Global Daughter's ❝Carbon Footprint❞

In the spirit of World Environment Day, Global Daughter has taken the time to access our "Global Daughter Carbon Footprint." First and foremost, our products are all handmade, no machine or assembly line production is used. They are made in workshops, homes and rehabilitation centers as well as produced by women just sitting in the grass. In this day, hand made and homemade products have been pushed out of the market by large-volume, cheap-labour factories and companies. The impact these companies have on the environment well exceeds the mother in her backyard beading jewelry or handspinning natural fibers.

Our products are wrapped in plastic when shipped, yes. But this plastic is a special type of low-impact, low-density (P.P) plastic. All our gift wrapping is done with recycled paper and we use natural dyes to color our handmade paper products like photo albums, journals and wine bags. Our tea is produced organically, meaning it is hand-picked (no farming machinery) and processed in what is called "orthodox" techniques which are natural and enviro-friendly.

Women hand plucking tea leaves in the hills

We use "aloo", a giant nettle plant that grows in the Himalayas at 6,000-10,000 feet, in our cushion covers, photo frames and hand bags. This plant, standing 10-16 ft. tall naturally regenerates itself and is resistant to bugs, therefore making it unnecessary to use pesticides in its cultivation. It is a sustainable resource that we use not only because of its beauty, but because of its durability and abundance in the mountainous regions. The elephant grass we use for our table runners and place mats is hand woven. No machines are used in the process. This dense and very tall grass flourishes in the jungle region of southern Nepal.

Elephant Grass

We will also offer a 100% cotton shopping bag at our on-line boutique. This sturdy and enviro-friendly bag can be used for groceries instead of plastic. It is an easy and stylish alternative to walking out of the grocery store with 5 double-bagged plastics. It is a way to show that shopping with a cotton, re-usable bag is cool and shopping with a harmful, ugly plastic bag is not.

When we ship our goods to the US from Nepal, we do use air freight. This means that we are contributing to carbon emissions by fueling planes. But if we could, we would deliver the stuff to Seattle via kayak. That, however, is not possible. As a new way to provide our product to customers, we will feature fair trade house parties. At these parties the customer, or "guest," can purchase items instantly and save money and the environment by "skipping the shipping."

Erika and I also have personal commitments to doing our part. I ride my bicycle, "China Blue" around Kathmandu and she has dusted off her old "City Express" to take to the park and ride. This is partly because we are broke, but mostly because we want Global Daughter to embody the grassroots spirit of the women we work with. If they can walk for miles up and down hills with 40 pounds of fodder on their backs and no shoes on their feet, we can certainly ride a bicycle to the Namaste Super or the Albertsons! We can only do what is realistic. This is at least do-able for us.

We just want to do this all right....from the beginning. We want our project to have a low-impact on the environment, but a high impact on the world! Hopefully the Global Daughter "imprint" is left only in the places where it should be- in the hearts and minds of women around the globe.