Nourish
- ISSUE ONE -
Nourish is a zine which aims to speak out about environmental and ethical issues which surround the fashion industry and our everyday lives. Being involved with creative people who want to speak out and make a change before its too late. However its not always criticism, we are also out to celebrate those who achieve there goal. We aim to cover a range of fashion features and lifestyle, as both play such a huge role in the way our everyday lives are effecting the environment. A particular focus is bringing together the publish written word and also digital work, it feels like something is missed out by them not crossing over more. The process of this digital work comes in the memory stick which is with this fanzine, this will hold a couple of digital pieces. If the memory stick is returned then the next zine is free, the thought process behind this is keeping paper at a low and also the waste of memory sticks. But by doing this hopefully more can be done.
Contents Find me where the wild things are- fashion shoot Whats the real cost for fast fashion- Film Review Matt&Nat Product Review Laney Birkhead’s swarm project- Interview Eat seasonally feature Ecosia Q&A
FIND ME WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
WHAT IS THE REAL COST FOR FAST FASHION?
ReviewThe True Cost Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world! There is no doubt in my mind that this is the number one reason for everyone to takean interest in fashion, whether creatively or from a practical point of view. A great place for people to start, is to really open their eyes to the consequences of our daily actions when it comes to buying clothes. Andrew Morgan’s documentary film ‘The True Cost’, gives insight to the ugly side of ‘Fast fashion’ and the horrors which so many people are unknowing supporting. Morgan dives into the depth of the lowest point of the supply chain, taking us to garment factories in Cambodia and Bangladesh, to see the consequences these cheap clothing are having on those who make them. Uncovering the exploitation of those who only make $3 a day to work long hours in generous environments. While also showing how they are dealing with the looming memory of the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza Building which killed more than 1,000 workers, the majority of which were women and children. As well as this we get to see the reaction of the Western consumer, from those trying to change this, to those who believe ‘there are a lot worse things they could be doing’. Not only do we see the effect on workers but also the environmental effects, as we see Haiti where millions of tons of our castoff clothing has been clogging landfills and destroying local clothing industry. There is also the issue with pesticide- infused cotton fields which is raise and the abundance of chemicals dumped into the waters of developing countries which have lead to soring rates in cancer and birth defects. While I’m sure there are sections which Morgan could have gone into in much more detail and depth, this film truly acts as an eye opener for those in search of quick basic knowledge
. Although as with all films of this nature, it is not a comfortable watch, it is something which effects us all in some way and something which needs to stop being allowed to slide.I would recommend this film for everyone, it is most definitely a necessary watch and leaves you reflecting on not only your own actions but the way the world around you acts. Morgan has done an excellent job to create a capturing and emotive documentary film with a real human feel. As demonstrated in the film, we don’t really profit from ‘fast fashion’. We are encouraged and convinced to spend the majority of our income on this new fashion, rolling in quicker than our wages. Yes, the only people really benefitting from this questionable practise, are the big businesses and companies. Having the opportunity to exploit the poor and rinse the consumer. I would recommend this film for everyone, it is most definitely a necessary watch and leaves you reflecting on not only your own actions but the way the world around you acts. Morgan has done an excellent job to create a capturing and emotive documentary film with a real human feel. As demonstrated in the film, we don’t really profit from ‘fast fashion’. We are encouraged and convinced to spend the majority of our income on this new fashion, rolling in quicker than our wages. Yes, the only people really benefitting from this questionable practise, are the big businesses and companies. Having the opportunity to exploit the poor and rinse the consumer. I would recommend this film for everyone, it is most definitely a necessary watch and leaves you reflecting on not only your own actions but the way the world around you acts. Morgan has done an excellent job to create a capturing and emotive documentary film with a real human feel.
It takes
2720
letres of water to make a t-shirt Thats how much we normally drink in 3 years.
MATT &NAT
Matt&Nat have made themselves a household name for most dedicated vegans worldwide but what is it that makes their bags so popular. The company formed in Montreal in 1995, with the simple motto to ‘Live beautifully’. Since then they have been at the forefront of developing innovative ways to be sustainable and eco-friendly, over the years experimenting with a number of materials. Since 2007, their bag lining has been made from 100% recycled bottles, each bag using around 21 bottles. Along with their drive to be eco-friendly, they also state themselves they ‘don’t like hurting animals’ and have developed various vegan leathers to replace traditional leather bags. Something which is always high on my mind, as a devoted animal lover, I am always looking at ways to do that bit more. As well as being passionate about the production of their products, they are pa also encouraging customers to donate their unwanted bags to dressforsuccess.org. I have decided to review one of my Matt&Nat bags today to see their bags are really as great as they seem.
