To help you be a more conscious consumer, we’ve curated a list of 100+ fashion, beauty, home, and food brands that are offering Black Friday/Cyber Week sales.

P.S. There are no sponsored links here, just a roundup of our favorite brands and products that our team is actually buying and gifting this year.

Fashion / Clothing

1. ABLE: 35% off sitewide, now through November 28th https://www.ableclothing.com/
2. Tentree: 30% off sitewide with code GF2022VIP https://www.tentree.com/
3. Pact: 20-50% sitewide https://wearpact.com/
4. For Days: up to 50% off https://fordays.com/
5. Amour Vert: 50% off daily deals https://amourvert.com/
6. Parade: 30% off https://yourparade.com/
7. Knickey: 20% off sitewide with code 20BDAY22 https://knickey.com/
8. Organic Basics: up to 50% off https://us.organicbasics.com/ 
9. MATE the label: 30% off https://matethelabel.com/ 
10. Prana: 40% off select stylesTradlands https://www.prana.com/ 
11. Noize: up to 80% off https://noize.com/ 
12. Everlane: up to 50% off https://www.everlane.com/ 
13. Toad & Co.: up to 60% off https://www.toadandco.com/
14. Boody: 40% OFF sitewide with code GIFTBETTER https://boody.com/
15. Thousand Fell: 20% off https://www.thousandfell.com/ 
16. Whimsy and Row: Up to 80% off
17. Nation limited: up to 80% off
18. Happy Earth: 30% off with code GIFTGREEN ​​ https://www.happyearthapparel.com/ 
19. MZ Made: 30% OFF sitewide https://shopmzmade.com
20. Tradlands: up to 70% off with code BF30 https://tradlands.com/

Home Essentials

1. Package Free Shop: 40% off sitewide with code HOLIDAY https://packagefreeshop.com/
2. Blueland: 20% off sitewide https://www.blueland.com/collections/all
3. Papaya Reusables: 25% off wide code GIFTGIVING25 https://www.papayareusables.com/
4. Dropps: 30% off sitewide with code CLEANGIFT https://www.dropps.com/ 
5. Lomi: up to $204 off https://lomi.com/ 
6. Kind Laundry: buy 2 get 1 free https://www.kindlaundry.com/

Home Goods

1. Anchal: 30% off sitewide https://anchalproject.org/
2. Avocado Mattress: 10% off sitewide  https://www.avocadogreenmattress.com/
3. Buffy: 20-50% off https://buffy.co/ 
4. Coyuchi: 20% off https://www.coyuchi.com/ 
5. Savvy Rest: 20% off https://savvyrest.com/
6. The Little Market: up to 60% off select styles https://www.thelittlemarket.com/
7. The Citizenry: up to 30% off https://www.the-citizenry.com/

Beauty & Skincare

1. Biossance: 30% off sitewide with code GIVE30 https://biossance.com/
2. Kinship: 25% off sitewide https://lovekinship.com/
3. Youth to the People: 25% off sitewide https://www.youthtothepeople.com/
4. Herbivore Botanicals: 25% off sitewide  https://www.herbivorebotanicals.com
5. True Botanicals: 20%-30% off sitewide https://truebotanicals.com/ 
6. Saie: 25% off https://saiehello.com/ 
7. Glow Recipe: 20% off sitewide with code GLOWFORIT
8. Attitude: 25% off https://attitudeliving.com/
9. Everist: 20% off sitewide https://helloeverist.com/
10. Leaf: 20% OFF sitewide https://leafshave.com/ 
11. Cocokind: 25% off sitewide https://www.cocokind.com/ 
12. Pacifica: 30% off sitewide https://www.pacificabeauty.com/ 
13. Beautycounter: 20% off https://www.beautycounter.com/ 
14. Tretique: 25% off https://www.trestique.com/  
15. Activist skincare: up to 25% off https://activistskincare.com/ 
16. Solara: 25% off sitewide https://solarasuncare.com/
17. Tata Harper: 25% off orders over $100 https://www.tataharperskincare.com/
18. Common Heir: 20% off with code EARLYACCESS20 https://commonheir.com/ 
19. Axiology: 30% off with code PLASTICFREEHOLIDAY22 https://axiologybeauty.com/

Pets

1. Wild One: 30% OFF sitewide https://wildone.com/

Food & Kitchen

1. Great Jones: up to 50% off through November 28th https://greatjonesgoods.com/
2. Made In: up to 30% off https://madeincookware.com/
3. Our Place: up to 30% off https://fromourplace.com/ 
4. Caraway: up to 20% off https://www.carawayhome.com/ 
5. Keep Cup: 30% off sitewide https://us.keepcup.com/ 
6. Stasher: 25% off sitewide https://www.stasherbag.com/
7. Farmfluence: 20% off with code LIVKINDLY https://farmfluence.co/
8. Hive Brands: 20% off sitewide with code HAPPYPLANET https://hivebrands.com/
9. Thrive Market: 30% off https://thrivemarket.com/
10. Flamingo Estate: 20 off sitewide https://flamingoestate.com/collections/all
11. Lettuce grow: 20% off sitewide with code GREENFRIDAY https://www.lettucegrow.com/

