Greeting card publishing business James Ellis Stevens is digging deep into its commitment to the environment, by donating 1% of its turnover to the global movement, 1% for the Planet.
The Bristol-based company pledged its support to the 1% for the Planet last month, joining respected brands such as Patagonia, Pukka Herbs and Caudalie in donating £1 from every £100 order it receives to the cause.
“We’ve been producing greeting cards and stationery since 1997 and we feel that it is time we started to take responsibility for the impact on the environment that our business has made,” explained James Stevens, md and founder of the business. “The eureka moment came last year when I read a book by Yvon Chouinard called ‘Let My People Go Surfing’. Yvon Chouinard was the founder of Patagonia Clothing and he originally wrote the book as manual for his employees. His business philosophy has always been that Patagonia’s activities shouldn’t damage the planet and that a company’s success shouldn’t just be measured by profit but also by how their activities have affected the natural environment. As business owners we’ve been told for years that profit should come before anything, but this really struck a chord. Yvon Chouinard also founded the 1% for the Planet organisation and Patagonia is a member.”
The first project to be funded by James Ellis involves a donation to Avon Needs Trees, a charity set up to buy and reforest land in the publisher’s local Bristol-Avon catchment area. James explains that the initial donation will be used “to buy a piece of land that will be planted with indigenous trees that will extend an important habitat for endangered birds, wildlife and bats and will help protect nearby towns from flooding and stop water entering rivers, thus protecting towns and cities further downstream.”
James and his colleagues will also be involved in the tree planting.
James Ellis’ retail stockists are in support of the initiative too, with Joe Guest, senior card buyer of Paperchase telling PG Buzz: “At Paperchase, being kind is a core value and we are committed to sourcing responsibly and doing everything we can to minimize our impact on the environment. That’s why we are happy to support James Ellis and his pledge to join the 1% for the Planet organisation. We have worked with James for many years and believe the 1% global movement is a good fit for both his brand and ours; helping protect natural resources is a collective responsibility so it’s great to see people we closely work with recognise this in a fundamental and meaningful way.”
The publisher is shortly to include the 1% for the Planet logo on the backs of its cards.
