Supporting Healthy Ecosystems & Habitat Preservation

Hey brides! Welcome to your intermission from all the wedding planning content. (We know, we know, it’s so fun but we promise you’ll love this too!) We’re here today to talk about something even more important than all the glitz, glam, and behind-the-scenes action of the bridal world: Supporting healthy ecosystems and habitat preservation! In case you didn’t know, protecting biodiversity is one of the most pressing issues facing the environment today, and sitting by and watching countless species lose their homes is just so not our vibe. Here at Maggie, we stand for LOVE and love for ALL – including Mother Earth. Read on for information on what we’ve been doing here at Maggie to support healthy ecosystems and habitat preservation and how you can help!

P.S. If you’re a total sustainability nerd like we are, make sure to follow us on Instagram for more content like this!

What has Maggie Sottero Been Up To?

Maggie Sottero has been working to foster positive impacts in the world. We do that through our inclusivity efforts, community volunteerism, and environmental initiatives. We’re committed to creating beautiful experiences for our brides and helping our global community through charitable actions.

To learn more about what we’re doing to support healthy ecosystems and preserve wildlife habitats, check out our YouTube video, Sustainable Practices | Become a Maggie Bride, Plant a Tree:

We’re rethinking everything we do with a regenerative, future-facing view. Being the change, disrupting the standard, and creating the future for our next generations has never been more important. We are working to create the future to ensure our brides’ love stories—and our Planet—endure.

Our sustainability efforts are company-wide and focused on three key areas of impact: Waste reduction, resource consumption, and protecting biodiversity. Keep reading to learn more about our support for habitat preservation and biodiversity protection!

How are we Protecting Biodiversity and Supporting Habitat Preservation?

Maggie Sottero is supporting efforts to back healthy ecosystems globally and near our Scope 1 facilities. This includes our partnership with One Tree Planted and our volunteer work with regional conservation groups like International Bird Rescue. Many of our team members care deeply about wildlife protection and the conservation of vital ecosystems and they inspired our establishment of eco-impact volunteer projects.

We’re proud to offer paid time for staff to volunteer in habitats near our office and warehouse facilities. Our teams in the U.S. and the U.K. have worked on several biodiversity-focused projects, from cleaning up trails to maintaining wildlife habitats. In fact, we completed six in-the-field conservation projects in 2023, with more to come in 2024!

In the U.S., we are joining forces with International Bird Rescue. We are the corporate pilot sponsor for their Conservation Action Program in Utah. In the Spring of 2023, our volunteers learned more about the fragile ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake. They also cleaned up over 240 pounds of litter to help protect the biodiversity of the lake. Then in the Fall of 2023, the SLC team lent their time to habitat preservation at Tracy Aviary. Tracy Aviary is the largest and oldest of only two free-standing public aviaries in the country. It is also a leader in environmental education and conservation!

This upcoming May, Maggie Sottero will be partnering once again with International Bird Rescue/Conservation Action Program for a watershed clean-up and habitat protection project that will help species living along the Jordan River. We couldn’t be more excited!

In the U.K., the Maggie Sottero team is helping to preserve wildlife habitats and green public spaces. We are doing this with ongoing projects at Eastham Country Park near our U.K. office. In April 2023, the team removed hundreds of pounds of trash in support of habitat preservation. In November of 2023, they volunteered for a full day of weeding, mulching, and tree cutback to create room for native species and greater biodiversity in the park.

Additional Habitat Preservation Efforts

In June 2023, our volunteer work moved to our location photo shoot in Costa Rica! For our Spring ‘24 collection, we reimagined our photo shoot to include a focus on protecting biodiversity. We wanted to highlight our partnership with One Tree Planted and our first planting project in this jewel of biodiversity. We also volunteered with an inspiring regional conservation group, CIRENAS, a beacon of environmental stewardship in Costa Rica. Our team joined with CIRENAS to plant White Almond trees to support the regeneration of biological corridors and beach ecosystems.

Read on to learn more about CIRENAS’ mission to “create transformative connections between people and the environment.” Hear about the ongoing rebuild of their Turtle Hatchery, which was destroyed by arson fire in December 2022.

CIRENAS

CIRENAS is located within Hacienda Ario, a 4,700-acre family-owned mixed-use coastal ranch on the Pacific Coast of the Nicoya Peninsula. Home to a diverse set of ecosystems and land uses, this location holds a big portion of the Nicoya Peninsula’s most important and pristine watershed and coastal riparian habitat.

The creation of CIRENAS was inspired by Nathaniel Grew Parkinson, “father of six and advocate of healthy, outdoor living.” He cared deeply about the preservation of the land through responsible and sustainable land stewardship for future generations. Mr. Grew’s desire to see the ranch become an “educational campground” for students, scientists, families, and individuals inspired his daughter, Caroline, and her husband, Tucker to start CIRENAS (Center for Investigation of Social and Natural Resources) in 2008.

