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SavvyRaven.ca

Beautify your world; Cherish our planet.

By Peri LiveseyPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
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Wonders of our world. (All images by the author.)

This planet is a truly magnificent place of wonders unending: sea stretching out to the horizon, and the rocks it crashes against, or the shore it gently laps; forests spreading across hills and up mountains, green shot through with all the colours of the rainbow, of life, of trees flowers lichens insects mammals birds... Exquisite crystal-filled caves, badlands littered with ancient fossils, deserts, plains, deltas, lakes big and small and on and on around the globe more to see always changing day by day and season by season and the sky above it all, clear blue or stormy grey or washed with a sunset palette, or filled with glowing rainbow rings like this:

Just Wow!

This was just recently (June 16, 2021, above Whitehorse, Yukon) - absolutely blew me away, kept me craning my neck and turning in circles for over two hours while it developed in the sky, rainbows around the sun and this huge white ring I could not capture in one photo lying horizontally above the land and passing through the sun... Freaking amazing!

Being alive on this astonishing planet fulfills me. Being alone in nature, absorbing its wonder, sustains me. I walk through the world, and I marvel.

I love this planet, in all its vast diversity. I want to help protect it from the havoc we wreak on it with our consuming ways.

Also, I am an artist, prone to producing beauty whenever I can. Being creative is an extention, an expression of the connection I feel to the land, to Earth, to life.

And as a human, living in this society, I need to earn a living.

So my grand plan to do my bit to save the planet, express myself, and make some money all at the same time, is to offer people an alternative to mass-produced, over-produced stuff in the form of eco-friendly athleisure wear, tech accessories, and home décor decorated with my images.

We are going to keep consuming things, and the production, shipping and disposal of said 'things' has an effect on our environment - so we need to consider those effects of our consumption, and limit the negative ones as much as possible. Buy less, for starters. Plain and simple. But when you do buy something, shop around for more than the lowest price - look for the lowest environmental impact.

Welcome to SavvyRaven.ca! Savvy to signify knowledge that leads to careful consideration, and Raven for the wild I want to help preserve and for the northern land I call home.

We humans populate this earth in vast numbers, and cannot help but have an impact on it. It is imperative for our own survival, as well as that of the rest of life, that we minimize that impact. So going into business, I wanted to be sure to add to the destruction of our planet as little as possible. To that end, I have chosen my business model and my suppliers very carefully.

I am starting a print on demand, drop shipping business. Print on demand is a great place to start to reduce waste. As an artist and seller, I don't have to guess which of my works customers will want most and print a whole lot of items with certain designs which might never sell and be stuck with lots of inventory. Instead, I can offer a wider array of designs, customers can choose which image they want on which item in which size, and that one item is made specifically for them. No piles of stuff no-one wants that then gets burnt or buried, which is a critical issue in the fashion industry, and in production in general.

Just some of the yoga sets I will be offering for sale. Inspired by nature and made of eco friendly polyester that takes significantly less water and power to produce than traditional textiles. Created when ordered. (The trippy rainbow in the background is made up of an upper tangent arc and a sun halo, I have learned.)

Further waste reduction can take place in the manufacturing stage, when the item your chosen print goes on is made. Some companies are run by people who care as much about other life as we do, people who put sustainability first. I have been scouring the internet to find those companies, and am working with four so far. These companies constantly look for ways to reduce waste at all steps of their processes. They take steps such as minimizing water usage in creating textiles, making fabrics from organic cotton, recycled fibers, or new polyesters produced in more sustainable ways. They optimize design layout to save fabric. They use renewable power, and less of it. They minimize waste, and recycle as much as possible of what's left over, including textiles.

The raw materials used in the first place make a difference, too, of course. I will feature bikinis made from at least 81% recycled polyester, yoga sets made from a specially-developed eco-polyester that uses less water and power in production than conventional fabrics, organic cotton tote bags, and hoodies made from a combination of organic cotton and recycled polyester. Items are printed with inks given the OEKO-TEX Eco Passport certification, which means they do not contain substances harmful to humans and that they have been manufactured in an ecologically responsible manner.

Tech accessories and some of the other items I intend to sell - such as water bottles, vegan leather clutches, and biodegradable phone cases - are manufactured and printed by a company with Intertek certification on all of their materials, finished products, and manufacturing processes to ensure total quality and safety throughout their supply chain. They also hold membership in Amfori, the 'leading global business association for open and sustainable trade'.