IS THE PRODUCT EASY TO USE?
It’s a great size bag, perfect fit for my laptop, books and other bits and pieces. The straps are a good size, and I’m about an average height. A zip around the edge, allowing for extra space. My only comment towards this really would be the zip can be tough to close but this is avoidable if you make an effort to be gentle with it. I think it’s just one of those things with a sturdy zip that will have to bear weight. The positive of this zip is that it completely opens and allows for it to full open, ensuring the bag doesn’t end up leaning to one sided.
IS IT OF A HIGH QUALITY?
The bag is of high quality; I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by the outer mater (I believe its PU). I’ve had a couple of comments from people at university asking where I got the bag and then being surprised its not leather. There have been no marks so far on the bag, or any show of wear and I have been using this as my day-to-day bag for the last month. It has to be noted that I’m also not very good at caring for bags, so for one to live my abuse is really some credit to the brand.
IS IT GEARED TOWARDS SOMEBODY LIKE ME?
I would argue that it is geared towards most people, for a student like me I do have to save to purchase a bag but as far as sustainable brands go Matt&Nat’s prices aren’t too bad. I would say style wise, they are all pretty classic looks. They have some quirkier colours and designs for those who want to be a bit more out there or who are looking for something a bit different. Whilst they also have more conservative browns, blacks and greys, for those looking for a more classic style.
HAVE OTHERS HAD A GOOD EXPERIENCE WITH THE PRODUCT?
Vegan blogger, Soy Division blog gave a review on the brand and one of the totes she recently bought. Although this review is back from 2014, she frequently replies to messages she still gets about the product with positive reviews. She recently bought another bag from the company, which I feel speaks for itself!
WHAT ALTERNATIVES ARE AVAILABLE, AND HOW DO THEY MEASURE UP?
I am quite new to vegan brands, so personally I don’t feel I could compare other brands in quality. However, there are a few different brands which I have seen recommended form vegan bloggers. These include, Wilby, LaBante and Stella McCartney.
IS THE PRODUCT WORTH MY MONEY?
These bags generally range from £80-£160 and I would definitely say this bags are worth the price and more really. I think I could spend all day going on about how much I love this brand. They have also started doing shoes which I look forward to trying in the future.
Laney Birkhead is a Yorkshire artist, who has decided to use her passion to make a change in people’s thought process when it comes to the way they can change environmental issues. Laney’s most recent project Swarm, has seen her invite over 1,500 people aged young to old, to come and print bees. By doing this she wants to create enough bees to represent a colony. Her reason for this is to visualise her strong views towards taking action when it comes to the decline in bees. I was able to meet her and find out a bit more about her inspiring project.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME AN ARTIST? Well I went to art college when I was 16, but before then I was always drawing and paint, when I was little. My dad, he wasn’t exactly an architect but he was a planner, a draftsman and he worked for a big engineering company. So he used to draw a lot with me when I was little and its all I ever wanted to do really.