A section of Hacienda Ario was separated for the construction of new infrastructure. Today, CIRENAS is led by a team of “the most loyal, gracious, and hardworking residents of the area who truly believe in the mission and vision of the organization.”

That mission: To create deep connections between people and the environment through education, research, integration, and innovation. CIRENAS does this with educational opportunities at their campus. They also have projects taken on by volunteers in support of biological corridors and healthy ecosystems. 

CIRENAS’s Ongoing Initiatives for Habitat Preservation

One of their ongoing projects is the CIRENAS Turtle Refuge and Hatchery. The expanse of the coastline adjacent to CIRENAS is an important site for the nesting of all four species of turtles found in Costa Rica. Those species are Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Hawksbill, and Green turtles.

Natural predators like crabs, dogs, birds, and felines, along with human intervention for the consumption of turtle eggs, present a serious threat to the survival of baby turtles. This means species endangerment is becoming a possibility in the near future.

With our focus on protecting biodiversity, CIRENAS was an ideal partner for the Maggie Sottero advertising team. As they prepped for our Spring 2024 photo shoot, our team planned to volunteer their time at the turtle nursery.

Sadly, in December 2022, an arson fire destroyed the entire refuge. This was likely the work of poachers, leaving the refuge in smoking ruins. Although sad, the CIRENAS team refused to give up on their mission to protect these endangered species. They were determined to continue to assist baby turtles in safely making their way to the waiting ocean.

With the support of business and individual donations, CIRENAS began rebuilding the Turtle Refuge and Hatchery in June 2023.

Even as the effort is now ongoing, CIRENAS is still in need of assistance to complete this work. If you’d like to support the rebuild of the turtle hatchery, visit the CIRENAS Giving Page.

While our staff will continue working on conservation initiatives, volunteerism isn’t the only approach we’re taking at Maggie Sottero to protect biodiversity!

Global Partnerships for Environmental Sustainability

In support of our efforts to create a more sustainable future, we’ve joined forces with two global conservation organizations. Each takes action with projects around the world to protect biodiversity and offer solutions for some of our biggest challenges.

Maggie Sottero is offsetting 100% of our business flights in partnership with Cool Effect. This non-profit organization is working to lower carbon pollution. Their range of global projects is carefully chosen and scientifically verified to reduce carbon emissions.

In 2023, we are supporting The Dirt on Dirt. This Cool Effect project focuses on turning U.S. farmland to sustainable agriculture practices. This includes adding cover crops and implementing no-till, which removes and stores carbon in land, one of our largest carbon sinks.

One Tree Planted

Our partnership with One Tree Planted is a heartfelt gesture to our Maggie brides, but also an impact biodiversity protection effort. We’re planting a tree in honor of every Maggie bride, with per-gown donations directed to regional projects around the world. We joined forces with One Tree Planted because we liked their careful approach to each project. They plant ecologically appropriate seedlings in the right locations and conditions. Through their local reforestation partners, they continue to monitor the progress and report back on impact.

Our first project, “Ridge to Reef” is in Costa Rica, which is considered a “crown jewel of biodiversity.” Our ongoing tree planting will help to recover endangered tree species. It will also create an elevational corridor for wildlife that must adapt to a changing climate. To date, we have donated over 20,000 trees to be planted, with many more to come!

Why Plant Trees?

We know that planting trees is not the only solution to support environmental sustainability. There are other sustainability priorities and emerging technologies that may quicken solutions. Nevertheless, planting trees is a very helpful action for the planet. Trees can restore cleaner air, water, and biodiversity. They soak up carbon and absorb heat.

We say that we are supporting biodiversity with this initiative. In truth, though, it is biodiversity that supports us and future generations. That includes our Maggie brides. That’s why we created this initiative, to honor our brides and retailers and invite them to be partners in change with us.

Make sure to keep an eye on our tree-planting tracker here to follow our progress. If our sustainability efforts speak to your bridal brand wish list, please view our collections. Especially our lower-impact gown offerings! You can do this by finding an Authorized Retailer near you!

So, are you head over heels for supporting healthy ecosystems and habitat preservation yet? Don’t worry, we won’t tell your fiance that you’ve found a second love of your life: Biodiversity! After all, it’s kind of ours too. For more info on all things Maggie and Sustainability, check out our “Our Heart” page!

More Blogs Like This:

Sustainability Initiatives: Waste Reduction Efforts

Recycled Materials & Resource Consumption: Our Sustainability Initiatives

Maggie Sottero’s Reforestation Efforts with One Tree Planted