Fascination Sustainability

At the end of 2016, we at Green Pearls® would like to reflect on the fundamental topic of our work: sustainability. Renewable energy, waste reduction, biodegradable cleaning products, natural materials, social commitment – there are so many exciting options to live sustainability.

Here is a personal impression from the Green Pearls® team about topics that move, inspire and fascinate us.

Stefany

Sustainable  tourism is an exciting subject that most people primarily associate with environmental protection. But social responsibility is also one important pillar of sustainability. The subjects are fair payment, local hirement regardless to  skin colour, gender or religious affiliation. This encloses all positions in an enterprise, also management positions. Only if we provide education for people, we succeed on the long run in changing things. The people whom we train and educate pass on their knowledge to their families and the communities  Education and knowledge protects against fanaticism and can also prevent terrorism.

Katja

For me, sustainable fashion is an interesting topic. The fashion industry belongs to the top industries worldwide. I love fashion, but I want it to be fairly produced. I do not want children to sew my clothings as they need to support their families. The tragedy of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh three years ago, where 1100 employees died and 2200 were injured, caused many consumers to reflect more. Also brands like H&M with the fashion line Conscious see the need. When the first phosphate-free detergent was put on the market, the industry smiled. Today, no detergent contains phosphates. At the beginning, eco-fashion was ugly and expensive. Today, there are great labels that are affordable.

My favorites are Peopletree (cute dresses, nice designs, beautiful cotton fabrics), Nicolo (handmade, classical shoes and bags), Luxaa from Halle (classic cuttings with twist) and Studio Ecocentrik (for fans of retro blouses, pencil skirt, fashion if the 30s til 70s).

Katrin

For me, the most exciting and most important topic of sustainability is, next to social responsibility for all people, animal protection. Due to overbreeding, low public awareness regarding animal keeping, little understanding of the long-term obligation regarding animals, we created the situation ourselves. We all are responsible for the health and the species-approriate keeping of animals. But not only strays and animal shelters need our support: through our extrem and unconscious meat consumption, we accept factory farming and animal transports. With a conscious decision for species-appropriate animal keeping and the moderate consumption of local meat, we can counter this. Thus, we do not only support animals, but also our health.

Lydia

I personally find initiatives and projects for the protection of our valuable resources fascinating. Resource protection is environmental protection! Remarkably are alternative methods for regenerative energy production, for example with solar, geothermal energy or biomass. Thanks to our “green pearls”, I get to know new great approaches: for example how olive stones are turned into pellets that serve for energy generation. Thats what I call creative! With the help of fantastic energy concepts, some green properties even are climate neutral. Also the minimization of water consumption is part of resources protection. I am fascinated by modern technologies, such as reverse osmosis system, to generate fresh water and thus reduce the waste of precious resources.

You see, there are thousands of interesting facets of sustainability and topics that will accompany us in the new year of 2017. Together with you, we are looking forward to new green stories!