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Categories - Charity Pot (clear)
Jun
6
Building Hope and Homes in New Orleans
New Orleans! I love this city. The people, the music, the food, the bayou, the smells.... the history!
Sarah Levitin, from our Retail Support Team had a dream to go to New Orleans. It took more than one attempt to get there, but when she finally did she brought along some friends from LUSH and they went to work trying to make a difference. This is her story.
In 2006 I saw an Imax documentary called Hurricane on the Bayou. The film features amazing views of the bayou and catchy Cajun music, but there's more to the film's message than the sights and sounds of this intriguing city- it's also about environmental preservation of the surrounding wetlands. New Orleans is plagued with hurricanes because of its location and the miles of wetlands have saved this city for decades. They act as a natural barrier to slow the hurricane, so when it reaches the city it's more like a tropical storm. Due to the current depletion of the wetlands, hurricanes have been gaining momentum through the muddy waters and landing on the city with full force. There's no way the director of Hurricane on the Bayou could have known that hurricane Katrina would hit on August 29th, 2005. All of a sudden, the captivating images of the bayou turned into images of destruction. The film had a big impact on me, and in 2008 I booked my first trip to New Orleans. Unfortunately, the trip never happened because the morning that I was meant to board my plane, hurricane Gustav touched down in New Orleans and my trip was cancelled.
LUSH gave me my second chance at visiting this city rich in culture! We recently traveled as a LUSH group t...
May
31
A Vegan Challenge: My Ghost-free Journey Journal
This month, 30 LUSH employees from around Vancouver teamed up to take a ghost-free journey with our Charity Pot partners, The Ghosts in our Machine.
A ghost-free journey is an introduction to a vegan lifestyle, with coaches to help answer any questions that come up along the way, and an online forum to discuss anything and everything. The goal is to encourage everyone taking the journey to think critically about the choices that you make when it comes to what you eat, what you wear, and what you purchase, and to provide support for any challenges that might pop up. The journey lasts 5 days, and if you want to continue after that, you can. Because we had such a large group, our team organized a few extra events, including a pot luck lunch, a trip to a local vegan shoe store, and a big group dinner together at the end of the fourth night. I was nervous and excited to participate, and I am so glad that I did!
Here’s what happened on my journey:
Day 0 (Sunday night): Tomorrow is the first day of my ghost-free journey, and I want to make sure I’m ready! I plan to start where it’s easy: my LUSH stash! Looks like my Veganese, Blousey, and Snow Fairy are good to go, but my Cosmetic Lad and Love Lettuce are going to be on hold for the week.
May
24
The Man Loves Turtles: An Interview with Dr. Wallace J. Nichols
Life is never boring at LUSH HQ! A typical Tuesday morning may include meeting an inspirational change maker, like Dr. Wallace J. Nichols.
A marine biologist, wildlife conservationist and one of the world's leading experts on sea turtles, Dr. Nichols stopped by to share his passion for the ocean and its inhabitants. Before addressing the packed room, Dr. Nichols passed out little blue marbles as a token of gratitude and a reminder of our beautiful, blue planet. He shared his love of turtles (spoiler alert: he really, really loves them), his groundbreaking research and how he, along with our Charity Pot partners RED Sustainable Travel, helped transform a community of turtle hunters into turtle conservationists.
With our blue marbles in hand, we sat down to chat with him about his Billion Baby Sea Turtles project, the study of neuroconservation and how love can literally change the world.
When did your fascination with turtles begin?
When I was a kid I fell in love with turtles, but there was a period of time when there was no encouragement. It was mostly discouragement. People just didn't study turtles for a living. No one around me was doing that. I saw a flier in the library for a job listing in Costa Rica and applied. I went off to Costa Rica and it rekindled that dream. From that moment, I never looked back. I just kept going, getting my masters and then my Ph.D. I became president of the sea turtle society. I never knew there was such a thing!
You spoke today about love and its...
May
21
LUSH Charity Pot: Pedalling for Papua
This week, Jeremy Bally is joining the LUSH blog just as he prepares for another incredible adventure with Pedalling for Papua. We're proud to have Jeremy and his incredible organization as part of our Charity Pot family and we wish him the best of luck on his journey and sharing the messages from West Papua.
I pored over my itinerary last night with a calculator, and realized that I’ll be cycling 12,633 kilometers before this year is over. I haven’t started training yet, and it’s about 3 weeks until I leave. But I really don’t feel concerned. At least about that.
On the 1st of May in West Papua, dozens of demonstrations were held around the region to protest the 50th anniversary of Indonesia seizing control over the area. Over those 50 years, it’s been estimated that as many as 500,000 West Papuans have been killed either by the Indonesian security forces that operate with impunity there, or by the inequitable lack of development in their resource rich homeland. These protests saw 2 more added to that number, as military and police fired indiscriminately on peaceful protestors. Incidents like this fuel the belief that a slow motion genocide is still being perpetrated against West Papuans, who in the past few years have become a minority in their homeland. This is what I feel concerned about. I figure it’s worth more worry than a p...
May
8
Jasmine Polsinelli: Fighting for a Fur-Free Canada
“My goal is to stop the fur trade in Canada by the time I’m 20.”
11-year-old Jasmine Polsinelli has set an aggressive goal, but her dedication to animal rights makes it clear that she intends to accomplish it. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jasmine about her animal protection efforts when we called her at home in Oshawa, Ontario on an April afternoon. She had prepared answers to my questions before our discussion and bashfully warned me that she may mix up her words… though when we began chatting, I found her answers weren’t from a well-rehearsed script, but from the heart of an enthusiastic and intelligent individual with a remarkable love of animals.
Left: Jasmine with one of her family dogs, Right: Jasmine holding up a Fur Bearer Defenders T-shirt
We first became acquainted with Jasmine during our Canadian “Fur Trim is a Trap” campaign in which we partnered with The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals. Our joint efforts raised awareness about the cruelty behind trapping animals for their fur and resulted in 5000 signed postcards that appealed to Dani Reiss, President and CEO of Canada Goose, to stop supporting the industry by using coyote fur on the company’s jackets. The jackets are quickly becoming an icon of Canadian fashion, and by extension we’re seeing an unfortunate resurgence in the popularity of fur for fashion.
Jasmine bravely volunteered to personally hand-deliver the postcards- she was inspired by the thousands of individuals who, after l...