Latest Deals

1. Otherland: up to 35% off https://www.otherland.com/
2. Dieux Skin: 15% off with code FAITHFUL15 & 10% off bundles with code HEAVEN10: https://www.dieuxskin.com/
3. Earthling Co: 25% off sitewide with code CYBERSALE https://theearthlingco.com/
4. Milk Makeup: 25% off all orders over $45 https://milkmakeup.com/
5. Caudalie: up to 50% off select products https://us.caudalie.com/
6. Souper Cubes: 20% off sitewide starting November 25th + more Cyber Week deals  https://www.soupercubes.com/
7. ONE HOPE Wine: up to 40% off https://www.onehopewine.com/
8. Brightland: up to 30% off https://brightland.co/
9. Rothy’s: up to 47% off https://rothys.com/collections/the-archive-event-sale
10. Bathing Culture: 20% off through Monday, November 28th https://bathingculture.com/
11. Paravel: up to 30% off https://tourparavel.com/
12. Sheets & Giggles: save up to 40%, plus donated 5% to charity https://sheetsgiggles.com/
13. Puracy: up to 60% off https://puracy.com/

For months, LIVEKINDLY’s editors, on a never-ending quest towards zero waste, have looked for ways to give up wasteful paper towels, with one wee caveat. As much as we care about the environment, we want a practical solution that doesn’t involve us, like, living off the grid or washing a dozen dish towels each day.

Then we discovered Papaya Reusable Paper Towels. (Hear that? That’s the sound of angels sighing.) They’re compostable, washable, not to mention simple to use—and easy to organize, as each set comes with drying hooks you can hang anywhere. We were floored to learn that one Papaya towel replaces 17 rolls of disposable paper towels —which means this game-changing environmental move is also saving us a ton of money. 

Let’s face it: We’re addicted to paper towels

The first-ever paper towel, according to business legend, was a happy accident that sought to avoid waste. In 1907, Arthur Scott, president of Philadelphia’s Scott Paper Company, had a dilemma on his hands: an entire railroad car of toilet tissue was rolled too thick for its intended usage. Unwilling to let the paper go to waste, he decided to cut it into larger pieces and sell them as disposable paper towels. Easy to use, multipurpose, and eliminating the need for laundering, they were nothing short of revolutionary.

But Scott’s good intentions led to a whole heap of trouble for the environment. Americans alone use 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year, which adds up to about 80 rolls per person. That’s a lot of trash going into landfills, which emit large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 

But all the trash that creates isn’t our only problem. Paper towels are made by using significant water and tree-pulp resources. (In order to get certain paper towels pristinely white, chlorine and formaldehyde are added to the wood pulp, putting chemicals directly into contact with our skin and the surfaces we use.) The paper-making process likewise requires gas, to make these products and move them across the country. This is why the paper and pulp industry has become the fourth largest energy-consuming industry in the world. So reducing paper-towel dependence, even incrementally, could have a significant, positive impact on the environment.

The solution is a godsend

First, the superficial stuff: Papaya’s Reusable Paper Towels are utterly Instagrammable. No, really, their designs are so chic we don’t have to hide them when friends swing by, like we do with our stained dish towels.

Aesthetics aside, we were admittedly skeptical at first. Could these little sheets really work for cleaning, drying, washing, or even smudging off our makeup? The proof is in the paper, because these did work when it came to all of the above. (For more ideas on maxing them out, check out our pointers below.)

The versatility is great, but we’re most excited about their smell—inasmuch as, they don’t have one! That means no more stinky kitchen sponges or cleaning rags to contend with; Papaya easily replaces them. The cotton and cellulose they’re made from is quick-drying, which means odor-causing bacteria doesn’t get a chance to set up shop. After using them a few times, you can give them a simple wash-and-wring with dish soap. And when they’re ready for a deeper clean (Papaya suggests once a week), you can toss them in the dishwasher or washing machine—then hang to dry.

One Papaya Reusable Paper Towel can last us up to nine months. They’re also zero waste: at the end of their life-cycle, unlike a dishrag, these paper towels can go right into the compost bin. Or you can even throw them in the trash and rest easy knowing they’ll soon return to the earth.

Our fave thing about Papaya paper towels is how customizable they are. You can snag ’em in packs of two, four, or six—or like us, build out a subscription box for freshies whenever you need them, or want to gift them (and you will!). The hooks are a key differentiator, making it easy to station them like little soldiers fighting messes: one for the sink, one on the backsplash, and one on the kiddo’s highchair to wipe his often messy mouth (good for pet paws, too). We’ve got even more ways below. To grab our exclusive 20% discount, use code LIVEKINDLY20 on Papaya’s site.

Unique ways to use your Papaya Reusable Paper Towels

Win the war on dust

We’re constantly confronted with the fact that we routinely forget to dust (why is it everywhere, all the time?). Well, not anymore. Just run a damp Papaya Reusable Paper Towel wherever dust collects and watch it disappear, lint-free. Rinse and repeat.

Learn to love doing dishes (hear us out)

A sink full of dirty dishes used to fill us with dread—but not anymore. Papaya paper towels make this chore, dare we say, fun? We use two: One to clean every inch of our utensils, measuring cups, and kitchen tools. The other we keep on hand to mop up excess water on washed dishes to cut down on drying time.

