Earth Day got me thinking
about businesses. As a small business owner I knew I wanted to be as Earth
friendly as possible. Vintage is inherently eco friendly since it is a good
that is being reused, recycled or even upcycled and isn’t adding to the mounds
in the landfills. It’s a bonus since you get something really cool with a bit
of history. When Jeremy added wood products to the shop we made those products
as sustainable as well, using locally sourced reclaimed wood whenever possible.
I’m a small business so I have
control over my actions and can pretty easily show my customers my impact on
the environment and my community. What about big businesses? How are they
contributing to the world’s environmental problems and who is keeping them in
check? Individually I strive to create less waste, be less of a consumer and
take care of the planet by being as sustainable as possible. I can compost my
little heart out, but if the brands I am buying from aren't eco conscious then aren't I part of the problem, not the solution?
How do you know if you are
part of the problem or part of the solution as a consumer? Transparency always
helps. I recently discovered B Corporation, a non-profit that is helping eco
minded companies become transparent by “compet[ing] not just to be the best in
the world, but to be the best for the world.” B Corp certified companies are
leading in the way in how businesses impact the world by measuring their
businesses’ relationship with the environment, community and with their
workforce. There are over 900 certified companies that support fair trade,
paying their workers above the living wage, are LEED certified and are in a
variety of other ways awesome.
Because B Corp is for
companies a little larger than a workforce of one, here are some of my local-small-business-owner-friends to tell you how they are eco conscious when they
do business.
I’m Joan, the designer/everthing-er from Goodspeed Empire, a jewelry
and accessory company. If I could only be happy and comfortable with that
sentence.
The more I craft and create, the more I feel like I’m contributing to a global problem. It seems that I’m feeding a machine by buying supplies and making jewelry from unknown vendors. Do I know if the company I bought the supplies from cares about their impact on the environment? Do they pay their workers a living wage? And here I am trying to sell you, the consumer these products. This is deep stuff man, and I’m just trying to make cute stuff.
With Earth Day and my recent crafter distopia I thought I’d share one of my creations that use upcycling and recycling. I shifted my thinking: “No I’m not going to run to the store for supplies. I’ll use what I have and challenge that creative part of me.” I also asked myself “what’s around that I’ve missed?” I noticed a resource I’ve until now left untapped. The trash can. I work in a costume shop, so the trash can usually has hidden gems. I can pick fabric out of the trash at my work and turn it into art. A tiny piece of art that I worked on that you can wear on your body. I make cuffs, only 2” wide max, with a funky pattern and a vintage button for a closure.
This is just one idea; one project in which I challenged myself to think differently. I challenged myself to have as much creativity in the search for supplies as I do when I dream up designs. What are your thoughts? What are you doing to be a sustainable crafter? Share with Nat and myself the fun and funky experiments you have tried using recycled or upcycled items.
As a
person living on this planet, I'm already super conscious of ways I can live
without polluting the Earth. As a business owner who organizes others for a
living, I still do the same. Every time I help another person get organized, we
find things that can be donated, recycled and repurposed. Often times my
clients are so tired of their clutter that they just want it out of their
lives. However, we take the time to separate the items that can be donated,
recycled and repurposed. It does take a little bit longer, but in the end, we
both have a good feeling about doing the right thing.
Hi! My name is Lindsey and I’m the creator of The Pod Shop
(@thepodshop on Instagram). Since I was old enough to
wander off by myself I’ve wanted to be encased in nature. I would find little
shrubs to lay under and just touch the leaves. Years later I visited Yosemite
for the forest time and found myself still huddled under a tree, just touching
the leaves. I was so at peace and in love that I could’ve cried. I feel like
plants are kindred spirits, and that’s why I gravitated towards the most
natural objects for my creations.
Although I plan to expand my shop one day, right now I make
artisan jewelry from seed pods and other natural materials. I collect most of
these myself, except for the pods that I cannot find in Southern California.
They’re gorgeous vessels that would otherwise be picked up by a gardener or
smashed back into the ground. Because it’s important that some pods are left to
return to the earth, I only collect small batches at a time. After I clean the
pods and wipe them with oil, they are mostly left in their natural state.
Of course, not every item I use is natural because I
construct with wire and beads. But it’s a priority of mine to reuse beads from
old necklaces and to purchase everything else from a local bead store or Etsy.
If I cannot use a natural item, then I want to at least support my community.
Even then, I worry about not offering more to the world than fashion, and plan
to donate a percentage of sales to an environmental charity one day.
Until then, hopefully my customers know that I love the
earth and that I’m always looking for a way to take better care of it.
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