with and it sort of stemmed from there really. WHAT HAS BEEN THE BEST PART OF DOING THE PROJECT? Its just meeting the people, and the response has been over whelming by people who have taken part in the workshops and want to come to the exhibition, want to help the bees.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIGGEST WHO’S YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATION? ENVIRONMENT ISSUE WE FACE IS? I would definitely say I’m inspired by my Its probably overpopulation, the fact there’s landscape and contemposo many of us and the world rary landscape artist such will always stay the same as Kirk Jackson who’s based “A life worth living size. So we are using more in Cornwall. I spent a lot of has been some- and more resources, squeezmy time in Cornwall, so he’s ing out our wildlife, squeezbeen quite a strong influence. thing you know in ing out our wild areas. Just that whole inspiration of seven generations what you want to say really. And what do you want to say from now you’ve DO YOU THINK THE in the present moment. Be- made a difference GOVERNMENT IS DOing inspired by someone, that ING ENOUGH TO TACKto that seventh LE THESE ISSUES? can change, on a weekly basis. Overall I would say being in- generation some- Well I think it tries but I do spired by the love of what feel its very complicated and how”. you’re doing because it teachmultilayered. I would like to es you new stuff all the time. see any government looking WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO DO THE SWARM PROJECT? Well I’m a bee keeper, as well as an artist and my bees I keep about a mile away from here. There’s a big problem with bee decline, the more I got interested in keeping bees the more I became aware of that problem and Id been looking for a way, for about the last 4 years to get my bees into my art practice. Without sort of drawing fluffy bees or just drawing bees for drawing bee’s sake. I wanted to find a way to make it a bit more meaningful. It sort of came about in a series of steps of wanting to raise awareness of bee decline but involve lots of people. I had an opportunity to run a couple of small workshops as part of a couple of exhibitions I was involved
to rather than just what’s good for now, what is good long term. I would really like to see my great-great-great grandchildren have bees in their garden and have a wonderfully clean environment. That everybody on the planet has clean water and enough food to eat and we aren’t polluting our seas with massive amount of plastic. We cant keep growing like we have been doing. Its an unsustainable system. There’s a lovely saying, I think its from the Native Americans Indians “A life worth living has been something you know in seven generations from now you’ve made a difference to that seventh generation somehow”. I feel that if I can do something through my art to make a difference in that way then that’s a life worth living.
WHAT WOULD BE THE ONE THING YOU WOULD SAY PEOPLE CAN DO TO HELP MAKE A DIFFERENT TO THE BEES? What we really need is bee habitat, because of farming practices and different ways people are using our landscape, there isn’t enough food for the bees. So the best thing you can do is plant flowers to give bees lots of food all year. Lots of people are saying I’ve got lots of flowers in my garden but they might not be the right types of flowers. So I’ve been educating people on making sure they plant bee friendly flowers which have lots of pollen, all year round as well. The more habitat we can create; the more bees we can save. WHAT ARE YOUR NEXT PLANS FOR THE SWARM OF BEES PROJECT AND FOR OTHER WORK? Swarm project is continuing to roll out so I have two exhibitions planned this year for it and I’m hoping I will be able to tour. I’ve had a lot of interest from people on seeing the instillation, the print is something like 175 meters squared, so its something that’s actually like a record breaking think. I don’t think anybody has every done a swarm of bees print so big. The idea is for people to feel like they’re in a hive of bees, which is 50,00 bees. I think if I can continue that. I’m also making a range of prints myself to educate people on how they can help the bees. So they’ll be limited edition prints and cards that I’ll be hoping to get distributed wholesale to garden centers as well as shops and gallery’s. Just continue the project, maybe design a series of workshops to go into schools. Pollination is on the national curriculum now thanks to the governments pollination strategy. I’ve been into a couple of schools already on the back of their pollination project and they have like 101questions on bees and they love it. I feel that has legs, or wings should I say. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the exhibitions because there’s 10 artist and 2 film makers involved. They’re all making new work about bees, I think its got a good self life really. It might turn into my life’s work I think. To listen to the interview and hear the unedited answers, go to the Laney Birkhead Interview on the memory stick. And for more information on Laney projects or exhibition dates visit her website; http://laneybirkhead.com.
Food Mileage •
95% of our fruit comes from abroad.
•
Half of our vegetables are imported.
• 30% of all goods transported by lorry around the UK are foodstuffs. • Food imports increased from 13.5m tonnes in 1992 to just over 16m tonnes by 2002. • Whilst only 1% of food is transported by air, it accounts for 11% of carbon emissions. • Rainforest the size of ten football pitches is felled every second, some of which to make room for exported food crops. •
Since 1992, the amount of food
flown by ‘plane has risen by 140%.
In the forever growing health conscious society we all live in, its easy to see how people can feel encouraged or even pressured to eat more fruit and vegetables. What many people wont think of is the journey many of these foods have taken, and more importantly what the consequences of this are. It is encouraged that we should try and eat seasonally but what are the reasons for this? Does it really matter? That is something we are looking to explore. So here are our Top seven reasons to eat seasonal
1
Nutrition- Plants get their nourishment from the sun and soil. The plant has had more sun exposure, which means it will have higher levels of antioxidants!
2 3
Economy- Simply supply and demand. Seasonal food is much cheaper to produce for the farmers who would rather sell their products for a lower price, than not at all.
4
Organic/Free of Pesticides- Food grown outside of their season or natural environment need a lot more human assistance in forms of pesticides, waxes, chemicals and preservatives. By choosing local and seasonal food, you are also more likely to get a cleaner product!
