Cosmetics company LUSH has taken over Tobacco Dock in London for its annual two-day summit. The retailer has dedicated the space to campaign groups, charities, and other causes – giving them a platform to showcase the work they do. And some of the issues raised strike right at the heart of society.

The event, billed as bringing together “charities, speakers and grassroots organisations from around the world”, began on Wednesday 8 February. LUSH has split the venue into themed rooms for campaigns to use. The Conservation Room, for example, has an installation of plant life and natural wood, making the audience feel as if they are in the middle of a rainforest:

Other rooms at the summit include Human Rights, War and Poverty, Food Sovereignty and Climate and Energy. The latter is very well-designed. An interactive section allows you to walk through a house of the future. But it’s one where climate change, fossil fuel use and industrial pollution have spiralled out of control. The audience sees the pollution-infested air through the windows; hears the constant droning of machinery; smells the stench of our oil reliance in the air, and can, if they wish, taste the result of all this on our drinking water:

Full review: ‘london-docklands-taken-message-extremely-serious-one’

Veggies Pat will see you there!

Seize the Day at the Lush Summit 2017

Resistance Exhibition at Lush Summit 2017

A Lush Display at the Lush Summit

In 2010 we were offered a fantastic opportunity by Lush Charity Pot, the fund that raises money & awareness about charities and campaigns for a better, fairer world.

Stop Press: See exhibition report at A Dip In The Directory.

Lush collaborations have continued at Glastonbury & beyond with support for our Food For A Future vegan outreach project, field kitchens for eco-action gatherings, our Networking Directory, and many other projects that we are associated with.

For over 20 years Veggies has participated in the Green Futures Field at Glastonbury Festival.

As well as providing a vegan catering oasis, we run a ‘free information exchange‘ to feature different projects that we support. In the past we have featured groups such as Indymedia, the Movement for Compassionate Living and the Vegan Society.

In 2010 Lush sponsored the space to help promote many campaign groups and charities that we both support. Veggies crew will engage with the public and distribute information for 10 hours a day over 5 days to the greenest of the 200,000 people that attend Glastonbury, i.e those that visit Green Futures at the heart of the Green Fields.

The great thing is that many of the groups are ones with whom we already have a well established direct working relationship.

We are also making connections with other excellent groups with whom we have not worked previously, but who are active at a grass roots level on concerns that we share.

A dip into the Charity Pot

Animal Aid – the UK’s largest animal rights group and one of the longest established in the world
Animal Protection Agency – the APA is committed to ceasing the trade in wildlife for pets
Bustan Qaraaqa – a community permaculture project, based in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour (Shepherds’ Fields), close to the city of Bethlehem.
Calais Migrant Solidarity – Practical support for migrant communities. Networking to fight all aspects of the border regime.

Captive Animals Protection Society – Campaigning against the use of animals in entertainment: circuses, zoos and exotic pet trade
Environmental Justice Foundation – makes a direct link between protecting the environment and the defence of basic human rights
Hunt Saboteurs Association – Direct Action campaigning against bloodsports – saving animals lives
Otesha Project – A youth-led organisation that’s mobilising our generation to create social and environmental change.

Rainforest Foundation – working to ensure the protection of rainforests by securing the rights of indigenous communities
Reprieve – uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay.
Refugee Action – a national charity that works with refugees to build new lives in the UK
Respect for Animals – campaigns against the international fur trade, both fur farming and trapping
Restore the Earth Campaign – This campaign is about working to restore the great ecosystems around the planet
Room2Heal – a healing community for refugees, asylum seekers and others who have suffered human rights violations.

Shell To Sea – campaigns to protect Rossport, County Mayo community from Shell’s Corrib Gas Project
Sail Boat Project – water based NVDA training in support of campaigns for positive social change.
SchNews – newsheet & directory covering environmental & social issues, direct action protests & campaigning
Sumatran Orangutan Society – dedicated to the conservation of Sumatran orangutans and their forest home.

Transition Network – a community-led response to the pressures of climate change, fossil fuel depletion and increasingly, economic contraction.
Undercurrents – Support for activists using film / internet to further their message and campaign for social change
Uncaged – international campaigns against animal experiments and for the advancement of animal rights
Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) – Raising awarness about the issues that force women to seek international protection
Veggies Directory – networking for humans, other animals and the environment

AT Co-operative – infrastructure for Climate Camp etc. Collects discarded tents for activists and refugees
Climate Camp – visit them in the Dragon Field
Sea Shepherd – visit them nearby in the Green Futures Field

All these groups can be found in the Lush Charity Pot section of Veggies Directory at http://www.veggies.org.uk/directory/dirbrowse-306.htm.

Any old tat!

We don’t want to encourage people to abandon their “rubbish” and perpetuate the disposable consumer culture, but if anyone has tat they would like to drop off for the Calais Migrant Solidarity, the AT Collective or Climate Camp, take it to the Climate Camp area in the Dragon Field.

Glastonbury Festival is huge, time is short and there are many distractions, so we hope that ethical festival visitors will welcome the opportunity to find out about many of the finest charitable projects all under one roof. So come on down to the Green Fields!

Lush cosmetics charity support

Lush supports charities and other good causes (we don’t just support registered charities) through a variety of ways; campaigns in our shops and on our website; cash donations through Charity Pot, limited edition charity products and our Carbon Tax fund and through product donations.

We like to look after those who look after others and are committed to supporting small, grassroots charities, non-violent direct action groups and other good causes working in the areas of environment, animal protection and human rights.

We believe we can make the most impact by supporting causes and funding projects that others won’t, therefore we give priority to less popular causes which are more difficult to gain support for. We support non-violent direct action as we feel it plays an important part in bringing about positive social change.

Campaigns

Throughout the year we partner with organisations to run nationwide campaigns in our shops. Our campaigns team, along with the help of our creative design team and enthusiastic shop staff, have run a variety of campaigns over the last few years, including issues such as animal testing, the impact of the palm oil industry on orangutans and indigenous people, vegetarianism, packaging, fox hunting, shark finning, destitute refugees, climate change and an end of torture and the right to a fair trial. We’ve worked with organisations such as Reprieve, Refugee Action, Hunts Saboteurs Association, Animal Aid, Climate Rush, Biofuelwatch and Uncaged.

Our 90 stores around the UK and Ireland are the perfect way of reaching thousands of people; we use our windows to grab people’s attention and lure them in to find out more. Once in the shop we ask customers to take part in the campaign by taking personal action, signing postcards and petitions or simply learning more about the issue.

Funding

In April 2007 we created Charity Pot to raise funds for charities and other good causes. Charity Pot is a hand and body lotion made with fair trade cocoa butter. Every penny the customer pays for the product (less the VAT which we have to give to the government) is put in to the Charity Pot fund and then distributed to various causes nominated by staff and customers.

Charitable funds also come from our Carbon Tax Fund. Our staff do not fly domestically for Lush work and for international flights we charge ourselves a Carbon Tax; for every tonne of CO2 emitted when we fly, we pay £50 in to the fund. The fund is used to support internal and external environmental projects, especially those relating to climate change and sustainable transport, and also discourages staff from taking international flights.

Product donations

We donate stock to charities to help with fundraising (eg raffles) and for direct use by patients and clients (eg homeless shelters, women’s refuge and hospices).

Get in touch

If you know of an organisation that you feel would benefit from Lush’s help please contact Sophie Pritchard on charitypot@lush.co.uk or call 01202 667 830.

Further information can be found on the website www.lush.co.uk/charity