Pimp your ride

Our cars collect a lot of gunk—from coffee spills and dusty dashboards, to muddy boots and kid messes (So. Many. Cheerios.). Nothing gets into nooks and crannies like a Papaya paper towel. Just wet it, wring it, and wipe the day away. If only it could do something about this traffic…

Glow-up your beauty routine

We love to keep a clean Papaya towel handy to take the day off our face, but our favorite beauty secret is using one to clean all those makeup tools. Brushes, sponges, and rollers (even that jade gua sha massager) work better when they’re free from product buildup. It’s official: clean is the new glam.

Pet pampering

We used to constantly launder smelly rags after wiping our pups’ paws and eyes, but now they’ve got their own designated Papaya paper towels (should we get them monogrammed?).

Streak-free your mirrors

Disposable paper towels were our best mirror cleaners, but Papayas are our new leave-no-trace answer to streaks and mirror-glomming fibers. Morning affirmations, here we come.

The startup’s vegan chicken debuted globally back in March 2021. It features a blend of soy, wheat, and gluten, and the distinctive taste of traditional chicken is made possible by Tindle’s proprietary plant-based fat, Lipi.

“Tindle is a fantastic example of how the food choices we make can create positive change for our planet—without sacrificing amazing flavor or any of the memories created around the dinner table,” said Zimmern. “Tindle’s ability to mirror the flavor, aroma and texture of chicken and take center stage in any dish is remarkable and makes it a true stand out among plant-based companies.”

In addition to Zimmern, Tindle’s plant-based chicken has received praise from a slew of chefs, including Rocco DiSpirito and Chad Rosenthal. 

According to the company, its plant-based chicken is the first to be “created specifically by chefs and for chefs.” The company now works with nearly 110 chefs and its vegan chicken is on the menus of more than 400 restaurants around the world.

Andrew Zimmern embraces vegan meat

In addition to his new role as Tindle’s culinary advisor, Zimmern is embracing plant-based meat in his personal life as well.

In an interview with Fast Company, the television personality revealed he was cutting back on his meat intake in order to reduce his environmental footprint. “We can’t take the horse and buggy back, we can’t take fossil fuels back, but we’re smart enough to make a difference,” he said.

A 2021 study published in Nature Food found that factory farming accounts for 60 percent of the food sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, meat production causes ​​twice the amount of pollution than that of plant-based foods.

Zimmern’s joining of Tindle’s advisory board is a sign of its burgeoning success. The company has been steadily gaining momentum in the world of vegan meat. Since its debut, it’s become popular in a number of countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Amsterdam.

It recently raked in $100 million in Series A funding, bringing the startup’s total funding to more than $130 million. And in February, the company expanded into the US, launching its plant-based chicken in restaurants across the country.

Britain’s government just announced plans to increase the current number of public chargers tenfold by the end of the decade, ahead of the expected national and global transition away from combustion engines and towards electric cars.

The £500 million Department for Transport-led scheme specifically includes £450 million for public and on-street charging for those without driveways. This was previously announced as part of the £1.6bn Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, details of which are now public.

The plans will hopefully enable more Britons to adopt electrification, as nearly 25 percent of all households do not currently have access to off-street parking. This is a significant obstacle to the charging of personal electric vehicles, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours. (Either way, significantly more time-consuming than filling a car up with gasoline.)

The UK is set to ban all sales of new fossil fuel-powered cars and vans by 2030, a deadline that has also been matched by many private automobile manufacturers around the world. According to the new plan, the government expects 300,000 public chargers to be available by the same year. Chargepoint operators will also be legally required to meet certain standards, such as enabling drivers to pay and find nearby chargers easily.

“No matter where you live—be that a city centre or rural village, the north, south, east or west of the country—we’re powering up the switch to electric and ensuring no one gets left behind in the process,” says Transport Secretary Grant Schapps.

The UK will need nearly 500,000 new EV chargers by 2035

Despite the government’s optimism, the plan has received criticism from various companies and motoring groups for still falling short of expected demand. Energy regulator Ofgem previously estimated that around 25,000 public charging stations would need to be installed every single year until 2035 in order to reach the 480,000 and two million power leads required.

Furthermore, despite Schapps’ statement to the contrary, there is also a growing regional divide in the availability of EV chargers. And, in the historically underserved north of England, this disparity is growing even faster. Currently, around a third of all chargers are in London.

While electric cars are undeniably an essential part of national and international plans to reach zero emissions and mitigate climate change, they are far from a silver bullet. The affordability of new EVs (and new vehicles in general) means that they are out of reach for the vast majority of road users, with 75 percent of UK drivers purchasing used automobiles.

It’s also worth noting that active travel (such as cycling, walking, or wheeling) is the most sustainable solution, with public transportation a close second. Replacing all traditional vehicles with electric ones is not an acceptable solution to transportation emissions, and unfortunately, Britain’s public transport systems are some of the most prohibitively expensive in the world.

Where governments are falling short, private companies are exploiting the absence of public chargers for their own benefit. Both Taco Bell and Starbucks are hoping that adding EV charge points at stores will encourage an uptick in business from in-need travelers.

Gleaning, the simple process of gathering surplus produce from farm fields and even residential backyards, puts food on plates and keeps it out of landfills. It seems like the perfect solution to food shortages, and the people who run gleaning programs across the United States are universally agreed on one point: We have plenty of food in this country to feed everybody, if only we can stop wasting it.

