Hello! So for the past few blog posts I have been solely focusing on air pollution that come from urbanised areas and the possible effects.I realised during this period of Covid-19, I have been hearing a lot of my friends that they have been online shopping, particularly from shops such as H&M, Bershka and Zara. I guess that gave me an idea on the topic that I wanted to focus in my blogposts in the next few blogposts. The fashion industry contributes to many forms of pollution such as air, water and land pollution.
In this post, I will be focusing on air pollution caused by the fast fashion industry. So what is fast fashion? Fast fashion refers to ‘clothes that are made and sold cheaply, so that people can buy new clothes often’ (FAST FASHION | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary, 2020). Some popular fast fashion brands include H&M, Zara, Cotton On and ASOS. The youtube video below by The Economists briefly introduces the harm of fast fashion:
The fast fashion industry has contributed to an estimated 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide gas globally (Starmanns and Petrie, 2017) or 10% of global carbon emission (McFall-Johnsen, 2019).The production of greenhouse gases is due to the usage of fossil fuels in the factories manufacturing processes of these clothes. To put into perspective, one polyester t-shirt and one cotton t-shirt contribute to the production of 5.5kg and 2.1kg of carbon dioxide respectively (Nature Climate Change Journal, 2018).
The greenhouse gases produced due to these processes have detrimental effects on the environment. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that remains in the atmosphere and traps the heat that is being radiated away from the Earth towards out space (NASA, 2020). This is known as the ‘greenhouse effect’ and this is one of the reasons for the Earth to heat up and causes a rise in temperature that could possibly affect life. Some of the well known consequences include melting of glaciers and increasing in the sea level. Hence, little did we know, the fashion industry does have a large effect on global warming. In the following blogs, I will be talking about how the fashion industry contributes to water pollution and land pollution and also possible ways these problems are being tackled! See you!
References:
Dictionary.cambridge.org. 2020. FAST FASHION | Meaning In The Cambridge English Dictionary. [online] Available at: <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fast-fashion> [Accessed 7 September 2020].
McFall-Johnsen, M., 2019. The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined. Here are the biggest ways it impacts the planet. Business Insider, [online] Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10#clothing-production-has-roughly-doubled-since-2000-1> [Accessed 7 September 2020].
NASA| Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. 2020. The Causes Of Climate Change. [online] Available at: <https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/> [Accessed 7 September 2020].
Nature Climate Change, 2018. The price of fast fashion. [online] 8(1), pp.1-1. Available at: <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-017-0058-9> [Accessed 7 September 2020].
Starmanns, M. and Petrie, L., 2017. Changing Fashion: The Clothing And Textile Industry At The Brink Of Radical Transformation. Environmental rating and innovation report 2017. [online] Switzerland: WWF Switzerland, p.15. Available at: <https://www.wwf.ch/sites/default/files/doc-2017-09/2017-09-WWF-Report-Changing_fashion_2017_EN.pdf> [Accessed 7 September 2020].
Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLfNUD0-8ts&ab_channel=PatriotAct
Feature Image:
n.d. [image] Available at: <https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Frebloggy.com%2Fpost%2Ffashion-smoke-water-earth-rick-owens-gareth-pugh-elements-avant-garde-girls-who%2F70808678120&psig=AOvVaw0QonRhYXJWvRuYOyn11FmM&ust=1599585936210000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNCKj4_I1-sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE> [Accessed 7 September 2020].