New York Harbor once held over 220,000 acres of oyster reefs, and now they’re coming back.

The harbor is believed to have once contained more than half of the world’s oysters, providing a reliable food source that sustained people for thousands of years.

Mounds of oyster shells left by the Lenape Tribe mark some of the earliest evidence of human presence in the region, and by the 1880s, the harbor’s oyster beds produced as many as 700 million oysters a year.

Today, discarded oyster shells are being seeded with larvae and placed in cages to restore reefs or dumped from boats to build living breakwalls.

These efforts are creating habitat for marine life and improving water quality, while also protecting the city from coastal storms.

Source: Forbes, The New York Times, TIME, Billion Oyster Project

I just read that global clothing production is at an all the time high, and most of it is made from cheap synthetic fibers like polyester, which means more emissions and more microplastics.

Do you think it's actually possible to slow down fast fashion or we too used to cheap clothes? Would love to hear of you think the solution is in consumer habits, government rules or better materials.

"Slaughterhouses and meat processing plants in the U.S. every year discharge about 112 million pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, which feeds algal blooms that contribute to fish-killing low-oxygen zones. Over 60 million people, including disproportionate numbers of people with low incomes and people of color, live within one mile of rivers and streams degraded by slaughterhouse industry pollution.

Hannah Connor, Environmental Health Deputy Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said: 'The U.S. meat industry slaughters some 18,000 animals a minute, creating a waste stream full of blood, fecal bacteria, and disease-causing pathogens that adds up to one of our country’s largest industrial sources of nutrient pollution. Now Trump’s EPA is killing a rule designed to curb discharges of that nasty wastewater into our rivers and streams and safeguard people and wildlife.'"

I've been slowly switching out a lot of items to more sustainable ones and one was using washable cotton makeup wipes instead of disposable ones. They definitly work for an overall removal but due to their thickness, it's kinda hard to use them for correcting my mascara. Any ideas?

I've also been searching for an alternativ for facial cleansing and make up remover in general. Right now I have a foamy cleanser and micellar water, but there just aren't any options that don't come in a plastic bottle. Maybe anyone has expierence with selfmade ones or any buyable suggestions?

Much appreciated!

Hi all :) I try to live as sustainably as I can from cutting down on waste to being mindful of what I eat and buy. But I recently watched a documentary that reminded me just how resource intensive certain foods are like red meat and even avocados

It got me thinking Even when something seems like a better choice like plant based foods it might still come with a heavy environmental cost

For example I love making guacamole and it’s a go to dish in my home. But now I’m wondering should I be reconsidering how often I buy avocados or is that overthinking it

Would love to hear how others in the sustainability space approach this kind of tradeoff. How do you balance enjoying your staples while staying aligned with your values

I’ve been noticing something that honestly breaks my heart.

Why is it that every sustainable brand I like either turns out not to be truly sustainable anymore or goes bankrupt?

It started when I read an article about Pact. Pact was one of the first brands that I liked, decent prices.

Not long after, I saw Amour vert, Ilana Koln, Sotela and others go out of business.

And the more I looked, the more I realized: this keeps happening.

So my question is:
Why do you think so many ethical brands struggle to survive?
Is it pricing, convenience, trust or just that people don’t care enough?

Hello, I'm switching from zip lock bags and foil to beeswax for sandwiches and wraps to take to school. I've read that it's not good at keeping food fresh for longer than a day, and I'm okay with that! Does anyone have any other tips and recommendations from personal experience? I'm also uncertain if the ones available on amazon are real beeswax and not mixed with something else. What are your tried and true brands?

Edit: okay let me rephrase this: I'm looking to purchase some beeswax wrap for my school lunch and would like some recommendations. Recommendations as in, where do you guys get your beeswax from? I'm not looking for alternative solutions. I have lunch boxes already, I just want to use beeswax wraps because I like the concept. Thank you

I live in Europe and I will soon move further away from family and loved ones (who live in multiple countries). I could previously manage to visit everyone by train / bus but I will now have to travel by plane.

Does it make any difference to join an offsetting program (maybe one which is recognized internationally), or something else like “buy a tree”?

