Fashion Industry: Guilty as Charged

The new Vogue comes out and every girl can’t wait to see what the new fashions for this month will be. We are excited to see the new trends, the changing colors schemes, and the hot looks that the celebrities are wearing. Fashion changes all the time, and as young women, we have a longing to stay hip and trendy! Although, we already have a closet stuffed with clothes (some that might not have even been worn yet), we are pumped to get into a store and get more and more clothes. We may not realize it, but while we are staying “hip” to the eye, we are harming our environment. As we constantly change the fashion industry, we add different changes that harm the land we live in. The fashion industry needs to be aware of the harm they are causing and find a solution to the problems.

            In the article titled “Fashion Sustainability”, it states that sustainability challenges in the clothing industry are not new. They have identified 8 key issues that are harming our environment. Some examples of these issues are fashion consumption-the increasing number of fashion items that we buy and then dispose of, the intensity of cotton production requiring lots of energy, water, and pesticides, energy consumed when we are washing our clothes contributes to climate change, fashion miles that burn carbon as fabric and clothing are transported around the world, and animal welfare-ensuring that good standards are upheld during leather and wool production, and avoiding fur. Right here we are given key problems that the apparel industry is in involved in on a pretty often basis. Another big key to focus on in the production phase of apparel is efficient water. The article states that in central Asia, inefficient water use in cotton production has all but eradicated the Aral Sea. This sea was once the world’s 4^th largest inland body of water and it is now reduced to 15% of its former volume. I saw these facts and was in shock. Who knew that those frequent trips to our favorite clothing boutique could be harming our environment as much as it is?

            Well we all know how popular fur is! We love seeing out favorite celebrities walking down the busy streets of New York with their beautiful fur coats and hats on. But did you those popular coats and accessories made of our dear animal friends is actually killing 130,000 animals every day? I didn’t. The Fashion Sustainability articles states that 50 million animals die worldwide every year so that their fur can be used by the fashion industry.  Now that’s just sad!

            After reading the startling facts in the Fashion Sustainability article, I related to those to what I saw in the Eco Millennium Assessment. I previously stated that climate change is affected by the production of apparel. Keeping the climate right is essential to our environment. In the Eco Millennium Assessment, it states that climate change is projected to exacerbate the loss of biodiversity and increase the risk of extinction for many species, especially those already at risk due to factors such as low population numbers, restricted or patchy habitats, and limited climatic ranges (medium to high certainty).

            Cotton is huge in the apparel industry, we all know that. Whether it be your favorite socks, your old high school t-shirt, or your dad’s undershirt, cotton was probably involved in process of these so very common items. The production of cotton is enormous. But while producing such large quantities, we have to be aware of what we are doing to our environment. The article titled Pricing Environmental Impacts by Walsh and Brown talks a little bit about farming issues and what is going on. It states that conventional farming techniques cause substantial soil erosion from the interaction of wind and water. This lost soil represents a significant economic burden for farmers who must cope with the fields’ reduced fertility, and it also causes serious ecological damage.

            All 3 articles are clearly stating issues that the fashion industry is bringing to the table. When asked if I find the apparel industry guilty of these issues, my answer is yes. Although the industry is creating problems for our environment, it cannot just up and end. We need the apparel industry and it is essential to us. I do believe that we can find ways to help these problems. The first way to do that is with awareness. I don’t think a lot of people are aware how much harm it is actually doing. The constant visits to the store downtown to buy a new shirt and skirt are fun, but if people knew it was hurting the climate, or causing extinction of species, they might re-think their purchases.

Same Problems. New Time.

            The problems our environment faces today are not new. They are simply the same type of problems with a new twist to them. In the article titled “A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations”, we are informed about environmental issues that the people of Easter Island faced years and years ago. It states that Easter Island is one of the most inhabited places on earth. It is only 400 square kilometers in area and lies on the Pacific Ocean near the west coast of South America. The first settlers, in a group of no more than 20-30 people, arrived at the island in the fifth century. From then, the population slowly increased. The islanders didn’t have much, but they found a way to survive with the resources they were given. They created one of the most advanced societies of its type. They had intense and elaborate set of social and religious customs that enabled them to meet all their needs. With increasing numbers and limited resources, the islanders began to experience defeat. Their necessary supplies eventually ran out, and the society collapsed.

            Like the Easter Islanders, we to have environmental issues. It is stated in the “Ecosystems and Human Well-Being” assessment that over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history. We are striving to meet the demanding needs for water, timber, fiber, and fuel, but hurting some walks of life here on Earth. We are experiencing problems in our cropland, our coral reefs, and we are using more than half of all the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, which was manufactured in 1913. The number of species on planet earth is declining.  Over the past few hundred years, humans have increased the species extinction rate by as much as 1000 times over background rates typical over the planet’s history. The degradation of ecosystem services is harming many of the world’s poorest people and is sometimes the principal factor causing poverty.  The people of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, suffer from diseases which are caused by inadequate water and sanitation.

            Our situation is similar to that of the Easter Islanders. The islanders could not think of a successful way to manage their needs of food, water, and timber, while staying up with their environment. They eventually ran out of supplies and resorted to other methods of survival, which eventually ended their society as they knew it. We are harming our environment by pushing it in all different directions. We are harming our animals and seeing different species become extinct. We are seeing these problems occur, but we are not addressing these issues as we should. While having such a high demand for certain necessities, we need to be also searching for a way to stay up with our environment. Our resources our limited, and we need to keep that in mind.