Sustainably Speaking - How You Can Support the Role of Businesses in the Sustainability Movement

Businesses nowadays are recognizing their role in the climate crisis. Many of them are finding new innovative ways to fight climate change through sustainability.

Individual efforts, while important, are not sufficient to address climate change, which is primarily driven by the actions of a small percentage of the world's richest people. Businesses, particularly multinational corporations, have recognized the financial benefits of sustainability practices, such as waste reduction, using renewable energy, and designing eco-friendly products. Many of them have even appointed a CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer) alongside their CEO and CFO, and many are adopting a circular economy model, which positively impacts their bottom line and increases their brand value.

What Can We Do To Support These Ongoing Efforts?

There are three action items that people can take to help companies in their fight against climate change.

1. ♻️ Participate in the Circular Economy

Many of the ongoing efforts are aimed at shifting from a "take-make-dispose" model to a circular one. Consumers can directly support this by closing the loop by actively using Take-Back and Trade-In Programs: When a company like Apple, Patagonia, or IKEA offers to buy back, trade in, or take back your old product, participate. These programs are essential to ensure the materials re-enter the supply chain instead of a landfill and they usually offer an incentive like discounts and/or loyalty points.

Choose Repair, Refurbished, and Secondhand. When your device breaks or garment is damaged, choose the company's repair service (like Patagonia's or device manufacturers') over replacement. This validates the business case for designing repairable products.

When you need a new item (especially electronics), choose a certified refurbished product. This directly supports the company's "Product Life Extension" initiatives.

Follow disposal instructions by putting waste in the proper receptacle. When a product or package has complex recycling or composting instructions, take the extra step to follow them correctly. For example, rinsing a container or separating materials ensures the company's sustainable packaging investment pays off.

Ultimately, the greatest support for resource efficiency is simply reducing overall consumption. By choosing durability, owning fewer items, and sharing/renting where possible, you validate the core circular principle of reducing demand for new materials.

2. Amplify Your Voice (and Their Efforts)

For every company that takes a sustainability risk, there are many others waiting to see if it pays off. Your voice and purchasing patterns provide crucial evidence and an incentive for other players in the marketplace to follow suit.

One of these ways is by publicly acknowledging and rewarding their efforts: When you see a company make a positive change (like switching to recyclable packaging or 100% renewable energy), leave a positive social media post, write a glowing review, or send a congratulatory email. Praising them publicly sends a signal to their competitors, proving that sustainability is a competitive advantage.

Ask clarifying questions about their sustainability claims. For example, ask for their Scope 3 emissions report (emissions related to their value chain and supply chain, which the company does not directly control but can greatly influence) or details on their water conservation plans, which thankfully many companies are undertaking given the finite supply of water on the planet. This encourages transparency and pushes them to back up their marketing with data, and avoiding appearing more eco-friendly than it actually is) AKA greenwashing.

If you purchase a sustainable product but find the packaging confusing, the recycling process too hard, or the product quality lacking, provide specific, constructive feedback. This can help companies improve the product and increase adoption of the sustainable version, which is the ultimate goal.

3. 💳 Align Your Wallet and Investments

Financial decisions are the most direct way to reinforce sustainable business models.

Vote with your wallet consistently. Actively seek out and preferentially buy products from companies that are making verifiable commitments. Check their transparent climate goals, supply chain, and any sustainability certifications like B Corp or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). Every purchase reaffirms their sustainable business model. Be willing to pay a slight premium for products that genuinely embody these values. Sustainable sourcing, fair labor, and high-quality, durable materials often cost more. This allows the company to sustainably scale their ethical practices without compromising on quality or exploiting labor.

Invest in ESG Funds (The Investor Voice): 

If you invest (even a small amount in a 401(k) or brokerage account), choose funds that prioritize companies with strong ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings. To check ESG ratings you can check any finance or investment website, including consumer friendly sites like Yahoo Finance, which now have ESG rating information available. By directing capital toward sustainable firms, you lower their cost of capital, making it easier for them to finance green initiatives and signaling to the financial market that sustainability is a metric of success.

Suhas Vittal is an event coordinator for Sustainable JC. He was born and raised in Jersey City, NJ, and is a graduate of NJCU, where he received his undergraduate degree in public relations and marketing. He is passionate about educating and encouraging others to care about the environment and to make sustainable lifestyle choices. 

How Individual Choices Can Drive Climate Action

It may already be too late to avoid many of the effects of climate change.

