It’s that time of the year again! We at Craghoppers would like to wish you all a happy Earth Day! A day created to celebrate our world, the environment and wildlife Earth Day is the world’s largest force in seeking environmental movement, working with more than 150,000 partners in over 192 countries to drive effective and direct action for the planet. But what is the history of Earth Day? What is the theme for 2023? In this blog we will explain the history of Earth Day and how Craghoppers supports the movement.
The Birth of Earth Day
The first Earth Day started in 1970, with junior senator of Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, becoming disillusioned and angry with the deteriorating environment in the USA and wanting to enact action. In 1969, using the youth’s passion toward the anti-war movement, he looked to raise public consciousness around air and water pollution with similar protests. Enlisting the help of Pete McCloskey, Republican Congressman and a young activist named Denis Hayes, they organised campus teach-ins on April 22nd, a weekday falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, to maximize the greatest student participation. The movement grew across the entire country, with 20 million Americans (10% of the population at the time) taking to the streets and parks to protest. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labour leaders and led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and various Environmental Laws.
In 1990 Earth Day went global, with 200 million people in 141 countries participating in movements across the globe. Senator Gaylord Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his role in founding Earth Day.
The Theme of Earth Day 2023
The theme for Earth Day 2023 is ‘Invest In Our Planet’ as we need to “We need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). It’s going to take all of us. All in. Businesses, governments, and citizens — everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable. A partnership for the planet.”-EARTHDAY.ORG. This is the same theme from 2022 and calls on EVERYONE to stand up and make a change.
Craghoppers Commitment
At Craghoppers, we are firm believers in supporting Sustainability and Earth Day. We believe in sustainable fashion, which is why we use our Mindfully Made processes. 2020 and 2021 were milestone years in our sustainability journey. In 2020 we were awarded Drapers Sustainable Fashion Brand Of The Year and shortlisted for the Drapers Positive Change Award in 2021. Whilst we were honoured with these achievements, we didn’t want to stop there. We want to continue to make positive progress every year and bring our factories and suppliers along with us.
- In 2022 we joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and will be working collaboratively with other likeminded companies using the Higg Index to enable us to benchmark our current performance against the best sustainability initiatives around, helping us set targets for our continuous improvement.
- Through our work with the ETI, 68,000 factory workers are covered by the ETI Base Code and we inspect 122 factories across 9 countries. Due to our continued commitments to sustainability, 70% of our products are made from recycled materials. Since 2016 there has been zero landfill from any of our UK facilities.
- Since 2015, we have recycled over 100 million plastic bottles.
- At Craghoppers, we wholeheartedly believe in using renewable and compostable materials in our company. Recycling materials is a key component of this which is why our swing tickets are made from renewable and compostable sugar cane and all brand, tech and non-tech swing tickets have been reduced in size. Due to this, we have managed to save enough paper to cover the surface area of the Derwent reservoir, 4.36KM2.
- All swing tickets including the string attached and polybags are now 100% recycled.
- We installed solar panels at our Manchester HQ in April 2021 and between December 2021, our co2 emissions were reduced by 466 tonnes
- Project 5 is our colleague-led initiative created to encourage others to reduce their carbon footprint by 50% by 2025. Last year, we had our f.irst Green Awards celebrating carbon saving ideas from colleagues that can positively impact on the business
- Working with Lanzatech, we have used a process that reshapes carbon waste by using CO2 emissions as the starting point. We call it CO2RENU technology and our new 4-piece CO2 Fleece Collection will be available online and instore from September this year
- We are a platinum supporter of the queens queen canopy. We organise staff volunteering tree planting sessions in areas of Greater Manchester that need it the most. We also support local primary schools to help them plant their own trees.
- In 2022, we joined the sustainable apparel coalition and will be working collaboratively with other likeminded companies helping us to see targets for continuous improvement
Our Partners
Our World matters to us & our families, and so we have been working with a rage of incredible conservation programmes throughout the years and we support a number of conservation projects including the Galapagos Conservation Trust, Saving The Survivors and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Working with these fantastic organisations have been eye opening and to see first hand the fantastic work they do for our planet, environment and endangered species is truly amazing. From establishing poaching defences t clearing our world's oceans, they tirelessly work to keep our planet safe.
We have recently announced a new partnership with the Conservation Collective and will be providing financial support and gear for their two of there fantastic causes. You can learn more about this partnership here.
If you’re interested in learning more about Earth Day and what you can do to participate you can visit their website here. Happy Earth Day!