collaboration with HealthySeas.org and using Econyl.com technology, ghost fishing nets are retrieved from the ocean and transformed into high quality and durable garments.

Compared with similar products they have demonstrated they produce 42% less carbon emissions.

RubyMoon shows commitment to a circular economy business model. They're a shining example of a Social Enterprise. Check out their website here.

01/18/2021

Please read this book. It will be so hard to get through, but listen to the words and the story, because for those who’ve survived genocide, that’s all they have left. Don’t shy away from it. And please, if you need to spend some time building up the courage to read it, do so. But know that to be a citizen of the world, it’s essential to read this book.

“Nadie Murad is a human rights activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the recipient of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize and the Sakharov Prize, and is the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. Together with Yazda, a Yazidi rights organization, she is currently working to bring the Islamic State before the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. She is also the founder of Nadia’s Initiative, a program dedicated to helping survivors of genocide and human trafficking to heal and rebuild their communities.”

Oh and also, she made Trump look like a jealous fool when he found out she’d won a Nobel and he hadn’t 😉

What we’re doing to the planet, whether it’s or is atrocious, but it’s easy to forget just how hideous people can be to each other. Buying and selling young women as s*x slaves is about as vile as it gets. This has to stop.

01/14/2021

Credit to .tomorrow.project for the graphics!

86% of the world’s palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia. In some respects it’s been great for these nations, helping to lift many people economically. While economic prosperity can be a good thing, it’s clearly overshadowed due to the rampant, unregulated deforestation that’s leading to many environmental problems.

The loss of critical habitat for endangered species
Air, soil and water pollution
Climate change

“Resident species like elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers have lost their homes and some Indigenous peoples have fared little better, being forced off their land and robbed of their livelihoods. The felling and burning of trees also exacerbated climate change.” WWF

I saw first-hand some palm oil plantations in peninsular Malaysia. They’re green and calming in a way, but the unnatural rows and rows of palm trees seem a little strange. They’re devoid of ‘life’, and one has to wonder what the natural rainforest would look like if it was still there.

The RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) claims to prevent new deforestation as well as banning the use of fire and protecting human rights. Greenpeace argues that they’re not doing anywhere near enough. We need to demand better controls, more transparency and genuine improvements in this industry - it’s simply too important an issue to greenwash.

01/06/2021

THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED
Never forget this horrendous catastrophe… BP’s overly ambitious Gulf of Mexico oil drill - the deepest in the world - failed dramatically in 2010, spilling 200 million gallons of oil throughout the Gulf for 87 days.

❌Despite warning signs in 2008, numerous fires, and the entire damn thing tilting - BP did nothing
❌11 dead and 17 injured
❌Thousands of marine animals and birds affected
❌Untold damage to the Gulf coast estuaries and fishing industries

Despite this horrific incident, BP is still out there doing business. They’re still afloat despite a $20 billion fine - that kind of money has sent countries bankrupt. You know why nothing is being done about climate change? It’s because these mega-corporations have far too much power. Break them up and we have a shot at turning around this industry and utilising renewables.

12/24/2020

Greenwashing is the awful & deceitful act of companies marketing themselves as sustainable and environmentally friendly - when that’s simply not the case. One good deed does not equal a job well done.

BP and Shell have both (laughably) starting cleaning up their image by installing solar panels on their gas stations. If you needed a definition of greenwashing, that’s pretty much as good as it gets. Extracting fossil fuels that are millions of years old, heating up the planet and destroying the Gulf of Mexico - but “it’s ok ‘cause we’ve put some solar panels up”...

In today’s world, particularly in fast fashion, retail and food manufacturers, organizations claim to be ethical and ‘conscious’, duping consumers into buying their products. They’re vague and have no transparency - along with next to no certifications - yet consumers don’t know any better!

This has to stop. We’re trying our best to do something about it. We want people to feel good in the products and services they spend their hard earned cash on - and we want them to know it’s going to the right places.

12/24/2020

Yet another billionaire fast fashion mogul… Mahmud Kamani’s businesses Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Nasty Gal have grown rapidly during the pandemic by selling clothes as cheap as physically possible - as low as 99% in some cases - 11 cents for a top! Workers in the UK were allegedly paid as little as £3.50 per hour (about $4.75 USD) and without sufficient equipment to guard against Covid-19.

Garment workers in Pakistan are paid tiny sums per hour and forced to work up to 24 hours in some cases. In their factory in Leicester, it was reported that some workers slept on mattresses during the pandemic to fulfil orders.

Kamani is a billionaire, and is using the excuse of ‘growing too fast’ to keep on top of their continually unethical production. It’s an industry that thrives on waste such as ‘disposable’ throwaway fashion. At 11 cents per wear, it’s easier to just throw it out and buy a different product. Not only is this company a global polluter assisting to destroy the environment, but they’re violating human rights.

12/15/2020

A huge positive to come from Covid is that cruise ships have been sidelined - and while island hopping in a large boat can be a load of fun, it’s also a disaster for the environment!

Nabu (the nature and biodiversity conservation union) has released its annual report on cruise ship pollution. It looked at dozens of vessels travelling in Europe, and decided not to recommend any of them.

Not only do they release toxic fuel, none of the ships the report looked at even had catalyst or particulate filter - like trucks and cars have to have.

The report says that a mid-sized cruise ship can use as much as 150 tonnes of fuel each day, which emits as much particulate as one million cars…