Earth Day reflections with Jason Mandell 🌎
A conversation about inspiring the environmentalist in each of us.
Do you have an early memory of Earth Day? Maybe you planted a tree or participated in a neighborhood cleanup event. Maybe you’re old enough to remember the first Earth Day in 1970, or you participated in one of its notable milestones.
Jason Mandell, a partner at LaunchSquad and a self-proclaimed environmentalist, says he has a vivid memory of the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990. It was the first time Earth Day was observed globally; there was a march in Washington; recycling was a major theme. He says the experience sparked his drive to be a lifelong preserver of the planet.
“It just sunk in for the first time that we need to be more mindful consumers, that we had to pay attention to what we were doing to the Earth on behalf of all living things,” he said.
That sentiment feels more urgent than ever after a year of record-setting extreme weather, accelerated by climate change. The theme of this 54th Earth Day is all about eliminating plastics—EarthDay.org is specifically demanding a 60% reduction in the use of plastics by 2040. But regardless of the focus of Earth Day, it’s an annual reminder to everyone of our responsibility to be part of the solution. That might look a little bit different for everyone, Mandell says. And that’s okay. As climate writer Nick van Osdol (SP) wrote for The Cooler earlier this year, we need all different types of solutions and actions to make a difference.
“Everyone can contribute in their own ways, and hopefully we push ourselves as much as we can,” Mandell said. “I like to think all of us try to better ourselves and become the best versions of ourselves. I'm always trying to be more eco-friendly in my actions. And that becomes easier as time goes by, things start to change very naturally.”
We caught up with Mandell about the state of climate solutions, and to hear his reflections and advice. His thoughts invite everyone to reflect on the type of environmentalist you are and how you can participate in climate solutions—and offer some ideas for easy habits to adopt.
On the adoption curve of more Earth-friendly environmental habits…
The 20th anniversary of the first Earth Day made me an environmentalist forever. And I do think once you become an environmentalist, you never stop. It doesn’t mean you’re necessarily an activist, you’re just someone who thinks and cares about the planet sometimes. Many of the changes that we should make are actually not hard at all, it just takes a fresh mentality about our daily habits.
You have some people who embrace change and some people who resist change and then you have everyone in between. The people who embrace change have the responsibility to give a little push to everyone else to help them adapt. Sometimes it’s a burden, but I try to show people how easy it is to try something different, and often it’s fun. The changes are everything from composting organic waste to thinking more broadly about our daily consumption behavior. I try not to be too didactic, but just give people ideas and show them something new that might make their lives better, but also be better for the planet.
Change in a lot of ways is about hearts and minds, and a lot of it is through osmosis. Early adopters make a conscious decision; they're on the front end so it's a more intentional thing that they do. As you go along the adoption curve, people don't even know that they're doing it—suddenly it’s, ‘Oh, I'm at an airport and I have this empty can, and I am going to find the appropriate recycling bin even if it might take me an extra minute or two.’
On being an EV early adopter…
I’m a car lover and I used to drive an older model Lotus Elan. So I was already a Lotus fan in 2008 when I heard that Tesla was releasing their first car, the Roadster, and it was designed by them. People barely knew who Elon Musk was. But Tesla proved that the vehicle worked, and that was a very big deal at the time. I've been closely following the EV market ever since. I knew how critical it was that we get rid of combustion engines as quickly as possible.
In 2015, I leased a Tesla Model S, which was their first real car. I did it for two reasons: One, I'm a car geek, I love cars. I wanted to be a race car driver when I was a kid and the design and power of this vehicle were so thrilling! Two, I wanted to show people that EVs were a real thing, that they were the future and the future was now. I took everybody I could on a ride in it. Most people had never been in an EV and there was tremendous skepticism. So I was able to show them it worked amazingly well and answer all of the questions: ‘How do you charge? How far does it go? What about maintenance?’ And then having the experience of it, which is just universally better than ICE vehicles. I wanted to help evangelize and advocate for EV adoption.
On a critical climate frontier: reducetarianism…
Food to me is a big category that we really have not done enough around and that doesn’t require massive investment, innovation or life change. My new schtick is that I try not to eat “mammals.” We need to start doing a lot less of that. But when you say, ‘I'm a vegan or vegetarian or pescatarian,’ it's, ‘you can never have this,’ and the idea of ‘never’ understandably freaks us out. But moderation and reduction are the key and it’s really not that hard to do for most of us, it just takes a little mind reset. So there's this word called reducetarian that’s making the rounds. It means eating less meat and more plants—and I'm not a huge veggie guy. I eat fewer mammals for the obvious environmental reason, but there’s also the animal rights reason and of course the health reason. I agree with Ezra Klein that we’re going to look back at this era and be aghast at how poorly we treated animals. So it’s just a smart thing for all of us to start doing. It’s been a gradual process for me and the reality is it’s just not that hard to do, to eat meat, say once a week or so. Then it’s a special treat and you enjoy it even more.