“There will always be excess in the fields,” says Shawn Peterson, director of the Association of Gleaning Organizations. “We could do a far better job of managing it.”

How gleaning can help address food insecurity

In 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified that over 38 million Americans were food insecure, meaning they did not have an adequate amount of food on a daily basis to meet their basic nutritional needs. At the same time, 21 percent of food ends up in landfills, where that rotting food generates harmful methane gases that accelerate climate change. And as the Covid-19 pandemic fed unemployment in 2020, some 60 million Americans turned to food assistance programs for help, twice as many as in the previous year, but inequitable distribution meant that many communities—particularly in rural areas and among communities of color—still went without.

“There are plenty of fruits and vegetables to go around,” says Nkemdilim Nwosu, director of communications at Food Forward, a Southern California nonprofit that addresses food insecurity and food waste in multiple ways, including gleaning surplus fruit, such as citrus and avocados, from private properties, public parks, and orchards. “The issue is about providing equal access to healthy foods.” 

Gleaning allows organizations like Food Forward to address hunger by focusing on sustainability, building connections between farmers, distributors, and local communities, and directly impacting hungry people in senior centers, veterans’ homes, day care facilities, assisted living, and homeless shelters.

Those connections are invaluable, notes Lisa Ousley, executive director of After The Harvest in Kansas City, Missouri. The nonprofit had already been operating since 2014 when the pandemic hit, primarily focused on working with large commercial growers around the country to get donations of truckloads of already-harvested B-grade fruits and vegetables—millions of pounds of completely edible produce that doesn’t meet USDA standards, such as cucumbers that are more than seven inches long, misshapen bell peppers, or limes that are the wrong shade of green. Gleaning was a much smaller part of their efforts, but it all added up to keeping perfectly good food out of the waste stream and into the hands of those who needed it most. 

But with the onset of Covid-19, Ousley saw a surprising problem as a result of the USDA’s Farmers To Families Food Box program, which was created in the spring of 2020 to address disruptions to the food supply chain by purchasing fresh food directly from producers and delivering it to food banks. “Kansas City was suddenly flooded with free produce,” Ousley says, “but it wasn’t being distributed equitably. That food box program ended up driving our gleaning expansion so that we could focus on our local community and get food to those who desperately needed it.”

Gleaning programs like the one at After The Harvest tend to be volunteer-heavy. People in the community, from retirees to college students, head out to the fields when a farmer has excess produce that needs to be harvested, such as a crop of zucchini that has been pock-marked by a hail storm and can’t be sold at market; in a few hours, those volunteers harvest hundreds of pounds of produce for distribution to food banks and other local agencies. One specialized group of volunteers at After The Harvest is known as the VEG (Vegetable Emergency Gleaning) Squad, responds to farmers on short notice when, for instance, a forecast for a sudden hard frost threatens a tomato crop. The recent acquisition of a refrigerated truck has made it easier for Ousley’s gleaners to get even more produce out into the local community while it’s still fresh—another important step in keeping gleaned fruits and vegetables out of landfills.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC, gleaning is one of many strategies being implemented toward “zero waste” goals, including at Community Food Rescue, where they now have six to eight gleans at local farms each year. Program director Cheryl Kollin says, “Food rescue is not the solution to establishing food security or rectifying the waste stream issue, but it is a great solution to the reality that a farmer’s life is hard. They have to hedge their bets against weather conditions, crop failure, and labor shortages—and, in a good year, they might have more than they can sell.”

If that leftover produce isn’t gleaned, then many farmers simply till it over to fertilize the field for the next planting season. However, there can also be crops, often overlooked, that are valuable to immigrant and indigenous communities and worth gathering, says Kollin. One such crop was recently identified by the nonprofit Red Wiggler Community Farm, which called Kollin to ask for gleaning volunteers to harvest the leaves from sweet potatoes—a prized ingredient in recipes across Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific.

“It’s a very labor-intensive process,” say Kollin, “because you have to separate the leaves from the stems, but harvesting them means that we are providing an ingredient that members of the local community value while keeping that crop out of the landfill at the same time.” 

Gleaning is typically referred to as very reactive, because it is often necessitated by a sudden need to gather produce before it rots. However, more organizations are understanding that being intentional can benefit the populations they serve and reduce food waste at the same time, meaning that some gleaners are getting into farming the land themselves. Boston Area Gleaners, which distributed over eight million pounds of food in 2020 alone, is one such group: they recently purchased farmland in Acton, Massachusetts, allowing them to be more proactive in the planning of their food distribution and how they impact the waste stream.

Paul Franceschi, outreach coordinator for Boston Area Gleaners, is excited about how this venture allows them to provide greater food options beyond typical regional staples to their community. “We have feedback from our partners already in some of the crops they’d like to see more of,” says Franceschi, “including a bigger variety of cultural crops that aren’t always available in the emergency food system. We’re getting set to plant okra and collards in the fields soon, among other crops.”

In an ideal world, everyone would have access to nutritious food and far less of it would be wasted. Gleaning advocates know these are big, complex issues to solve.