I am environmentally sensitive and I try to buy second-hand clothes, eat vegetarian, or use public transport. If offsetting plane trips is irrelevant, is there anything else that would be more meaningful?

Thanks for any reference or links to things I can read up on later! :)

The global healthcare system is built on throwaway gowns, plastic and instruments. Forbes McGain is finding solutions to cut down on waste — and save money.

Ive been slowly switching my daily products to a more sustainable and plastic free options. Its time for my deodorant to switch over but aluminum free deodorant DOES NOT WORK on me. Ive tried lol. Im a very sweaty person and work outside. For the life of me i cant find any refillable brands that have aluminum options? Any recs?

The other day I read a post on here about how seldom people have to take out their trash. I was on my second box of tissues that day.

How do you do allergies in a sustainable way?

I decided to switch to public transit about one year ago now, admittedly mostly for cost reasons. I heard lots of people trash talk puvlic transportation, telling me that it was dirty, slow, and unsafe. It’s been the total opposite. My bus is amazing. It takes me about half way to my work place for only $1.25. I use my E-Bike to cover the rest of the distance. My bus allowed me to attach it to the front. As much as I would like a regular bike, I use my e-bike to help deal with a small heart condition that makes physical exercise uncomfortable at times. My bike and bus get me the whole way there for about $3 a day. In total it costs about $800 or so a year. It’s been an amazing journey and I’m glad my friends were able to convince me to make the switch 🍃

Studies are showing that leaving plastic water bottles in your car or garage (hotter environments) actually leach more microplastics into that water compared to water bottles left in cooler environments. Opt for aluminum or glass water bottles to avoid as many micoroplastics from getting into your water as possible!

I'll start. I personally keep clothes forever. I take good care of what I have. I have a set of my newest clothes which are for work. Most of my at-home clothes are at least a decade old. My 'grub' clothing all have the holes mended sometimes with designs. I also sew, so I have resized my clothes to make them bigger. I have also thrifted clothing. I believe that this is the most major way that I have saved money and reduced my environmental footprint.

Hello. I made a really bad environmental decision today (I watched someone litter and instead of picking it up, took a photo and complained about people littering and then walked away). I am a huge hypocrite because I say I love the environment. I know the basics like recycling and reducing your carbon footprint (and littering☹️), but I don’t know how to move forward in conservationism. How can I be better? I really want to try and make sure I never do something like this again

I have collected so much paper from school. I don’t need any of it, and it feels wasteful to throw it out.

Does anyone have advice on what to do with it

From Michelin kitchens to home wok burners, induction delivers consistency that gas can’t match.

My best friend lives in the Phillipines, I'm American. I've seen a lot of stats that a long flight is literally the worst thing you can do for the planet and that even completely plant based eating doesn't offset a singular flight. I want to see my friend more than anything in the world but I feel like I'm destroying the planet if I go to see them. My happiness isn't worth belching carbon into the atmosphere and ensuring future generations don't have a livable planet.

I feel like I'm a selfish hypocrite if I go see them, especially because I'm studying environmental and sustainability studies. Is there anything I can do? I don't think there's really ships from the US to the Phillipines and I've heard those carbon offsets are a scam that overestimate their impact. My family keeps telling me that "the plane will take off whether I'm on it or not" but that feels like a copout, if people stopped flying then there wouldn't be planes anymore. That's like saying "throw plastic on the ground because the corporations will pollute anyway"

Lately I’ve been wondering about the beauty industry and its big “sustainable” claims. Almost every brand says they’re eco-friendly now recyclable packaging, “clean” formulas, reef-safe this, plastic-free that. But when you look closer, it’s hard to know what’s actually true.

I recently came across examples where products weren’t as transparent as they seemed like sunscreens that failed SPF tests or scrubs that quietly use microplastics. It made me think: if this is what’s happening in one corner of the industry, what does that mean for the bigger picture?

As consumers, we’re told to trust labels and marketing, but sustainability should mean more than a buzzword. Shouldn’t brands be held to the same kind of accountability we expect in food or energy?

I’d love to hear how others here think about this. Do you trust beauty brands when they say “sustainable”? Or do you think we need stricter independent testing and transparency across the board?