Today is Earth Day and there are many ways to celebrate this wonderful planet. Buying sustainable products, engaging in community clean-ups, and being mindful about the energy we consume are all ways to have a conscious Earth Day. Read on for a list of ways to celebrate Earth Day and a guide to eco-friendly businesses to support in North Jersey.
Local Happenings
Be good to the earth and get to know the community with activities organized by the county, or join a group and help clean up the earth by tracking it on an app.
Celebrate With Essex County’s Environmental Center
Essex County’s 10th Annual Earth Day Celebration takes place at the Essex County Environmental Center, located at 621B Eagle Rock Avenue in Roseland. The free event will boast crafts, games, and outdoor activities like canoeing and hiking, as well as a local eco-vendors’ sale.
Check out the Wild & Scenic Film Festival
A percent of the proceeds for this virtual film festival will go to Team Wilderness in Jersey City, which helps underprivileged youth get outside through wilderness excursions. The weekend-long event takes place on April 24 and 25 and aims to inspire environmental activism and a love of nature through film. Ways to stream the festival or host your own event also include options that support local, environmentally-friendly restaurants.
Track Your Clean Up on Litterati
Brands like Avocado Green Mattress are using Litterati, available on both Android and Apple devices, to gather groups to track the litter they pick up. This allows the app to measure the shared impact the litter pick-up has on the earth. Join the Avocado Green Brands Earth Month Cleanup by using the code AVOFRIENDS and collect litter anytime before April 30, or join your own group with friends and family.
View the Hoboken Historical Museum’s Film Festival
In partnership with the Thomas Edison Film Festival, the Hoboken Historical Museum is running an Earth Day Film Festival from April 22 to 30. The event is a free, on-demand streamed celebration of Earth Day that includes several short films, including a conversation with award-winning filmmaker Otto Bell.
Read More: Community Farms + Gardens in Montclair + Bloomfield
Eco-Friendly Businesses
Restaurants
Eco-friendly food spots are aplenty in Hoboken and Jersey City–with many restaurants now employing green practices. Below are just a few restaurants that either raise money for a cause dedicated to the earth, employ eco-friendly containers, or sell items that are environmentally sound.
Alfalfa {1110 Washington Street, Hoboken}
This eatery serves locally roasted, fair-trade coffee, and uses fresh, local ingredients for their recipes, and uses earth-safe containers for takeout. Free-range chicken broth and other plant-based options are available for dining in our taking out.
bwe Kafe {1002 Washington Street + 1401 Adams Street, Hoboken}
This local family-run coffee shop operates with the mantra “Beans. Beliefs. Bucks.” that helps guide their activities–they sell coffee and other sustainable goods in order to raise money for charitable causes while staying true to the earth.
Java Love {244 Bellevue Avenue + 49 Church Street, Montclair}
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All the coffee is either organic and/or sustainably farmed, fair trade, or rainforest alliance-certified, which means the best of the best. Java Love also has great seasonal specialty drinks as well as both sweet and savory baked goods.
Beauty Shops
Through the use of green and sustainable products, clean beauty, and recycling practices, these businesses make sure that looking good can also be good to the earth.
Lorraine’s House of Styles {160 1st Street, Hoboken}
Sustainable practices are at the heart of this hair salon. The business offers sustainable products and recycles and repurposes all of the salon’s waste to turn it into energy or bio-plastic.
Payaru {Online}
Guilt-free skincare is the name of the game with this company. The products are all-natural, simple, and ocean-friendly, as well as thoughtfully sourced. A part of the company’s profits is also donated to sustainable charities.
Home
From laundry to home care to home products, each of these selected North Jersey businesses uses green practices or offers green products to help residents of North Jersey reduce their carbon footprint.
Avocado Green Mattress {12 Hudson Place, Suite 100, Hoboken}
These natural, organic mattresses are handmade in California with ingredients from the company’s own farms. In addition to the mattresses, bedding, pillows and other furniture is also available.
Dry Goods Refillery {193 Bellevue Avenue, Montclair + 1875 Springfield Avenue, Maplewood}
This eco-friendly shop’s mission is to bring package-free shopping to the community. The team works with eco-conscious companies who work to push the mission of sustainability and partner with brands that give back to the planet, promote carbon neutrality, and focus on their efforts to make a difference through fair trade practices, small family organic farming, and electric delivery vehicles.
JC EcoLaundry {340 Second Street, Jersey City}
This company uses eco-friendly products for wash and fold and organic dry-cleaning, and also offers a self-serve option with eco-friendly washing and drying machines.
Matter of Earth {221 River Street, 9th Floor, Hoboken}
This company aims to strengthen the natural environment and offers consulting, design, and management for gardens and other sites. Lectures and presentations are also available.
My Conscience, My Choice {Online}
This website offers eco-friendly alternatives to everyday products, from coffee to animal products to skincare. The site aims to help people switch to products that are better for humanity and for the environment.
UNJUMBOLD {257 1st Street, Hoboken}
UNJUMBOLD places emphasis on fair trade and local vendors, especially from marginalized communities, and focuses on quality over quantity. Many products sold help to eliminate single-use products and use environmentally-friendly materials.
VepoClean {Online}
This cleaning service offers an eco-friendly option for carpet cleaning, dust mite collection, bathroom cleaning, and more. The process and products are all environmentally friendly, but the company has a welcome call with each of their clients to go over specific needs and desires.
Clothing + Accessories
Thrifting gives clothing a new life and helps reduce the amount of waste produced. In Hoboken and Jersey City, there’s a huge selection of vintage stores to shop and, as an added bonus, a clothing store for children that only sells sustainable goodies.
Ally Bird Vintage {408 6th Street, Hoboken}
Thursdays through Sundays, Ally Bird Vintage sets up shop on Sixth Street to offer up a selection of pre-loved items and also sets up warehouse visits in Jersey City by appointment. The shop also has two other locations in Brooklyn throughout the week.
Culture Couture {53 Church Street, Montclair}
The mission of this boutique is to introduce affordable and quality products from a variety of countries to our community and to set an example to business and the government of a Fair Trade model of business based on partnership, people-centered values, and sustainability.
The Margo Market {1102 Washington Street, Hoboken}
Everything sold at this local business is sustainably and ethically sourced and provides insight and stories into every product they sell. The company aims to advocate for artisans as much as tending consumers through sustainable and ethical offerings.
ReLovely {Online}
Started in Jersey City, this website sells pre-loved garments from influencers on the platform, giving each chic garment a new life.
