Sustainable fashion entrepreneur joins inspiring line up for ACS Hillingdon’s responsible consumption event

ACS International School Hillingdon has announced that sustainable fashion entrepreneur, Vanessa Nsona, has joined the line-up for its ‘The world needs… Innovative Creators’ event, now scheduled to take place on Tuesday 7^th June, 7pm-8.20pm (BST). The virtual event will be themed around responsible consumption and will demonstrate how creativity and innovation are essential to developing new ways to drive behaviour change and motivate people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Joining the line-up to discuss her inspiring sustainable fashion innovations, Vanessa Nsona is a Malawian fashion designer and the Executive Director of Dorovee, a fashion social enterprise that works with women and young people in marginalised communities to craft fashion and interior accessories using waste materials and indigenous Malawian materials. During the event, Vanessa will discuss the key principals of sustainable fashion and circular design and will explain what people can do to consume clothing and accessories more responsibly, without sacrificing fashion.

Vanessa will speak at the event alongside Dianna Cohen, a visual artist famed for using the plastic bag as her primary material, and co-founder and CEO of Plastic Pollution Coalition, a global alliance of more than 750 organisations working towards a world free of toxic plastic pollution. Dianna will explain how she uses plastic in her artwork to make a visual and social impact, and the everyday strategies people can adopt to reduce the amount of single use plastic they use and throw away.

Addressing the important issue of food waste will be Adam Smith, professional chef, founder of award-winning global initiative The Real Junk Food Project and CEO of Surplus to Purpose. Adam will discuss the importance of responsible food consumption and will share advice for how we can all reduce our food waste, and why this is so important for global sustainable development.

The event will culminate in a panel discussion which will delve deeper into how we can all consume natural resources more responsibly and why creative, innovative thinking is essential for driving new ideas and environmental solutions. The audience will also have the opportunity to pose questions of the panel of expert speakers.

Martin Hall, Head of School, ACS Hillingdon, comments:

“Studies have shown that the global fast fashion industry currently produces over 92 million tonnes of waste per year. In addition, over one third of all food produced globally goes to waste and, in the UK alone, we throw away around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in a single year. Looking at plastic, approximately five million tonnes of plastic is used every year in the UK, nearly half of which is packaging. These are shocking statistics demonstrating what a pressing environmental issue consumption is across the world but there are ways we can change our habits to use less of our earth’s precious resources and produce less waste.

“Joining us at our ‘The world needs… Innovative Creators’ event are three incredibly impactful individuals who are driving innovation and change in the priority areas of fashion, plastic and food consumption and we are enormously excited to hear more about their work and learn from their experiences. During the event, which is open to everyone interested in building a more sustainable future, attendees will hear what innovations are currently evolving worldwide to best manage our waste, while discovering how we can incorporate these responsible practices in our own lives.”

‘The world needs… Creative innovators’ is the third event in ACS’s 2021-22 ‘What the World Needs’ series which focuses on building a sustainable future. Through the expertise of high-profile speakers, attendees have discovered the skills and attributes needed to successfully contribute to the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Climate Action and Good Health and Wellbeing and, during this ACS Hillingdon event, they will learn more about Responsible Consumption.

‘The world needs…Creative innovators’, is a virtual event and will be hosted online via Zoom. Register for free via the following link: https://www.acs-schools.com/world-needs-creative-innovators-event