With science foreshadowing the grim prospects of Earth's future, sustainability remains on the top of many people priorities. Gone are the days of the past ridiculed "tree hugging" trope. Now, even big name stars are taking initiative towards bettering our planet's wellbeing. From Rhianna to SZA, the elites of entertainment are making no haste in their efforts to spread awareness of sustainability through eco-friendly brands and collaborations.
Jaden Smith
Jaden Smith - son of prominent actor Will Smith of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fame and Red Table Talk host, Jada Pinkett Smith - has made quite the name for himself with his flashy wardrobe and emerging music career. But the young star made waves in the water distribution industry with his water bottle company JUST Water. With major concerns of used water bottles polluting our oceans on his mind, the then 12 year old Smith founded the company in 2015, with the help of his legendary parents, to curb said epidemic.
"I knew that it was going to be really hard to create, like, a new soda," Smith explains to Fast Company, "I knew that the recipe for water all over the world is pretty much the same and it was going to be a lot easier to create a new water bottle company than a soda company."
Sourcing water from the The Glens Falls watershed in Warren County, New York, the company distributes bottles that are mostly made of paper - with caps made out of sugarcane. Selling eco-friendly water bottles in 10 different countries, as they now have operating facilities in Australia, the U.K, and America. Not only is JUST working towards positively affecting the egregious pollution of plastic water bottles, it's also putting in work to maintain the infrastructure of Glens Falls. Regarding their higher valuation of natural resources, JUST "provided a new income source for the city which is expected to reach $1 million over the next 3 – 5 years," according to their website.
SZA
Solána Imani Rowe, better known as the upcoming R&B sensation SZA, is taking the term "tree huger" to an all new level with her collaboration with tea disturbing company, Tazo. The singer joined forces with the company in efforts to plant more trees in heavily marginalized communities. From Detroit to the Bronx, SZA works with the company's sustainability division Tree Corps to transform concrete jungles into urban forests. No stranger to branding for environmental ventures, the singer launched an eco-friendly clothing line called Ctrl Fishing Company in 2018.
Tree Corps' initiative to environmentally rehabilitate BIPOC communities (which have 20% less trees than others) looks to better these community's air quality, job market , and property value with their commendable efforts.
Stella McCarthy
Most of us wouldn't know what do with the abundant opportunities of being a child of one the Beatles. Yet, Stella McCartney, daughter of Paul McCartney, uses her inherited fame for good with her new fashion partnership with independent campaigning organization, Greenspace. The company's endeavors to stop deforestation of the Amazon was helped by McCartney's fashion line, which spends it's 20th anniversary collaborating with Greenspace to bring a capsule collection for it's Summer 2021 season in honor of Earth Day. Proceeds of the brand's four new organic cotton sweatshirts and t-shirts go towards Greenspace's initiatives - which include investigating global supply chains, collecting signatures for an Arctic Declaration, and contacting politicians to defund tar sand pipelines.
Rihanna
Fenty Beauty, pop icon Rihanna's hit brand, has undoubtedly taken the world by storm. Her lingerie line racked in a stellar $1 billion valuation this year! The star had rather laudable plans for her ever so successful brand. The August release of her new vegan skincare line, Fenty Skin, shows the brand taking action to combat the cosmetic industry's alarming amount of waste and protect animals. Features within the products like refillable systems and reduced packaging are plentiful ways in which Rhianna's brand looks to heal our planet rather than harm it. And with low priced Sun Protection Factors (or SPF) not containing any oxybenzones or octinoxates, the products are completely harmless to coral reefs.
"As we develop products," as stated on the brand's website, "we’re thinking from the ground up to reduce excess packaging, reducing new plastic generation per unit by incorporating post-consumer recycled material."
Sources: Environmental Leader, Power 105.1 Fast Company, Forbes