HOW NEW IS YOUR WARDROBE REALLY?

By Abigail Isherwood

Most of us have experienced walking into a highstreet clothes shop, through the big glass doors into the air conditioned room full of rows and rows of textures and colours. This is usually accompanied by a sense of newness, but when we pick out a pair of jeans, it hasn’t just appeared on the shelf out of thin air. It has come from somewhere, it’s made of something, by someone. The fashion industry, the way that pair of jeans gets to the shelves in the first place, has an incredibly large impact on the world. Did you know that:

  1. Textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined and the fashion industry is responsible for 8% of carbon emissions.

  2. Three out of five fast fashion items end up in a landfill.

  3. Washing, solvents, and dyes used in manufacturing are responsible for one-fifth of industrial water pollution and fashion accounts for 20 to 35 percent of microplastic flows into the ocean

  4. The textile sector still represents 10 to 20 percent of pesticide use. and the fashion industry is projected to use 35% more land for fibre and textile produce by 2030, further threatening biodiversity.

  5. Forced, bonded, and child labour are all forms of modern slavery that are prevalent within the fashion industry.

  6. 93% of brands surveyed by the Fashion Checker aren’t paying garment workers a living wage.

We know that fast fashion is unsustainable and we desperately need change in the industry as a whole. We need everyone to act, from policymakers, industry leaders, and retailers, to us, the consumers. Although we may feel powerless, individual action can make a difference.

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So what can we do? Jennifer Darmo from Good On You says that “by thinking of the garments we wear as short term tools rather than long term investments, we contribute to wasteful consumption patterns that inevitably lead us towards drastic climate change”. One of the first things I do to get out of this ‘short-term’ mindset is to remember that whatever I am buying isn’t really new. It was grown, picked, sewn, dyed, transported and packaged long before it arrived at my door. It has gone through a process and contributed to a system that results in the heavy impact demonstrated above.  

Just as one item of clothing contributes to a huge impact, you, as a human being with a voice, have a huge impact too! Especially when combining your voice and action with the action of others. Because we are not living in isolation from each other, despite the year we have just had. We have an incredible power and impact on the people and the world around us. And when we put our mind to something together, when we decide that it’s time for us to change, it truly can change. 

So when we’ve just heard that the IPCC report is calling the climate crisis a code red for humanity, and we’re probably feeling overwhelmed, helpless and a thousand other emotions that come when facing this crisis, let’s remember that we don’t have to do this alone. We can surround ourselves with people and voices who inspire us to keep going. The people who help us change our shopping habits for the better, who remind us how to stop supporting fast fashion, and keep us feeling creative and excited about the new sustainable lifestyle that we are building together. 

Now more than ever is the time to lean on each other and find those little sparks of hope that drive us to take the next step forward.

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SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT BY UNSUBSCRIBING FROM EMAILS

By Christine Wallace

Before writing this article, I used to be the kind of person who never deleted emails. I had an inbox of unopened emails in the hundreds if not thousands, knowing that most of them where subscriptions or newsletters I would never get around to reading. With roughly 294 billion emails having been sent and received every day in 2019, a figure set to only rise on a yearly basis, I don’t think I am alone in this. This raises the question of what, if any, impact do all these emails have on the environment? The answer is that, after taking in to account the energy used to send the email and the infrastructure needed in order to send it, every email sent creates around 4g of CO2 emission. As a result, 294 billion emails soon add up to just short of 1.2 million kilograms of CO2 emissions, an incredibly significant number when talking about climate change. A recent BBC article found that if everyone living in the UK sent one less email a day, it would equal tens of thousands of flights to Europe. Although this impact is still a scratch on the 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases we add yearly to the atmosphere, it is a step in the right direction on the UK’s legal obligation to reach Net Zero by 2050. Managing your emails is just one step you can take to lowering your individual electricity demand and one which we can all do quickly and at no extra cost.

There is another environmental benefit in unsubscribing to fashion-based subscriptions in particular. The impact of producing and making clothes is monumental to green house emissions. A single pair of jeans adds an equivalent of 33.4kg of carbon. In fact, the fashion industry contributes more to climate change per year than all international flights and maritime travel combined. Every year it uses 93 billion cubic meters of water, enough for five million people. It is not just the resources that go in to making clothes that is the issue, but also the sheer amount of consumption and waste that follows it. Every week 13 million items of clothing end up in UK landfills. By unsubscribing to fashion marketing, you are less likely to impulse buy and over buy, helping save both your money and the environment. 

