The most beautiful gift in the world

This article is dedicated to my mummy Patricia.

Have I sufficiently pointed out that this article is an advert? Nope. We're just getting started. So watch out, because here comes unpaid advertising.

Advertising on my blog? Of course. As long as the advertised product is our nature or something that I believe is sustainable and good for the environment, anytime. I would even write something about my competitors. If they are better than me, I would say so. In fact would I do not do that, but have already done it. And that is here: The most sustainable T-shirt in the world. There were others that I tested, but Robert Marc Lehmann's collection for Mission Erde e. V. is certainly the best known. And, well, in my opinion, the best.

But today it's all about my own merch store. If you haven't been shopping there yet, have a look around. Click here to go directly to the shop: https://shop.paddys.dede

The idea is simple. I mainly produce T-shirts and other textiles, but also small gifts and souvenirs. All products are made without any animal suffering, are vegan and are not tested on animals. We produce CO2-neutral with renewable energy sources, recycle returns into new shirts, treat waste water to drinking water quality and ship in plant-based packaging. All profits go to nature conservation projects. I also protect 1m² of rainforest in Peru for every item sold. So it's not me, but Wilderness International that does this. I talked about this a few days ago in the article The second act of protecting the forest. I don't actually do anything. I just pay one euro to Wilderness International for every item sold and they take care of everything. Even for the greetings card, which I sell for just €5.

I may sound old-fashioned or like I'm trying to sell you something. That may be because both are true. And where I consider paper to be outdated in business correspondence in 2024 (see my article Yawning Emptiness), I find a handwritten card to be an expression of appreciation. My green finger is already raised, reminding me of the microplastic-coated paper. Preferably with glitter made from macroplastics. That makes no difference Recycling impossible. It either ends up in a highly toxic incinerator or ends up in a landfill site via waste sales in South East Asia - or who knows where else in a poor country on this planet. In other words, on a meadow. Where, over the next few decades, it will be washed into the sea with hundreds of tonnes of residual waste from rich Western countries like ours.

A horrible idea. And we haven't even thought about what we do with the plastic film that covers the greetings card and envelope, which is twice as large in terms of surface area. The production process is probably also a complete ecological disaster. Old energy-hungry printing machines, coal-fired electricity, environmentally harmful or animal-based colours, pollution of rivers, lakes and oceans, greenhouse gas emissions and oh, too much of too many things. And that's where I come in.

My shop may only have the second most sustainable T-shirt in the world, but it has the best gift in the world.

Be honest. How often have you given away some unsustainable shit that the recipient was mainly happy about as a gesture of decency? And you've racked your brains several times over what to give someone who already has everything. Because, let's be really honest for a moment, we don't want for anything. If we like drinking wine, then we'll buy one. We like ours better than the one where the Edeka salesman gets the most commission. A nice grappa, we might not want to spend that much if it's just a thank you for the invitation to coffee. Or the group has bought a gift together and all that's missing is a personal touch, something special.

I found the solution - by chance. I had the idea with the cards. My mum is English and so we have one or two typical English quirks. First the (almond) milk, then the tea. In the morning with English biscuits in bed and all day until late at night on the couch, at work or out and about. And there's a card for every celebration and the recipient puts it on the fireplace. Uff, I really can't think of a German word for it because there is no such thing in Germany. And in England there's no house or flat without one. Just like Easter without a greetings card. It doesn't exist on the island.

It was only later that I realised that the way I produce my greetings cards and what I do with the proceeds - protect the primeval forest and donate everything distributed to countless nature conservation projects - make them the perfect alternative to a bottle of wine.

What you can expect from all my greeting cards:

340 g/m² heavy paper of high quality

🤍 white wood-free paper

🍁 Offset printing with vegetable dyes - How cool is that, please?

🍃 made from white BIO pulp

🌱 vegan

🌳 protects 1 m²  Rainforest

💨 produced with renewable energy

💧 Treatment of wastewater to drinking water quality

🌿 Plant-based packaging

💚 Made with love for you

♻ Can be recycled by us

💲 non-profit

And that is our renunciation:

❌ free from animal suffering

❌ Not tested on animals

❌ Without environmentally harmful solvents, paints and varnishes

❌ Without coating made from microplastics

❌ Without glitter and plastic decoration

❌ Without plastic film, plant-based packaging

I'm sure you're eager to discover my greetings cards. That's why I've picked out a few for you that I particularly like. Click on the picture to go to the shop and fill your shopping basket. I would be delighted to receive a gift like this because it shows that someone has thought about and understood something.