{"id":273,"date":"2011-09-07T10:07:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T10:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=273"},"modified":"2015-03-08T03:57:15","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T03:57:15","slug":"human-nature-environmentally-yours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/human-nature-environmentally-yours\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Nature: Environmentally Yours"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In 2005, when Anna Meloto-Wilk and her husband Dylan had their first child, \u201cwe decided to use washable diapers instead of disposable ones after discovering that it takes more than 500 years for disposables to biodegrade, and that they release harmful toxins into the environment,\u201d the environmentalist recalls. She noted, of course, the inconvenience of going green, particularly at first, since \u201cwe never used disposable (before, and which we did) even when we would travel with the children; but after four years and two children, we’ve gotten used to it, and (became) firmer in our resolve to make sure that our lifestyle creates the least impact on the environment whenever possible.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

That \u201cvery personal choice,\u201d Meloto-Wilk says, \u201cmade it easy to make a natural transition into coming up with a business that will not only help the environment, but also create sustainable livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

This became a reality through a partnership with the Gawad Kalinga (an NGO helping provide housing to the poor) communities, which Meloto-Wilk\u2019s family has been supporting since the late 1990s, to form Gandang Kalikasan Inc. (GKI) that is into the production of Human Nature, which is into green personal and children\u2019s care products (shampoos, conditioners, facial washes and toners, moisturizers, body lotions, hand sanitizers, hand soaps, lip balms, massage oil and body butters).<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman Nature products are natural, (have) no harmful chemicals, are Philippine-made, AND are affordable,\u201d says Meloto-Wilk, who heads GKI, which prefers to source its raw materials locally from farmer cooperatives so that it can buy at fair trade prices and ensure sustainability of the supply.<\/p>\n

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Anna Meloto-Wilk<\/p><\/div>\n

The response to Human Nature has been good \u2013 though, realistically, it can still be better, especially since among the biggest challenges faced is the \u201clow awareness for what constitutes as a truly green product since there are no strict standards in the Philippines, or in Asia for that matter, unlike in Europe or the US which are the pioneer markets,\u201d Meloto-Wilk says. But \u201cwe address this by focusing our marketing on education campaigns, and coming up with an extensive training program for our dealers. We also wish to educate our suppliers by providing more information on what constitutes as safe and environmentally sound raw materials according to European and American standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Human Nature is now distributed all over the Philippines, with branches in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Samar, Bicol, Laguna, and, yes, Metro Manila; as well as the US (since November 2009). There have been inquiries from Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, the Middle East, and Europe.<\/p>\n

More than just being affordable \u2013 thus accessible \u2013 Meloto-Wilk believes \u201cour customers know that we are more than just a personal care products company. They patronize Human Nature because they know that every purchase helps the Philippines; helps the poor especially, the farmers and GK residents who work for us; and helps the environment, as well.\u201d And with this, with Human Nature, not only is there a line of good products, but by buying them, \u201cthey also get to do a lot of good as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To help promote sustainable environmentalism, Anna Meloto-Wilk helmed the formation of Human Nature, which is into green personal and children\u2019s care products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,16,12,13],"tags":[169,99,170,171,172],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beauty-and-fashion","category-product-showcase","category-spa-trade","category-business-builders","tag-anna-meloto-wilk","tag-beauty-products","tag-gawad-kalinga","tag-human-nature","tag-personal-care-products"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":905,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}