For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener (FSG) has decided to focus its energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

The world of sustainability itself can often be perceived as a minefield. From the enormity of the climate crisis, CSRD regulations and measuring carbon emissions, the efforts being made on the field by individuals or groups can often get overshadowed.

However, we always say at FSG, that small actions do count, especially when being carried out by many. This blog series will endeavour to highlight those people or communities who are driving REAL action.

We hope their stories inspire you, and more importantly that they spark hope.

Our eighth story features Pedro Fernández professor at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in the Department of Hydraulic, Energy and Environmental Studies.

How The Project Started

Pedro is the founder of Blue ...

For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener have decided to focus our energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

Our fifth story features The Studio, an organisation which produces ethical crafts created by Syrian and Palestinian refugee women in the Shatila camp. 

What is The Studio

Their mission is clear: to ignite hope, foster resilience, and amplify the voices of women artisans, catalysing positive change in their lives and the communities they touch. They are driven to make a meaningful difference by not only empowering these women but also by generating sustainable income. They sell the beautiful products created by these artisans to the world, creating economic opportunities that enrich lives, fund their programs, and ensure long-term sustainability.

💡People Behind Shatila Studio

At The Studio, we are Opportunity Makers, driven by our unwavering ...

For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener have decided to focus our energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

We hope their stories inspire you, and more importantly that they spark hope.

Our seventh story features Emma Tuite, Director of Sea Shepherd Ireland, the Irish group of this international marine protection organisation.

The Beginning of Sea Shepherd Ireland

Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization, with a very clear mission: to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biod...

For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener have decided to focus our energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

The world of sustainability itself can often be perceived as a minefield. However, we always say at FSG that small actions do count, especially when being carried out by many. This blog series will endeavour to highlight those people or communities who are driving REAL action. 

Our third story of hope focuses on Vedda organic herbal teas and natural medicines.

This company started by Revatha Shah brings you small batch, organic and ethically sourced time-tested ancient indigenous natural remedies from the mystical isle of Sri Lanka, whilst honouring the land and the people who steward them.

Alice, our communications manager, met Revatha in Sri Lanka this year, and found herself so inspired by his story and mission that she knew Vedda needed to ...

We are delighted to present the fourth volume in our "Year of Hope" 2024 blog series. 

Our fourth Story of Hope is shining a spotlight on Understory - an environmental education and zero-waste organisation founded by Alex Konieczka.

"Understory was founded to provide you with a solution to one of the biggest global problems that is biodiversity loss, as a result of the make and waste model. Understory uses reclaimed materials to create sustainable zero waste products, designed to strengthen your connection to nature and help biodiversity. There is no such thing as waste in nature."

For the Fifty Shades Greener team, Alex's story inspires as well as motivates you to push forward with new ideas and when you see there is an urgent need amongst society for something - stick to your ethics and go for it! Read her story for yourself below...

💡Who Is The Founder Of Understory? 

My name is Alex Konieczka, I'm the founder of Understory, as well as an ecologist, educator, youth worker, ze...

The world of sustainability itself can often be perceived as a minefield. From the enormity of the climate crisis, CSRD regulations and measuring carbon emissions, the efforts being made on the field by individuals or groups can often get overshadowed.

However, we always say at FSG, that small actions do count, especially when being carried out by many. This blog series will endeavor to highlight those people or communities who are driving REAL action.

We hope their stories inspire you, and more importantly that they spark hope.

Our sixth story features Anup Manandhar of Comfort Felt, a factory and workshop located at Kirtipur city in Nepal producing beautiful felt products. Our CEO Raquel and Director Patrick, were able to experience first hand the work that Anup and his enterprise are carrying out to support women in work in Nepal when they visited Nepal in August 2022 while working with the government there in the area of green skills.

Anup and his team have a goal - and that is...

The world of sustainability itself can often be perceived as a minefield. From the enormity of the climate crisis, CSRD regulations and measuring carbon emissions, the efforts being made on the field by individuals or groups can often get overshadowed.

However, we always say at FSG, that small actions do count, especially when being carried out by many. This blog series will endeavour to highlight those people or communities who are driving REAL action. 

Our second story of hope for 2024 looks at The Compost Kitchen, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

This company, was developed by Himkaar Singh, with the purpose of repairing South Africa's soil using compost made from food waste. In 2017 SA suffered a bad drought, motivated to stop this natural disaster repeating in the future and worse, Himkaar studied a masters in water management and during a permaculture course learned that healing the soil meant putting organic matter back into the soil because organic matter makes the soi...

 At Fifty Shades Greener, we always say that small actions do count, especially when being carried out by many. This blog series will endeavor to highlight those people or communities who are driving REAL action.  

We hope their stories inspire you, and more importantly that they spark hope. 

Our first story of hope comes from the Recycle Bike Hub, based in Winchester in the UK. 

On first hearing about what this group of volunteers do and have achieved to date, we knew we wanted to spotlight them for our first “Story of Hope” this year. 

They are achieving so much on an environmental and social scale in terms of sustainability and it’s all driven by a passion for road worthy, affordable bikes to be put back on the road, while raising funds for fantastic charities. 

We are so impressed by their commitment to a circular economy model as well as the data they have measured to date from one workshop set up 2 years ago. 

If you want to learn more about the life cycle of a bike and i...