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the fashion industry's impact on the environment
We purchase 8 billion items a year, and the average person in the US throws away 38kg of textile waste annually. More than 15 billion kg of waste is generated in the United States in a year. If the average life of clothing (around 3 years) could be extended it would reduce waste generation as well as reduce water use and carbon emission by around 5-10%.
For that reason I would like to up-cycle my old clothes, this way I would be prolonging their use and reducing clothing consumption.
COTTON:
In today’s world most of the fibers of our clothing is made up of cotton. More than 90% of this cotton is from genetically modified crops. These crops require large amounts of water and chemicals, therefore as of 2014, 18% of pesticides release and 25% of insecticide use is from cotton production.
Pesticides and fertilizers are what you could call ecological narcotics, the more you use them the more the ground needs them, increasing the constant need for chemicals.
With GMO seeds being so popular, biotechnology companies are obtaining seed monopolies giving farmers fewer choices and more expensive seeds.
For example more than 90% of soybean and 80% of corn planted in the uS contains Monsanto’s patented GM traits.
Punjab is where most of India's cotton comes from and it is also the largest user of pesticides. This affects the rise of cancer, birth defects and mental illnesses in the area. Farmers go in debt because they need to keep buying these expensive seeds. With Monsanto’s seed monopolies in India, farmers don’t have a choice but to buy seeds from them and pesticides needed, on top of that a lot of farmers need to pay cures for the diseases and illnesses that these chemicals bring. There have been an alarming number of cases of debt ridden farmer suicides.
What people also don’t pay attention to is that skin is the largest organ in our body and if we wear clothes made out of GMO cotton which has
lot’s of chemicals in it, these chemicals get passed into our bloodstream. This could cause headaches, asthma and cancer. These chemicals also go into our water when we wash our clothing. For this reason designers like Sophia Schneider are producing clothes using organic cotton. On her website she specifies that the materials she uses have GOTS and ÖkoTex 100 certifications, they are skin-compatible and environmentally friendly.
Bibliography:
“Food Democracy Now.” The GMO Seed Monopoly: Fewer Choices, Higher Prices | Food Democracy Now, www.fooddemocracynow.org/blog/2013/oct/4/the_gmo_seed_monopoly_fewer_choices_higher_prices
“The GMO Seed Monopoly.” Calmful Living, 3 Nov. 2016, calmfulliving.com/the-gmo-seed-monopoly/.
Michael Ross. The True Cost. 2015, truecostmovie.com/.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-seeds-of-suicide-how-monsanto-destroys-farming/5329947
Sophia Schneider-Esleben, www.schneider-esleben.com/home.
Cummins, Ronnie, and Truthout. “Beyond Monsanto's GMO Cotton: Why Consumers Need to Care What We Wear.” Regeneration International, 2 Mar. 2017, regenerationinternational.org/2017/03/02/why-consumers-need-to-care-what-we-wear/.
For that reason I would like to up-cycle my old clothes, this way I would be prolonging their use and reducing clothing consumption.
COTTON:
In today’s world most of the fibers of our clothing is made up of cotton. More than 90% of this cotton is from genetically modified crops. These crops require large amounts of water and chemicals, therefore as of 2014, 18% of pesticides release and 25% of insecticide use is from cotton production.
Pesticides and fertilizers are what you could call ecological narcotics, the more you use them the more the ground needs them, increasing the constant need for chemicals.
With GMO seeds being so popular, biotechnology companies are obtaining seed monopolies giving farmers fewer choices and more expensive seeds.
For example more than 90% of soybean and 80% of corn planted in the uS contains Monsanto’s patented GM traits.
Punjab is where most of India's cotton comes from and it is also the largest user of pesticides. This affects the rise of cancer, birth defects and mental illnesses in the area. Farmers go in debt because they need to keep buying these expensive seeds. With Monsanto’s seed monopolies in India, farmers don’t have a choice but to buy seeds from them and pesticides needed, on top of that a lot of farmers need to pay cures for the diseases and illnesses that these chemicals bring. There have been an alarming number of cases of debt ridden farmer suicides.
What people also don’t pay attention to is that skin is the largest organ in our body and if we wear clothes made out of GMO cotton which has
lot’s of chemicals in it, these chemicals get passed into our bloodstream. This could cause headaches, asthma and cancer. These chemicals also go into our water when we wash our clothing. For this reason designers like Sophia Schneider are producing clothes using organic cotton. On her website she specifies that the materials she uses have GOTS and ÖkoTex 100 certifications, they are skin-compatible and environmentally friendly.
