This article from Corrina is quite timely! I am imminently about to have a wedding dress made and was going to use silk.

However, I just discovered today that most cultivated silk involves gassing/ boiling thousands of silk worms while they’re in the cocoons so that they don’t damage them when they come out. Not quite what I had in mind for my green wedding.

a) Does anyone know if wild silk, which involves harvesting silk cocoons of already hatched moths is truly ethical and not just publicity? (one website suggested it too had a darker side, though this was by a gasser/ boiler, so unsure! He did make a point that ‘peace’ silk i.e. cultivated silk which lets the moths hatch, doesn’t work as the subsequent caterpillars produced by these moths need to be killed/ starve).

b) Does anyone know of any good sources of ethical fabric that would be an alternative to silk? (fairtrade, organic, no child labour etc) Is hemp the main option?

Thanks for any advice anyone can give!

Emma

Miriam – Thank you for that link, it’s amazing to discover how many people are doing so much – often through small steps which have big impact. Glad to have you here.

Rosalyn – I love your story! How mentioning your interest, putting feelers out, leads you into places you couldn’t have planned for. And like you say how a tiny step can lead to great results. One of the best things I’ve ever done career-wise was to offer a free 1-hour workshop for a conference. That led to someone hiring me who then introduced me to her whole leadership training network which led to more wonderful clients, workshop participants and we’re now about to do a piece for a magazine together. We continuously marvel at how fortuitous it was that we both showed up that day. When we follow that “Ooh that looks interesting…” impulse, we naturally go down paths we’re aligned with and that lead to results that are nourishing for us.
.-= Corrina´s last blog ..You Can’t Plan For Everything =-.

One week I had a Facebook status about wanting to explore coaching and social justice. That led to a meeting and collaboration with another coach to deliver coaching to women who had suffered domestic violence. We put out feelers which didn’t go anywhere AND they led me to a social enterprise Striding Out – http://www.stridingout.co.uk . Striding Out finds coaching solutions for young people, often disadvantaged young people and often from public sector funding.

I’m involved in something now which gives a couple of hours free career coaching to unemployed professionals, via Job Centre Plus.

That tiny tiny step of putting something ‘out there’, in my case on Facebook has had great results!

Rosalyn
.-= Rosalyn´s last blog ..No cost career coaching for unemployed professionals =-.

What’s my passion? Well it has got to be around connecting with coaches. I’m a coach myself and I love the energy of the coaching community. Such generous people, very supportive and keen to give.

I run networking events for coaches where presenters give their time for free and they then become participants and listen to others. I become so inspired with these kinds of events. I love it when people (businesses) are collaborating and supporting rather than competing.