Some of Savvy Raven's most sustainably produced goodies, against a parhelic circle (that curved white line in the sky) above the clay cliffs of Whitehorse.

Once products are made, packaging and shipping provide yet more opportunities to make changes towards sustainability. The companies I am working with use minimal packaging to reduce waste while keeping the products safe, and have switched from new plastic to cardboard or recycled materials when possible. Two of the companies have multiple production facilities around the world, so can fulfill orders close to their destination, cutting down on shipping costs, both monetary and environmental. (The other does everything in Montreal, Canada, including having their fabrics specially made there, and so benefits from being a part of their local scene.)

I will be buying carbon credits, to offset carbon released into the atmosphere by transportation of products bought at SavvyRaven.ca. At this time, the money is going to reforestation efforts in the Amazon.

Of course another important consideration for all consumers is the people making the stuff we buy. Are they treated well, paid fairly, provided opportunities for growth? The companies I have chosen to work with have all made commitments to deal fairly with their own employees and to ensure that their suppliers do so as well. They recognize the worth of every human being, and the value of valuing others.

We're all part of a big, interconnected web of life, and we are responsible for each other.

Membership in Savvy Raven will include reminders of that, in one form or another. In blogs about sustainable trade, environmental effects of the fashion industry, and how to consume and create responsibly. In connections to clean-up efforts and to other sustainable brands. It will also include first chance at new collections, exclusive discounts, and opportunities to share how to cherish our planet while living in our modern world.

I will probably keep my blogs hosted here on Vocal. There's already one I'll use here, the article I entered in the Before and After challenge, Digital Manipulation 101, How to Edit Photos with GIMP: Tips and tricks to tweak or transform your photos It describes some of my processes for creating the images I use for Savvy Raven.

At this point I don't see Savvy Raven membership as a revenue source or paid product, but more for connection, an opportunity to communicate concern for the state our ecosystem is in with those who care, and collectively try to figure out how we go about fixing it. Offering information on steps both big and small that we can take to take care of our home. Focusing on what we can do to change our trajectory. Once I have my main site up and running, I will delve more deeply into this membership side of things.

I have been working furiously, trying to get my site ready so I could give Vocal readers a preview, but there are so many details to work out! Currently I am bogged down with setting up shipping (zones and rates and weights and profiles and tracking and... aaarrgh!, my brain hurts!) and figuring out pricing, while getting distracted by such things as creating a new collection based on that spectacular display of sun dogs and other phenomena:

Sun Dog Radiance, my newest collection. Yet to be added: biodegradable cell phone cases, bikinis made of recycled polyester, organic cotton hoodies, and more!

But all this work will be for nothing if no-one knows about it. My biggest challenge (even bigger than shipping, which I will master!) is promotion. I'm not good at it, so I've decided to hire someone to do that for me, hopefully on a commission basis so it won't cost me out of pocket. (Anyone out there interested in the job? Email me at [email protected]!) Advertising is going to cost, though, and that's where a monetary windfall would help me tremendously. As well as being able to afford ads (social media will be my main focus), I could also order samples of most of my items and do proper photo shoots with real humans, instead of using mockups.

I am on the edge of getting this project going. I have put a lot of time into it over the past many months, designing both the products and the web site to sell them on. A few more ecommerce issues to grasp, a few more samples to order to ensure top quality, and I will be ready to launch! My goal is to make Savvy Raven a respected, successful, sustainable style business, serving a market that cares about how we live with the other life on this world.

We are so fortunate to have this planet as our home. We need to take better care of it, though, or it's going to fall apart around us. To get the stuff we want, we scour deep into the earth, mow down forests, pour pollutants upon the ground, and belch them into the air. We wreak havoc on the environment. On our environment. The place we live. We need to change our ways, to take better care of our home.

And yet we live in this consumer society that encourages us to buy more, own more, have more stuff in our lives. We need to make wise choices about what to add to our lives, and I am offering an alternative to fast, wasteful fashion. I am offering sustainability.

Support Savvy Raven, and you support the world.

Thank you for caring.

Update: Savvy Raven is now up and running! In appreciation for you taking an interest in my business and our planet, the next twenty people to read this far and follow this link or use the code vocal20 at checkout will receive a twenty per cent discount on their entire purchase at savvyraven.ca.

Sustainability
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About the Creator

Peri Livesey

An artist/writer spreading my wings.

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