Within the last decade, it has become increasingly apparent that the effects of climate change are getting harder and harder to ignore. This fact has led to increased interest in sustainability and an increased pressure from consumers to have these ideals implemented into a variety of global industries. The fashion industry, in particular, has been facing this pressure toward the desire for sustainable products is the fashion industry. Over the last five years, sustainability has become a main focus within the fashion industry. Countless brands now include sustainability within their marketing tactics and a variety of fashion organizations release reports on the unsustainable practices that currently dominate fashion production. These misleading marketing tactics and enigmatic intensive reports lead to confusion on what sustainable fashion actually looks like for both consumers and suppliers alike.<br/> This report attempts to help tackle this problem by using sustainable fashion certifications as a tactic to prove sustainability within business procedures. To compare eight of the most common fashion certifications, this paper assumes a systems thinking approach to creating an assessment framework, which is then applied to said certifications. To back up the importance of the topic, this paper presents key points of the current issues related to this case, which then contribute to the integration of basic sustainability assessment criteria and case-specific factors into overarching core criteria. The application of this framework is utilized to determine which certifications cover certain aspects of the curated core criteria. This is then used to present consumers and manufacturers with a more accurate understanding of each of these certifications. This information is then followed up with a recommendation of certifications that align most within researched-based consumer and supplier desires.

In the current age of global climate crisis, corporations must confront the rising pressure to mitigate their environmental impacts. The goal of this research paper is to provide corporations with a resource to manage waste through the implementation of a circular economy and by increasing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Navigating this large and complex system required the use of various methodologies including: the investigation of the relationships between waste management systems and sustainable development across major companies; literature reviews of scholarly articles about CSR, circular economies, recycling, and releases of company reports on sustainable development and financials. Lastly, interviews and a survey were conducted to gain deeper insight into the problems that make circular economies so difficult to achieve at scale.

New Leaf was founded with the mission to address the environmental, health, and sustainability consequences of paper production today. We explored the sourcing and foundations of paper needs, supporting our assumption that paper can be created from agricultural waste. We solidified a business plan using agricultural waste after considerable sourcing research and expert and consumerism input. We determined that using forest foliage that is a potential fire hazard from a national forest could be used as a source to make alternative paper as well as contribute to sustainability efforts.

Individual happiness is not always correlated with societal happiness. Intrinsic happiness usually stems from sources such as authenticity, self-fulfillment, and community involvement. In contrast, extrinsic happiness comes from career success, wealth status, and popularity. The difference in these sources of happiness can create an unrealistic search for happiness in society. Individuals are chasing happiness in ways that are not obtainable or fulfilling for their individual needs. Because of this, there is an excessive amount of materialism and consumerism in society as an attempt to find or replace intrinsic happiness. Thus, I propose that if humans could learn to gather happiness intrinsically, the outcome may be a society that balances maintainable happiness and a more sustainable way of living. This hypothesis is tested by interviewing four individuals about what makes them intrinsically happy versus what they believe society says happiness comes from. Open-ended semi-structured interview questions were created by drawing on happiness literature and personal experience. Participants discussed how a focus on intrinsic happiness could affect society as a whole. The results indicate that humans naturally lean toward human connection and community involvement. Both are values with inherently positive sustainability implications and correspond to a sustainable way of life. The challenge, however, is the societal values placed on extrinsic aspects of happiness and the push away from sustainability.