[Details and factchecks – Introduction and Chapter 1] Marieke Eyskoot. (2018). This is a good guide: for a sustainable lifestyle. Amsterdam. BIS Publishers.

It’s my first foray into fashion content! (There were at least two Singapore-Cambridge GCE O Level essay questions that can connect with fashion. And like other pieces, this article can aid other subjects!)

Cotton

The loss of the Aral Sea in central Asia is an ecological disaster. Toxic chemicals in the exposed sea bed have caused widespread health problems. Can an ambitious project to plant millions of trees save the Karakalpak people of Uzbekistan?

The Aral Sea started to shrink in the 1960s when the Soviets diverted water from the two main rivers that flowed into the Aral Sea to feed vast new cotton fields.
As cotton production boomed, the Kremlin refused to acknowledge the problem. Locals had to put labelled sticks in the ground to prove the shoreline was disappearing.

As the volume of water decreased, the concentration of salt increased, poisoning everything in the sea…

The Soviet authorities who expanded Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan’s cotton industry did not foresee that herbicides and pesticides from their new plantations would run off into the rivers around them and end up in the Aral Sea.

As the sea dried up, toxic chemicals from the cotton industry were left exposed on the sea bed. These were carried through the atmosphere by sandstorms and inhaled by people across a vast area.

Locals experienced a swathe of health issues ranging from stunted growth, reduced fertility, lung and heart problems to increased rates of cancer. For example, one study concluded the occurrence of liver cancer doubled between 1981 and 1991. Another investigation found that by the end of the late 1990s infant mortality was between 60 - 110 out of 1,000 births, a number much higher than the rest of Uzbekistan (48 per 1,000) and Russia (24 per 1,000).

For decades, these illnesses were an open secret. The authorities only acknowledged the disappearance of the Aral Sea after the fall of the Soviet Union…

Rustam Qobil & Paul Harris. (1 Jun 2018). Restoring life to the Aral Sea’s dead zone. BBC Uzbek.

Shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the sea had an area of seven million hectares until the 1960s. As a result of the Soviet Union’s policy, the waters of the Amu Darya River, which used to flow into the Aral, began to sink into Uzbekistan’s cotton fields, never reaching the sea. Over time the sea split into what are now two salt lakes: the South Aral Sea, or “Large Sea,” mainly within Uzbekistan’s borders, and the North Aral Sea, also called “The Small Sea,” in Kazakhstan.

In addition, the climate in the region has become arid, while winters have become colder, when temperatures drop by one to three degrees Celsius. Heavy windstorms with millions of tons of pesticides used in agriculture have destroyed once diverse fauna.

The Aral Sea fishing industry, which in its heyday employed some 40,000, has also been devastated, as 40 species of fish inhabiting the sea died out due to the harsh conditions. The most widespread inhabitant of the Aral, the Black Sea flounder, had adapted to life in salt water, but it also completely disappeared by 2003 as it failed to stand the increasingly extreme salty water.

Aybek Nurjanov. (March 4, 2018). Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan Team Up To Revive Aral Sea. Caspian News.

p. 41. Cotton and cotton mixtures make up about 3 of every 5 pieces of clothing.

p. 40 – Producers generate sufficient cotton for 18 t-shirts per person each year!

p. 41 – Approximately 1 million cotton workers become hospitalised from pesticide poisoning. [Pesticides are a leading suicide method (9 Sep 2006): “Worldwide, an estimated three million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every year, resulting in an excess of 250 000 deaths.” Media Centre, World Health Organization]

p. 41 – Cotton occupies 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land (about 10 Netherlands combined) and utilises 16% of pesticides worldwide. (See Elizabeth Segran. 8 Aug 2016. The Truth About Your Cotton Bedsheets Will Give You Nightmares. Fast Company).

Other Clothing materials

Viscose, a man-made plant-based fibre used to make clothing, is being produced via a chemical-intensive process in some factories located in Asia, according to Changing Markets Foundation…

“H&M group is also one of the world´s largest users of Tencel® Lyocell, which has a lower environmental impact compared to conventional viscose and where the chemicals is kept in a closed loop system.

