Earth Day – let’s get involved!
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Passionate about nature
At ishga, we care about nature. We’re firm believers in the power of natural skincare to heal, and we’re passionate about seaweed, and the unique ability it has to restore us.
April 22nd 2021
There’s a special day coming up that we’d like to share with you. On April 22nd it’s Earth Day, an annual event through which people all over the world can learn more about the environment and the protection it needs. Earth Day has been around since 1970, but now includes lots of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG. These involve a staggering one billion people in more than 193 countries.
How it all started
In 1969, a Californian peace activist named John McConnell proposed a day to honour the Earth and the concept of peace (so 1969). It was to be observed on March 21st 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. From his idea grew a plan for a national U.S ‘teach-in’ on April 22nd. More than 20 million people poured out onto the streets, and that first Earth Day remains the largest single day protest in human history.
How it works now
Earth Day proudly celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2020, and over 100 million people around the world took part, in what is now referred to as the largest online mass mobilization ever. This year - alongside different online climate action summits - EARTHDAY.ORG has organised a second annual Earth Day live stream event, which features global activists, international leaders and influencers.
What can we do for our oceans?
At ishga, we’re passionate about the plight of our oceans. One key initiative of Earth Day 2021 is a bid to raise more awareness of the damage that’s done by plastic. Recently, plastic masks and gloves have become a part of our daily lives. But where do they all end up? Of the roughly 52 billion facemasks made in 2020, 1.56 billion have ended up in the sea.
Each year, ocean plastic pollution kills about 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, over a million seabirds and even greater numbers of fish and other species. It impacts coastal communities and economies that rely on the ocean to survive. There’s not much we can do right now about the international need for PPE, but there are other things we can do to help. Just think about the plastic you use, try to cut back, replace, and use recyclable materials where you can.
The ishga Green Initiative
At ishga, we take a green approach. In 2018, we conducted a review of all our packaging, as part of our Green Initiative. We’re phasing out all plastic packaging, and replacing it with eco-friendly materials – frosted glass bottles and smart aluminium caps. Our new packaging (soon to be revealed) is 100% recyclable and looks beautiful.
We’ve phased out the use of laminated product boxes, and latex gloves, wet wipes, and bubble wrap have been replaced with biodegradable gloves, biodegradable wet wipes and shredded paper. When we supply to our spa partners, we’ve switched from plastic buckets to biodegradable paper bags, for products like bath salts and seaweed powder.
When we harvest our nutrient-rich Hebridean seaweed, we rotate the locations we visit carefully to give nature a chance to replenish her stocks properly. Our entire harvesting process is sustainable, and protecting the nature that our beautiful home of the Isle of Lewis provides, is of utmost importance to us. We’ve also created a large online library of effective training material and tools during the pandemic, meaning we don’t have to travel as much and can reduce our carbon footprint.
Join us
We know you care too. We like to think we’re taking responsibility, making a difference and building our company on strong principles that will make you feel good inside and out. We’re doing our best and helping you to do the same.
If you’d like to find out more about the ishga Green Initiative, please get in touch, or if you’d like to find out more about Earth Day and join in with some amazing live events on April 22nd, visit www.earthday.org.
