In 2017, an estimated 821 million people were undernourished, an increase from 784 million in 2015. Sustainable Development Goal 2, also known as Goal 2 is labeled as “ZERO HUNGER”. Its goal is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

When you brand our bags with your logo, we want you and your customers to be proud to carry that bag. Many prefer to choose branded products that are affordable and empower the people who make the product. Our products do just that, they reflect your principles and support your corporate social responsibility goals.

By implementing the SDGs, the United Nation Members envisioned a world free of poverty, hunger, disease, fear, and violence. A world with access to quality education, social protection, a world, “… where human habitats are safe, resilient and sustainable and where there is universal access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy” and more. The SDGs are ambitious and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.

Gender inequality in the workforce still exists and there is not much being done. Women are still paid less than men, when asking for a promotion women are likely to be called bossy or aggressive, women still face sexual harassment at their workplace and more. Gates acknowledges that $1 billion is a large amount but it is ‘only a small fraction of what’s necessary’ for gender equality.

Fairtrade to us, is a solution that makes a difference in the people who grow and make things we love. Fairtrade organizations including Fairtrade America, Fair Trade USA, and Fair Trade Federation set standards to alleviate the poverty and exploitation of farmers and workers by providing better wages and reforming work conditions.

When you start exploring sustainable fashion, you may not find a definition of ‘Sustainable Fashion’. Sustainable Fashion is a movement and it is constantly changing. One can argue that they are supporting sustainable fashion by purchasing from brands who put emphasizes in their environmental and social impacts or one can argue by shopping second hand/thrift shopping.

Today, many businesses are taking sustainability into consideration and rethinking the impact they have on the environment. They are making sustainability part of their business model, all while educating and bringing awareness about the green future to their employees as well as their customers. Not only are businesses setting examples but colleges are doing the same. Many colleges are encouraging their students to rethink the way they interact with their surroundings.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans created an average of 4.48 pounds of trash each day in 2015. Moreover, the average person born in the US creates 13 times as much damage to the environment as someone born in Brazil, uses 35 times the resources of a typical person in India, and consumes about 53 times more products than people who live in China (World Economic Forum, 2017). To reduce their everyday trash and further prevent themselves from negatively impacting the environment, many are gearing up to live waste-free life or plastic free life.

Canvas Tote Bags are some of the most versatile bags you can own. They vary in size, shape, and color, meaning you can choose any canvas tote bag to suit your needs. Canvas is an incredibly versatile, heavy duty material. At Gallant international, our Tote Bag canvas is made from organic cotton. We make our canvas from GOTS certified organic cotton to benefit the environment, farmers and workers. Canvas material are also commonly made from linen and hemp. 

GOTS was developed with the aim of defining requirements internationally that ensure the organic status of textiles from harvesting of the raw materials through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing all the way to labeling in order to provide a credible assurance to the end consumer.

The US is on top of the list when it comes to the amount of meat that is consumed. According to the World Economic Forum, a US citizen eats an average of around 97 kg of meat per year. This is around 213.848 lbs of meat!  We all know the benefits of meat and dairy; they provide nutritional value and help us keep up with a balanced diet. However, it comes with health and climate risks.

According to the United Nations (UN), we only have about a decade to keep global warming, “… to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.” The consequences of climate change are freighting, there will be a shift in the weather pattern that will threaten food production, rising sea levels will increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, there will be more drought and heat waves.

The world is facing a catastrophe when it comes to the disposal of waste. Most of the world’s waste consists of plastic bags, bottles, and other plastic packaging. Plastic bags are consumed at a rate of 500 billion to 1 trillion per year. Every minute, approximately one million plastic bags are used. Many are asking, how can we decrease these massive numbers? Opting for reusable produce bags or eco-friendly bags is a great place to start.

Greta Thunberg was born in 2003. By the time she was nine she was troubled by climate change, not knowing why people were not doing anything about it. In protest, at the age of 11 she stopped speaking, today she sees that ‘selective mutism’ as the first step to understanding the power and necessity of speaking at all. This determined 16-year-old is a vegan and has given up flying. Finding her ability to persuade, as she did with her parents, Greta decided to broaden her audience to bring awareness and do something about the climate change.

Meghan Markle has been closely observed by many since her engagement to Prince Harry. She has been using this opportunity to shine a spotlight on many sustainable brands. Celebrities using their platform to promote conscious and sustainable fashion is not new.

Thinking about going zero waste or perhaps wondering how can sustainably shop or eat? These 5 women will help you cut down your waste!

Fashion is a $2.5 trillion global industry. In 2017, the US alone spent $380 billion on apparel and footwear. Waste of this industry? 92 million tones, that is 4% of the world’s waste per year. An average American throws away over 68 pounds of textiles per year directly into landfills. With the rise of fast fashion, we are negatively impacting the environment. Fast Fashion brands like H&M, Zara, Missguided, Forever 21 and more are bringing new ‘‘trendy’ wear to their stores (and online) every week. This, of course, is affecting the way people shop, the waste they create and how they discard this waste.

Climate change is real, it is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous peoples of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.”

Your friends, family or even you yourself may have gone through your closet, picked a piece of clothing and asked, ‘Does it spark joy?” after Netflix released “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”. If your clothes sparks joy that’s great, keep it, use it and mend it! If It doesn’t then you may think about throwing it away which we do not want you to do since Americans, “… throw away 13 million tons of textiles — about 85 percent of their clothes — each year, accounting for 9 percent of total non-recycled waste”.

41 million Americans are food insecure and 12-13 million children in America face hunger. To make the matter worse, in the United States, 40 percent of all food is wasted, costing us $218 billion.. We need to educate ourselves on how we purchase, consume and discard food. In 2014 FAO reported that the global water footprint of food wastage is equivalent to three times the size of Lake Geneva. The World Economic Forum states that Earth’s 1 billion hungry people could be fed on less than a quarter of the food wasted in the US and Europe.