@karun
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Climate Love
Climate Review Score ranking:
Karün
136 w
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Welcome to 🌿 Exponential Climate Action Summit III 🌿 🔴 Live in 10 minutes! Ask questions directly to our CEO and Founder Thomas Kimber by commenting on this post. He will answer here in the app during and after the broadcast. Read about how the We Don't have Time review system works: https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/07a9b6ba-09ff-4710-9677-0f40f0d52eaf Speaker program and more info about the event here 👇 www.wedonthavetime.org/circularity Watch the broadcast here 👇 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBFZmOeQ5dM
Ingmar Rentzhog
142 w
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This is so cool. My next glasses Will be from Karün Read more about Karün sustainibility work: https://aim2flourish.com/innovations/these-are-not-just-sunglasses
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141 w
Mine too.
Tomas Roovete
145 w
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"Some Like It Hot" is an old movie with Marilyn Monroe and I know there are many people who like the hot weather, even if they should be afraid of the causes of the hot summer. The sun is still strong and then you need good sunglasses and what could be better than using sunglasses made of plastic from the sea (which should not be in the sea from the beginning). https://karuneyewear.com
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145 w
Go Karun! one of the most impactful companies i've seen in a while. We need sunglasses to protect our eyes from UV damage.
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I'm not convinced we really need sunglasses. I know there are claims about protecting the eyes, but mostly I get the feeling that sunglasses are yet another product that has been made culturally normative, like deodorant, makeup and soft drinks, by aggressive, decades-long marketing campaigns
Shared by Karün
We Don't Have Time
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Climate Action News: Thomas Kimber, will go live July 22 at 15:00 CEST / 9.00 am EDT In this episode, you will meet Thomas Kimber, founder and CEO of @Karun. The company aims to produce sunglasses in harmony with nature and local communities. Learn more about where Thomas got the inspiration to create such a unique company, how we can use local communities to create circular systems, and why they are Open for Climate Dialogue on We Don't Have Time in this episode of Climate Action News: One-on-one. Ask questions to Thomas in the comments field. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH1-6XJ1cTw
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144 w
So inspirational! Thank you for what you do, @Thomas!
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145 w
Hola Thomas! Why using a Mapuche name and what is Karün's position on the conflict between the State of Chile, the foresters and the Mapuche people?
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Hi Markos, Thank you very much for your question. 1) We chose a Mapuche name because we want to honor the mapuche culture as they have managed to live in harmony with nature for thousands of years and have a wisdom that we in our current society so desperately need. Language is one of the deepest ways to learn a culture. If a language goes extinct, culture goes with it. In Chile, the mapudungun language hasn't been part of the country's education and we believe we should all be part of keeping it alive. I invite you to read more about this on the following blog post: https://karuneyewear.com/blogs/news/history-of-our-logo-and-its-update 2) I believe the conflict between the state of Chile and the Mapuche people is a symptom that our "modern society" has all over the world and that is especially present in Chile: we have created a culture of ignorance, individualism and deep materialism. From the perspective of this culture, the mapuche people and any other First Nation/Indigenous community are not relevant for society, and therefore there hasn't been empathy and a real dialogue has never existed. I believe that the state, companies and our society, in general, need to completely change their approach and start by learning the culture, language and cosmovision - and from that understanding start a real conversation that can look for common grounds. Until now, the effort hasn't really been done and hence, the conflict endures.
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145 w
Hi Thomas! Thank you for a great interview. Could you share more about the work conditions in which Karün eyewear is produced? What about the social aspect of sustainability? Thank you!