The Association of Gleaning Organizations noted in its 2020 annual report that it is estimated by the World Wildlife Fund that 10 billion pounds of produce grown globally is never harvested, while one in seven people is experiencing food insecurity at the same time. That wasted food represents 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, almost quadruple that created by the airline industry.

“Hunger is not a production problem,” says director Peterson, “it’s a distribution problem. We have far too much food and a pressing issue of climate change. Gleaning offers a way to empower local communities to use that excess and have a real impact on people and the environment.”

The views expressed in opinion pieces are those of the author(s) and do not represent the policy or position of LIVEKINDLY.

The restaurant is a collaboration between the company’s co-founders, serial entrepreneur Pat McAuley, vegan investor Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni, and head chef Mary Dumont, in partnership with celebrity vegan chef Mathew Kenney.

Created to make plant-based food more appealing and accessible to everyday sports fans of all kinds, the new PlantPub will serve burgers, Buffalo cauliflower wings, nachos, and pizza. This location will also include beloved New England desserts like Boston cream pie and sundaes.

PlantPub’s new branch is over five times the size of the original location, which launched in Cambridge last year, at 8,000 square feet. It can seat nearly 300 people and Dumont told the Boston Globe that having access to a bigger kitchen means she can create more new menu items, including vegan hot dogs “with all the toppings.”

PlantPub Boston: the largest vegan sports bar in the world

In addition to launching a plant-based take on the iconic “Fenway Frank” hotdog, PlantPub will serve a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic craft beers and cocktails, all from New England-based brewers and producers.

“We are mimicking all of the flavors that people know and love in a complete plant-based form,” says Dumont. “We have an opportunity to expose so many people to a new way of eating that is becoming more and more mainstream.”

Kenney’s partnership came about as he had already signed a lease on the former Boston BeerWorks building, then decided to collaborate rather than “create a new concept.” He is now also a partner in the Cambridge location, and they plan to expand to other cities in the future.

“I loved what they were doing—the product, the brand… It just seemed like a perfect fit,” says Kenney. “Fenway is ground zero in Boston and we couldn’t think of a better location to showcase the fact that plant-based cuisine can be really crave-able and fulfilling and satisfying.”

The celebrity chef now owns or operates 60 different restaurants worldwide and has authored over a dozen cookbooks. Kenney is known for his pioneering of plant-based cuisine in the mainstream. He debuted a new, sustainable, fully vegan restaurant at Selfridges earlier this year.

McAuley described partnering with Kenney as a “dream,” adding that “he is the leader in the plant-based culinary world… He has blazed a path for everybody else.”

A growing number of celebs are using their platforms to elevate new startups, entrepreneurs, and causes that they believe in. More and more, they’re investing in a broad range of sustainability-focused startups that are doing good for the planet, including food tech brands, fashion lines, and beauty brands. 

Celebrities using their platforms for good

Take Grammy Award-winning musician Rihanna, for example. The business mogul, who recently achieved billionaire status last year, is using her affluence to fight the climate crisis. Earlier this year, she pledged $15 million through her charitable organization, The Clara Lionel Foundation, to groups that are working to mitigate global warming. She’s also invested in the vegan cookie brand Partake Foods.

Then, there’s Jay-Z. The most prolific celebrity backer, according to the Celebrity Investments Index, the hip-hop artist and entrepreneur has made a number of lucrative investments through his investment firm, Marcy Venture Partners. Jay-Z—whose real name is Shawn Carter—is heavily involved in the plant-based food space. He’s invested in countless vegan brands, including Impossible Foods; Los Angeles-based cashew cheese brand, Misha’s Kind Foods; Swedish oat milk brand, Oatly; and plant-based chicken brand, Simulate.

And one would be remiss not to mention Leonardo DiCaprio, the founding father of sustainable celebrity investments. The Academy Award-winning actor has invested in numerous sustainable startups, including lab-grown diamond company, Diamond Foundry; recycling technology company, Rubicon; and he was an early investor in electric car-maker, Fisker.  

Celebrity investors are also tackling waste

DiCaprio’s organization, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation—which he founded in 1998 to support sustainable organizations and initiatives—is especially interested in the zero-waste sector. 

According to Terry Tamminen, the foundation’s CEO, figuring out how to finance the transition to a zero-waste future is a major economic opportunity—one that the foundation supports. 

“Investing in converting waste to valuable materials is of interest to investors because of climate change, tremendous pressure on natural ecosystems, better technology for conversion and the need to harvest more materials locally,” Tamminen explained.

Through his VC firm, Jay-Z also invested in British Columbia, Canada-based brand Pela, which makes compostable cell phone cases and phone grip stands.

They’re not the only celebrities backing the zero-waste industry. As environmental awareness increases, so too are investments in this field, helmed by the likes of Beyoncé, Ashton Kutcher, and Zooey Deschanel. Here are other celebrities using their influence to move the needle forward on sustainability.

Today we need this magical wisdom more than ever. Climate change continues to weaken and deplete food systems around the world, threatening the most vulnerable communities. Without a just and equitable resolution to the climate crisis, food insecurity will grow and those on the frontlines, most often Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income people, will suffer most. Climate Justice is our superpower—a weapon against both the climate crisis and racism.

