Campus Philly

Photo © Katherine Friedgen

Did you know that plastic water bottles are one of the greatest pollutants of our oceans and waterways? What about this: “over 70% of people depend on oceans for their main source of protein.” Yup, if you’re thinking that these two fun facts don’t exactly complement one another, you’re absolutely right. Problematic? United By Blue thinks so.

Who They Are

UBB‘s a local start-up whose mission is “that for every product we sell, we remove one pound of trash from oceans and waterways around the world through company-organized cleanups,” says Alli Blum – the Director of Marketing. The Philly-based apparel brand’s been making great waves in environmental conservation efforts, leading the blue movement by addressing, solving, and raising awareness of the effects of water pollution.

So, why go blue? In Alli’s words, “all of life on land depends on life in the water.” It is important to protect underwater ecosystems so that the people of today and generations of tomorrow are still able to inhabit our planet. United By Blue’s team members, business strategies, and programs all work to do just this. “We all, everyone at the company, believe that business has the power to do more than just make money,” Alli explains. Using their social business as a catalyst for change, those at United By Blue “sell clothes, pick up trash and do our own dirty work.” Putting “our money where our mouth is,” as Alli put it, UBB organizes community-based programs in an effort to help the movement swim forward.

What They Do

To get young people more involved in sustainability efforts UBB offers, as one section of outreach programming, twelve different internships. Positions range from business and PR to cleanup planning and graphic design. “We value their input and their knowledge,” Alli comments on United By Blue interns. While making a positive impact on the environment, interns “come out of it knowing how to take on a leadership role in a project…and see it through from start to finish,” Alli points out.

In addition to summer and fall openings, United By Blue has students take part in the movement via Campus Crew, a social business club through which members establish environmental goals to be accomplished on their own campuses. Volunteering to join a UBB cleanup team is another, simple way to go blue. At UBB, just to “do something that matters,” Alli says, is really the most important part.

You can contact Evetha Francois at evetha.francois@temple.edu