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145 w
Hi Sarah! Thanks for your question. We are working hard to build our entire value chain under a circular, restorative and regenerative model. That is what we call our Karün Conscious Development Model ™, which is divided into 3 cycles: collection, recycling and the impact after the purchase. Since your question is about the social aspect, I will focus on that. It starts with the Karün Collectors, who gather different types of waste that affect our natural ecosystem. Then, they sell the waste to us (fishing nets and metal) which generates an additional source of income for them to expand their own micro-businesses. We accompany them throughout the process so they can learn to manage their time and resources while applying this knowledge to their own personal projects. This way the Karün Collectors do not depend on waste to thrive. Long story short: we send the discarded waste we receive from Karün collectors to our recycling partners and it's processed into our eyewear. With the income we receive from sales of our products we are funding an exciting 4-year programme with over 600 rural entrepreneurs in Cochamó and Puelo River Valley (Northern Patagonia); people know this place as “the Yosemite from South America”. This programme was developed together with our social partner Balloon Latam and it aims to contribute to the protection of 400.000 hectares of pristine nature through the work with the local community. You can check out more on this in our blog post here: 1st Cycle: karuneyewear.com/blogs/news/first-cycle-of-the-karun-conscious-development-model 3rd Cycle: karuneyewear.com/blogs/news/karun-and-balloon-latam-in-cochamo If you have any feedback or ideas on how we can make a bigger and better impact, please let us know! We are open to hearing new ways to improve our Business Model and transform it into action.
Karün
159 w
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We have great news that we are excited to share! We have recently included a new material to our collections which has now become part of our products: Polycarbonate. What is polycarbonate? A bit of history Polycarbonate is a plastic material developed during the early fifties and manufactured industrially by 1959. Its massification was quite slow, it was only by the seventies that its use was widely spread and was appropriated by the design world, which found different applications for its multifaceted properties. One of its most salient characteristics is its crystalline appearance, which added to its impact resistance, low weight, and versatility, make it an ideal material for diverse uses. Where do we find polycarbonate? It has a very broad range of uses, we can find it in aerospace applications and visors, as well as in daily use products such as construction sheets for roofing or skylights, food trays, helmets, safety goggles, parts for electrical and electronic devices, car light covers, etc. In medicine, we can find it in neonatal incubators, nebulizers, and surgical devices since this material have the advantage that it can be sterilized. Another very common use for polycarbonate is information storage devices such as CDs and DVDs. Why are we thinking of polycarbonate? As we have stated in other blog posts, when in Karün we evaluate the incorporation of new material to our products, it must either respond to a need or solve some negative impact caused. Apart from the previously described polycarbonate uses, this polymer is a manufacturing material widely used in the optics industry generating much waste, such as the disposable polycarbonate demo lens or crystals used in showrooms, or the scraps and shavings resulting from the cutting of said crystals. Thus, we find incorporating this material into our production process extremely motivating, since it allows us to help mitigate the impact generated by our own industry. From the dream to reality Incorporating new materials into our collections is not an easy process; it requires the involvement of different areas of the Karün team to guarantee our brand´s characteristic high quality while ensuring a circular manufacturing process. To that end, we had to undertake an in-depth study of the potential polycarbonate generation sites that would ensure we were dealing with recycled material, that it possessed the required mechanical characteristics, and could also supply the volume needed for our manufacturing. As is the hallmark of our collaborative value chain, we work establishing partnerships with potential generators of materials that meet our requirements. We currently have alliances for the recovery of material from lens shops in different countries, and if needed, we are considering including a recycled polycarbonate supplier from the automotive industry. We invite you to discover our polycarbonate products!
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159 w
Well done!
Karün
182 w
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We've recently teamed up with National Geographic to develop an eyewear collection! This collaboration will help fund the work of their scientists, explorers and educators around the world while also helping us protect pristine land and empower local communities of Chilean Patagonia. The full collection is of course made from recycled metal, fishing nets and other nylons. Read more about this partnership on the following link: https://karunworld.com/pages/national-geographic-by-karun Do you think story telling is a good tool for rising awareness on climate change? What would you like to see from this new partnership? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fejbogSTjW8
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170 w
Great! Keep up the good work!
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182 w
Story telling is one of the most important tools we can use to build climate engagement. People need stories to understand how a sustainable life can look, and they need to know what it can look like if they are going to work towards it. A sustainable world is good for EVERYONE, and we need everyone to see that.
