There was a lot of hustle and bustle in New York City during fashion week, but that didn’t stop seasoned eco-conscious experts and sustainability enthusiasts from coming out to a rooftop in the swanky downtown Manhattan the night of September 10.
At the rooftop at [SHOWFIELDS](http://www.showfields.com) retail complex, all eyes were on simple, clean and eco-friendly products and practices. Choreographed by [Brand Assembly](http://www.brandassembly.com), a community created to nurture and elevate fashion and lifestyle brands, the Creating Change with Conscious Choices panel aimed to educate people about making sustainable choices and creating an eco-friendly lifestyle for yourself and society for the planet — day in and day out.
“We all play a role,” affirmed [Marci Zaroff](https://www.marcizaroff.com), an ECOlifestyle Entrepreneur, Educator and Innovator. “And if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem.”
While sipping on [all-natural California wine](https://usualwines.com) and munching on sustainably made and delicious [ROLLN](https://www.rollnco.com) sushi rolls, the enthused crowd zoomed in on how we can reduce the negative impact human species have on this planet and bounced ideas on lessening our environmental footprint off of each other.
In the end, being environmentally friendly boils down to gradually making small positive changes to our daily routines and striving to implement sustainability in our professional world too, holding companies and brands accountable. Marci said it best: economy and ecology do not have to be mutually exclusive. “After all, you can’t do business on a dead planet,” echoed Shona Quinn, [Eileen Fisher](https://www.eileenfisher.com)’s Sustainability Leader.
As for an average city dweller, the best tips for reducing your environmental footprint are (quite literally) looking at what you’re throwing away the most, looking for multi-use alternatives to single-use disposables, and embracing how 'weird' may look when asking for things without packaging; see it as an opportunity to explain to others why you’re making the choices that you make. It makes people in your community to see your point and maybe make the shift, too.
“If we have the power to alter things in a very negative way, maybe we also have the power in a really positive way,” affirmed [Lauren Singer](https://www.instagram.com/trashisfortossers/?hl=en), CEO at [Package Free](https://packagefreeshop.com) and Founder of [Trash is for Tossers](http://trashisfortossers.com).
As with everything in our society, making a positive shift towards sustainability requires persistence and teamwork — it's very much a collaborative effort. But this is the kind of hard work that is sure to pay off big time. “We can co-create whatever reality we want together,” Zaroff said.
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