What Is Knot On My Planet? Fashion Brands Call To End Elephant Poaching On Social Media During NYFW

The “Knot On My Planet” campaign took over Twitter Friday, with celebrities and fashion designers posting images of knots – from tied up shirts to phone cords – to show their solidarity against elephant poaching. The trending call-to-action came during New York Fashion Week.

Model Doutzen Kroes is Knot On My Planet's campaign's spokesperson. She told Vanity Fair Friday the aim of the initiative was to urge fashion influencers to post images of knots on social media to urge people to donate to the Elephant Crisis Fund. The fundraising goal is $15 million, and the money is used directly to end the trafficking, poaching and the demand for ivory.

“It’s really something to worry about,” Kroes said. “That’s why it’s so important to do this campaign; we have to raise awareness that ivory should not be a product anymore. It’s something that should be looked at that is disgusting. Elephants are being slaughtered just for that, just for their tusks, and just being left.”

A recent study revealed the staggering numbering of elephants that were poached for ivory over the past several years. The Great Elephant Census (GEC) told CNN that from its research, scientists believe that Africa may have had as many as 20 million elephants at one point. By 1979, only 1.3 million remained and the decline has been plunging rapidly in the decades since. A third of Africa’s elephants have been wiped out in the past seven years, and the large spike is attributed to the poaching of the world’s “living dinosaurs.”

Since the study was released, a new movement has gained momentum on social media platforms encouraging people to demand the end elephant poaching.