Ethically Questionable

Why "Polyester" Became an Insult (And Why Brands Are Still Making More of It)

Shayeza Walid, sustainability journalist at The Business of Fashion

Polyester turned into a slur online this year. Teenagers use it to mean cheap, plastic, fake, and people now read clothing labels the way they read ingredients lists. So the obvious question is whether any of that hatred has changed what the industry actually makes. It has not. Shayeza Wali...

This year's heatwaves have produced what English wine growers are calling a genuine vintage year for sparkling wine, and that's not a coincidence. Jamila and Jenn get into three reports that landed this week and what they add up to. The UN's new Limiting Overshoot report says the world is on track to blow past 1.5°C, likely reaching 1.8°C or higher under current policies, and lays out what actually has to happen to bring warming ba...

This week Jamila and Jenn look at two very different "cancellations" making headlines right now. The Met Gala had to scrap a planned museum exhibition honoring designer John Galliano after backlash over antisemitic remarks he made back in 2011, remarks serious enough that a French court actually convicted him for them. Meanwhile, Washington Post opinion columnist Karen Attiah was fired within 24 hours of a single post about Charlie...

This week on Ethically Questionable News, Jamila and Jenn pause to talk about the death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday following weeks of press scrutiny, and what it says about the responsibility we all carry (media and public alike) for the negativity we aim at real people, from Meghan Markle to public figures closer to home.

Then it's onto some good news: a new Queen Mary University of London study tracking children's lung...

This week, Jamila and Jenn tear into OpenAI's very first influencer trip, a "digital detox" weekend at a luxury eco-farm upstate, complete with workshops on using ChatGPT more, because nothing says reconnect with nature like a company whose data centers are draining it. They debate whether OpenAI is uniquely tone-deaf or just doing what every tech giant does at Cannes Lions, and why Anthropic still gets the benefit of the doubt (on...

Ethically Questionable: Joe Roberts Walker

Jamila's back from a summer break with Mejuicer founder Joe Roberts Walker, whose circular ginger-shot subscription business supplies offices, festivals, and film sets (Netflix, The Crown) across London. Riding in the Polestar, they dig into six years of building a business reputation: why treating reputation like compounding capital beats chasing viral moments, why "virtue signaling" got a...

Meta's AI glasses are being called "pervert glasses" for a reason. Jamila and Jenn break down the covert filming, the "Hey Meta" data pipeline, the content reviewers, and why wrapping all of it in a Kylie Jenner collab makes it worse, not better.

Electrified by Polestar

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In this week’s Ethically Questionable news segment, Jamila Brown and Jenn McGarrigle dive into the viral “death pants” conversation around Zara and what it reveals about fast fashion, overproduction, and the hidden cost of trends. From pants getting caught in escalators and bikes to the bigger problem of flammable jumpers, destroyed stock, and overflowing secondhand markets, they unpack how price, status, and bran...

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Elise Som is the serial entrepreneur behind Mijenta, a B Corp tequila made with recycled glass bottles and just three ingredients, and Bare la Terre, a compostable kids' skincare line her daughter asked her to build. On the pod, she and Jamila get into why simpler products are actually cheaper to make, why ESG departments are mostly talk without action, and why banning kids from skincare doesn't work when they can just buy it thems...

Jamila gets in the car with Marine Tanguy, founder of the world's first B Corp art agency MTArt and author of A Visual Detox, to talk about something most of us never clock: the art and advertising around us is quietly deciding who matters.

Marine breaks down the brutal stat behind UK billboards (the poorer your postcode, the more ads you see), why 97% of London's sculptures depict men on pedestals, and the term "historiography"...

Ever wonder if something as simple as switching up your go to wine order at the bar or on your shopping trip can have a positive impact on the planet? Enter Corinna Pyke, Marketing and Partnerships Director whose advice is probably not what you were expecting to hear.

Don't miss this week's episode of Ethically Questionable, filmed front seat of our Polestar for a convo on materials, methodology, and.. Rudolf Steiner?

For mor...

This week on EQ News, Jamila, Jenn, and Aisling dig into the three stories dominating their feeds.

Jenn returns with an update on the salmon crisis and the science behind what researchers are calling the "extinction vortex." Aisling unpacks the SBTi's major overhaul of net zero standards and whether more flexibility for companies is progress or a cop-out. And Jamila makes the case that we need a wealth line, not just a poverty l...

This week we have two-time Sunday Times bestselling author and podcaster Candice Brathwaite in the Polestar for a deep dive on the changing world of brand partnerships, influence, and value alignment. In a world where we're stuck to our devices, either as creators or consumers of content, what do we sell when we sell out to bad brands, and how do we reclaim that space? To help us unpack that, Candice talks us through her career fro...