A recent article by David Montgomery in the Washington Post magazine asks “is hope even rational anymore” when it comes to the fate of the planet. Demoralized and exhausted by the endless loop of sad, scary, bewildering news, the author began to find himself having trouble getting through climate related articles when, in Montgomery’s telling “each one reads like a case of senseless, bloody murder.” The author’s search for hope amidst disaster and despair is all too relatable for those of us that struggle with crippling existential anxiety when it comes to the planet’s future.

In the piece, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye tells Montgomery that for her, hope can be found when we ask ourselves “what are the things that are within my reach?” What small part of this can I take on and make a difference? At such a late stage in the climate crisis we struggle with the idea that small acts will eventually equal big change (and apparently so does Montgomery) - we certainly don’t have the time for everyone to take easy, palatable baby steps toward a cleaner future. But we do subscribe to the idea that there is something to be said for the empowerment that comes with starting a difficult task, and sometimes a first step takes place when we begin with what is within our grasp right now, today. For us, there are the myriad small ways we’ve changed in our personal lives – shopping pre-owned, changing to toothpaste “bites” in glass jars, finding reusable floss containers, shampoo bars, laundry pods, and a worm composting bin for food scraps (that’s been sitting in a closet just begging to be figured out for months...). And then there are the more significant ways that we function as a company to make a difference, like exploring new ways to package, clothing fabrics made from recycled waste, collaborations with like-minded companies and artisans, and setting up initiatives to raise money for causes to combat the climate crisis and affected communities. We’re nowhere near perfect and aspire everyday to find ways to reduce our footprint further but for us, there is some small measure of hope in the idea that each one of us has it within our reach to make changes that will create less stress on the planet immediately.

So while the only single day holiday we buy into to celebrate a mother comes in May (a healthy and thriving mother earth can't be thought about and celebrated for one day every year) we will take any excuse to raise money for a favorite environmental institution. For the month of April, 10% of the proceeds from every sale (already placed and those yet to come) will be donated to the Environmental Defense Fund, one of the world's largest environmental advocacy groups.

– Jennifer and Alice