Topics of the Month

Sustainability does not take a summer break, and neither do we. This month we looked at regenerative business: models that try to leave the planet better than they found it.

Regenerative business goes a step past regular sustainability. Instead of only reducing harm, it tries to leave a positive mark: renewable energy, farming methods that rebuild soil, circular-economy design, and real partnership with local communities. We pointed to companies like Patagonia, Lush, and General Mills, then featured two New York examples: Brooklyn Grange's rooftop farms and Red Hook Farms' youth-led urban agriculture. The catch is cost. Regeneration usually means more money upfront and rethinking how a business already runs.

Full edition coming soon.

As work itself keeps shifting, we asked what it means to treat workers fairly, and who gets to hold employers accountable.

Ethical employment means more than following the law. It covers fair pay, safe conditions, equal opportunity, and honest hiring. Because employers usually control wages and schedules, workers can be left exposed when protections are weak. Labor laws set a floor, but a job can be fully legal and still offer unstable hours or pay that does not cover rent. Newer questions are surfacing too, like how gig workers are classified and whether AI should weigh in on hiring. Youth are part of this fight: groups like Pay Our Interns and the Global Intern Coalition keep pushing back on unpaid and underpaid work.

Full edition coming soon.

One of our biggest months yet. Between the Earth Day Festival and the UN Youth Forum, we dug into how government policy can push businesses toward sustainability.

Public policy, meaning the laws and programs governments use to steer companies, is one of the strongest levers for making sustainable business normal instead of rare. Young people can shape it directly by showing up to public hearings and contacting local representatives. Youth activists with the Climate and Resilience Education Task Force even helped push New York's Board of Regents to adopt a statewide K-12 climate education requirement. NYC gives you concrete examples: the Green New Deal and Local Law 97 cap building emissions, while the Clean Heat and Zero Waste programs go after dirty fuels and landfill waste.

Full edition coming soon.

In March we took on a corner of finance that sounds intimidating but touches almost everyone: ESG investing.

ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. Instead of judging a company on profits alone, it weighs how responsibly the company operates, on the idea that ignoring those things invites real risk like fines or public backlash. We walked through how to read ESG for yourself: rating agencies like MSCI and Sustainalytics, corporate sustainability reports, and fund labels like SRI and impact funds. And ESG is not only for big investors. Paying attention to where companies stand and backing transparent brands adds up.

Full edition coming soon.

For February we picked a fitting, if uncomfortable, topic: the ethics behind the chocolate we give and eat.

Behind a lot of chocolate sits a not-so-sweet supply chain. The International Labour Organization estimates that millions of children work in cocoa production, especially in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa is grown. The low prices paid to farmers keep families stuck in poverty. Change is happening through fair-trade programs: certifications like Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance set standards for pay and working conditions. We closed with NYC chocolate makers that source ethically, like Divine, Theo, and Alter Eco, so readers could start somewhere concrete.

Full edition coming soon.

To open the new year, we looked at a decision every business makes: where its materials come from.

Ethical sourcing does not require perfection. It starts with intention. We broke it into four habits: know where your materials come from and under what conditions; prioritize local and small-scale suppliers to cut transport emissions and add accountability; choose recycled, reclaimed, or renewable materials when you can, like recycled paper over virgin or thrifted fabric over new; and be honest with customers about your choices and their limits. Student-run and small businesses are especially well placed to work with nearby makers and markets.

Full edition coming soon.

Happy holidays from us. Our December topic was the Christmas tree, a bigger and stranger business than it looks.

Every December, an estimated 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. That makes the holidays one of the busiest tree-harvesting stretches of the year, though the story is more complicated than 'cutting trees is bad.' Because they are grown as a crop, real trees are renewable: farmers replant seedlings, growing trees absorb CO₂ and hold soil in place, and the industry supports family farms and seasonal workers. The bigger issue comes after the holidays, when trees dumped in landfills release methane as they rot. Recycling them into mulch or compost keeps them useful well past the season.

Full edition coming soon.

With Thanksgiving and college season in the air, we spotlighted a field that is growing fast: careers in sustainable business.

As climate pressure mounts, sustainability has gone from a nice-to-have to a business necessity, and that is opening real career paths. Roles like sustainability analysts, CSR coordinators, environmental project managers, and renewable energy specialists let people put ordinary business skills toward environmental goals. It is a competitive edge in the job market, too. Environmental awareness now drives the choices of at least half of American consumers, so demand for these roles keeps climbing. Our advice for students was to start small: internships, school and community initiatives, and a close look at the environmental commitments of companies they admire.