How climate change and racism are linked

Tackling the climate crisis, and its consequential food insecurity, requires that we center race in both the discussion and the solutions. The IPCC report directs us to look specifically at Africa, Asia, and Central and South America as regions that will suffer greatly without a response that addresses social inequities and restoration of natural resources. It further specifies that the vulnerability of people to climate change varies by certain factors including, but not limited to, colonialism and marginalization. Talking about the effects of colonialism without talking about race is akin to referring to the Civil War as just a disagreement between states. When the direct metric of race is excluded we fail to directly address the cause of a problem and risk missing groups of people that should rightly benefit from a solution. We cannot do anti-racist work in any arena, including climate change, if the elements of race are disguised, devalued, and ignored.

BIPOC communities have always led climate action

And so, we look back to the original sustainability superheroes. Black, Brown, and Ingenious Americans have a lived experience of survival in the harshest environmental, mental, and physical conditions and are prime to provide innovative ideas that not only reduce food disparity but also anchor climate justice in food systems around the world. 

Indigenous environmental advocate Nemonte Nenquimo of the Ecuadorian Waorani tribe has long practiced the protection of lands while highlighting the nourishing and medicinal relationship between people and forest. She stated, 

“Our ancestral knowledge as Indigenous peoples has enormous value for the rest of the world,” she says. “But it is under grave threat and quickly disappearing. When this wisdom is lost, humanity becomes weaker, and nature is destroyed even faster.” 

A similar relationship exists among the Gullah Geechee people off the coast of the Carolinas. Sitting on the front lines of rising sea levels, floods, and extreme weather events, the island people sustained themselves with the knowledge brought with them from their native countries and respect for nature. And the best climate scientists in the world know this to be true. IPCC Working Group II Co-chair Debra Roberts says, “By bringing together scientific and technological know-how as well as Indigenous and local knowledge, solutions will be more effective. Failure to achieve climate-resilient and sustainable development will result in a suboptimal future for people and nature.”

Anti-racist work will yield climate solutions

Everyone’s work begins with abandoning the stereotypes and dispelling the myths. There is historic intersectionality of climate and environmental issues with equity and social justice issues that can be addressed. Tackling food disparity is a good place to start. These are not two separate issues but instead, two ends of a knot tangled by a history of systemic oppression and racism that overlaps food security and climate. Compassion and action for the planet cannot exist without compassion and action for all the people on it, especially the underserved and marginalized. And so perhaps the biggest myth of all to unpack and deconstruct is tied to the historic love-hate relationship between Black Americans and agriculture.  

Dispelling myths about race, food, and environmentalism

In the Black community, eating greens and vegetables has always been part of the staple diet. In 2016 the Pew Research Center found that Black Americans are more likely to identify as vegetarian or vegan compared to all other Americans. A third of Black Americans are cutting back on their meat intake versus one-fifth of white Americans. And while the United States remains at the top of meat-consuming nations in the world, among the Black American populace who are reducing their meat intake, the reasons most listed are to “improve health” and “the environment.” In 2020, Vegan enthusiast and Tiktok sensation Tabitha Brown, completely revised her role to become an overwhelmingly successful social media influencer with bacon-flavored carrots. Something about the soothing way she sprinkled garlic powder on carrots with such love that it just sounded like an incantation of the ancestors saying, “thank you for remembering the old ways…we are pleased.” 

Marketing teams took note and now even Kentucky Fried Chicken has a plant-based chicken option. Still, mainstream veganism, similar to mainstream environmentalism, is largely considered as being founded, maintained, and grown by white people. In fact, Black experts with lived experience can be a trusted voice to other Black people when it comes to a food lifestyle that is not only germane to Black history, culture, and future existence but is also central to understanding the climate crisis. So often, these voices are excluded and even disenfranchised from participating in the conversation. In 2014, the vegan food site, Thug Kitchen, faced well-founded accusations of cultural overstep. At face value, it appeared to be a Black American vegan space, full of Black American vernacular, ideas, and community. In reality, it was run by a white couple that used Black American terminology to gain an audience. Real and authentic Black vegan food experts described the debacle as a cultural food appropriation. As one expert put it, people rarely go to the second page of the Google search. 

Communities of color are disenfranchised from sustainability

If you peek through the lens of the American period of enslavement, one can begin to understand why it’s difficult for Black Americans to embody the words, “Eat more vegetables because it’s good for the planet.” It ignores our existing cultural affiliation with plant-based living and does not account for post-Civil War systemic barriers that prevented us from doing the very things we were told are good for the environment and our bodies. Most stinging is the self-inflicted victimization it presents to us, assuming that the economic and environmental position with which we find ourselves is of our own doing. How can I plant a garden in the backyard when years of systemic racist housing policies have prevented me from owning the property where the yard sits? If I am able to plant a garden, how do I keep it watered when the water source isn’t fit to drink? Mapping Inequality—a collaborative effort of the University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, The University of Maryland, and John Hopkins University–outlines a clear picture of the communities subject to discrimination yet fall victim to the growing effects of climate change.  It is victim-blaming at its worst, accusing and chastising the abused for not having sense enough to do something so obviously good for all of humanity when in fact, we’ve been well aware of the benefits but have been blocked from access to do the work. Our superpowers are ignored. The ability to bring solutions and justice is cast aside due to the construct of race and the inherent oppression it creates.

