Recently OYOO decided to endeavour in creating clothing under the brand OYOO Style. It was a decision based on our own need but also to try and make a difference, on a small level, to making slow fashion bright and fun. But this wasn’t enough, as we figured, with cotton being a plant that is causing drought in some parts of the world, we can combat this by planting trees – and this is where Greenpop comes in…
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last decade, we all know that our planet is in trouble and a lot of our carbon issues can be combated with the planting of trees and replenishing the soil. After watching the very enlightening and inspiring movie Kiss the Ground, it was obvious that our own life purpose was to:
1) learn about permaculture
2) help plant trees and rewild.
We are lucky enough to live in a beautiful place, the Western Cape in South Africa. It is stunning and through the various local groups that are into gardening / permaculture, we came across the non-profit called Greenpop.
A TREEvolution – a world where people and nature thrive together.
In 2012, Greenpop began collaborating with nature conservancies, private landowners, and key stakeholders to undertake a small-scale reforestation and alien clearing project in Africa’s southernmost forest, the Platbos Forest Reserve. Since then, their work has expanded to include over 88,000 trees planted in reforestation projects in South Africa, Zambia, and Tanzania.
As a South African organisation, Greenpop is acutely aware of the complex challenges associated with indigenous forest management in Sub-Saharan Africa. They design projects with a pro-community stance which recognises the local threats to reforestation success and incorporates solutions that benefit both forests and local communities.
Since Greenpop began, they have planted over 150,000 trees. The fundraising to plant trees is quite a feat as it on average costs $10 to plant a tree, as you need to cover the cost of not only buying the tree, but also planting and maintaining the tree. By supporting Greenpop, you’re supporting real people on the ground and for every R120 they are given, this covers a whole tree to be planted. There are many tree planting organisations, which offer to plant a tree for $1, sadly this is not accurate and although the efforts of those organisations should not be ignored, the reality is that the organisations on the ground have to make up for the rest of the costs associated with planting trees.
And this is why we choose to support Greenpop, so that for every pair of OYOO Style Afrika pants sold through the OYOO Market, we’ll be donating 2% of the price of a pair of pants. Okay, one pair won’t grow a tree on its own yet – but we’ll get there! As we gain sales for our clothing, we’ll be able to grow more trees with Greenpop. So, not only will you be buying an ethically made pair of very comfortable leisure pants, you’ll be paying towards planting a tree somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa and helping combat climate change at the same time. Who says saving the planet can’t be fun and win, win for all?