From an industry, investment and consumption standpoint, we can all become reducetarians. And we will, it’s just a matter of time and it’ll follow a typical adoption curve. I still eat a cheeseburger now and then, for sure. Unfortunately, I’m not really a fan of substitute meat products like Impossible or Beyond, but I cannot wait for lab-grown or cultivated meat to become common. This is going to be game-changing for us, but the awareness levels are low and the misinformation is high, so almost everyone is scared of it right now.
There needs to be a very significant investment from this category into communications, and I think people like us can do a lot to help better inform and energize the public about it. When I talk about cultivated meat, even to younger people, their first reaction is, ‘Oh, I would never have that.’ It reminds me of autonomous vehicles—people are scared and they're uninformed. But once they try it once, they quickly become accepting. I think if we can win over more hearts and minds, cultivated meat will happen sooner and this is going to have a massive impact.
So overall this is an underrated part of the carbon footprint and it’s actually easier to solve than some other categories. You only buy a car once every however-many years, but you're eating food every day.
On an easy strategy for reducing plastic consumption...
I’m a big fan of this company called HoldOn Bags. They make compostable bags of all different sizes and purposes. So imagine what you're using a plastic bag for, and they have a compostable version: freezer bags, sandwich bags, garbage bags. That's all I use now. Even if you throw a compostable bag in the landfill or it ends up somewhere unintended (like the ocean), it is going to degrade. This is a small but super easy change we can all make, assuming we’re able to spend a few extra bucks on it.
Little changes like that are abundant. But we’ve got to know about them, we need to be informed and that’s where communications professionals come in and can play an important role. If everybody knew this company existed, a lot of people would buy their products. So their biggest challenge is getting the word out (and btw, I’d love to help them do that!). We need to get rid of plastics and this is one easy step most of us can easily make. And then you look for the next thing that you can change that won’t take much effort.
On maintaining optimism over doomerism…
I'm energized and optimistic despite all of the negativity. We're going to solve this. I'm not saying there won’t be any repercussions, but I'm a believer in human ingenuity. We did pass the Inflation Reduction Act and the world continues to adopt stricter standards on the heels of the Paris Accords and other agreements. Polls show Americans en masse are worried about climate change. Most people do want to participate and help. There's so much momentum and support. The naysayers and the resistors are losing power across the world, they are the minority. So whether it's carbon removal or waste management or agriculture or transportation, we are going to change, it’s a matter of when, not if. So let’s work together to make it happen faster!
Here's the thing that to me is inarguable: We have to try everything we possibly can. And the good news is we can do that. The resources are there. The desire is there. It’s like a sports draft where you get ten picks and you never know who’s going to be the best player over their career. Maybe carbon removal is your fifth-round pick, but we could be saying in 20 years, ‘Wow that carbon removal investment has been unbelievably successful.’
Being at LaunchSquad and working with all of these innovative companies trying to solve critical problems for the benefit of the world is a big responsibility. I'm honored and proud to help accelerate the growth and success of these clients. It’s the biggest contribution I feel I can make given the field I work in.
(Water) Cooler Talk
🌎An Earth Day report card
ABC News took the opportunity this Earth Day to assess how we’re doing when it comes to climate change action, and where we need to improve through interviews with climate scientists. Decarbonizing U.S. industries, including the transportation industry by further incentivizing electric vehicles, is a top priority. Depoliticizing climate change is another important factor and an interesting one in an election year. Scientists praise the Biden-Harris administration for its dedication to climate action (especially the Inflation Reduction Act) but counterforces like the powerful fossil fuel industry are evening out the impact of their action.
🎦New Hollywood climate stories
Hollywood is taking another step toward including climate narratives on the big screen. The Natural Resource Defense Council, the Black List, the Redford Center and the CAA Foundation announced the winners of the NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship, a program that pairs screenwriters with Hollywood mentors to put climate stories onto the silver screen. This year’s program winners include stories about an alien working at a traditional fossil fuel company who must decide the fate of Earth, a mystical cyber-terrorist and a family story set in the North Dakota oilfields. This concerted effort from the entertainment industry and climate advocates is an example of how we can reach large audiences with climate stories.