Food vs. Apparel

                Fashioning Sustainability has compared the clothing industry to the food industry, with lessons to be learned.  The food industry is increasing the demand for healthy food, fair trade, and organic products.  These standards are driving up the performance and supermarkets to be greener and more ethical.  This indicates that the apparel industry and ourselves are guilty of polluting the earth and not being sustainable with the clothing.

                In the clothing industry, Fashioning Sustainability has indicated that cotton needs a lot of water in order for it to grow which has made agricultural practices worse. Cotton is a widely used fiber to make many different pieces of clothing.  In some cases, over 10 tons of water is used to grow enough cotton to make just one pair of jeans. The use of pesticides to help grow cotton can cause serious health problems to cotton workers, soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Some of the issues faced because of this are accessibility to clean drinking water because of the dying houses that pollute it and from the production that involves some of the most toxic agrochemicals.  One solution when washing the clothing is to use liquids that contain less than 5% phosphates or are phosphate free.  In the Ecosystem Millennium Assessment, it indicates that with deforestation, generally leads to decreased rainfall, and since the cotton needs a substantial amount of water, we need to keep our forests and trees alive.  Not only is the growing of cotton hard on the earth, but the transportation to get fabric/clothing where it needs to be is not always a good source.  Sometimes the fabric/clothing has to be transported by plane and the planes are the worst on the carbon footprint.  Clothing is in too high of a demand, and it needs to be slowed down to help preserve the earth.

                Washing, drying, and ironing often accounts for the most significant use of energy in the clothing lifecycle.  Depending on which materials the clothes are made from, a majority of the carbon ‘footprint’ of clothing can be caused in its washing and care, contributing to climate change.  Some of us are guilty for just refreshing our clothes when we wash them instead of actually needing them cleaned.  We must change our habits when it comes to washing our clothing and decide when and what is dirty.  When your clothing is actually dirty, you should do a full load at the lowest temperature.  Instead of drying and ironing your clothing, you should air dry them flat and this could help reduce the impact a piece of clothing has on the climate change.  By making these changes, they not only help the earth, but they also help save you money!  An example provided by Ecosystem Millennium Assessment is the increase of food production.  Food production typically involves an increase use of water and fertilizers or expansion of the area of cultivated land, these same actions often degrade other ecosystem services such as reducing the availability of water for other uses, degrading water quality, reducing biodiversity, and decreasing forest cover; and this all goes for the use of cotton for the clothing industry.

                In the work of Walsh & Brown, they have pointed out that soil erosion, pesticides, water, electricity, and diesel fuels are all parts of the growing phase of a t-shirt.  To help reduce soil erosion, cover crops and compost are two good techniques discussed.  Recent research also indicates that organic farming methods can reduce the amount of soil leaving the ground, and since there is no use of pesticides and less water consumption, organic growing makes a better choice for all because it also cuts back on the cost.  In the article they also stress that the consumer care overwhelms the impacts of the other stages of making and shipping a t-shirt.

More farmers and consumers need to realize that organic growing is in more than one way the better choice.  The next time you buy a t-shirt, you should look at the label for organic cotton and realize how much better that shirt was on the earth; and the next time you have a load of laundry, you should ask yourself if it really is dirty or if you could wear it one more time.  More than likely, you will be the only one who knows if it was not previously washed!

REplant a tree!

http://expertscolumn.com/content/how-planting-trees-helps-environment

In today’s world, everything we do and use has an impact on our world, as the world has an impact on us.

A New Green History of the World by Clive Ponting, gives the story of Easter Island, people who, starting from an extremely limited resource base, constructed one of the most advanced societies in the world for the technology they had available.  Polynesian settlers first brought over chickens, rats, and also tried to plant semi-tropical plants but the climate was too severe for them, so their diet consisted of chickens and sweet potatoes.  Since there were not a lot of crops, they had plenty of free time and labour which the clan chiefs were able to direct into ceremonial activities.  The result was the creation of the most advanced of all the Polynesian societies and one of the most complex in the world for its limited resource base.  Since their cultural priorities were to build ahu’s they found out the trees could act as logs to help travel the ahu’s to their intended destination.  Polynesians also used the trees to build houses to live in, canoes for fishing, agriculture clearing, and fuel for heating and cooking.  As they cut these trees down, they did not think to replant or replace them.  When their supply of trees were gone, they could no longer build canoes to fish or leave the island, and they had to result to cannibalism to survive until they could no longer do that.

Today is not the first time we are facing environmental problems; they have been going on for quite some time (as noticed in Easter Island), just more noticeable today with our population and usage.  Ecosystems and Human Well-Being states that more land was converted to cropland in the 30 years after 1950 than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850.  Areas of rapid change in forest land cover and land degradation are in hurt because of this.  With changes in the ecosystems, it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate changes that affect all countries.  Even though the relative economic importance of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry are declining in industrial countries, the importance of other ecosystem services such as aesthetic enjoyment and recreational options are growing.  If we do not find solutions for the economy, we will not be able to enjoy the recreational options offered to us.  With the deforestation, it generally leads to decreased rainfall and forests need rainfall in order to survive and we need fresh water to drink.

The lesson learned from Easter Island and what we know about trees, proves that we just can’t continue to cut the trees down without replacing them.  Trees store carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. They hold soil in place to prevent erosion and keep water supplies clean. Forests provide habitat for countless species of plants and animals. Protecting our remaining forests and planting trees to replace those cut down is something we can all do and need to do. For every one tree you cut down, you must replace three saplings to make up for it!