Full edition coming soon.

Boo! In October we looked at the trash that piles up once the costumes come off and the candy runs out.

Halloween is a short holiday with a long environmental tail. Americans spend more than $3.1 billion on candy, most of it in packaging that is not recyclable, and roughly 35 million costumes get thrown out each year. That is nearly 2,000 tons of plastic waste, about the same as 83 million plastic bottles. Add the special-edition seasonal products stores cannot resell once October ends, and you get a lot of short-lived buying with lasting impact. We asked readers to spend a little more thoughtfully.

Full edition coming soon.

As classes started back up, we took a routine most families never think twice about, back-to-school shopping, and turned it into a sustainability question.

The supplies students and families buy each fall add up for both the environment and the economy. Reaching for recycled notebooks, secondhand uniforms, or hand-me-downs means fewer new products get made, which lowers energy use and landfill waste. There is a market effect, too. As more people shop secondhand through thrift stores and resale platforms, regular retailers feel pressure to offer greener options. Our tips were practical: check what you already own, buy in bulk, pick reusables, and donate what you do not need.

Full edition coming soon.

In the thick of summer, we asked what all that air conditioning costs us.

Cooling is easy to take for granted, but air conditioning and refrigeration are real sources of emissions, and demand spikes exactly when summers get hotter. We looked at where those emissions come from and how businesses can stay cool with less impact, whether through better equipment or simple day-to-day habits.

Full edition coming soon.

In July we got practical about something every business handles and few do well: recycling.

Recycling sounds simple, but doing it well at a business is another matter. We laid out how recycling systems can work for companies of different sizes, the common mistakes that send well-meant recycling straight to the landfill, and how a solid program connects to a company's broader sustainability goals.

Full edition coming soon.

Picking up where Part 1 left off, we moved from the problem of fast fashion to what can be done about it.

Part two shifted the focus to solutions. We looked at more sustainable clothing options, the fast rise of secondhand and resale markets, and how brands can move toward more responsible production and sourcing. It was a hopeful counterpoint to the throwaway model we unpacked in Part 1.

Full edition coming soon.

Everyone was talking about AI, so we asked a question fewer people were: what is it doing to the planet?

AI's environmental footprint is easy to miss because it sits out of sight in data centers. We dug into the enormous energy those centers use, the water it takes to keep them cool, and what the fast growth of AI means for sustainability goals. Even 'virtual' technology carries a very physical cost.

Full edition coming soon.

We opened a two-part series on fast fashion. Part one covered how the industry works, and what it costs.

Part one introduced the fast fashion machine: a business model built on cheap, throwaway clothing made at enormous speed and scale. We traced its environmental footprint alongside the human cost, the labor conditions behind those low price tags. That set up the search for alternatives we took on in Part 2.

Full edition coming soon.

In February we dug into a crisis that is easy to see and hard to solve: plastic.

Plastic pollution is tied up with how businesses and consumers behave. We looked at the sheer scale of the problem, why recycling alone cannot fix it, and the sustainable materials businesses can use instead. The goal was to move past guilt and toward practical swaps.

Full edition coming soon.

In our first issue of 2025 we took on a topic that ties sustainability to fairness: environmental justice.

Environmental harm is not shared equally. We looked at how low-income communities and communities of color carry more than their share of pollution and environmental risk, and what a sustainable business can do to help instead of adding to it. Climate hits some people first, and that shaped the whole discussion.

Full edition coming soon.

Ever wonder where your trash goes? In December 2024 we followed it.

We traced the life of waste: how it is created, where it goes after the bin, and the toll landfills take. From there we turned to alternatives that both businesses and consumers can act on. Most of us never see the back end of what we throw out, and the issue tried to change that.

Full edition coming soon.

In our second issue we stepped back to look at the bigger pattern behind so many of our topics: consumerism itself.

We dug into the culture of overconsumption: why we buy more than we need, and what it costs the environment. Rather than pin it on shoppers alone, we looked at how both individuals and businesses feed the cycle, and how both can help slow it down.

Full edition coming soon.

Our very first issue arrived with the cold, so heat felt like the right place to start.

As winter set in, we looked at the environmental cost of how we stay warm. Heating choices affect both energy use and emissions, so we focused on practical moves businesses and households can make to heat more sustainably. It was the first of many everyday decisions the newsletter would return to.

Full edition coming soon.