Sustainability & The New Year Ahead, by Sophia Li
JOURNALIST AND DIRECTOR
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Briefly tell us about your journey toward living a more sustainably minded life and when it became an important part of it.
I grew up between China and the US. My dad moved back to China and over the years, I saw firsthand what a world would look like if we kept abusing nature – today my dad is only allowed to drive every other day to contain the # of cars on the road and have frequently worn N95 masks before the pandemic just due to air pollution. To have a blue sky in one of the major cities in China can be rare and is a blessing. We take our blue skies for granted everyday but this is a harsh reality we must accept and take responsibility for.
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Please suggest 2-3 intentions or practices that we can set for the year ahead and easily implement into our everyday routine to leave a lower footprint on the planet.
Above all else: know that 100 companies contribute to over 70% of all GHG emissions.
– Participate in democracy (not only voting in the candidates but also supporting grassroots candidate and local politicians who impact policies of which industries we subsidize fossil fuel vs. renewable energy).
– Compost.
– Buy like we can only purchase 1x a season or less even. -
...and some sources to keep up with climate and impact news and information.
Slow Factory! @theslowfactory
Sunrise Movement
Intersectional Environmentalist
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How do you shop more mindfully or purposefully?
Well first, using the things we already own is the most sustainable item we have.
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What hopes – that could better aid our Earth and Climate – do you have for the year ahead?
Massive healing at large scale-- we can't have collective healing of mother nature if we ourselves are individually hurting as well.
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We'd love to hear your thoughts on AERA and our measurability and impact practices.
I specifically like how each product comes with an individualized understanding of the products LCA and the direct carbon footprint (GWO), water consumption (FW) and energy (PED) consumed in the production process of each style of shoe.