Authors - Shama Alexander (clear)
Take A Hike
None of us realize how simple it is to celebrate the earth in our every day lives.
There is a sense that we are obligated to do something very different from our daily routine to honor our earth during the month of April each year.
The problem is that simply one day a year is not enough.
It isn’t sustainable. If you thought of it like a marriage, like maintaining a friendship that you truly cherish, would you dedicate more than only one day a year towards that effort? I know you would.
In Gibran’s quote, you see how simple it is to be one with the earth; to commune her and to celebrate the gifts she brings to us. In observance of this time of year, it might even be more fulfilling to take a day off from work (yes, I advocate working less), go out to the beach or to the forest, and spend a day feeling the vibrations of the earth in an ...
To Give or Not to Give: Consciousness in Giving
The holiday season has officially landed. The spirit of giving is a big part of our holiday tradition. We are blessed to live in the most economically prosperous and resource abundant continent in the world. Having been given so much already, it’s hard to believe we could possibly need more. But we do. We need upgraded computers, newer cars, more advanced toys for our kids and let’s not forget clothes, because we must have the latest fashions.
As we all know, this time of the year is fraught with mass commercialism and consumerism. I might add, I’m proud to say that LUSH doesn’t advertise anywhere outside of our storefronts, nor do we participate in the biggest retail events of the year, Black Friday or Cyber Monday. We believe in candlelit baths, but we also believe in the safety of our employees.
Since we have all have had our fair share of the guilt-ridden consumerism talk, courtesy of the media, I’m not going to harp about over-consumption. We already know that in modern western society, we are over-consumers. Yes, some of us are of the “bloodthirsty for deals” mindset, taking down retailers’ front doors and attacking the guy who picked up the last Beanie-Baby… you know who you are. Some of us are of a holistic mindset, known as “conscious consumers”, and would rather make gifts or buy handmade presents for loved ones from local artists or fair trade organizations. I’m of the latter variety… Getting trampled for a 40% off plastic toy poodle just ain’t my style. But, what this all amounts to is that all of us, with as little or as much as we pu...
Green Piece
There’s a lot happening here at LUSH! Our loyal customers trust that we take our responsibility to environmental stewardship seriously. We’re always thinking of new and exciting ways to a green our products and our company. Environmental consciousness is a company-wide effort that flows from each employee into our luscious handmade products and ultimately to your homes. So you can relax and enjoy your bath knowing that we are already thinking about all the hard stuff.
At LUSH, we are committed to reducing our energy load and investing in renewable technology to make clean energy affordable for everyone. Most of our products are sold directly to you with minimal packaging or entirely without packaging. Why is this? Well, packaging is a big problem in our landfills so reducing the amount of materials we toss out in the trash is a no-brainer. Packaging also requires a lot of additional energy to produce and transport. At Lush, we are reducing our carbon footprint by not using packaging at all and by using recycled-only or compostable materials for the packaging that we do have.
As part of our energy initiative, we are proud of our partnership with Bullfrog Power, Canada’s largest renewable energy producer. Bullfrog's green electricity comes exclusively from wind and low-impact hydro facilities that meet or exceed Environment Canada's EcoLogo standard for renewable electricity, instead of from polluting sources like coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear. A few other organizations alongside us in this partnership are the Canada Green Building Council, Greenpeace Canada, and the Clean Air...