Bibliography:
“Food Democracy Now.” The GMO Seed Monopoly: Fewer Choices, Higher Prices | Food Democracy Now, www.fooddemocracynow.org/blog/2013/oct/4/the_gmo_seed_monopoly_fewer_choices_higher_prices
“The GMO Seed Monopoly.” Calmful Living, 3 Nov. 2016, calmfulliving.com/the-gmo-seed-monopoly/.
Michael Ross. The True Cost. 2015, truecostmovie.com/.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-seeds-of-suicide-how-monsanto-destroys-farming/5329947
Sophia Schneider-Esleben, www.schneider-esleben.com/home.
Cummins, Ronnie, and Truthout. “Beyond Monsanto's GMO Cotton: Why Consumers Need to Care What We Wear.” Regeneration International, 2 Mar. 2017, regenerationinternational.org/2017/03/02/why-consumers-need-to-care-what-we-wear/.
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POLYESTER:
Along with cotton, polyester is one of the most used materials to make our clothing. Polyester is a petroleum based fiber and is therefore not renewable. It is not bio-degradable and for that reason it is believed that it is the biggest source of micro plastic pollution in the water due to thousands fibers being washed off every wash. On the other hand polyester is 100% recyclable and you can manufacture it using recycled plastic. Polyester is also extremely energy intensive to make, this graph shows the difference between natural fibers and polyester. Bibliography: TEDxTalks. YouTube, YouTube, 21 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r8V4QWwxf0. |
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Leather:
Kanpur is the capital importer of leather in India, the chemicals used to treat this leather flow into the Ganges river, India's main river. Chromium 6, a chemical used to treat leather is polluting farming and drinking water, therefore the environment, agricultural produce, the soil and the only source of drinking water. This affects a lot of people's health.
Bibliography:
Michael Ross. The True Cost. 2015, truecostmovie.com/.
Kanpur is the capital importer of leather in India, the chemicals used to treat this leather flow into the Ganges river, India's main river. Chromium 6, a chemical used to treat leather is polluting farming and drinking water, therefore the environment, agricultural produce, the soil and the only source of drinking water. This affects a lot of people's health.
Bibliography:
Michael Ross. The True Cost. 2015, truecostmovie.com/.
Jeans:
Jeans are the most worn garment in the world, 2 billion pairs are sold each year. First let’s look at the journey that a pair of jeans goes through, the cotton is usually from India, spun in Pakistan, dyed in China and cut in Turkey. This means that before reaching shops it travels 65000 Km. Fashion is responsible for 10% of the carbon footprint.
To make these jeans you require thousands of liters of water, dyes, detergents and pesticides.
Xintang, China is the capital of denim, the water is so extremely polluted by the dyes that it has turned blue and smells strange.
In factories workers are exposed to incredible dangers from these chemicals, the air is polluted and it causes breathing problems.
Jeans are also made of toxic substances that won’t harm your body if you wear them, but they will get released into the environment whenever you wash them.
Bibliography:
“The denim capital of the world: so polluted you can.” 中外对话 China Dialogue, www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/6283-The-denim-capital-of-the-world-so-polluted-you-can-t-give-the-houses-away.
france24english. 2 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5VkR1suw5w.
Jeans are the most worn garment in the world, 2 billion pairs are sold each year. First let’s look at the journey that a pair of jeans goes through, the cotton is usually from India, spun in Pakistan, dyed in China and cut in Turkey. This means that before reaching shops it travels 65000 Km. Fashion is responsible for 10% of the carbon footprint.
To make these jeans you require thousands of liters of water, dyes, detergents and pesticides.
Xintang, China is the capital of denim, the water is so extremely polluted by the dyes that it has turned blue and smells strange.
In factories workers are exposed to incredible dangers from these chemicals, the air is polluted and it causes breathing problems.
Jeans are also made of toxic substances that won’t harm your body if you wear them, but they will get released into the environment whenever you wash them.
Bibliography:
“The denim capital of the world: so polluted you can.” 中外对话 China Dialogue, www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/6283-The-denim-capital-of-the-world-so-polluted-you-can-t-give-the-houses-away.
france24english. 2 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5VkR1suw5w.
