ISSUE 204

Hello from Bali 👋 I’m midway through our family summer “mini-sabbatical” — six weeks of travel and time off my laptop that I’ve been anticipating (and working toward) all year.

After a few weeks with my in-laws in California, an unplanned detour to Manila to be with family and an extended layover in Tokyo where we experienced a kokushobi (see 5 Links) first-hand, I’m back in a place that I’ve returned to again and again during different periods of transition. The gap year-and-a-half I took after college to travel and work odd jobs. The "self-directed masters" trip I took at 25 after leaving my high-octane tech job to transition into sustainable business. The two months my husband and I spent here at 30, recovering from corporate burnout and planting the seeds for what would come next (Reconsidered!).

This island has a magic to it, an energy that never fails to spark creativity and reflection. And though a lot has changed in the nearly two decades I’ve been coming here — the development! the traffic! the influencers! — that magic hasn’t.

The more I work in sustainability, the more I realize how much we need this. Time spent away from the laptop. People that energize us. Places that inspire us.

It doesn’t need to be a sabbatical, nor does it need to be halfway around the world. It could be an hour sans phone in your backyard, a leisurely afternoon in nature, a solo day trip to a nearby town you’ve never properly visited. What special spaces are you creating for yourself in these last weeks of summer?

✌️

Jessica Marati Radparvar
Founder, Reconsidered​

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What's On In Our World

• Celebrating our clients J.Crew Group (J.Crew, J.Crew Factory and Madewell) on the launch of their 2025 Impact Report! 👏👏👏 We're so proud to have partnered with the team during this pivotal year that brought both the report and JCG's new Impact Strategy into the world. Check out our Impact Interview with Katie O’Hare, JCG’s VP of Sustainability, for more of the story.

• And some big news from a client and project close to our hearts: Etsy just launched its Craft Catalyst Initiative, a $10M investment over three years supporting craft communities across the U.S., in partnership with the Center for Craft. We had the joy of supporting Etsy’s impact team as a strategic partner on this project, and watching it go from early thinking to a real, funded, five-city initiative has been so meaningful. Huge congrats to the team; we can't wait to see what grows from this.

• Climate Week NYC will be here before we know it! I’ll be in New York for the first half and I’m planting seeds for aligned collaborations… if you’re cooking up something special and looking for a speaker or facilitator, let’s talk. 🤙

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This Week's 5 Links

🥵 It’s So Hot That Japan Needs a New Word for It — The New York Times

I read this piece while riding out the mid-afternoon heat in our air-conditioned Tokyo hotel room last week and can confirm: Japan’s new official term for 104+ degree days — kokushobi, or "cruel heat day" — is spot on. The term was chosen by public vote after officials realized that numbers alone weren't adequately conveying the difference between “hot” and “the kind of heat that has real health impacts”. A fascinating look at the role of language in climate adaptation. (5 minutes, gift link)

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🌡️ Lessons from Companies Learning to Beat the Heat — Financial Times

Mini fans, lemonade and ice cream on the factory floor sound trivial… until you see their role in bigger extreme heat strategies being rolled out by major companies across Europe. Schneider Electric pairs those small fixes with humidity-mapped sensors and mandatory hourly breaks, and Heineken is importing heat protocols from Mexico to its European sites. With extreme heat the new normal in a rapidly warming Europe, corporations previously focused on supply chain and satellite sites are now needing to implement protocols closer to home. (6 minutes)

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📋 How to Write an Impact Report — Vogue Business

I appreciated this helpful rundown of best practices, opportunities and tensions in impact reporting in 2026. While the examples are fashion-specific, the underlying questions — what to disclose, how to approach emerging regulations, how to balance comprehensiveness with readability — apply well beyond the industry. (9 minutes)
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👉If you're looking for a partner to guide you through the ever-changing expectations around impact reporting, we've got two client slots open for the upcoming reporting season. Reach out for a no-pressure chat about what you need and how we might help.

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📉 CSO headcount at US companies falls for first time in 15 years — Trellis

Read on its own, this headline seems like yet another piece of bad news for the sustainability profession. But a closer look at the Weinreb Group report underpinning it shows some interesting nuance. Like the fact that sustainability budgets have largely held flat or increased, team sizes have held steady and 42% of CSOs say their responsibilities have actually broadened. The profession is in flux, no doubt about it, but the reality is more complex than a single data point. (4 minutes)

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📊 GlobeScan-BSR State of Sustainable Business 2026 Report

A lot has changed since BSR and Globescan last published this report in 2019. A few of the findings I found most compelling: teams are more embedded in strategy, yet further from the CEO's office than they've been in a decade. Regulation, not customer demand, is now the top driver of action on sustainability. And over 60% say they're doing more than they're talking about publicly, further confirmation that greenhushing has overtaken greenwashing as the sustainability communications norm. (7 minutes)

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Impact Interview

​Katie O'Hare, VP Sustainability, J.Crew Group How she started her career, the skill that drives internal momentum, the moment that changed her approach to sustainability communications and more.

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Impact Jobs

A few highlights from this week’s curation:

• ​Apple — Project Manager, Supplier Carbon Solutions (Sunnyvale, California, U.S.)
• ​Burberry — Coordinator, ESG Operations (London)
• ​Environmental Defense Fund — Economics Research Intern (Remote, U.S.)
• ​Kraft Heinz — Responsible Sourcing and Livelihoods Manager (Amsterdam)
• ​UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network — Special Assistant and Program Associate (New York City)

View This Week's Jobs Curation

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Quick Hits

🥵 Most clicked from the last issue… Unnatural Disasters: Communication Guide — Potential Energy. You all took inspiration from this guide on how to use extreme weather as a conversation starter.

💻 Pathfinder offers small-cohort mentoring for supply chain leaders — change, transition, storytelling, EQ. September places open now. Book a call or find out more here. *

🧭 Feel like sustainability is stuck reporting on past data? This one-day training on anticipatory leadership and futures thinking is for professionals who want to look ahead. Amsterdam, 23 September. *

👯 In the Reconsidered LinkedIn Group, members are sharing free impact career platforms, climate conversation trainings and virtual sustainability convenings. Join 23k+ of us here.

*All posts marked with an asterisk and 📣 this emoji 📣 were sponsored by our partners — thank you for supporting our work! If you're interested in amplifying your job or initiative to our community, you can explore our sponsorship offerings here.

About Reconsidered

We are a boutique strategic communications consultancy specialized in sustainability and social impact. Through hands-on advisory, practical trainings and value-add resources, we help sustainability leaders meet this moment with clarity and courage.

learn about our services / browse our trainings / explore our resources​