Written by Tanya Ha, environmentalist, best-selling author and sustainable living expert.
Each month, the climate action movement 1 Million Women has a focus on a particular area of eco-action. This month, it’s the month of WEAR, and it's all about FASHION. To celebrate, and to acknowledge the 10,000 Teens who are the youngest sisters of the 1 Million Women campaign, here is an extract from my book for younger readers Green Stuff for Kids.
Fashion
Everybody needs clothes. Clothes keep us warm and modest. And they help us look the way we want to look. In fact, clothes can be a lot of fun. But fabrics and clothing have a host of environmental implications. Growing fibres and dyeing them or making them from petrochemicals uses lots of energy, water and materials, and produces waste and pollution. Plus, the fashion industry itself thrives on trends that are so hot for a moment, before becoming ‘so yesterday’. The result is out-of fashion clothes that are thrown away long before they’ve worn out—something fundamentally not green! The good news is that a new breed of fashion designer is emerging—one who considers the health of the planet as well as what looks good.
Eco-action: good green gear
- Less is more! Get a few good quality pieces that will last, instead of heaps of cheap clothes that will fall apart or look daggy sooner.
- Avoid buying clothes that can only be dry-cleaned.
- See if you can buy clothes made from alternative fibres, such as hemp, bamboo and organic cotton. Surf-wear label Billabong even makes board shorts from fabric made from recycled soft-drink bottles.
- Go retro and look for cool second-hand clothes at op-shops, vintage clothing stores or online sites such as eBay.
- Swap clothes with friends . You can even get together and hold a swap party.
- Only wash your clothes when they need it.
Fast fashion
Fashion is a big-bucks business! In 2000 alone, the world’s consumers spent around US$1 trillion worldwide buying clothes. The greatest profits are often made in the volume markets, where manufacturers aim to sell large quantities of low-priced items. Experts call this fast fashion, the clothing equivalent of cheap but unhealthy fast food. These are clothes with a very limited life span—they live fast and die young!
Faster fashion
Imagine Emma Watson at the premier of the next Harry Potter movie. Photographs of her wearing a one-shouldered red dress appear in magazines and on websites across the globe. Suddenly, everyone wants one-shouldered red dresses, so clothing companies email designs to factories in China, which rapidly produce them and then airfreight them to stores around the world before the trend dies. This need for airfreight, instead of slower sea freight, consumes more fuel and creates more greenhouse emissions.
The Life Cycle of the Average T-shirt
Green Stuff for Kids by Tanya Ha, Melbourne University Press, 2009, RRP A$29.95.
Available from MUP .
For more information on the book and reviews, visit Tanya Ha’s main website .
About the author: Tanya Ha is an award-winning Australian environmentalist, author, science journalist and sustainable living advocate. Tanya specialises in environmental and science communication, engagement and behaviour change and has worked extensively developing sustainability campaigns, presenting workshops and seminars, and communicating through mass media and popular books. Her books include the best-selling eco-guide book Greeniology, it’s update Greeniology 2020 and the acclaimed The Australian Green Consumer Guide . Following seven years working for the environment group Planet Ark, Tanya has worked extensively in the media to promote sustainability and ‘make green mainstream’, writing articles and columns for several magazines and conducting media interviews on environmental issues. She has starred in several TV shows including ABC’s science show Catalyst , answering viewers' eco questions for Can We Help? , hosting, co-writing and reporting for the WIN Tasmania eco-lifestyle show Warm TV and was the ‘eco coach’ in the landmark SBS reality show Eco House Challenge . In 2010 she won the United Nations Association of Australia Media Award for Environmental Reporting. Tanya has served on the boards of Keep Australia Beautiful and Sustainability Victoria, and was a selected delegate to the Australia 2020 Summit. Tanya also researches and develops sustainable living and behaviour change programs. She is currently developing the Mama Green program for new mothers. Having been an enthusiastic sewer for most of her life, worked as a fashion model while undertaking her science degree and being married to a fashion designer, Tanya has a special interest in fashion sustainability.
Follow Tanya on Twitter @Ha_Tanya