Koalas are in trouble
In October, a lightning strike sparked a bushfire in a town north of Sydney, Australia. Meanwhile, severe droughts have caused 70 fires across the country. Hundreds and hundreds of acres are affected. Koalas’ habitats -- aka Eucalyptus trees -- and therefore, koalas themselves, are being devastated.
This ongoing tragedy is a perfect storm
- Bushfires are raging all over Australia.
- Koalas live in Eucalyptus trees.
- Koalas are slow and unaware of the threat caused by said bushfires.
So, between the fires and deforestation caused by urbanization, things look pretty grim for Australia’s beloved marsupials. The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there may be as few as 43,000 to 100,000 koalas left in the wild. This puts them squarely in “critically endangered” territory.
S&G gets serious
Since S&G's sheets are made from a koala's favorite snack, we were inspired to act. (Note: our Eucalyptus is sourced from biodiverse farms in India, so absolutely no threat to our fellow tree-huggers.) Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we ran a simple promotion: take 20% off all orders, and we’ll donate 20% of all sales to the World Wildlife Fund®.
The koala campaign exceeded our wildest expectations. By Tuesday morning--which just so happened to be #GivingTuesday---our community raised precisely $17,657.80! This money will go directly to the WWF, where it will be used to provide bandages for injured koalas, replant trees, and mount a campaign to help put an end to deforestation.
So, what can you do?
You can donate directly to the World Wildlife Fund® or the Australian Koala Foundation. The AKF also lets you plant a tree to help restore the koala’s habitat. (For the uninitiated, we also plant a tree for every order made on sheetsgiggles.com.) Finally, the New South Wales government has a bunch of resources and tips to help you help koalas.
Koalas are in trouble, but thanks to the above organizations and the generosity of the S&G Community, there’s plenty of reason for hope.
See? Look how happy those little guys are.
(Actual footage)