Karün
185 w
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NEW MATERIAL: METAL Since the beginning of Karün, we have been in a constant search for "waste" materials that can be part of our products and that hopefully are generated in Patagonian communities. Since last year, we’ve been thinking of a new material, metal. Why metal? On one hand, we want to be able to offer products of very good quality and diversity in order to reach more people. On the other hand, and the most important reason, is due to the impact this generates. Throughout the world, large quantities of metals are discarded and end up visually and environmentally contaminating nature, since the minimum time in which this type of material degrades exceeds 35 years. It is also one of the materials that are improperly disposed of in the rural communities of Patagonia, where we collaborate. Facing this reality, we asked ourselves if it was possible to dream of metal glasses in our collections, through which we could contribute to promote a waste collection system for recycling in the commune of Cochamó, in a four-year plan that we are working on together with our social and local allies. What do you think about this? How could the problem of metal waste be solved in your area? Read more about this on our blog: https://karunworld.com/blogs/news/integration-of-a-new-material-metal
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185 w
Fantastic
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Metals require quite some energy to recycle, but they are very durable and can be used many times. Should be a good addition!
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185 w
Love it! Where can I buy them?
Karün
190 w
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Expanding our commitment by going CarbonNeutral® Karün’s origin lies in the idea that we are all nature. Accordingly, not only people but also companies should exist in harmony with nature. This is something that has defined our eyewear-manufacturing operations from the beginning. As a certified B-Corp, we look at minimizing any negative environmental impact we may have, and we aim to maximize the social benefits we can provide to our local community in the Chilean Patagonia, where we are based. We have always used natural, noble, and recycled materials as inputs, and we work alongside local communities in Patagonia so together we can protect one of the most pristine natural places on Earth. In terms of our production model, we are proving that it is possible to shift from a linear, extractive model to a circular way of producing eyewear. Click here to know more! https://karunworld.com/blogs/news/expanding-our-commitment-by-going-carbonneutral
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189 w
Great to go carbon neutral!
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189 w
Yes!!!
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It's great to hear that you are only 33 tons a year from being at zero emissions! What needs to happen for you to be able to go all the way to zero?
Karün
190 w
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Second Cycle Karün Conscious Development Model®: Circular Production Process Now that we’ve talk a little about the first cycle of Karün Conscioud Development Model, lets dig a little deeper on our Production Process, which involves the recollection of the raw material, recycling, production, packaging, sales, distribution and reuse. In this blog post, we will delve into the second sub-cycle of our model that we call "Circular Production Process". From the beginning of the manufacturing of our product, a process-oriented to circularity is initiated. We started this path from the design of our glasses, where we searched with great dedication, for those materials or waste that are found in Patagonia and Southern Chile, which also meet the technical characteristics that ensure high-quality standards for all of our products. Subsequently, a production chain begins marked by a series of links, each of which contributes to circularity. Within this process, the work we do with the Karün Collectors from the coast of southern Chile stands out. They collect different types of waste or materials that affect our natural ecosystem (such as ropes and fishing nets) and sell them to us. This waste is the basis of the material we use to manufacture our products. ... To keep reading, click on the following link! https://karunworld.com/blogs/news/second-cycle-karun-conscious-development-model-circular-production-process
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190 w
It's really impressive that you can make such high quality materials from waste! 🙌
Karün
190 w
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First Cycle of the Karün Conscious Development Model® In this blog post, we will go deeper into the first sub-cycle of our model that we call “Karün Collector Development”. It consists of working with Karün collectors and entrepreneurs, which objective is while obtaining the raw material (fishing nets from the shores of Chilean Patagonia) burst the regeneration of local economies and learn from our dear entrepreneurs on the road and their way of seeing and inhabiting the world. Click here to keep reading! https://karunworld.com/blogs/news/first-cycle-of-the-karun-conscious-development-model
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190 w
Such a great way of including everyone that wants to contribute in your work! Are you looking to expand with collectors in other areas of the world in the future?
