Climate Terminology

Sustainable/Sustainability

As defined by Wikipedia, “Sustainability is a societal goal that broadly aims for humans to safely co-exist on planet Earth over a long time. Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and therefore vary in the literature and over time.” As the definition proposes, it can be hard to define sustainability today or to know what’s actually sustainable. One definition I like to give the word sustainability is about caring:

Sustainability means to care. You care for yourself, other people, the things you own, and our precious planet. It can be confusing to know what is actually sustainable, but from an individual approach, it means you love and care for all you have. You recognize the world can only be truly sustainable if it is so for everyone. As soon as you start caring, sustainability will simply follow.

Zero Waste

Zero waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean.

Natural

You might see the term “natural” on many products but be aware—this claim doesn’t actually mean much. A product can exist of questionable phthalates and other not-so-natural ingredients and still claim to be “natural.” The only reason this is the case is compared to “organic,” for example, there are no laws or regulations for this space. Therefore, it’s a very unclear term that we should take with a grain of salt.

Organic

Organic means something that has been grown or produced without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial agents.

Permaculture

Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agricultural practices that promote diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It’s an agricultural philosophy and practice that aims to mimic nature and integrate crops in the way nature designed for them to grow.

Vegan

A person who is vegan does not consume any animal products and typically does not wear or purchase other products that derive from animals, like clothing and beauty products. For a food or product to be vegan, no animals were used to create the product. However, just because something is vegan does not necessarily mean it was produced ethically or cruelty-free (although this is mostly the case.) For example, berries can be vegan but picked by people with inhumane pay and working conditions, in which case those berries are not ethical or cruelty-free. At the same time, a product can be vegan but not sustainable since vegan leather, for example, might be made from plastic and highly pollutant to the environment.

Agroforestry

As the word suggests, agroforestry is a combination of agriculture (agro) and forestry. Basically, it’s a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. That way, you can grow new crops without having to clearcut the area, and you can benefit from the trees in forms of shading and nutrients exchange. Agroforestry practices support agricultural production and help improve water quality and air quality, soil health, and wildlife habitat. These working trees can also grow fiber, food, and energy.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. According to Wikipedia, “Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic, species, and ecosystem level.” The Earth’s health and balance is heavily reliant on biodiversity, which is why it’s alarming that we’re racing into extinction for so many of the Earth’s species today.

The main cause of biodiversity loss is human activity caused by the demand for food, water, and natural resources that puts a heavy burden on the Earth’s ecosystems. Biodiversity loss is also linked to climate change in a two-way equation. The changing climate is pushing many species toward extinction as temperatures become more extreme and the search for food more difficult, but biodiversity loss also fuels climate change, as the destruction of ecosystems undermines nature’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and protect against extreme weather, thus accelerating climate change and increasing vulnerability to it.

That is why we must tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together.

Tipping Points

In climate science, a tipping point is “a critical threshold that, when crossed, leads to large and often irreversible changes in the climate system. If tipping points are crossed, they are likely to have severe impacts on human society.”

Examples of tipping points we’re moving toward right now are the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which contains enough water to raise global sea levels by more than twenty feet; the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS); the loss of the Amazon rainforest, which stores 200 billion tons of carbon and is home to millions of species of plants and wildlife; and the thawing permafrost, home to twice as much carbon dioxide than is already in the atmosphere. (Imagine if that gets released.)

Greenwashing

Greenwashing is when an organization spends more time and money on marketing itself as environmentally friendly than on actually minimizing its environmental impact. There is more talk than action, so to speak. With a growing trend in sustainability, it can be tricky to know which companies are actually making strides and which ones are just trying to appear “good” in the eyes of consumers. However, we must stay aware of greenwashing and make sure to hold companies accountable for their words and actions.

Green hushing

Opposite to greenwashing, green hushing is refers to companies purposely keeping quiet about their sustainability goals, even if they are well-intentioned or plausible, for fear of being labeled greenwashers. (Fast Company) They do this through avoidance or refusal. If somebody asks about their climate goals, they decline to answer. If nobody asks, they don't do anything. (Corporate Governance Institute)

While greenwashing deliberately exaggerates a company's sustainability claims to mislead people to think that they are more sustainable than they actually are, greenhushing deliberately under-communicates a company's sustainable practices. (The Sustainable Agency)

Conscious Quitting

Conscious quitting refers to when employees consider quitting their jobs due to lack of aligned values in their current position. They may explore other companies that are more progressive in taking steps toward sustainability goals or other ESG initiatives, or to leave the industry altogether.

Kite Insights recently conducted a study that showed that 50% of employees are actually considering conscious quitting to one degree or another. There’s a lot of untapped opportunity for companies to ensure they inspire their employees to take positive action from within their current roles and to showcase how they are, in fact, moving the needle forward.

Biodegradable

If something is biodegradable, it will break down naturally, without the help of a specific environment. However, it should be noted that everything is biodegradable at one point or another, and what we should focus on is not so much if something is biodegradable, but in what time that item will biodegrade. Some matter, like organic foods, can biodegrade within weeks, even days, whereas heavily processed materials like oil-based plastics can take up to hundreds of years.

More and more items are claiming to be biodegradable today. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the product is compostable. For example, plastic that is compostable is biodegradable, but not every plastic that is biodegradable is compostable. In order for biodegradable plastic to properly decompose, it needs to end up in a facility that reaches a high enough temperature for that material to break down. Typically, you will not reach this temperature in a backyard composting pile, so try leaving out those biodegradable plastic forks!

Also, before you reach for one of those compostable/biodegradable forks at the restaurant next time and think you’re making a good choice, reflect on how likely it is that fork will end up in a composting facility. If it won’t, it’s just trash like everything else.

Recycling

Recycling is the action or process of converting waste into reusable material. The material in the product is broken down and remolded into something new. The recycling process differs depending on the material. Some materials (like steel and aluminum) have really good recycling qualities and can be recycled almost endlessly, while other materials (like plastics) lose quality for each recycling process and become less valuable over time. The recycling abilities for various materials also differ in different countries and regions, depending on the capacity of the facility of that region.

Repurposing

The fashion industry is jumping on the trend of upcycled and repurposed materials, where two pairs of old jeans may become a new denim jacket. The difference between recycling and repurposing is that repurposed material doesn’t get broken down first, but is used in a state very close to its original form to create something new.

Upcycling

Upcycling means to reuse/recycle something in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original. For example, the use of recycled plastic bottles that are no longer useful to produce bags or shoes.

BYOB

You might be familiar with the “BYOB” terms as “Bring Your Own Beer” or “Bring Your Own Beverage.” In the eco world, it may also stand for “Bring Your Own Bag.”