The Tenth Day of Christmas - Activate

Oh la la, we're into the double digits. Including today, there are only three days left in our twelve days of Christmas. How are you feeling? You ready? Done the grocery shop? Wrapped the presents? Cleaned the house? It seems that there is so much to do this time of year, who has the time to be an activist? And why would we want to? We've got enough on our plates with work and family and a million other obligations. It's stressful just trying to find time to squeeze in a quick workout am I right? I know I'm right. But I also think it's important that we don't just accept the status quo, so let's talk about that today, on The Tenth Day of Christmas...

Tis the season to ACTIVATE the ACTIVIST in YOU!

In this golden age of social media, making change is easier than ever. You can reach a worldwide audience, you can speak out for what you believe in and stand in your truth. But as easy as that is, it's also easy to fall into this false sense of being an activist. You see a post that calls out some jerk for his boorish behavior, you hit like - how 'bout stop the use of fur in fashion, hell yeah, hit like - or get rid of the name Washington Redskins already for fuck sake - like again, maybe even one of these posts gets you to "repost" it. Then you feel better about things because you feel like you "did" something. 

Hey man, I'm guilty! I can spend 20 minutes on IG, hit like like like like like like like and think - wow, I've done some good today. But really, what have I done? I call this activity "slacktivism" because I think I'm being an activist but I'm not. Not really. 

This year, I wanted to make a New Year's Resolution that might actually have a chance of not only sticking, but of making some kind of difference, so I signed up to go vegan in January with the good folks over at Veganuary. But as I began to dig beneath the surface, I realized that I could be doing more. There's shit going on in the world that just ain't right. I feel it in my gut, in my heart and soul. I feel like any one of us, if we listen to that little quiet voice that comes from within, will remind us that once we know the truth, we simply cannot go back to the status quo. I get that for some of us, that means never wanting to learn the truth. If we don't see the violence or hear the cries of animals, we don't have to make the change. We never have to rock the boat. But I am asking you to be brave. To open your eyes and not only rock the boat, tip the fucking thing!

I mean what if Rosa Parks decided to ignore her little voice? It would have been much easier for her to just do as she was told. But when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Alabama, she was fired from her job, she received death threats, and her life became harder, not easier. Yet she could no longer remain quiet about what she knew to be wrong. We may think we've come a long way since the civil rights movement of of the 50's and 60's, but women still do not hold the same rights as men in several countries around the globe, gay marriage is still not widely accepted. There is more work to be done.

If we're still living in a world that too often sees women and gay people as less, what chance can farmed animals possibly stand if we remain silent?

Now I'm not saying you need to go out there and get arrested for stealing animals from cages, or for protesting farm auctions. I don't want to see you take violent or dangerous actions. I don't plan on getting arrested any time soon if I can help it. But we can be activists by making choices with our dollars because at the end of the day, profits are the only thing that big corporations care about anyway.

It's because people spoke up that companies like Michael Kors, Jimmie Choo and Gucci are stopping the use of fur in their fashion lines. It's because people demanded to have beauty products that are not tested on animals that big companies like L'Oreal Paris, Maybelline, and Lancome are researching methods of testing products which don't involve animals - read about it here. We're not there yet, but we're making strides in the right direction.

We can have a major impact on our world by what we put in our shopping carts. By spending our hard earned cash on ethical foods and products, we are awaking the activist within us. 

If you've elected to take the vegan challenge, want to become a vegan or have switched to a plant based diet and now want to extend that change into the rest of your life, there are so many fantastic brands and designers that make cruelty-free stuff. Hell you can even use this new lifestyle change as your excuse for a shopping spree come boxing day.

How bout I get you started. Looking for a fantastic new winter parka? I got you covered, noble reader. And if you think I was fussy when it came to food, I'm ten times worse when it comes to fashion. I've been searching for years but had a very strict list of things my jacket needed to include. First and foremost it had to look good. {sorry, still vain} It had to have a faux fur hood that didn't look like crap. Why do so many vegan parkas neglect their hood design I ask you? It's one of the most important features in my humble opinion. I also wanted my new coat to be wind resistant and waterproof of course, because when snow melts it becomes water - duh. And last but certainly not least, I needed warmth. No sense looking good and having a fabulous hood if I was still going to freeze to death. And oh yeah, last thing, it couldn't be $700. I needed an affordable jacket.

In my research I found many options for vegan jackets - but none of them had everything that I wanted. Still there were some great choices like:
Vaute  came up a lot and they are beautiful, but no furry hoods.
Wully was another brand I almost went for - awesome looking coats but bit of a wimpy hood. However, if you're not a hood girl, I bet you'd love these.
Noize may have been a real contender if I hadn't found the coat I ended up buying. Maybe next year tho, because they have a fantastic looking collection.
Hoodlamb would have been my first choice had I been able to get it in Canada. These jackets have all the bells and whistles and look the absolute bomb! If you're in Europe this may be the coat for you.

But for this Canadian girl, I went with a parka that was made in Vancouver Bristish Columbia. Entirely vegan. Lined with premaloft and great up to -20! {-4 for my American friends} It's windproof so feels extra warm in the windy arctic temperatures where there are no trees to block the breeze. Are you dying to know what it is?

It's the Golden Bancroft Vegan parka by TNA (Aritzia) and I love it.

And look at that hood! Omigod it's so amazing. And there are tight extra long cuffs at the wrists. It's brilliant. I'm so happy. The more items that we select that are free from animal products, the more companies will make them.

Imagine that, you can be a real activist without ever leaving your house, just jump on the old google machine and do a bit of shopping. Activate and be powerful.