Our Own Clients Creating Meaningful Impact
At Sunday Roast, we love working with all types of brands, but we have a special place in our hearts for the Do Gooders (businesses and non-profits that are creating positive change for people and planet). We love working with brands that create positivity.
In this latest insight we will be highlighting some of Sunday Roast’s clients that have created a positive change in our world.
“Everything we sell supports someone’s basic needs” - Darkbright
Darkbright is an ecommerce store that sells unique, modern, creative shirts, t-shirts, sweaters and hoodies for both men and women - all with virtually zero waste and while donating a portion to their partnered charities.
The Darkbright brand is inspired by the base level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Physiological Needs - Water, Food, Clothing, Shelter) and they feel that no-one on this planet should be without these basic human needs.
This creative apparel brand donates 15% of profits to partnering charities, helping real humans gain acess to food and water.
Since their launch in 2022, they have partnered up with two non-profits:
Water First, a non-profit that is Canada’s leading charitable organization dedicated to working with Indigenous communities to address local water challenges through education, training, and meaningful collaboration.
Ontario Feeds, together with food banks, industry partners, and local communities, they work to end hunger and poverty by delivering fresh and healthy food, developing innovative programming, and driving change through research and advocacy.
Darkbright is on the hunt for two additional non-profits, a non-profit that focuses on shelter and a non-profit that focused on clothing. If you have a favourite non-profit that fits into those categories let Darkbright know here.
They have a goal to donate a combined $1,000,000 to their charity partners by 2032.
Apart from the charitable donations, the clothing itself is also sustainable; looking out for the environment and the clothing creators. Darkbright uses a brand named Bella + Canvas as their garment supplier. Bella + Canvas is well-known in the sustainability community.
Bella + Canvas is sustainable because:
They use 7x less water than the average for clothing manufacturers (saving 24 million gallons a week)
All water they do use goes through a filtration system that allows it to be recycled
In their head office they use motion-sensor LED lighting and skylights throughout each building
They produce almost no landfill because they recycle pretty much everything that can't be turned into a tee.
Darkbright is created by humans, for humans in need. They are environmentally friendly while providing for those in need.
“Since inception to July 2022, we have distributed 61,000 cookstoves in sub-Saharan Africa & Asia.” - Potential Energy
Potential Energy is a non-profit that is working to alleviate poverty and protect the environment by promoting improved cookstoves in Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and India.
Why make a new cookstove? To put it simply, our future depends on it. 3 billion people cook their food with traditional cookstoves or open fires. Regular cookstoves contribute to global warming, deforestation, desertification, human displacement and illness.
The black carbon emitted from open fires and “regular cookstoves” is the second greatest contributor to global warming worldwide, responsible for an estimated 18% of the earth’s rising temperature. Woodfuel use contributes to 25% of global deforestation. Due to deforestation, forces families to move farther and farther away from their homes, leading to conflict and land disputes. According to the UNHCR, Uganda hosts around 1.4 million refugees. Smoke from inefficient cookstoves claims over 4.3 million lives each year (more than malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis combined).
To combat this, Potential Energy in cooperation with the University of California, Berkeley and internally displaced women in Darfur, Sudan, they designed the Berkeley-Darfur Stove (BDS)— an innovative, low-cost biomass cookstove that uses 66% less fuel and emits 77% less smoke than cooking on an open fire.
This is important because:
fewer trees are cut
indoor air pollution and CO2 production is decreased.
households have more disposable income and time. As a result children are better educated and fed.
forests are preserved
indoor air pollution related illnesses are reduced, and climate change is mitigated.
The stove has been independently evaluated by the Environmental Protection Agency and Makerere University and found to have a thermal efficiency of 39.5%*, as opposed to traditional stoves which have efficiency ratings of 5%.
Visit their website to donate, buy a stove or get involved with the Potential Energy movement!
“We believe that scientific knowledge and scientific methods should be available to all people who wish to have access to them, and that the ability to pursue and practice science should not be limited to individuals from certain economic, gender, cultural, ethnic, or identity groups.” - Hein Lab
Hein Lab is a group of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers that are based in the computational Biology department at Cornell University. They ask questions such as:
How AI/ML technologies to improve data collection, inference, and model construction?
How do behavioral and ecological processes interact to influence ecosystem dynamics?
How do organisms generate flexible, adaptive sequences of natural behaviour?
While working hard to answer these questions, the principal investigator, Andrew Hein co-created a DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) program. Andrew and his team believes that everyone who has a love for science should have the ability to pursue and practice science regardless of personal and professional backgrounds.
The Hein Lab works to make its research, data, code, and educational materials publicly accessible for anyone who wants them. As a part of the mission, they take active strategies to engage historically underserved communities in science, and thereby enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM.
To name a few of their strategies for inclusion:
Provide opportunities for students, postdoctoral scholars, and junior collaborators to meet and participate in activities to broaden and strengthen their community of peers and collaborators
Create an open and supportive environment where students, mentees and collaborators feel free to express opinions and share their experiences and knowledge
Create opportunities for students and mentees from diverse backgrounds to re-engage with their own communities on scientific topics and career mentoring
At Hein Lab, they love what they do and they want their love of science to be accessible for all who also love science. Hein Lab is always looking for new program members, if you know a scientist, mathematician or engineer that would love to be apart of the program - let them know!
“Creating space to strategize and innovate for a sustainable tomorrow” - VR(Ex)Change
VR(Ex) Change help to connect a global community of researchers, leaders, thinkers, and doers in the sustainability transition.
They understand that researchers, leaders, thinkers and practitioners are deeply aware of sustainability issues, systems of production and consumption. However, without collaboration, they remain in conflict with no clear way to make meaningful solutions. Basically, working together increases the chances of success at a much faster rate than going on their own.
At the end of the day, it’s all about a global community built to propel the responsible use of earth’s resources to ensure a better tomorrow for generations to come.
Some of the sustainability experts they work with are:
The Exeter Centre for Circular Economy
Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production
The Circular Economy Institute
Future Earth
Global Sustainability Scholars
And so many more!
Are you interested in joining a VR(Ex)Change event? Sign up for their emails to be the first notified!