H&M group work closely with the NGO Canopy and several other leading brands to ensure any viscose we buy, or similar fibres does not contribute to the deforestation of ancient or endangered forests.”

H&M, Zara, Levi’s and Marks & Spencer Linked To Highly Pollutive Garment Factories In Asia. Susan Devaney. (13 Jun 2017). HuffPost, UK.

Lyocell is the generic name for a biodegradable fabric that’s made out of treated wood pulp. It’s commonly sold under the brand name Tencel®, which is made by Lenzing AG. Known for its versatility, durability, and strength when both wet and dry, this material is used in everything from clothing to cars. Though it’s often seen as eco-friendly because of its natural origins and its manufacturing process, it is made with petrochemical derivatives, and takes a lot of energy to produce.

What is Lyocell? (3 Dec 2019). WiseGEEK.

Rayon, artificial textile material composed of regenerated and purified cellulose derived from plant sources. Developed in the late 19th century as a substitute for silk, rayon was the first man-made fibre…

A third type of cellulose—and the type most commonly made today—was produced in 1891 from a syrupy, yellow, sulfurous-smelling liquid that three British chemists—Charles F. Cross, Edward J. Bevan, and Clayton Beadle—discovered by dissolving cellulose xanthate in dilute sodium hydroxide. By 1905 the British silk firm Samuel Courtauld & Company was producing this fibre, which became known as viscose rayon (or simply viscose). In 1911 the American Viscose Corporation began production in the United States…

Rayon has many properties similar to cotton and can also be made to resemble silk. Readily penetrated by water, the fibre swells and loses strength when wet. It can be washed in mild alkaline solutions but loses strength if subjected to harsh alkalies. Common dry-cleaning solvents are not harmful. In apparel, rayon is used alone or in blends with other fibres in applications where cotton is normally used. High-strength rayon, produced by drawing (stretching) the filaments during manufacture to induce crystallization of the cellulose polymers, is made into tire cord for use in automobile tires. Rayon is also blended with wood pulp in papermaking.

Rayon remains an important fibre, although production has declined in industrial countries because of environmental concerns connected with the release of carbon disulfide into the air and salt by-products into streams. Such concerns have led to the development of new types of rayon such as lyocell. Lyocell is produced by dissolving wood cellulose in a nontoxic amine oxide solvent, which is washed from the regenerated fibres and recovered for reuse.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (4 Apr 2016). Rayon. Encyclopædia Britannica.

Hemp is also a very eco-friendly crop. It requires no pesticides and needs little water, yet it renews the soil with each growth cycle. Its long roots prevent erosion and help retain topsoil. Hemp also grows readily in most temperate regions…

The cellulose fiber from hemp is used to make many products, including jeans, shirts, dresses, hats, bags, ropes and canvas, skin care products, building materials, paper and many food products. Henry Ford even once made a car partially from hemp to help out American farmers. Until the 1920’s, 80% of clothing was made from hemp textiles…

Hemp clothing. (accessed 3 Dec 2019). Eartheasy. 605-55 E Cordova St. Vancouver, BC V6A 0A5, Canada.

Consumerism and Individuals

p. 38 – Filippa K AB (Interview with its then Sustainability Director Elin Larsson)

The Swedish fashion brand Filippa K creates 1.7 million items each year; moving forward the intent is for reduction. They also hope to do clothing rentals.

p. 16 – 10% of carbon dioxide stem from the fashion sector (4 times that of aviation)

[Globalised inequality] Bangladeshi garment workers receive monthly minimum wages of 60 Euros against required monthly expenses of 294 Euros (see also p. 32).

From Eyskoot’s workshops and lectures, she observes that people wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time (sounds like Pareto rule/principle)!

p. 20 – Contrasting 2003 and 2018, the Danes purchased 8 more pieces of clothing/pairs of shoes each year: the baseline in 2003 was 27!

p. 34 – Educated guesses put the fashion segment at 26% of Australia’s online market. In 2016, shopping for clothes online increased 3 times more quickly than the brick and mortar route. (Now retail therapy and the lack of fitting can indeed cause wasteful online buying…)

p. 36 – US women in 1930 possessed 9 outfits on average. Around 2018, US women purchased in excess of 60 items annually.

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