5 6
Community- Getting to know where your food is coming from, who is growing your food and how they do it also makes you feel more connected to that whole process.
7
Environment- Seasonal produce can grow without too much added human assistance i.e. pesticides and genetically modification. food is more likely to be locally produced as well, which reduces the load on our environment due to transport, or “food mileage”.
Variety- it’s healthy for our bodies; by changing our menu according to what’s available you are also less likely to develop food intolerances. Harmony- Living in tune with nature’s rhythm makes us more aware and appreciative of the beauty around us. Embracing the natural rhythm of things also helps simplify our lives.
Feel inspired? Why not try our seasonal recipe? We will include one each issue, our helping hand to you. CURRENTLY IN SEASON- asparagus, broccoli, jersey royal new potatoes, lettuce & salad leaves, new potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli, radishes, rocket, samphire, spinach, spring onions, watercress, wild nettles
Hamburg Parsley
Broccoli
Butternut squash
Rainbow carrots
Leeks
Courgette
I happened to be sat one day wasting my life away on social media, when I came across what I believe to be one of the most exciting concepts of the digital world trying to help environmental issues. I came across their Facebook page which currently has a modest 229,700 likes. So what is ecosia? It’s a German based company who have combined the one thing we do everyday, surfing the web and created a concept which allows us to help the environment. The company describes itself as a ‘CO2 neutral search engine which donates 80% of its incomes to a tree
planting program. With an aim to plant as many trees as possible, I have to say I find this company wonderfully refreshing. There attitudes to support people over profit is somthing you rarely see now days. Despite being up at running since 2009, I still dont feel like this group of people are getting the amount of attention they deserve. For more information see the Ecosia section of the attached memory stick attached.
I was lucky enough to get to complete a Q&A with the company’s head of publication, Jacey bingler. WHERE DID THE NAME ECOSIA COME FROM?
Christian wanted to find a name that would sound like a mix between “Ecosystem” and “Utopia” and ecosia.org was still available as a domain!
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIGGEST ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE WE FACE IS?
Wow, this is really hard to answer. We determined deforestation and climate change as the issues we wanted to tackle, but there are so many more topics that need our attention. The biggest problem might be, that many people are scared and feel paralysed when faced with the pressing matters humanity has created for itself. So the biggest challenge is to convince people that they can actually change something with their everyday behaviour, as long as they try to act a little more responsibly by choosing environmentally friendly, fair trade, regional or sustainable alternatives every now and then
DO YOU THINK THE DIGITAL WORLD SHOULD MAKE MORE OF AN EFFORT TO HELP MAKE A CHANGE TO THE WAY WE THINK OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES?
Definitely. What we love about Ecosia is that it’s basically a tool that allows users to capitalise on a daily habit. By doing something that is actually useful to themselves (just think about how many times you consult a search engine each day), they can support a good cause without any cost or effort on their side. The digital world offers so many opportunities for social businesses. Where there is the option to monetise a product, often times through ads, there is the possibility of donating large parts of the profits generated through advertising.
We believe that many more companies will join the movement and start supporting good causes with the money they make. We hope to inspire other businesses by leading the way and proving that you can actually pay your employees, cover your office rent, server costs, generate savings etc and at the same time donate significant amounts of money to a good cause every month.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BEST THING OUR READERS COULD DO TO TACKLE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES?
Just spend a little time looking for alternatives whenever you can afford it. As long as you aren’t too strict with yourself, chances you will enjoy choosing environmentally friendly alternatives and will stick to it, are pretty high. And if you can find everyday products and tools that do the donating part for you, even better!
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE ECO-FRIENDLY OR SUSTAINABLY BRAND?
There are plenty! ;) We are generally huge fans of the B Corp movement, just because it offers such a great overview of all kinds of different social businesses and eco-friendly brands. We joined the movement in 2014 and are really happy that more and more companies are getting onboard.
WHAT DIRECTION DO YOU HOPE ECOSIA TO TAKE?
If we want to reach our goal and plant 1 billion trees in total, we will have to convince many more people to use Ecosia. We celebrated 4 million planted trees in early April 2016, which is huge, but we still have a long way to go. Luckily, our users are really amazing and usually share us with their friends and families. The more people use Ecosia, the more trees we can plant!