Not many entrepreneurs would cite a three-month volunteer trip in Africa as the major influence for their business, but then few are quite like Lauren Shuttleworth, the founder of eco-friendly print and stationery social enterprise Words With Heart. Volunteering at a school in Kenya, Shuttleworth quickly realised the enormous challenges facing girls in trying to...
Searching for an affordable ethical Christmas gift set to give your family and friends this Christmas? Look no further than GlobeIn, a leading US subscription box company that offers handmade and ethically sourced artisan goods from remote regions around the world. It is also the only subscription box company to receive the official Fairtrade stamp...
Leaders from countries across the globe are in Poland for a new round of climate talks, otherwise known as COP24. They’re still trying to find agreement on how to keep climate change from rising to two degrees Celsius. As has been frequently discussed by climate scientists, when global temperatures rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the...
I rarely post about the cosmetics I use because I don’t wear makeup all that often. I also firmly believe that our unnatural preoccupation with physical beauty and attractiveness holds us women back in many ways, particularly if the time spent on grooming or comparing oneself to another could be better spent in areas of...
Labor’s Daniel Andrews has been reelected as Victoria’s Premier, winning by a huge landslide and humiliating Liberal opponent Matthew Guy in the process. His victory a clear sign that his “positive and optimistic plan” was heavily endorsed by the majority of Victorian voters. In Mulgrave’s Village Green Hotel, Mr Andrews delivered a victory speech to...
The US government’s Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) just released its much anticipated Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report which provides a detailed look at how climate change will impact the country. The NCA4 report billed as “the report that the Trump Administration doesn’t want you to see” was released on the Friday after Thanksgiving and buried under...
Several years ago I began to notice that Australian retail businesses were starting to get in on America’s Black Friday day of shopping bonanza by offering sales and discounts and promoting them constantly on social media, annoying me greatly in the process. I began receiving email marketing specifically about Black Friday promotions, even from ‘sustainable’...
I live on a 120-acre property surrounded by trees and Australian wildlife and am connected with the natural environment in ways that most people aren’t. Each morning I make a cup of coffee and head to the verandah to watch the trees dancing in the wind, the birds playing kiss chase and my flowers greeting...
There’s no stopping Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. The Democrat wonderkid who became the youngest person ever to be elected into Congress at the recent US midterms isn’t wasting time; just over a week into winning her Congressional race and not yet sworn in (this happens in January) she is already pushing for long-term climate agenda....
UK-based not-for-profit organisation Sinchi advocates for marginalised and indigenous communities around the world, raising awareness of their plights as well as providing a platform for indigenous people to share their own stories to ensure better representation in the media. According to the organisation, there is an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, representing 5,000...
You can’t flick through your Instagram feed nowadays without a social media influencer trying to cram a product or experience down your throat, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Whether they’re posting about the freebie they were just sent by a brand, posing for a photo sponsored by a brand, in an outfit gifted by a brand,...
Communities, green groups and timber companies have long been at loggerheads with one another over the protection and management of Australia’s forests, most recently in Victoria where activists have been protesting Australian Paper’s logging of Victoria’s forests. However, old scores seem to have been settled with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Australia announcing the launch of its...