Doing More With Less

The past month, I have been incredibly fortunate to travel to some amazing places for the next edition of ROSE & IVY. I decided to take a fall break from our website for a few weeks to recalibrate, especially as we are busy creating our next edition. One of my trips spun me into what I would call a moral dilemma. I returned from a trip to Sweden and felt forever changed. I know that might sound dramatic, but it’s true. I, in addition to other journalists, attended a trip about sustainability and something about it rocked me to my core. I saw an incredibly upsetting exhibit about plastic and how it is filling the ocean and destructing nearly everything in its path. I also learned even more about how fashion is a huge pollutant, not only in the way that many materials are robbing resources and creating more waste than you can imagine, but also how, say ‘fast fashion’ is created and creating havoc in every way, shape and form. So much clothing is being thrown away, staying for an eternity in landfills and leaving major problems for generations to come. This is where I entered into crisis mode. Having a media company, I find myself surrounded by ‘stuff’, truth be told, oftentimes it is too much. I get emails every day about makeup being launched, in plastics, and it has literally made me sick. While we do a tight edit of products and such (we only share what we really love), I couldn’t help but think, ‘Is this adding to the ultimate destruction of the planet?’As an ultra sensitive person, I had to take time to think about how we approach this going forward and the answer is that we are going to be adding a lot more focus on sustainable brands across the board. We won’t push agendas—we never do—and make you feel tired and exhausted, like so many polarizing sources can do, rather, it will just be a natural choice that we reach for companies that aren’t adding to this problem. - Alison Engstrom