For as long as she remembers, Renia Pruchnicki, founder, owner, and designer of Truth Belts – a vegan fashion company – has loved creating things.  In high school, she started designing her own clothes, and it opened up a whole new world for her. After earning a Fashion Design at Ryerson University in Toronto and working for a few different design companies, in 2001 she founded Truth, making belts out of her apartment in downtown Toronto. She was determined to create a life that she loved and at the same time, wanted to do something that would make a difference to our planet.  Renia also supports the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary (MAPS) treaty. She thinks it’s the single most important and powerful thing that one can contribute to in this day and age. The Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary establishes all ocean waters north of the Arctic Circle as a marine protected area, free from oil drilling and all other exploitation. Says Renia, “The polar ice is our planet’s air conditioning system. It secures balances weather patterns globally so that we may have the food and resources we need to survive. But now it faces an extraordinary threat.”  As we explore the 7th Principle (Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part), Renia will share more about MAPS and what we can do to help protect this vital part of our ecosystem.