It’s inspiring to see so much innovation in the beauty industry, but it would be irresponsible not to note that this is only one small slice of the sustainability pie. “Climate change is here, and the impacts are devastating,” says Palermino. “While we want our government to lessen the reliance on fossil fuels, we can also work toward better practices that minimize carbon footprints.”
Brands working to adopt sustainable practices are important in the shift toward more responsible consumption. At the same time, they can only do so much. It’s important to push your government representatives to work toward real, tangible change—both on the broader level with climate change as a whole and at the micro-level with packaging and shipping standards.
“I hate to make it political, but it is political,” says Shepherd. “We do need people in our representatives to act on our behalf and to really realize that this issue is important and timely, to say the least.”
At the end of the day, Shepherd also doesn’t want working toward more sustainable practices to feel scary. “We’re on the precipice of a really, really big societal change,” she says. “This is an exciting time to know that we can run our world in a more efficient, clean way for future generations. [It] should be something that people aren’t afraid of but really excited and inspired to be a part of.”
Next time you’re picking out a beauty product, keep in mind the brands working to make a real difference or, at the very least, drop your clean empties off at Credo and let them do the dirty work for you.
