3 Green & Sustainable Beauty Swaps From An Eco-Justice Advocate

The current climate crisis is something that has certainly been on many of our minds lately. With each new report and development, the urgency becomes more clear. (If you, like me, are struggling with serious eco-anxiety lately, I encourage you to read this recent piece published following the foreboding IPCC report). And to make a meaningful difference, it's going to take commitment from all of us—from governments and industry titans to individuals. 

The most commonsense beauty swap you can make? Skipping trends, and using the products you actually like. The beauty industry produces 120 billion cosmetic products every year—and only 20% of those products are actually used up. The rest of that 80%? Tossed before completion. 

And we can avoid much of that by just being mindful of what we already have, be honest with ourselves about what we will fully use, and choose the items that actually serve our skin goals—rather than just blindly following the new trendy routine or social media fad. 

"Really make sure that you take an inventory of the things that you own and like—then only buy what you feel you truly need, want, and that you're going to use for a long time," she says. "This is not only better for the planet—but constantly chasing after trends is exhausting. It's better for you too!"

Listen, we all have to be better about one-time-use products—from takeout cutlery to beauty finds. And in this case, we're looking at you, sheet masks and face wipes.  

This one takes a bit more research, but we consider it an important part of the discussion for the long haul: Find brands that use renewable energy as part of their production process—or have a plan in place to do so. 

"A lot of these factories where many of these beauty and cosmetic products are being produced rely on burning dirty energy and fossil fuels," she says. "And so in the long term, we need people who are really demanding that beauty companies run their factories and operations off of renewable energy to be able to reduce their carbon emissions."