Earth Day Giving Back the Right Way:

Earth Day is about giving back to the most important mother of us all, Mother Earth. Living in the sun-drenched City of Santa Monica is a blessing in its own right, but few were taking ownership of the community quite like Kiehl’s in Santa Monica last Wednesday. To commemorate April 22, Earth Day 2009, Kiehl’s of Santa Monica held an event to invigorate the community and support the Waterkeeper Alliance. Since 1851, Kiehl’s, a purveyor of high quality skin and hair care products, has found a way to give back to the community where few others measured up. The Waterkeeper Alliance, a charity dedicated to protecting and preserving community waterways from polluters, has been working with businesses and communities since the early 80’s to support local waterways such as the Santa Monica Bay. (www.waterkeeper.org)Celebrities and supporters were in full force; Earth Day was definitely a day to give back at Kiehl’s. Nine-Time surfing world champion Kelly Slater, singer Erykah Badu, actor Adrien Grenier, actress Robin Tunney, and other Hollywood celebrities came out in the support of Earth Day in Santa Monica. The president of Kiehl’s, Chris Salgardo, teaming up with environmental enthusiasts and socially conscious celebrities, created a limited edition restorative lotion as a way to raise awareness about Earth Day. By donating 100% of the net proceeds from the product, Kielh’s is doing its part to improve the communities we live in.Kiehl’s has long been a company that offers efficacious products at affordable prices, all while benefiting the community. In times like these, it’s good to know there’s a company that strives to make the Earth a cleaner, better, more responsible place to live. Through the sales of this product, Kiehls set out to donate $100,000 to the Waterkeeper Alliance to be used for creating strategies to combat climate change and the post- carbon transition in places such as Santa Monica Bay. Kiehl’s has also gone a step further than simply using recyclables and donating to noble causes. The plastic used for their bottles is derived using food-grade containers retrieved in local curbside recycling programs, directly affecting local communities. Not only are they using 100% recycled materials to produce their containers, they purposely limit the amount of packaging for each product, reducing post consumer waste in every aspect from production to consumption. Aside from being environmentally aware during the production of the product and packaging, the main effective ingredient, Argan Oil, is purchased solely from a fair trade woman’s cooperative in Morocco, promoting the well being of communities both locally and worldwide. (Fair trade is an organized social movement which promotes standards for international labor and social policy focusing on exports from developing countries to developed countries.) By summoning socially conscious influencers from a variety of walks of life, Kiehl’s has created an effective way to promote the importance of giving back on Earth Day to all age groups and communities. By having the support of many famous actors and actresses, athletes and musicians, and other prominent figures intertwined into the marketing and production of this product, Kiehls was able to create a buzz about Earth Day unlike most others. When speaking with the President of Kiehl’s about the product, he had only positive feedback throughout. “The partnerships that we created came together naturally because, like Kiehl’s, all of our partners share a common thread to find ways to be more socially conscious in their lives. In fact, it has been our mission since 1851 to always give back to the communities in which we do business, and to do our part to be a socially responsible citizen”