The feeling not only breed resentment but also creates yet another barrier to overcome if we are to tackle the looming climate crisis. “We” did not all poison the planet equally so why are “we” being told that “we” must change our lifestyle to accommodate something we had little part in screwing up? The very reason we’re eating what we eat is born from the traumas of slavery and the plain “old school” magic our ancestors were able to accomplish with what was given to us and the cultural accommodations made to adjust to what we had. It becomes very difficult for a person of color to resonate with white, mainstream, environmentally moved, vegan supporters of “cruelty-free” eating for the sake of the planet in the future, when at times, these same people do not exhibit the same sense of compassion for the hunger, suffering, and cruelty of minority people by the police in the here and now.  Understanding these racial-based dynamics are crucial to deploying and empowering minority communities to recover just solutions that work.  

Climate justice is a global effort

But there is a middle ground where justice and anti-racism working together has the potential for tremendous and expedient benefits if everyone is willing to listen. That middle ground is called climate justice and it is spreading. FoodPrint is a program that not only helps people understand the footprint of what they eat but also the connection between social justice, climate change, and food production. And more importantly—why it matters. Footprint Farms in Jackson, Mississippi, helps eradicate food deserts through urban farming to entrepreneurship. The shift is happening as all environmental leaders, regardless of race, class, or creed; recognize the short time left to take bold implementable actions on climate that can innovate and balance our food systems before time runs out. We all have access to climate justice as a powerful weapon to fight climate change.

Broadly adapted from the chapter entitled, “The Cultural Appropriation of Collard Greens” in Heather Toney’s forthcoming book, Before the Street Lights Come On: Black America’s Call for Climate Solutions, forthcoming from BroadLeaf Publishing April, 2023

The views expressed in opinion pieces are those of the author(s) and do not represent the policy or position of LIVEKINDLY.

Senator Marty Klyne reintroduced Bill S-241, also known as the Jane Goodall Act, in the Senate on March 22. If passed, the bill would ban new captivity of a number of wild animals—including bears, wolves, and big cats. This would effectively end the use of exotic animals in roadside zoos, giving wild animals some legal protections in a court of law. It would also phase out elephant captivity throughout the country.

The proposed bill—which is supported by anthropologist and conservationist Jane Goodall—was originally introduced by Senator Murray Sinclair back in 2020. However, the bill died after Sinclair retired from the Senate in 2021.

“Today is an important day for animals. So many of them are in desperate need of our help and the Jane Goodall Act establishes protection and support for animals under human care,” Goodall said. 

“It is a monumental step forward for animals, people, and the environment,” she added. “I am honoured to lend my name to this world-leading legislation that is supported by a wonderful coalition of government, conservationists, animal welfare groups and accredited zoos.”

Canadian bill tackles the issue of animals in captivity

The new bill would impact wildlife attractions across Canada, estimated to number between 100 and 150. 

Removed from their natural habitats, captive wild animals often suffer physical and emotional issues as a result. Insufficient or unnatural diets and lack of adequate physical activity can cause the animals severe distress and zoochosis, symptoms of which include pacing, head-bobbing, or excessive licking.

If passed, the proposed bill would act as an extension to Canada’s Bill S-203, which was passed in 2019. Spearheaded by Senator Sinclair, the “Free Willy” bill phased out the use of cetaceans like whales and dolphins in captivity.

A number of zoos—which would be exempt from the captivity ban—support Bill S-241, including the Granby Zoo, the Calgary Zoo, and the Toronto Zoo. The former, a zoo in Quebec, has announced its intention to phase out its captive elephants over the next few years.

“Given the fact we have to agree that the elephant standards are getting more and more tough to keep them in zoological institutions, and given the fact the bill is coming and we supported it, we have decided as a group in Granby to transition out,” said the zoo’s CEO, Paul Gosselin.

Since the bill bans elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn imports, Goodall said the bill would help put a stop to illegal wildlife trafficking. It would also create a new distinction for accredited “animal care organizations,” such as aquariums, zoos, and sanctuaries, which would be able to continue caring for wild animals. All other organizations would have to apply for a permit in order to breed wild animals or acquire new ones.

Over a decade later, in my process of grieving and healing from the loss of my beloved dad, I’ve learned that his funeral felt wrong because, for me, it was. Years after his death, I read mortician, advocate, and author Caitlin Doughty’s memoir, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Her depictions of the autopsy process, body preparation, and cremation (what my father ultimately had) horrified me.

At the time, I wasn’t aware of an alternative like green burial, which is simply defined as the burial of a body without embalming, in a biodegradable container, shroud, or no container at all, directly into the ground without the use of a concrete vault or liner. The emphasis of a green burial is to care for the dead with minimal impact to the environment, via conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and restoration and/or preservation of habitat. Green burial cemeteries, which may be standalone operations, or incorporated into a conventional cemetery, typically discontinue the use of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers, and encourage sustainable land management practices. Some green burial cemeteries even operate as conservation cemeteries, establishing a partnership with a conservation organization and using a conservation management plan that upholds best practices and provides perpetual protection of the land according to a conservation easement or deed restriction.

