Jyoti Stephens of Nature’s Path: 5 Things We Must Do To Inspire The Next Generation About Sustainability And The Environment

If you want kids to care about protecting the environment, they must care about nature, so connect them to the outdoors. Have conversations with your kids about what they see.

I would also recommend growing things — anything — whether it’s herbs or a strawberry plant where kids can make the connection between the soil and food. You can have demonstrative conversations, even on a small scale.

As part of my series about what we must o to inspire the next generation about sustainability and the environment, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jyoti Stephens.

Jyoti Stephens has a deep-rooted passion for sustainability and organics. As Vice President of Mission and Strategy for Nature’s Path, she is deeply committed to sustainable agriculture and the company’s mission of “leaving the earth better than you found it”.

Jyoti leads Nature’s Path’s commitment to sustainability, including initiatives around ethical sourcing, energy efficiency, waste reduction, community engagement and eco-friendly packaging alternatives. She works with cross-departmental teams to help manage sustainability goals and ensure the company is creating systems that reduce the unnecessary use of resources.

Jyoti led the initiative to pilot regenerative organic farming at her parents Legend Organic Farm in Saskatchewan. The farm was the first in Canada and the largest globally, to receive the regenerative organic certification. She also led Nature’s Path to becoming the first organic brand partner to join Loop, creating the company’s first reusable granola container.

Jyoti currently serves on Trust Protector Committee of the Sustainable Food and Agriculture Perpetual Purpose Trust and was a board member of the Sustainable Food Trade Association for four years.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Victoria and an MBA with a focus on Sustainable Food and Agriculture from the Pinchot University (Presidio Graduate School).

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I grew up in a values-driven, entrepreneurial, spiritually-oriented family in Vancouver, BC.

Food, and having strong intention about what you eat, and its connection to health and emotional wellbeing, was front and centre at our breakfast and dinner table. As children we meditated each morning when we woke up, and after school and on the weekends, we’d help out at my parent’s vegetarian restaurant and we’d often spend free time in my parent’s garden, growing (and eating) the fresh fruit and vegetables lovingly grown.

My parents are serial entrepreneurs; they opened Canada’s first vegetarian restaurant in 1967 — then a natural food store, then another vegetarian restaurant before starting Nature’s Path, North America’s first organic cereal manufacturer, in 1985. There was a lot of pressure in the early days of the business, and months when my dad slept at the factory, desperate to get the factory to run. Through all the challenges, my parents invited us into the conversation, even as children, to seek out our opinions on what to do. In fact, I think one of their greatest strengths is giving every person at the table a voice, and listening to their opinions and considering them before making a decision.

Was there an “aha moment” or a specific trigger that made you decide you wanted to become a scientist or environmental leader? Can you share that story with us?

My journey into the company wasn’t so straightforward. I was attracted to the world changing mission but felt unsure about the business part of the business. Coming of age in the 90’s, when it seemed like every day there was a new corporate scandal, I hadn’t yet reconciled my desire to do good with the reality business was a way to do this.

One of the turning points for me was attending a Bioneer’s Conference in Marin County. There was panel on sustainable business with a number of business leaders, some of whom had done extraordinary work in integrating sustainability into product design and manufacturing. There was also a business founder who shared the tremendous regret he felt in selling his company and seeing the values he and his business partner had built fall by the wayside as the corporate entity took over and focused on short-term profits over long-term value.

Attending that conference really inspired me to take my underlying passion for the environment and social justice into the work that I do. And that to truly make an impact, to continue the real purpose-driven part of the work we do, we had to remain independent.

Is there a lesson you can take out of your own story that can exemplify what can inspire a young person to become an environmental leader?

Growing up with entrepreneurs who were really trying to help leave the earth better, I would say try to base your actions, whether in business or at home, from a place of love rather than fear and to not let an idea of perfection prevent you from making both bold and incremental changes.

Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?

