Dame Vivienne Westwood Pledges £1 Million to Tackle Climate Change
After voicing frustration over the World Bank’s failure to distribute funds earmarked for climate change, Westwood announced she was giving £1 million ($1.55 million) of her own cash to prevent logging in the rainforests of Borneo, the Congo Basin, and Peru. Speaking on the eve of United Nations climate talks in South Africa on Monday, the designer criticized World Bank officials for sitting on the £4.2 billion ($6.5 billion) Climate Investment Funds, which was established in 2008 to help developing countries confront the effects of global warming by 2012.
Dame Vivienne Westwood asked the public to “donate a fiver” to charities such as Cool Earth rather than wait for our governments to reach an accord.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD x SIGG
A step of head of all designers, few palate cleansers are as refreshing as plain ol’ H2O, so perhaps that’s what legendary designer Vivienne Westwood had in mind when she designed a limited-edition reusable bottle with SIGG for her Fashion Week guests. Unveiled at the Spring/Summer 2011 presentation of Vivienne Westwood Red Label at London Fashion Week, the bottle is the third and final design in the Westwood’s SIGG series.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD x YOOX
The Autumn/Winter 2011 range carries 14 different styles of bags and accessories, for men and women. By working with the United Nations International Trade Centre, Westwood and Yoox are creating dignified, sustainable employment while minimizing their ecological impact. “It gives people control over the lives,” Westwood says of the project. “Charity doesn’t give them control. It’s the opposite; it makes them dependent.”
“I try to use my voice to tell people of the danger of climate change, we are an endangered species. Within one generation, Los Angeles will be uninhabitable if people don’t do something about it. The world is going to get smaller and be uninhabitable and impossible to live in."
“The most important thing is for people to inform themselves, because when you inform yourself your behavior changes. All we’ve got is public opinion to help to do something about this. I just try to wear lots of slogans and open my mouth whenever I can.”
—Designer Vivienne Westwood, speaking to FOX411 at the opening of her U.S. flagship store
As a climate-change campaigner, Westwood believes in creating options that don’t exploit the environment. “It’s quite incredible to think we might save the world through fashion,” she adds.
“Charity doesn’t give them control. It’s the opposite; it makes them dependent.”
Key Ring ($49)
The Ethical Fashion Programme supports the work of more than 7,000 disenfranchised women.
Furthermore,Vivienne Westwood making an appearance on BBC News this morning, British fashion designer encouraged viewers to give up shopping for at least six months—unless they absolutely had to—to keep our landfills from filling up. Do you agree?
Westwood wants us to “get off the consumer treadmill” and start to think to rescue the planet.
Save Your Wallet & Save the Planet! Shall we?
xoxo,
Michelle