Choosing to have a green burial is one of the last important environmentally conscious choices you can make. According to the Green Burial Council, while traditional burial produces 250 lbs. of carbon, green burial sequesters 25 lbs. of carbon. This is equivalent to the carbon produced by the driving of an average American over a three-month period. With climate change full speed ahead, any decision we can make, big or small, including opting for a green burial, is worth considering.

On the other hand, traditional funerals and cremations seemed prescriptive, wasteful, and energy consumptive. In fact, they are all those things. Conventional burials in the United States use approximately 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluid (827,060 gallons of which is formaldehyde, methanol, and benzene), 20 million board feet of hardwoods (including rainforest woods), 1.6 million tons of concrete, 17,000 tons of copper and bronze, and 64,500 tons of steel, annually. Many of those materials leech into the surrounding soil over time. Not to mention the sourcing, processing, manufacturing, and transport of those materials uses a lot of energy as well. 

Contrary to some belief, cremation isn’t a much better alternative, using fossil fuels to maintain high temperatures for multiple hours and producing 1.74 billion pounds of CO2 emissions annually in the United States. Cremation is the most popular disposition option in the United States (56.1 percent) and Canada (73.1 percent), with over 1.8 million and 224,000 cremations in 2020, respectively, according to the Cremation Association of North America. Cremation also releases mercury into the air and water, and creates byproducts of nitrogen oxide, dioxins, and particulates. 

Crematory workers have a front row seat to these emissions too, which, along with exposure to embalming fluid, raises occupational concerns. Workers have a higher than average incidence of COPD, respiratory diseases, and neurological disorders. Embalmers in particular have a 13 percent higher death rate (Centers for Disease Control, Final Rights by Lisa Carlson and Joshua Slocum), are at 8 times higher risk for leukemia, and 3 times higher risk for ALS compared to the general population.. 

After learning all this, I thought to myself, “There has to be a better way.”

A green burial offers a more sustainable future

Once I had begun educating myself on green burials, I realized my own city of residence didn’t even allow them to occur. Although green burials are perfectly legal in the US and Canada, and elsewhere, many state and local laws make it difficult to have one. So I joined my city’s Municipal Board of Cemetery Trustees to attempt to change the ordinance that required all burials to include the use of a concrete vault. (The city just passed the change and will now allow burials beginning in June of this year). 

My interest turned into a new passion and soon I found myself working with the Green Burial Council International, a nonprofit whose mission is to inspire and advocate for environmentally sustainable, natural deathcare through education and certification. Two years into my membership, I am the President of the Board of Trustees. Through my dive into the deathcare field, I’ve come to learn that that “better way” of deathcare lies in the process of providing our loved ones with a natural, or greener, burial when they die. 

The green burial process tends to fall on a spectrum when it comes to specific logistics. Some green burials use equipment to dig graves, while some don’t. Some cemeteries maintain green lawns, while others opt for a more natural appearance. The “ultimate” green burial, to me, would be a hand-dug grave, transportation of the body via horse drawn carriage (this is really a thing, by the way), and burial with no shroud or outer container. Fewer materials and energy-consuming practices lean towards the greenest of green burials. Historically, this is how burials were performed prior to the 1800s, when the advent of embalming fluid came into play to “preserve” Civil War soldiers killed on the battlefield so they could be shipped home to their families. The grave liner, or vault, was invented soon after, and that, combined with the modern casket, were meant to “protect” the body from animals and insects, grave robbers, and the elements. Prior to the modern funeral industry, green burials would have simply just been called “burials.”

Sure, the ultimate green burial may not be realistic for everyone. It may not feel right to a society that for the last two hundred or so years has adopted the conventional burial as the status quo. But with climate change a reality, thinking about even the smallest of changes to how we handle the dead is an important choice.

A traditional funeral typically necessitates a funeral home, a menu of casket options, pre-selected flower arrangements, funerary songs, and other stilted customs. Sure, there’s some customization involved, but traditional funeral customs are designed for the masses—which is probably part of why my dad’s funeral felt so awkward and impersonal. My dad’s funeral just wasn’t reflective of the funny, wonderful man he was. By bucking tradition, green funerals provide an atmosphere of healing, celebration and commemoration, and ritual in a league of its own. While the traditional funeral may be important to some, a green burial could provide a meaningful alternative, while avoiding a destructive carbon footprint. 

How to plan for a green burial

Green burial is becoming a more readily available possibility across the United States, with nearly 350 cemeteries offering the option and counting. I encourage anyone interested in having a green burial to do some research and learn more in advance. Most importantly, if a green burial feels like the right choice for you, communicate that to your loved ones early and often, be it verbally or in a will. If you wish to have your last environmentally courteous action be to return to the earth via natural burial, let it be known. Here’s how to get started:

1. Write down your wishes for a green funeral including where you want to be buried, that you do not want to be embalmed, and what, if anything, you would like to be buried in.
2. Make arrangements with a funeral home in advance. This will help ensure you have secured a funeral home that will facilitate your wishes for a green burial.
3. Choose a cemetery that offers natural burials and whose practices align with your level of sustainability.
4. Share your plans with your loved ones, executor, and/or attorney.  
5. For additional resources, read Going Out Green: Four Ways to Ensure an Eco-Friendly Burial and Your Green Burial Planning Guide. 

The views expressed in opinion pieces are those of the author(s) and do not represent the policy or position of LIVEKINDLY.