Building the Sustainable Economy 🌱

Sustainable commerce will be one of the major trends of the coming decades, powering megatrends like overstock and secondhand.

technology has come a long way since 2010, and even more importantly (and more depressingly), climate change has advanced rapidly, increasing regulatory scrutiny. Regulatory scrutiny pressures capitalism, which in turn jumpstarts more business creation.

Many people in the tech world get solace from today’s torrid pace of innovation—they think that we’ll innovate our way out of the climate crisis. And they might be right. I’m somewhere in between—we probably should be freaking out right now, but I also get some solace from the caliber of entrepreneurs working on the climate crisis.

Sustainability defies categorization. Just as every company has become a fintech (every company needs to offer some form of financing, payments, etc.), every company will become a sustainability company. It’s unavoidable. The biggest trends are often horizontal through-lines like this, cutting across sectors.

One of the ironies of Gen Z’s passion for climate advocacy is Gen Z’s simultaneous love for fast fashion. Namely, the rise of SHEIN sits in stark contrast to professed values. But consumers will always value convenience and affordability above all. An offshoot of fast fashion’s popularity is that overstock and secondhand are major categories for su... See more

In 2022, sustainability is finally poised to have its moment—and it’s going to be a long moment. Powered by 1) worsening climate change, 2) growing regulatory pressure, and 3) massive generational behavior changes, sustainability is positioned to be the defining trend of the next 50 years. No industry will go untouched. VC funding into startups foc... See more

I also get solace from another change, something quite profound: sustainability has become a cultural movement, and arguably the core value of an entire generation. A 2021 Pew Research report found that 76% of Gen Zs list climate change as among their biggest societal concerns, with 37% listing it as their #1 concern.

I found it interesting that the School of Sustainability will be distinct from the School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences. And I think that’s appropriate. The two are related, of course, but the latter is a more clear-cut discipline rooted in the sciences. Sustainability, meanwhile, is something broader: sustainability isn’t a vertic... See more

Part of secondhand’s growth is driven by a new generation of more environmentally-conscious consumers. We can justify buying SHEIN items today when we can turn around and sell them on Depop tomorrow.