Turning Black Friday blue: How art and community are powering ocean impact
It was a normal Saturday morning. I was sipping tea with my sister, but an idea kept swirling in my head. I had just received the Blue Friday call for participating brands. Without thinking too deeply, I added Artterra to the form.
It wasn’t our first year joining the movement, but it was the first since our pivot. Back in September, I announced that Artterra was evolving from an online art gallery into a creative impact studio—a place where art, activism, environmental storytelling, and community projects come together. We had big initiatives in the pipeline, but nothing physical to sell.
Blue Friday, however, is something I care about. It is a counter movement to the overconsumption that Black Friday fuels every year. The holiday season generates an enormous spike in waste, and a significant portion of discarded packaging eventually finds its way into waterways and our oceans.
I have been there too, buying things simply because they were half off, not because I actually needed them. It is consumerism at its peak. No wonder so many impulse buys end up in landfills within a year.
Blue Friday has always felt different. It was created in 2019 by a group of Canadian small businesses who wanted to transform Black Friday into a force for good by donating a portion of their sales to the ocean. Since then, the movement has funded several real, on-the-ground projects in British Columbia:
• 2019: $15,000 raised to install two Seabins at the North Saanich Marina
• 2020: $9,000 raised for another Seabin installation
• 2021: $42,000 raised to support Surfrider’s “Dock the Debris” program to replace harmful EPS foam at docks
• 2022: Funding for remote shoreline clean-ups with Living Oceans Society, removing thousands of pounds of marine debris
• 2023: $32,000 raised and more than 8,000 pounds of debris removed
• 2024: More than 7,500 pounds of debris removed through Living Oceans clean-up operations on the North Island
Across all years, more than 46,000 pounds of marine debris have been removed through projects supported by Blue Friday.
Over the years, Artterra joined in with art sales. But this year, with our new business model, I wanted to go bigger. I wanted to weave together impact, art, and community in a way that felt true to everything Artterra now stands for.
I also had an idea brewing for a Retide fundraising campaign. Retide is the ocean intelligence startup I founded. We are building AI tools that map and track ocean plastic using satellite imagery and data. And that Saturday morning, everything suddenly aligned. The environmental mission, the art, the storyline, the fundraising idea, and the community all came together in one clear vision.
People often say you know you are on the right path when all your skills converge. This was exactly that. This year I created so much ocean inspired art while exploring themes of activism and marine storytelling. We had just launched our Manifest Moonboxes during the Moon Bloom Celestial Summit, our event on art and creativity for healing, so the idea of assembling a meaningful box was already fresh in my mind.
With only three weeks before Black Friday, there was no time to run an artist call. It had to be my own work. I pulled out everything I had and started designing.
My vision was a zero plastic, high impact gift box I named the Blue Earth Box. Something beautiful, intentional, and ocean positive. A mix of storytelling pieces created to be both visually pleasing and thought provoking.
I ran the numbers, adjusted margins, and ensured we could offer free worldwide shipping while still donating to Blue Friday and giving NGOs and creators a meaningful financial incentive to join us.
During my work at Retide, I have come across so many incredible NGOs doing important on the ground work. Many of them have strong communities but do not have the time or capacity to create their own merchandise. This box became a way for them to participate with zero extra work and still raise funds for their projects.
So I invited them to join as affiliates. For every box sold, they receive 15 dollars for their organization or their ocean project of choice. Another 15 dollars from every box goes directly to the Blue Friday movement, which this year supports Ocean Legacy Foundation’s cleanup operations in British Columbia and internationally.
Some NGOs could not join due to timing or internal policies, which I fully respected, but many said yes immediately. And those yeses warmed my heart in ways I didn’t expect.
Karen Wristen, the Executive Director of Living Oceans Society, wrote back with such sincerity that it stayed with me. Her early interest in not only the campaign but what we’re building at Rtide made me feel supported and on the right track.
Daniel Travers, the Executive Director of the Canadian Museum of Water, not only loved the idea but even requested a sample box to display in their lobby and potentially sell in person. Pulling together a sample on such a tight timeline has been tricky, but his enthusiasm reminded me that this work is resonating far beyond my own audience.
And then there was Christopher Fairbank, the owner of Waste Free Planet. He said he would be open to sharing our campaign with his incredible Instagram community of more than 700,000 people. That kind of generosity from someone stewarding such a large platform was another sign that this movement was bigger than me.
And it went beyond the ocean community too. Several brands joined in. Bill Rutten, the founder of Nomadico and a fellow ocean lover, said yes right away. Several suppliers offered discounts on their products so more funds could go back to the ocean.
All these stories, all these small moments of encouragement, created a wave of collective energy. I share them because they show the magic that happens when a community genuinely believes in a cause.
Paid ads were never the plan. They are expensive during Black Friday and would reduce our donations. We wanted every possible dollar to go back into the ocean. But at this point, our collective community reach across all partners had already surpassed one million people on Instagram alone.
With our cost structure, one hundred percent of the proceeds support ocean impact.
• 15 dollars per box goes to Ocean Legacy through the Blue Friday movement
• 15 dollars per box goes to our NGO affiliates and ocean project partners
• Anything remaining after production costs goes to Retide’s research and development, helping us build AI tools that allow us to better understand plastic pollution in our oceans so we can take more effective action in both prevention and cleanup.
I invited ocean creators too. Many of them run their own cleanups or awareness projects. Every single one of them said they would donate their affiliate shares back to the campaign. It was another reminder that when a project is heart led, it touches people deeply.
To avoid unnecessary waste and overproduction, I made sure all fulfillment would be made to order. It aligns with our values and also works well with my nomadic lifestyle, which does not allow space for inventory.
The campaign runs from November 26 to December 1, and all orders will be produced and shipped after that. Coordinating production timelines with suppliers during holiday season was intense. I have run many campaigns over the years, but this one stretched me in new ways. It required every skill I have built across art, engineering, design, community engagement, partnership building, and activism.
And of course, things went wrong along the way. They always do. But every fire was put out, support kept growing, and we kept moving forward.
If you are reading this during our pop up window from November 26 to December 1, I would love for you to support us by purchasing a Blue Earth Box for yourself or someone you love. You can also share the campaign on social media to help spread the word.
If you are reading this afterward and would like to collaborate on future projects, reach out to Artterra. We run environmental campaigns throughout the year and we always welcome new partners, ideas, and connections to local ocean NGOs.
And finally, take your random Saturday morning ideas seriously. Sometimes they are not random at all. Sometimes they are gentle nudges from the universe inviting you to step into something your soul has been calling in.
What comes inside the Blue Earth Box
Every limited-edition box includes:
- Fully compostable phone case
- Eco-cotton tote bag
- Recycled notebook
- Limited edition art print
- Eco sticker
- Holiday card
- Fully plastic-free packaging
- 100% of proceeds supporting ocean clean-up and prevention
A quote from the founder
“Art has always been my way of sparking change. When creativity, community, and purpose come together, impact feels natural. This campaign let me bring together my ocean inspired art, my environmental work with Retide, and my love for community driven projects to create something meaningful in a season that usually pulls us toward overconsumption.”
— Parisa Golchoubian, Founder of Artterra and Retide Labs
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