Extreme weather like heatwaves, droughts, and flooding across New Jersey and around the world are becoming more frequent. Water scarcity and crop failures will not be rare events in the future but ongoing realities. These changes will shape the way we live and the choices we make every day.

So what can be done? There are no easy short term solutions, especially in a capitalistic system, but small individual actions can add up and influence larger systemic shifts. When people change the way they purchase, consume and support businesses, it can pressure companies to adopt more responsible practices.

Alternative clean energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal power can help reduce long term harm. Still, individuals hold significant influence through the choices they make in the marketplace. Supporting companies that protect the planet, and avoiding those that do not, sends a powerful message.

While large corporations and the fossil fuel industry play an outsized role in driving climate change, everyone can contribute by aligning their spending with their values. Below are practical actions individuals can take.

How Individuals Can Make a Difference

1) Buy only what you need

Every new purchase adds to future waste. Overconsumption is a major contributor to landfill pollution. Before buying something, take a moment to separate needs from wants, especially around moments like Black Friday which are designed to encourage wanton spending. Consider whether the item adds short term satisfaction or long term value. 

2) Make products last longer

Choose items that are durable and repairable. A small repair can extend the life of clothing and household goods. Learning simple fixes, such as sewing small tears, helps reduce unnecessary waste. Check out Jersey City’s repair cafe which offers free repairs on several items 

3) Share items with others

Sharing helps communities thrive. If you have items you rarely use, such as garden tools, recreational equipment or unopened food, share them with neighbors or community groups. This reduces collective consumption and brings people together.

4) Purchase used goods

Many used items are in excellent condition and do not belong in the trash. Clothing is a good example. Producing new garments requires large amounts of water and energy. Buying secondhand saves resources and prevents harmful chemicals from entering the environment. Find your local Buy Nothing group to access pre-loved goods in your neighborhood. 

5) Choose more sustainable alternatives

Sustainability has become a marketing term, so take time to research brands you buy from. Review company websites, look at their stated values and supply chain practices and verify claims with independent reviews. There is no perfect answer, but find what fits within your sustainability beliefs and make choices accordingly. 

Businesses that ignore customers’ expectations eventually lose support. When people direct their money toward companies that prioritize sustainability, they help move the market toward practices that benefit the planet.

By collectively aligning our spending with our values, we can encourage meaningful change and help build a more sustainable future for everyone.

Suhas Vittal is an event coordinator for Sustainable JC. He was born and raised in Jersey City, NJ, and is a graduate of NJCU, where he received his undergraduate degree in public relations and marketing. He is passionate about educating and encouraging others to care about the environment and to make sustainable lifestyle choices. 

Rain Gardens: Where Beauty Meets Sustainability

By Erin Brown

Imagine this: You’re driving down Bergen Ave, going to your favorite coffee shop, and along the side of the road, you notice near the curb an area of plants and flowers blowing in the wind. These small gardens along the road, while they are beautiful, serve a bigger purpose. They’re not your average garden; these are rain gardens and are an impactful way to integrate green infrastructure into the local community. But what are rain gardens? 

A rain garden, as the Groundwater Foundation defines as “ a garden of native shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a small depression, which is generally formed on a natural slope. It is designed to temporarily hold and soak in rainwater runoff that flows from roofs, driveways, patios, or lawns. Rain gardens are effective in removing up to 90% of nutrients and chemicals and up to 80% of sediments from the rainwater runoff. Compared to a conventional lawn, rain gardens allow for 30% more water to soak into the ground.” 

Rainwater runoff can be a problem, especially if you’re living in a city prone to flooding, like Jersey City. Every time it rains, water runs off impermeable surfaces, such as roofs or driveways, collecting pollutants like dirt, fertilizer, chemicals, oil, garbage, and bacteria along the way. The pollutant-laden water enters storm drains untreated and flows directly to nearby streams and ponds. The US EPA estimates that pollutants carried by rainwater runoff account for 70% of all water pollution.

The rain garden process acts as a filter,  like a water filter you have at home. It collects the rain water runoff, allowing it to be filtered by vegetation and trickle into the soil, recharging ground water aquifers and improving water quality by filtering out the pollutants. To learn more about how a rain garden works, watch this video.

