Sustainability News | Breaking Headlines from Week 34, 2020
This week in headlines: Luxiders Magazine brings you the most important sustainability news from across the world. From Selena Gomez’s new vegan, beauty brand to how Covid-19 is impacting our environment, Luxiders lets you stay informed so you'll never have to miss an update.
How Fenty Skin Is Embracing Sustainability
Adopting the 3 R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle in every tenet of her business, Rihanna’s inspiring skincare line ‘Fenty Skin’ is dedicated to becoming eco-conscious. From offering refills for popular beauty items to eliminating unnecessary packaging on an absolute scale, Fenty Skin aims to reduce plastic pollution and minimise waste. Proving that your everyday beauty routine does not need to compromise the wellbeing of our planet, Fenty utilises vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free formulas that exclude harmful ingredients, in order to be kind to the planet and our skin.
Selena Gomez Launches Vegan Beauty Brand
On September 3rd, Selena Gomez will be launching her new, vegan beauty brand ‘Rare’, available to purchase at Sephora and rarebeauty.com. Although individual product lines have not been revealed yet, Selena has shared with us the philosophy behind the brand: ‘Our vision is to create a safe, welcoming space in beauty—and beyond—that supports mental well-being across age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, cultural background, physical or mental ability, and perspective.’
Celebrating the beauty of our imperfections, Rare Beauty was set up in line with the Rare Impact Fund; an organisation dedicated to supporting mental services in underserved communities. For every product sold, 1% of all profits will be donated to this cause.
How Food Frugality Is A Climate Boon
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, many people have embraced thriftiness in a bid to become more resourceful and reduce food waste. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, approximately a third of the world’s food is wasted every year, contributing to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, forest destruction and oceanic pollution. However, during lockdown, food waste from bread, chicken, milk and potatoes in the UK fell by 10%. If such habits were to continue and be adopted worldwide, we can expect a major boost in tackling the global climate crisis.
RSPO Underlines New Criteria For Sustainable Palm Oil
A study by researchers from the University of Queensland and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decision, have recently discovered that The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO); an internationally recognised certification scheme for the commodity, is not as sustainable as it may seem. Through assessing a series of sustainability metrics, including habitat conservation, biodiversity and social benefits to local communities, the study concluded that plantations certified by RSPO, in reality, perform no better than non-RSPO estates.
In response to this, the RSPO have set out new guidelines within their Principles and Criteria (P&C) report; aiming to halt deforestation, protect ecosystems and improve workers’ rights.
Earth Overshoot Day Postponed Since Covid-19
Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, humanity’s ecological footprint has declined by 9.3% in comparison to the same period last year. Carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 14.5% and the Earth Overshoot Day, measuring the point at which human consumption exhausts the amount of natural resources that the planet can generate for the year, was pushed back by over three weeks from July 29th to August 22nd 2020.
However, this temporary environmental recovery should not be celebrated at the cost of millions of people losing their lives. Systemic change in energy infrastructure and environmental standards must be at the forefront of the economic response once we emerge from this crisis. It is upon us to pressure change. We cannot come out of this having learned nothing, we cannot exit one crisis by entering another.
The International Vegan Film Festival Goes Virtual
In celebration of the vegan ideal: ‘a healthier, more compassionate, environmentally friendly lifestyle that can be achieved through the consumption of plants and animal-free alternatives’, The International Vegan Film Festival will be hosting its third annual event online. From the 10th-17th of October , the festival will take place through a series of digital screening, panels and filmmaker discussions. For further information, visit the IVFF website here.
The ‘Zero-Waste’ Design System Able To Reform Fashion Industry
Winner of the Activate Movement grant for sustainable design, Royal College of Art Graduate, Danielle Elsener, has developed a ground-breaking new toolkit to help fashion designers reduce textile waste. Based off a series of pattern masters; quintessentially curved rulers set at 45 degrees which help designers square off patterns, Elsener’s ‘A020 system’ allows designers to use every inch of fabric when pattern cutting. Approaching any piece of fabric like a puzzle, the system lets any empty space serve a purpose within the finish garment. In an interview with Dezeen, Elsener explains ‘I did the maths and saving just one per cent of material waste on a high-volume style could save 20 million kilograms of waste and an insane amount of money.’ Thus, her invention could help propel the fashion industry towards a future of zero-waste.
