Salvage Speaks
Hello and welcome to the very first edition of Salvage Speaks! Salvage speaks is our new weekly newsletter focused on environmentalism, art and uplifting talented activists! For our first edition, we’ll be talking about Reforestation! Specifically, modern and fresh approaches to re-foresting deforested land, and the activists and artists leading the initiative!
148 Acres of Rainforest are destroyed every minute!
We’re covering Reforestation this week in recognition of 2020’s horrific wildfires. From the four million acres of devastation and char left by the California Wildfires, to the over 11 million hectares burnt by the Australian Bushfire crisis. Forest fires are always devastating and always a tragedy. One of the only ways to compensate for the loss of these great swathes of land is engaging in dedicated and effective Reforestation programs. Reforestation strengthens soil quality, does wonders for air quality, and when it’s done right, provides biodiverse and long-lasting habitats that store much more carbon.
According to the reports shown below by Insider you can clearly see the comparison made of the recent wildfires we have seen in less than a year!
How can we aid reforestation?
Lately, we have been watching devastating news around climate change and how it has drastically resulted in reducing our biodiversity to ashes! Well, one way would be supporting International Conservation Organisations. Such organisations, of course, need money and attention, from re-tweeting their posts or donating there’s no shortage of ways you can contribute to these great causes. Here are some of the phenomenal individuals who are taking one step closer to believing that there is a change which is evitable!
We here at Salvage have found some brands, organisations and bodies who are paving the way for sustainable and successful re-forestation. Read on to find out more!
The Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 (TFA 2020)
Is a global public-private partnership in which partners take voluntary actions, individually and in combination, to reduce the tropical deforestation associated with the sourcing of commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef, and paper and pulp. You can view the various approaches of Tropical Forest Alliance in the video down below.
Plant Trees Online!
Tentree
Tentree are an outdoors clothing and fashion brand that plant ten trees for each item of clothing purchased! Having dedicated themselves towards the ambitious goal of ten billion trees by 2030, this clothing brand is setting itself apart from the rest of the outerwear community. We hope that Tentree’s successes will encourage other fashion brands to pick up this fantastic model.
Ecosia
Ecosia is a Bing-powered search engine which donates 80% of their add-driven profits to charity and plant trees every forty-five searches. They also publish their financial reports publicly and have set a good record for clarity and accountability so far! Ecosia is Ad-driven, and after the 2019 Amazon Wildfires, they have had an exceptional increase in userbase and income. Ecosia may seem almost too good to be true, but if you want to contribute to reforestation, but don’t have time or money to spare, simply promoting Ecosia or using their browser is a good place to start!
Vertical Ledge
It wouldn’t be much of an assertion to say that business models that priorities low-cost, high-quantity products have become key to some of the most successful brands of the modern era. However, this has led to somewhat of a renaissance of waste-conscious entrepreneurs that concern themselves with making one singular product very well, Vertical Ledge is an example of such a company. Vertical Ledge is a Washington-based company that specialises in making artisanal display shelving units. Having their origins in a local holiday market in 2018, Vertical Ledge owes its genesis to the lack of care given to the presentation of goods across the market. Seeing this lack of care, the founders of Vertical Ledge set out to help stores, locations, businesses and houses display their items with thought and consideration.
The Implicit Statements of Presentation
Presentation is one of the most confounding and important aspects of selling goods. Presenting goods in an orderly, aesthetically pleasing way reflects not only a standard of care from the salesperson, but a show of faith in the quality of the goods themselves. While this in itself doesn’t seem to be a particularly meaningful statement, in the context of our modern age of mass production and mass waste, giving singular items respect for their care, crafting and the resources required to make them is a necessary step to environmentalism. Within each good, with each piece of packaging are some of the earth’s most finite materials, and neither their re-use and our ability to re-cycle them are guaranteed. If we are to encourage movement towards a society that produces much less waste, that puts much more stock in the re-usability and durability of an item, then the radical act of presenting goods with care and respect to their making is crucial.
Plant Paced
A lot of the brands we have covered in this post are far trade in goods, in knowledge, but Plant Paced sets itself apart from the rest because it provides not only a product, but attempts to encourage a new way in experiencing nature. Plant Paced is a Bangalore-based studio founded and operated by Aanchal Bagalwadi (You may recognise the name from our previous notion room Talk) Plant paced on the face of it sell artisanal, hand crafted art soaps, which are locally sourced and hand-dye clothing using eco print as the technique. The soap is gorgeous, expertly made, and the dyed clothes are what you would expect from Bagalwadi’s extensive training in the craft. However the standout quality we see in Plant Paced is its mission to draw a connection between the user, their products, and nature. Bagalwadi’s creative process, of working by hand and using natural components to create her art. Bagalwadi presents her creative process of working by hand and using natural components as a journey or communion with nature, and encourages the user to participate in this journey. Plant Paced products are a meditation on time and nature, creation and use. Bagalwadi encourages you to take time out of your day to experience things at your own natural pace, and to think on the long, arduous processes of natural creation and our own consumption.
In this modern age, it is a radical thing to be able to reclaim your time from work and obligations, it is even more radical to spend that time on thinking about how we can change this world for the better. Plant Paced sell a simple product, but make no mistake, they have a radical message."
That is it for this Week’s Newsletter Stay Tuned for our upcoming events and topics to discuss. Write to us if you have a story to share! Don’t forget to send your love and support to these fantastic individuals!
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