Our mission is to Leave the Earth Better than you found it, and every day we strive to move closer to this, whether it’s through the food we make or the causes and communities we support. Here are some of our specific actions:

For climate change:

• Supporting renewable energy since 2008 by purchasing renewable energy credits for all the electricity we consume.
• We implemented projects in our facilities to reduce electricity and natural gas consumption
• We have taken a public stand that the government put a price on carbon
• We supported the youth global climate strike by encouraging Team members to use paid time to attend, sharing movement messages through our channels, and donating to 350.org
• We support Regenerative Organic Agriculture — and our family’s Legend Organic we are actively investing in farming technologies and initiatives to sequester carbon in the soil
• 95 percent of our shipments that can use rail do use rail
• All of our products are certified organic and therefore aren’t grown using nitrogen-based fertilizers, which releases nitrous oxide, an extremely potent greenhouse gas

For sustainability:

• Currently, we have achieved 97 percent of our sustainable packaging commitments by weight, with a commitment to 100% by 2025
• Our facilities are Zero waste certified
• We train all team members on our 6 sustainability pillars to learn how they can individually contribute to our sustainability performance
• We have an extensive Give-Back programs that have given back over $30 million in cash and food to communities in need

Can you share 3 lifestyle tweaks that the general public can do to be more sustainable or help address the climate change challenge?

For me it starts with food — choosing organic and plant-based when you can and reducing the amount of food waste you create by either composting or better planning are all important.

One of the tweaks that I’ve made is to support second-hand fashion, 90% of my clothes are from consignment stores. The EPA has estimated that 85% of our clothing ends up in landfills, so supporting the market for recycled clothing can help ease the demand for new clothes and provide a second life to clothing that may have otherwise been thrown out.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview: The youth led climate strikes of September 2019 showed an impressive degree of activism and initiative by young people on behalf of climate change. This was great, and there is still plenty that needs to be done. In your opinion what are 5 things parents should do to inspire the next generation to become engaged in sustainability and the environmental movement? Please give a story or an example for each.

If you want kids to care about protecting the environment, they must care about nature, so connect them to the outdoors. Have conversations with your kids about what they see.

I would also recommend growing things — anything — whether it’s herbs or a strawberry plant where kids can make the connection between the soil and food. You can have demonstrative conversations, even on a small scale.

Find stories and examples to share of people who have changed the world for the better. It’s so important for kids to have hope and know that passion and action can make a difference in the world. One of our favourite bedtime stories is the Jane Goodall, Little People, Big Dreams book.

Also, try to role model what you want to see — if you want your kids taking a stand on climate, you should take a stand on the climate! We took our 5-year-old daughter to the Global Climate Strike and she got a lot of energy from seeing so many young people engaged. It left such an impression on her, every once in a while, she’ll march around the house chanting: what do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!

How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?

There are some things the business can do that are long term investments and other ways of gaining efficiencies that will see immediate gains.

Many of our immediate positive impacts have been around packaging efficiencies. We have made several changes to our packaging since 2008 where we reduced the size of the box without reducing the amount of product inside. We were able to reduce material, and ship more product more efficiently, resulting in immediate fuel savings, material savings and shipping cost savings.

I would also recommend moving to intermodal — a combo of rail and truck. It takes a little bit longer to get your product to market but if you plan properly you are able to reduce your carbon emissions and it’s a cost savings

And through zero waste initiatives we have been able to reduce the number of hauls to landfill. There is a cost associated with bringing waste to landfill, so when you cut down the waste you are generating, you also cut down costs. And you can find ways to partner with other companies so it can be a potential revenue stream — For example, at Que Pasa, we sell some of our waste product to farms for feed. We send all of our waste water from our facility in Blaine to a bio-digester and it creates green power.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Definitely my parents. They encouraged me to marry my idealism with practicality. And when I told them I wanted to help create a sustainability platform at Nature’s Path, their response was “Go for it!” I couldn’t have done it without their support.

You are a person of great influence and doing some great things for the world! If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If every farm converted to regenerative organic agriculture the impact on climate change would be immense. If it was fully embraced at a global level I think we’d be addressing so many things: climate change, inequity in farm practices, helping to boost micro-nutrient quality of the soil, the positives impacts are endless.

Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?

I attended a David Suzuki talk and there were a couple of things he said that stood out to me: one was that we are the environment, there is no difference, and the second was that there’s no business to be done on a dead planet.

We can’t externalize ourselves and our actions from the living planet we share and having thriving long term businesses rely on a healthy thriving planet.

What is the best way for people to follow you on social media?

I don’t really have public profiles, but you can connect or follow me on LinkedIn.