Posted on March 26 2021
At Bliss & Balance our ethos is all about nurturing Mother Earth and yourself. These are the two most important and constant places in every single person's life, these are our homes. That is why it is crucial that we all play our part, to ensure we take care of our beautiful planet and our unique selves.
The first part of looking after Mother Earth to us was ensuring we had a sustainable business, the next step was to give something back to those that needed it most, we wanted to make a positive contribution to our communities and to our beautiful country.
This is when we found the incredible platform i=Change, an organisation who are helping people change the way we shop. i=Change wanted to find a way to weave philanthropy into our everyday purchases, an enormous opportunity to create a new funding stream that positively impacts communities around the world.
Many like minded brands have partnered with i=Change and have committed to give back $1 from every purchase to one of their chosen life changing projects. Every brand has three NGO projects that are close to their heart and once a customer completes their purchase, they get to select which charity their $1 goes to, allowing them to make a conscious contribution to someone in need. The best part is that i=Change has a policy of complete transparency, which means you can be guaranteed that your donation reaches the charity in full, with no deductions or fees.
There are so many worthy projects out there that need your help but we have chosen to support three charities that align with our values and ethos. Read on to learn more about these incredible projects.
Restore the Reef
Partnership with Greening Australia
Our Impact: $50 = Prevents 1 tonne of sediment from reaching the Great Barrier Reef.
Everyone living in Australia has seen the breathtaking pictures of The Great Barrier Reef (TGBR) and some have been lucky enough to experience it’s beauty first hand. And unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably also heard that due to climate change, this natural wonder of the world is under threat and declining rapidly.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the best known and most complex natural ecosystems on Earth. It’s extraordinary biodiversity ensures homes for thousands of species of coral and other marine life, rightly classing it as a World Heritage Area.
The reef also supports the culture and livelihood of more than 70 Traditional Owner Groups who have been it’s custodians for over 60,000 years. Together with Greening Australia, these local landholders are the only organisation addressing climate change and the effects of water quality in Australia.
Poor water quality is the greatest local threat to the future of TGBR. Millions of tonnes of sediment from eroding land, finds its way into the marine park every year, smothering it’s inhabitants, causing mass devastation to their habitats and the quality of the water. Compounding the issue is the loss of over 50% of our coastal wetlands which help to filter the water before it enters the reef, without these, the reef’s ability to recover diminishes greatly.
Greening Australia's goal is to plant 10 million hectares of new forest across Australia, reducing the effects of 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year which will decrease Australia’s total current carbon emissions by 20%.
Alongside the Traditional Owner Groups and communities across TGBR catchment, they plan to tackle the water pollution issue at its source, repairing the eroding land and restoring the vital wetlands preventing thousands of tonnes of sediment from polluting the reef each year.
It’s an enormous job so if you would like to learn more or donate to Reef Aid, click here.
Support Mental Health
Partnership with Beyond Blue
Our Impact: $48 = Supports one phone call.
The term ‘Mental Health’ is often misunderstood, frequently used as a substitute for mental health conditions (or mental illness) such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and others. But in actual fact, mental health is about wellness, rather than illness.
Mental health, defined by the World Health Organization, is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community".
We all feel sad, moody or low from time to time, but for some people, this can lead into weeks, months or even years with no apparent reason. This is when things go from a bad day, to an actual mental illness such as Depression. Around two million Australians live with anxiety and around one million live with depression. Devastatingly, on average eight Australians take their lives every day.
We all need help at sometime or other in our life, and many people are lucky enough to have a good support group around them, or even just one person they feel they can trust and turn to when things get a little too much and they need to talk things through or just vent.
But others don’t and can often feel alone or isolated, especially in the current state of the world where COVID has taken away people's independence, their purpose or reason to get up in the morning, their social lives and personal connections. When left in your own head for too long sometimes, things can get pretty dark. This is when it’s important to reach out to someone, and if there isn’t anyone you know that you can turn to, there are amazing support organisations out there like Beyond Blue that are ready to help.
Beyond Blue have been providing support and services for mental health issues to people in Australia for 20 years. Their trained mental health professionals listen, provide advice and counselling, and point people in the right direction to receive the support they need. Their website has a wealth of knowledge and information for people needing help about their own, or a loved one's mental health.
With an overwhelming number of people requiring help for their mental health in the past year, Beyond Blue are committed to improving their services and information, ensuring everyone has access to the advice and support they need.
If you would like to learn more or donate, please click here.
Restore the Land
Partnership with Greening Australia
Our Impact: $50 = Plants enough trees and shrubs to store 1 tonne of carbon dioxide.
Australia is home to some of the most unique and magnificent nature in the world. Our country has vast plains and grasslands, tropical rainforests, endangered gum forests and diverse woodlands that provide shelter to our most precious threatened species.
Yet since European settlement, Australia is one of the worst developed countries in the world for deforestation and land clearing. Tens of millions of native animals, including threatened species, have been killed or left homeless after natural habitats have been wiped out.
Exacerbating that, we now have climate change threatening our land with bushfires, floods and droughts, devastating our country and communities further. The land plays a vital role in the carbon cycle, both by absorbing greenhouse gases and by releasing them into the atmosphere. This means our land resources are both part of the climate change problem but also part of the solution.
Greening Australia, together with the Traditional Owners, Scientists and local landholders, plan to restore one million hectares of natural habitat by 2030. To achieve this they will plant 450 million trees and plants and create healthy, productive farmland to support people and nature. By establishing these environments, over 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year can be absorbed and reduce our atmospheric carbon pollution.
This is one of the worlds largest and most ambitious ecological restoration programs so if you would like to learn more or donate, click here.