Etsy just became the first global e-commerce company to offset its shipping emissions. Glastonbury says no to single-use plastic bottles. And vegan ground beef is real? Here’s this week’s sustainability news comin’ in hot.
1. Etsy is the first global e-commerce company to completely offset their shipping emissions.
Even with solar panels, migrating their data storage to Google’s cloud, which runs on renewable power, and a zero waste office, 98% of the company’s footprint is from shipping. Shipping can be really bad for the environment – not just because of the plastic packaging. So working with 3Degrees, Etsy will be funding enough projects to capture – or reduce – the same amount of emissions they chalk up.
Support handmade and guiltless shipping? Etsy’s bookmarked for us.
2. Glastonbury Festival bans single-use plastic bottles.
It’s no secret that trash bins at music festivals accumulate a hefty amount of disposables. Glastonbury, with an average of 135,000 festival-goers over five days of partying, is infamous for its piles of trash created afterward. So partnering with Greenpeace, the festival will be joining the fight against global plastic consumption. They’ll be making water stations available, and while that’s a commendable first step, we think there’s much more festivals can do.
You can bet we’re waiting on other festivals to follow suit, too.
3. Beyond Meat launches plant-based “ground beef”.
Plant-based options just keep getting better. Vegan meat brand Beyond Meat just announced an upcoming launch: Beyond Beef – which tastes and feels just like ground beef and can be used like the real thing too. While going vegan isn’t just about finding the best replacements for meat, this makes it much easier for transitioners. Made from pea, mung bean, and rice proteins, Beyond Beef is also gluten-free, soy-free, antibiotics-free, hormones-free… all that good stuff.
4. Extinction Rebellion activists show up at International Petroleum Week.
To bring together global energy experts and to manage “tension between sustainability demands and operational, business return”, Energy Institute organised International Petroleum Week just last week. Activists from the Extinction Rebellion glued themselves to the windows of the hotel hosting the event, protesting the “deeply immoral” behaviour from oil and gas operators and investors. One activist had this to say: “I’ve been a very law-abiding citizen all my life but I realise now that is not really working. I am a mother of two girls and I am really terrified about their future. We can’t just carry on like this.”
Nine arrests made; but the fight on oil and gas will not end.
5. Every animal pulled from the deepest part of the ocean had plastic in its gut.
We’ve all seen the reports: whales, birds, turtles, turning up with plastic. But how bad is the problem, really? Well, it turns out – according to a team of scientists who really wanted to get to the bottom of this – that even in the deepest marine trenches, in the tiniest of amphipods… Every single amphipod had at least one plastic fibre in its stomach, according to the research published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
6. In Bangladesh and Vietnam, a majority of garment workers are not paid a living wage.
Every year, Fashion Revolution Week prompts us to ask #WhoMadeMyClothes, but reports of garment workers falling through the cracks, being exploited, and even being abused, re-surface every few weeks. This time, it’s an Oxfam report: detailing the harsh living conditions of garment workers in Bangladesh and Vietnam, and the pressure Australian brands are placing on factories in these areas. 100% of workers interviewed in Bangladesh and 99% of workers interviewed in Vietnam do not receive living wages.
That’s why we need to keep asking #WhoMadeMyClothes.
Image credit: Etsy