Less clothes

Unsubscribing, or even just clearing out your inbox, can also help the environment by reducing the server space used up by stored emails. The average number of emails in a person’s inbox today is 200, with each email size averaging 75kb, all of these stored emails are kept in data centres which require a large amount of energy to function. Roughly 2% of the world’s electricity is consumed by data centres and with data gathering continuing to grow this is expected to reach 8% by 2030. To put this into perspective, this is a greater energy consumption than some of the lesser developed countries. What makes this statistic more shocking is that only 6% of the data in those centres, including all those stored emails you have, is in active use. The result of this is simple, more fossil fuels are being burned to create the energy to keep your ‘data landfill’ functioning. Luckily, unlike the landfills those 13 million pieces of clothing go to each week in the UK, we as individuals can reverse our impact immediately simply by pressing the delete button.  

In its efforts to tackle climate change the world is making progress on relying on renewable energy sources to power our day-to-day activities, which may leave some thinking that as individuals we do not need to lower our energy consumption. However, as the world population grows, our way of living demands more energy and as lesser developed countries move closer to the living standards of developed countries, we need to lower our personal consumption and develop more energy efficient technology so that our consumption of electricity does not out scale our ability to produce it cleanly.

Christine Wallace

Christine Wallace

GOOD SUSTAINABLE HABITS FOR 2021

By Abigail Isherwood

 We’re all ready to see the end of 2020 and breathe a sigh of relief as we head into 2021. Having learnt so much this year, including the importance of caring for our planet, many of us are heading into 2021 with very little energy or motivation, rather than feeling ready for action. So, instead of making big new year’s resolutions, here are 5 easy, no-pressure, eco-friendly habits to take into 2021 that will help you on your journey to further sustainability.

2. Shop local

This year has certainly taught us the importance of our communities. Supporting local businesses is a great way to give back to the community - and it’s better for the planet as local businesses tend to have much smaller carbon footprints. Why not find an independent coffee shop in your area that could become your new regular outlet?

4. Keep learning

Whether you’ve learnt how to take more of a stand against racism, how to be more eco-friendly, or even just learnt how to make sourdough, you’ve no doubt learnt more about yourself this year, so let’s keep it up! As we go into 2021 let us continue to think of more ways we can keep learning, perhaps joining an anti-racism book club, starting a new course online, or scheduling in some time to watch David Attenborough or other videos on climate action. Get family and friends involved too to keep you going, keep learning with self-awareness, and don’t expect yourself to always keep up the momentum on your own. Sometimes we just need a rest.

1. Become Climate Positive with Ecologi

Ecologi is a brilliant environmental subscription service where each month your money goes into tree planting and climate solution projects. You also get a fun, interactive profile where you can watch your virtual forest grow. This is a low cost and effective way to do some good for the planet each month. Ecologi also has a new gifting feature, perfect for those last-minute gifts!

 

3. Connect with nature for your mental health

Many of us have learnt to really appreciate regular walks in nature this year. Maybe you’ve even found some new outdoor spaces in your local area. Spending time in nature has tons of mental health benefits, and it also reminds us how important local green spaces are. A great habit to maintain during 2021 is this appreciation of nature through daily walks and time spent outdoors.

 5. Diet

This Christmas, more and more Brits are serving a fully vegan Christmas dinner. Veggie and vegan alternatives to meat and dairy are becoming even more common, so challenging yourself to eat less meat and dairy is getting a little easier. You could push yourself and try Veganuary this year. You could just try meat-free Mondays, or maybe it’s as simple as choosing the vegetarian or vegan option on the menu. It’s all about the small, personal steps we can take.

 

2020 has continually challenged us to think outside of the box. We’ve changed how we shop, work, exercise, entertain ourselves and spend time with family. Many parts of this year we can’t wait to see the end of, but there are habits and lifestyle changes that we have made that are good for us and good for the planet, so we should all try to continue to adhere to those positive changes. Continue having meetings online, for example, so you can cut out the commute and lower the emissions. Or maybe you’ve got a bit better at meal planning this year and you’ve managed to cut down on your food waste. There are tons of little habits that we’ve picked up this year that would be great for us to maintain as we head into 2021. Let’s not let ourselves be limited to just getting ‘back to normal’, let’s take some simple, small steps and push ourselves to make things better.

Abigail Isherwood

Abigail Isherwood