A Truly Inspiring evening with āluān!
We visited LUSH HQ in Soho yesterday to learn from Jane Miriam Dunlop, the CEO of āluān, about their conservational efforts on the island of Simeulue. Alongside EcosystemImpact, āluān helps protect the lives of critically endangered sea turtles, songbirds and as well as their habitats. They employ 35 full-time community rangers to protect the frontlines from songbird and sea turtle poaching.
In addition to saving wildlife on the brink of extinction, āluān partner with 500 coconut farmers to source fresh organic certified coconuts for their high quality product. Jane explained the difference between regular coconut oil and āluān’s Raw Virgin Coconut Oil. Many virgin coconut oils claim ‘Cold Pressed’ yet are heat treated before cold pressing. āluān’s Raw Virgin Coconut Oil is created from fresh coconuts that are cold-pressed into a milk before gentle oil separation via centrifugal extraction process, which spins the oil off the top of the fresh cream. This gentle, heat-free approach results in the highest quality oil for skincare and food with no impurities. The creation of standard coconut oil often takes a while to process so coconuts are mouldy by the time of production. Each batch of āluān’s Raw Virgin Coconut Oil is produced from farm fresh coconuts within one day!
Jane shared her gratitude for the people behind āluān, revealing that they are a women led team. āluān are passionate about removing the unique barriers that both women and men face, and supporting individuals to access opportunities. They nurture their relationships with farmers via coconut farming. They pay premium prices for their product, supporting with technology and aggregation, and regenerating farm land to conserve the forest and species in the area.