Here at LaBante, we care about the environment and about animal welfare. That is why all of our products are 100% vegan. We strive to use materials that are eco-friendly; from using recycled bottles as the lining of our handbags, to creating faux leather out of vegetable waste. We believe that fashion shouldn’t harm the world around us or have a negative impact on the people that we employ,
The state of the earth and the wildlife within it is in crisis, and every day we are hearing more and more about the impact that human practices are having on our wild places, and the damage that we are causing to the environment. Luckily, there is hope thanks to the work of some truly outstanding charities. We’ve selected a few of our favourites to share with you.
The Jane Goodall Institute emphasises the strength of the individual. They believe that every single one of us has the power to do their bit to help the environment.
She focuses on local people taking charge of projects in their local area, encouraging people to do good within that community. This has had great success in parts of Africa, with the locals championing conservation efforts and helping to protect the chimpanzees that they share their home with.
Jane has done extensive research into the habitat and behaviours of chimpanzees, discovering things about these wonderful creatures that was before unknown to science. Through this work, she has uncovered just how complex the lives of one of our closest relatives really is, and how like us they can be at times. She is dedicated to saving their habitat and rebuilding their decreasing numbers, starting with education.
This includes giving talks around the world about the wonderful social behaviours she has seen in chimpanzees, as well as the damage we have done to their home. Poachers are still a big danger to these caring animals, with babies taken from their dead mothers to be sold on as pets. Through education, Jane hopes to put an end to this practice.
Roots & Shoots is another of Jane Goodall’s charities, and it furthers the focus of local people caring for local problems. It is an education program for young people of all ages and from around the globe.
Roots & Shoots has now been brought to the UK and is active in over 1,600 schools. These groups provide environmental education for young people, with projects that help the local community and wildlife. It is focused on fun and learning, teaching children about the world around them.
While the programme shows kids how they can be helpful in their communities, it also teaches about the global picture. Through international campaigns, the children of Roots & Shoots can get involved in saving the world.
Funded solely through donations, this environmental charity not only educates our young people about nature and climate change, it makes getting out of doors fun at the same time. This program is showing kids how they can be the activists in the future, that it shouldn’t be something strange, but something automatic. It teaches them that caring for our planet is everyone’s responsibility, and it is something that we should be doing all the time.
No Sweat is a UK humanitarian charity whose work is important for everyone involved in the fashion industry. They research and campaign against the use, and the existence of sweatshops making the goods we find on our high street. They protest against child labour, forced overtime, and harassment of women workers. No Sweat stands for:
A Living Wage. No worker should have to work all the hours in the day just to buy food for their family. That’s why No Sweat firmly believes in a fair wage for everyone, meaning that hours can stay reasonable.
Safe Working Conditions. After the Rana Plaza disaster, safe working conditions have become more prominent in everyone’s minds. No one should go to work wondering if today is the day that they have an accident. This includes ending forced overtime, where an accident is so much more likely to happen.
Independent Trade Unions. If something is wrong at work, a trade union gives workers the voice that they so desperately need. It should be everyone’s right to have the option of joining a union if they want to, and so many countries don’t allow this.
PETA is an animal welfare charity which was founded in March 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco. PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
It was one of the first charities of its kind and works tirelessly for animal rights. It first rose to fame in 1981 during the Silver Springs macaque case. Alex Pacheco infiltrated the research laboratory and took pictures of the moneys in terrible conditions. These photos were then passed on to the police and resulted in the first police raid on an animal laboratory in the US. This campaign even lead to an amendment to the United States Animal Welfare Act.
Today, PETA is an international movement completely dedicated to animal rights. They have previously mounted protests against the fur trade and wearing fur at fashion shows, cosmetic testing on animals, and hunting.
The charity has always caused controversy, with some disagreeing with the shock tactics that it uses. However, it has undeniably worked. PETA has brought to our attention animal abuse issues that would have continued to be swept under the rug for as long as possible. They only want to ensure that people know the truth, so that cruelty to animals can be eradicated.
Greenpeace is an environmental charity that is dedicated to stopping climate change and protecting our endangered species. Greenpeace’s aim is to care for the planet that we live in, and for humans to take a look at the destruction that they are causing and do more to prevent it.
Greenpeace focuses on three major environmental campaigns:
Climate Change. At Greenpeace, climate change is something that can be fought. It firmly believes that climate change doesn’t have to happen, and that by working together we can still reverse its effects on our world.
Our Oceans. Greenpeace works tirelessly to defend our oceans, protesting the overfishing that is destroying our marine biodiversity. It also highlights the devastating effects of plastic pollution in our waterways, campaigning to stop single-use plastic being used in so many of our shops.
Forests. Greenpeace knows that we have been cutting down the rainforest at an alarming rate – and it shows no signs of stopping. All of our forested areas are under threat, and this not only increases climate change, it also ruins the fragile biodiversity of these areas, causing many of our precious species to become critically endangered.
WildAid believes that when the buying stops, the killing will stop too. That is why this animal welfare charity works tirelessly to educate and put an end to the killing of animals for their body parts.
WildAid wants to dramatically reduce the use and consumption of wildlife products including shark finning and ivory poaching. The aim to increase support for conservation on a local level, educating people about the damage that wanton killing of our animals is having on the environment.
Through public as well as political will for further anti-poaching efforts, WildAid wants to not only protect our endangered species, but to reduce the impact that poaching, medicinal practices, and overfishing is having on our climate.
WildAid also campaigns for the public to reduce the amount of meat that they eat. Large farms are part of the reason that climate change is so bad, and that swaths of forest are being destroyed. Using films and other media outlets, WildAid shows that if everyone just made a reduction in the amount of meat that they ate, then production would also have to go down, so helping our planet to recover.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or RSPCA as it’s more commonly known, is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world, founded in 1824.
It is one of the largest charities in the UK, serving England and Wales but also with groups that took inspiration from the RSPCA in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia to name but a few.
The RSPCA is well known in the UK due to its use of Inspectors, which it has used since its inauguration. These Inspectors respond to calls and reports of animals being mistreated or neglected and they have the power to remove an animal into the care of the RSPCA if they believe it needs to be removed. Primarily however, it wishes to educate people on how to look after animals so that this neglect doesn’t occur.
The RSPCA even has its own animal hospitals, where they take in and care for thousands of animals each year. This includes not only animals that are traditionally kept as pets, but wildlife as well. It runs a successful rehabilitation program for these animals in order to release as many as possible back into the wild.
LaBante London would like to say thank you to these vital charities, who are working so hard to protect our planet and the people and animals living on it.
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