How Sustain Mag is tackling the taboo around sustainability
“There is no Plan B when it comes to caring about our planet.”
Reduce, reuse, recycle. Drilled into our minds from young, this staple concept in environmental sustainability can lose its novelty over time. Yet if we really want to reach our sustainable development goals to protect our planet and ensure success for all, it looks like we’ll have to use some creative methods to get there. To reinvent our perception of sustainability, Reza Cristián and Carissa Herb created Sustain Mag, an online magazine for the “eco-conscious warrior who plans to change the world one opportunity at a time.”
Freshly launched, Sustain Mag sets out to confront the taboo around reuse, reduce, refuse, recycle, which Reza describes as being commonly projected as a lifestyle that may not be accessible for everyone, or restricted to a certain demographic over the age of 30 or with a higher income. “I think there is no Plan B when it comes to caring about our planet,” Reza told me in our recent interview. Though the niche market for sustainability is growing, she’s found that people are still hesitant because of the taboo attached to it. On creating Sustain Mag, she states, “I don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t at least try and be 1% without feeling rewarded for their efforts. It’s a learning process.”
Now here’s what I love about Sustain. They want to empower their readers to get excited to transition to sustainable living, without ever feeling bad for not trying enough. You can expect content which Reza describes as “original, raw, honest, and art.” Sustain taps into fresh and modern imagery with quick reads that leave lasting messages. “It’s the escapism factor we all love,” Reza comments. Sustain is right at the corner of art and activism, where online content and social change meet.
Sustain uses writing and photography to tackle conventional ways of perceiving sustainability, and introducing ways to incorporate sustainability into your lifestyle. I asked the founders about brands that deserve more attention, and here’s what Carissa had to say:
“As for companies that people should pay attention to that are making an actual change in the way that they run, I would say Patagonia sums up what every clothing company should do. Being a sustainable business isn’t something that is going to happen overnight, but Patagonia was a smaller company that was just based on making a profit and creating quality products, but over time they realized that they were responsible for a lot of the environmental impacts their products created. They then moved to recycled materials and more sustainable dyes. What I love most about this environmental movement is that we aren’t just trying to protect the planet we’re also trying to protect people. Patagonia even took the extra step to make sure that the factories that people are working in were safe.”
Based in New York, Carissa calls the Package Free Shop and Lush her go-to local and sustainable stores as they reduce waste by taking away unnecessary packaging. As for other brands that pledge sustainability, she lists “Life Without Plastic, Who Gives A Crap (a toilet paper company that’s pretty rad), Keep Cup, and Tesla (as much as a car company can).”
Yet whether we’re looking at local or transnational businesses, the Sustain team wants to highlight that all business can be sustainable or take strides toward more sustainable ways of operating. Carissa draws attention to Ikea, who is working toward reducing their carbon emissions despite not being a sustainable company. As far as companies that aren’t making efforts toward sustainability, Carissa points out that “we cannot shut them out.” “We just have to shift the responsibility from the producer to the consumer. Showing the company what kind of standards we want.”
When it comes to showing companies what we want, forward-thinking and creative platforms like Sustain do just that. Using personal voices and experiences, Sustain is sharing stories that move their audiences to live a more eco-conscious lifestyle while taking the taboo out of reuse, refuse, reduce, and recycle.