In addition to helping with water quality, rain gardens have a additional benefits, such as: 

• Beautifying neighborhoods

• Preserving native vegetation

• Providing localized stormwater and flood control

• Attracting beneficial birds, butterflies, and insects

• Ease of maintenance after establishment

To really get the most out of a rain garden it is important for us collectively to do our part to maintain and protect it. As an everyday person what we can do is not throw trash or litter into the rain garden and refrain from having pets relieve themselves in the rain garden. The acid from pet urine can be harmful to plants, especially if new plants are trying to grow.

Rain Gardens are a simple and effective way of integrating green infrastructure and are a tool to make Jersey City more resilient against the effects of climate change, heavy rainfall being one of them. To make our city more climate resilient, we need a city-wide rain garden campaign. Here at SJC, based on Jersey City being a medium-sized city, our goal is to install 11,000 rain gardens throughout the city. 

Learn more about Jersey City’s Green Infrastructure and SJC Rain Garden + Art Campaign, and show your nearest rain garden some love the next time you’re around one!

Erin Brown is a board member with Sustainable JC and Print Production Project Manager at an advertising agency in NYC.

The Coolest Summer of Our Lives?

In the August of 2022, the Scientific American printed a piece by Andrea Thompson, titled:

This Hot Summer Is One of the Coolest of the Rest of Our Lives

If the doomsayers are correct, this may be a perpetually renewable statement, good each year into the foreseeable future. Of course, this prediction rests on the assumption with which many conventional economists hedge all their forecasts—ceteris paribus aka ‘All other things being equal’.

But we can know, if we choose, that this does not work in a world where evolution is a principle of life, and where our futures are always affected by our communal choices and actions. We can choose to be fatalistic, fold our hands, and wait passively for our worst nightmares to unfold. Or we can, collectively, make different choices.

I say, ceteris paribus, based on science and common sense, that humanity is headed for disaster. But the good news is that it’s far from a done deal.

Irrespective of our beliefs on climate change impacts, global mean temperatures are rising, and many weather phenomena are oscillating to new extremes of lows and highs but tending inexorably toward increased warming.

We’ve long known that there is a phenomenon we call Urban Heat Islands.  The argument here has long been that urban areas have more heat absorbing surfaces (buildings and roads made of materials like pavement, asphalt, concrete and other bituminous mixtures), less heat reflective skyward surfaces, and less cooling by evapotranspiration (from trees and vegetation).  While the countryside is—on average—2 to 4 degrees cooler than cities.  And studies have shown that highly developed areas can be 15°F to 20°F hotter in the afternoon than neighboring vegetated areas. 

Global mean temperature rise, and the Urban Heat Island phenomena (ambient temperatures) are two distinct streams of planetary processes. Synergistically, both these phenomena increase the levels of heat stress to which residents of Jersey City are subjected. Risks to our health and wellness, and a variety of quality of life factors lower the overall effectiveness of our collective human performance. Severe environmental and economic impacts, e.g., increased energy consumption driving higher greenhouse gas emissions, are baked into the extreme heat equation.

There is no reason to assume that this trend will stabilize—let alone reverse—any time soon. So, the instrumental and pragmatic question is, "What can we (individually and as a community) do to deflect the consequences of the most likely rising trend in ambient temperatures ?”

Many of these mitigations are reasonably well understood. Plant more native shade trees, orient our building developments orientation to reduce the heat load on buildings [e.g., more awnings, fenestration, painting upward facing roof surfaces white], and so on.

But is there more we need to know to be truly sapient?

I believe most of the problems we, as a community, actually care about are better addressed at the system level and am known to be more a proponent for the now resonant call for “System Change, Not Climate Change…!” I take the position that addressing our climate crisis requires more than just technological or individual behavioral changes and believe the root causes to be dealt with are economic and social propensities driven by profit and unsustainable consumption patterns. Therefore, my position is that we must be willing to undertake systemic change if we are to avoid disaster.

And as regards this growing debacle of these two intertwined heat trends, there are things we ought to know so we can make informed and collective choices.

In that light, the World Resources Institute recently put out two web pages that are worth reading:

• Cities Are Heating Up. Better Infrastructure Can Cool Them Down

• Urban Heat and Passive Cooling

These pages are a very compact summarization of a huge body of research, over the past half-century, and a useful go-to tool for inquiring minds. Ultimately, providing policymakers and urban planners with the data, tools and insights to cool down cities is an effective way forward to impact systems change to combat climate change. 

Ashwani Vasishth is a board member with Sustainable JC and a retired Professor of Sustainability at Ramapo College of New Jersey.