“The beauty of being green,” says long-time Montclair resident Jennifer Chaky,” is that it’s simple.”
With Go Lightly, her green living store on South Fullerton Avenue, Chaky aims to prove this philosophy to the public. Living green is not only more accessible than people think, she asserts, but also easy and fun.
The main theme of the products Chaky carries in the store is “live less wastefully.” But at Go Lightly, it’s not all work and no play: While you can search for things you need for everyday use, such as eco-friendly lunch containers, you can also shop for kitschy, yet earth-friendly gifts like hand-made candlesticks made from recycled wine bottles.
“It’s true that a lot of our customers are parents and grandparents who are concerned over the world we are leaving our children,” she says. “But I also get young teens who love to come in and pick up fun things like recycled guitar string bracelets and things like that.”
This is not just a business for Chaky, but it’s her lifestyle, too. In fact, she was practicing and preaching “green” long before it became trendy.
It all began in fourth grade, Chaky recalls, when she saw a movie about nuclear war. “Watching this film completely changed the way I looked at how humans are treating our planet,” she says.
“Since then, every issue has always come back to the environment for me — whether it’s overpopulation, immigration, health, diet, economy — I always had a deep sense that the basis of everything is dependent on what our physical earth can endure,” she says. “Without clean air, water, and land, we have nothing.”
A lot of what Chaky adapted, she says, came from growing up in a family who respected nature and was mindful of waste. “We never had a garbage can in our house. Everything was composted or recycled, and what wasn’t fit into small product packages that my mother would leave on the curb.”
Chaky, now 37, went to high school in Montclair, and when her daughter Prairie, 11, became school-age, she knew this is where she wanted to raise her. “I like that this town is progressive and cosmopolitan while also retaining the small-town feel of a tight-knit community,” she says. “And for those same reasons I opened my store here plus I love that my business is within walking and biking distance from our home, and my daughter’s school.”
Chaky is trying to pass on the values she grew up with to her daughter. The two, who live with one rescued dog and four rescued cats, are strict vegans. Chaky firmly believes in the connection between an earth-friendly lifestyle and eating (or choosing not to eat) meat. “Eating animals and their by-products is simply not sustainable for all human life,” she says. “Especially as our world population is exploding.”
“My goal is to raise my daughter while I support the green economy and the health of all life on this planet,” she says. “So even though this way of thinking has always been with me, my green journey is constantly evolving. A few years ago I started making my own house cleaners from vinegar and essential oils. I found more ways to save energy and water in my home, and I grow some vegetables in my backyard. As green as I am, there is always more I can do, and I actually feel accomplished and energized by every earth-saving habit I adopt.”
