Help Elephants During Elephant Week with Fab Art and Eco Fashion
Image from Flickr user Denish C
It’s Elephant Week at Eco-Chick! Hooray!!!
Did you know that August 12th is World Elephant Day? Elephants are endangered, but that hasn’t stopped poachers from hunting them for their ivory, or developers from destroying their habitats. So what can we do?
Lots, actually. Here’s a list of products you can buy, projects you can be a part of, and organizations you can support, all with the purpose of helping elephants!
1. Purchase an item from BRIKA.com’s Save The Elephants Collection
Chelsea Clinton is a fan of this website, whose Save The Elephants collection donates 10% of all proceeds to savetheelephants.org. A lot of the items are set-up-your-nursery appropriate, if that’s your thing, but they also have cute jewelry, prints/photos, and clothes. I’m seriously thinking about getting this elephant clock for my apartment…
2. Make an #Elegram
It doesn’t matter if you’re the next Monet or just a casual doodler, your ele-art can save lives! With this awesome project, every 20,000 handmade elephants equals $150,000 donated to elephant conservation. It doesn’t take long, and it’s also pretty darn fun!
3. Put on a pair of Elephant Pants
Image from Flickr user Ben Aston
“But wait,” you say, “Look at that adorable elephant butt! Clearly, elephants don’t even wear pants!”
That is true, but YOU can wear adorable, ethical, and comfy pants that will benefit elephants across the world.
These elephant pants are only $18, and $1 or $2 from every purchase goes to benefit elephants. Recently, they’ve expanded their line to include shorts, tote bags, and gorgeous tapestries. Plus, every pattern is named after a historical or mythical elephant and tells you his or her story.
4. Buy some Elephant Art!
You can purchase all kinds of amazing art to support elephants. For example, did you know that elephants themselves love to paint?
Image from Flickr user Dennis Jarvis
Organizations like The Elephant Art Gallery provide safe havens for our favorite pachyderms, keeping them protected while also training them to create art! When you buy their work, it all goes back to conservation efforts. You can also check out sites like Art For Conservation, where you can purchase paintings that benefit lots of different animals. (Especially elephants!)
5. Check out Ivory Ella
The gorgeous phone cases on this site are made from real wood and are hand-engraved. They also have a cute selection of T-shirts and accessories, and most importantly, 10% of all profits go directly to saving elephants!
6. Adorn yourself with this necklace
This gorgeous piece of elephant jewelry benefits the Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary, a safe place for former circus and zoo elephants.
“The Elephant Sanctuary exists for two reasons:
- To provide a haven for old, sick or needy elephants in a setting of green pastures, dense forests, spring-fed ponds and heated barns for cold winter nights.
- To provide education about the crisis facing these social, sensitive, complex, exceedingly intelligent, and endangered creatures.”
Sounds good to me…
7. Adopt-an-Elephant
Through the World Wildlife Fund, you can sponsor an African Elephant for as little as $25. There are also larger adoption kits that include a plushie like the one above, and make a great gift!
Of course, you can also just make a donation to some of these wonderful organizations. Some of my favorites are:
You can find an even longer list of great elephant-helping organizations here.
Sophie Hessekiel
Sophie Hessekiel is a writer, comedian, and occasional musician who has fled Westchester to pursue feminism, fashion, ecology and comedy in the far-flung fields of Poughkeepsie and Manhattan. When not interning at Eco-Chick, she is writing and performing with her sketch group at Vassar or deconstructing Taylor Swift and Tinder with her gal pals. She also interns for Wifey.tv and is always on the lookout for great new video content. Sophie is studying English, Film, and Español at Vassar, and she wants to make television when she grows up—or, you know, now. Whichever comes first.
