Conscious consumerism is the practice of making purchasing decisions driven with the intent of generating a positive social, or environmental impact. While everyone agrees this behavior is worthwhile, it often becomes more of a slogan than a reality. Few put in the effort to build brands defined by conscious consumerism, particularly since it means going against the grain of standard business practices.

Treana Peake is a Vancouver-based designer and philanthropist. She founded the purpose-led lifestyle brand Obakki in 2005, which sells sustainable artisan-crafted housewares from around the world. Shortly afterward, she founded the philanthropic Obakki Foundation, which has given her…

Environmentally-friendly consumer goods is a rapidly growing trend. Some estimates project that the global market could be as large as 150 billion USD by the end of 2021. New businesses seem to be popping up every day, offering novel products with green materials. While this quickly evolving landscape is exciting, it is difficult to tell what the experience is like inside these companies. What is it like to steer the ship of a sustainable start-up?

At the close of 2020, I had a chance to talk with Matthias Paisdzior, Head of GOT BAG North America. GOT BAG is a German…

Christmas is coming up fast, so it is time to start our holiday shopping! If you are like me, gifting can feel a bit strange. It’s fun to spoil our family and friends, but you feel guilty about the environmental costs, the waste, and the plastic. Luckily, there are more and more businesses selling products that are ethically sourced and environmentally friendly!

But where to start?

With so many options, it can be frustrating to find the right gift. To help you out, I’ve compiled a list of great sites that offer wonderful eco-friendly gifts for reasonable prices. …

The 2020 election had two clear losers: Donald Trump and polling.

Analysts had predicted a possible Biden landslide, but immediately after voting ended it became clear that the election was tight. Pundits and journalists scrambled to explain what was taking place, while some Democrats panicked at the possibility of a 2016 repeat. It felt awful. Over the coming days, Biden was able to pull ahead in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan thanks to absentee ballots. Democrats are happy to win, but there is an obvious question: what happened? Why were the polls so off?

Polling got slammed after the 2016 election…

Vote counting may not be finished, but we know one thing for sure: I was right all along. It is still too soon to make broad statements or predictions, but it is clearly time for everyone to accept what I was saying before the election. That is the real take-away.

In fact, if we go back to the primary, it was obvious that my views were correct. I said that the electorate largely agreed with me, and that is clearly born out in the results from Tuesday. There was some contradictory evidence I admit, but it was obvious that you…

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2020 has been terrible, but one of the few silver-linings has been a steady output of high-quality science journalism. Whether it is mask-wearing, vaccine development, public health policy, outbreaks in meatpacking plants, or therapeutics, science journalists have been reporting every angle of Covid-19. Covering such a sprawling and quickly evolving topic is incredibly challenging, but an impressive contingent of writers have risen to the task.

Of the science journalism we have seen during the pandemic, perhaps the most important has been the explainers. “Explanatory journalism” may sound like a truism, but this…

With the U.S. election just one week away, climate activists across the world are thinking about the presidential election. Donald Trump has been a historically awful president for a multitude of reasons, but his most lasting legacy will be his inaction on climate change. While there are reasons to be lukewarm about Biden, there is no question his planned legislation for the environment is far far better than Trump’s.

But the presidential race is only part of the story.

For ambitious climate legislation to be enacted, we need officials at all levels of government who are fighting for the environment…

On the evening of October 20, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streamed the game Among Us for about 3 hours on her Twitch channel to an audience of just under half a million people. She was joined by a variety of high-profile Twitch streamers and YouTubers, including Myth, Pokimane, Hasanabi, HBomberguy, and Corpse, as well as Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her daughter Isra.

It was a delight. I watched the entire stream. There were some hilarious moments, surprising twists, and just the right amount of politics.

AOC’s stream simply a masterclass in reaching out to young voters. Though this was her…