43 slavery. Aware of the systems of labour's exploitation, including the child one, in West Africa, main cocoa production area, van de Keuken launched an awareness campaign triggered by a self-denunciation in an attempt to reach the general public. The process did not get the expected prominence, especially with regards to the producers’ involvement. Thus, after having found himself alone, van de Keuken founded Tony's Chocolonely. The company produces chocolate, but first of all it conveys a message: slavery free. Within eighteen years, the protest went from self-reporting to the opening of a shop in the Beurs van Berlage, a building that housed the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the cocoa trade affairs since 1900: the slavery free flag raised on one of the symbols of a kind of economy based on denied rights. Still on the subject, and still in Holland, in the spring of 2020, in full lockdown, the City of Amsterdam adopted the Doughnut Economy system promoted by Kate Raworth. The scheme (described in Ossigeno #07, Ed.'s Note) is that every consumption initiative must correspond to a rebalancing. For its image and its development, Amsterdam has decided to address this imbalance on the most basic human rights within the Countries with which it trades, pursuing what the purpose of the Doughnut is: prosperity instead of growth. Another example of equal intensity, in this case linked to environment, comes from California, where the Patagonia company is headquartered, which for decades has donated 1% of its annual sales value to environmental initiatives. All thanks to its founder's passion for mountaineering, and to a vision of the world conceiving the respect for nature as one of the most formidable accesses to beauty. That’s how Patagonia reasons: in November 2018, the Trump presidency exercised a tax cut, and Patagonia responded: «Based on last year’s irresponsible tax cut, Patagonia will owe less in taxes this year – $10 million less, in fact. Instead of putting the money back into our business, we’re responding by putting $10 million back into the planet. Taxes protect the most vulnerable in our society, our public lands and other life-giving resources». And still. October 2020, the movie Public trust: the fight for America's public lands was released, directed by David Garrett Byars, produced by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, together with the actor Robert Redford. The documentary chronicles the three conflicts for the protection of biodiversity supported by the company: preventing the reduction of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, fighting the potential permanent destruction of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota and stopping the sale of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the last wild places in America. What does your company do for the environment? is one of the new questions that consumers are asking. The use of recycled or recyclable materials is crucial, but culture is required here, and a way of acting determined to go beyond its market perimeters. Lush, an Italian company producing fresh handmade cosmetics, is one of the most brilliant expressions of protection and information on animal rights. The value of its business can be summarized by reporting point 5.7 of its code of ethics: "The Group pays great attention to the creation of Lush Products, using high quality natural and, where possible, organic ingredients. Furthermore, according to the corporate belief, in processing its products, the Lush Group uses only vegetarian ingredients from suppliers who refuse animal testing. Each Lush product is tested on voluntary subjects". The creative side of this message is, for those able to hear it, the call to beauty. Continuing in the aforementioned point: "Lush believes in the enthusiasm of self-inventing its own products and fragrances, and in producing them fresh by hand every day, eliminating or minimizing preservatives and packaging, also in the best interest of the environment". Also in the best interest. That is how a new purpose for the companies, sometimes so great as to appear as States, can flourish. Nations without borders, with a value, a precise identity, going beyond the mere practical purpose. Behind these flags, a new concept for consumptions and an ancient need are standing: to guarantee decorum and quality to human life and to the environment surrounding it. Thanks to the inestimable value that can be added to what, more or less estimable, is produced.
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