Connor Lascelles
198 w
Instead of having 'Karun' as the impact focused section of your website, do you think it would be a good idea to replace this with the word 'Impact' ? This way, it makes it clear to first time visitors that this is what you are focused on. This way, if someone clicks on your website and doesn't know about your impact focused mission, they are more likely to see this as it is on the first page of your website. You are doing more impact focused work than most companies so I think you deserve to shout about it. This is only a small idea for an improvement, other than that, I think what you're doing is incredibly inspiring and I look forward to seeing your impact grow.
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190 w
Hey there Connor! This is an interesting idea, though we like to have our brand name taking an important part of our website, we do think that our impact is very important (if not, the most important thing that we do as a company). We recently redesigned Karün’s website and if you check it you’ll see that now the “Impact” area of our work has more focus. We will love to know what you think about our new design! https://karunworld.com/ Also, the reason why our brand name, Karün, is so important is because it’s meaning and origin. Karün means “to be nature” in mapudungun, which is the language of one of the native cultures of Chile and the one that most inspire us, the Mapuche people. Here’s a very interesting blog about this topic which we think you might enjoy! https://usa.karunworld.com/blogs/news/we-are-karun
Connor Lascelles
199 w
I recently came across Ecosia's YouTube channel and they post 'Tree Update' videos where we can see exactly what they are doing with the money generated from their search engine. The relaxed, blog like format comes across as totally genuine and helps cement their reputation as a planet positive business. I thought, because you are creating similar positive impacts through your operations, why not post 'Circular Economy Update' or 'Beach Cleanup Update' or 'Conservation Project Update' videos? People love coming along for the ride. The people who have already supported Karun with a product purchase can see where their money is going. This provides great satisfaction for people and it increases their desire to tell their friends and family about how great your glasses are. I know you already do a lot of this but I thought if you looked at the way Ecosia is doing this and tweaked the format for yourself then it would maximise this even further. Things you can put in the videos could be; "This month we recycled 5 tonnes of ocean plastic.." or "So far, our conservation project has restored 100 acres of coastline.." or "This year, we have provided 100 local families with a stable source of meaningful income.." You could even have a section on your homepage where you have a counter for how many tonnes of ocean plastic recycled so far etc. Similar to how Ecosia list how many trees they have planted since they started (which is not far off 100 million now) Thanks for being such a great business of the future! Here is the link to Ecosia's videos. What do you think? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVIr0a2TLf9vGaCN2pJBp4cNHFJxHvf3T
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190 w
Hi Connor! Thanks so much for this idea, we loved the close and casual way that Escocia has to deliver this kind of message, it’s really nice that they show themselves to the public. We have something similar but in a different platform, it’s called The Nest, a special section on our website exclusive for our costumers. There they can check closely the positive impact of their purchase. I think your ideas are a great contribution to this project, we will definitely see what we can do about it. Thanks!
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It definitely solidifies my desire to continue supporting a project when there are regular, transparent updates on the project.
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Great idea Connor! I like what Ecosia’s doing. 👍
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Thanks David! I can't believe they have nearly planted 100 million trees.. Just shows how much impact a business can have if it focuses on stakeholders and not just shareholders.
Connor Lascelles
200 w
I am truly blown away by how innovative Karun is. They pay local entrepreneurs to clean beaches of nylon fishing waste, take that waste and make it into sunglasses! If that wasn’t enough they are using the money generated from sales to fund ecosystem restoration projects. This is what business should be about. Taking something and making it greater than the sum of its parts. The days of Friedman's shareholder capitalism are over. You are leading the way into the new era of stakeholder centric business. Karun ticks so many boxes it's unbelievable. I’m going to contact some business schools to see if they want to use you as a case study for the future of business. Lets spread the world about this company so more people can be inspired to create businesses like this! If you want to learn what makes Karun so innovative then have a look at this link. https://karunworld.com/blogs/news/our-value-chain If you want to see how Karun is meeting numerous Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) then have a read of this. https://karunworld.com/blogs/news/karun-and-the-sustainable-development-goals
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189 w
Really great!
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199 w
Truly a business model of the future - fully agreed!
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Hope more businesses following your lead...
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Good to go...