Out of all the pieces of clothing you could own jeans are among the worst when it comes to the environment. According to Vice, “2 billion jeans produced annually worldwide.” And every year we throw away about 13 million tons of clothing which ends up in the landfill.
Denim uses a lot of chemical dyes to make it blue. In China, “the Xintang’s rivers smelled foul- manufacturers dumping chemical-laden wastewater directly into local waterways”, according to nrdc.org. A lot of harmful metals like lead, copper and mercury have even been found in the river. Many people rely on these rivers to get clean drinking water from or to bath in. They use a ton of water, to grow “(2.2 pounds) of cotton it can require up to 7,660 gallons of water.” Let’s compare that to growing the same amount of tomatoes which only require 76 gallons of water. Most people try to drink 8 glasses of water a day which is about half a gallon of water. Think about all the water that could have been saved to grow food or for drinking. The fashion industry in general has accelerated our climate crises. According to the United Nations, “global production of clothing and footwear generates 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.” This is expected to increase by almost 50% in 2030. Let’s not forget about how the fashion industry exploits its garment workers. The U.S. Department of Labor report found evidence of “forced and child labor in the fashion industry in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam and other countries.”
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AuthorHi everyone, I’m Elizabeth! I am a Chinese American and Canadian environmental activist focused on creating awareness on environmental justice issues and tying them to fast fashion and our waste and climate change crisis. I’m very open about my mental health. I talk about these important topics on my platform Archives
March 2021
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