Today the world is celebrating the 50th Earth Day!  Do you think we have made progress over the past 50 years in terms of preserving Mother Earth or are we treating her worse?  I'm willing to bet that we have made progress in some areas and have gotten worse in others, i.e. plastic consumption and disposable product mentality for starters.  Do you know that there are "Garbage Patches" in almost all of the world's oceans and in many smaller bodies of water like the Mediterranean and North Seas?  These are massive collections of marine debris made up of plastic and other debris.

As consumers we need to influence change with our wallets and support those businesses who are leading the sustainability charge.  We make conscious decisions every time we make a purchase, look at where you're shopping, do their values align with yours?  What are they doing to decrease their footprint on the earth? What do they care about?  Ask yourself, is this thing that I'm considering for purchase going to last a long time or am I going to be done with this item in the near term?  Will it end up in the trash sooner rather than later or will someone else benefit from this when I'm finished with it?  I have told my kids plenty of times no I'm not supporting the crap factory in China, but I have also caved many times as well.  I bought Pez candy for Easter and I felt guilty because I knew the dispensers would end up in the trash. Why did I do that?  Such a parent fail in a moment of weakness. 

The money that you spend as a consumer empowers the businesses you're supporting so are you supporting sustainability or are you adding to the problem in some way?  What do you do as a consumer when you're presented only with irresponsible choices, i.e. you need to buy a beverage and all of your options are plastic bottles?  This is where businesses bear the responsibility of making their own changes to prevent the need for regulation.  Why wait for government to make mandates when you have the ability to change your own course on your terms?  It will cost you less in the long run!

As business owners we need to actually have sustainability goals declared in order to work towards executing on them.  It's either a priority to a business or it's not.  Sustainability was one of Vintage Magnality's founding principles, starting with vintage pieces of jewelry.  You can't get greener than that!  No new mining or use of harmful chemicals to mine the metals and gems with vintage jewelry, it already exists!  We use zero plastic in our packaging and have built out a packaging partner alliance with companies that have the same values that we do.  We are using packaging items that are made from recycled products and or materials that are made from utilizing sustainable practices. After all, if you aren't using or buying products made from recycled material are you even recycling?  Circularity, will be the topic of a future blog post. We also value small batch production across the board and hand crafted artisan production for our custom made silk velvet Versailles jewelry boxes.  

Buy less disposable things, buy vintage, buy products made from recycled materials, recycle, love your Mother Earth.  Happy Earth Day!