Wearing good clothes and good shoes is a sign of happiness and contributes to personality improvement, however your happy wear is seriously detrimental to the environment.
According to a research done in the United States, we are making one trillion clothes and 20 billion shoes every year. This is more than five times the number of clothing and footwear made in the 1980s.
Experts say that today’s fashion is on the cusp of trending trends on social media that change every day. We tend to shop more to adapt to this trend, however less wearable.
Changing styles of fashion and the way we use our clothes are seriously detrimental to the environment. The way the apparel industries are operating day and night, they are contributing about 10% of our land’s carbon emissions.
Similarly, 17 to 20% of water pollution comes from textile dyeing and other textile sectors.
Cotton is an important pillar of the textile industry and Uzbekistan is currently the 6th largest producer of cotton in the world. Since the cotton crop needs a lot of water, the untapped cotton crops have dried up the country’s largest lake in just two decades.
Earl’s Lake was the fourth largest lake in the world, and it is now filled with mud and sand. Only 2.6% of the worldwide fresh water is used in cotton production.
How to save health of our planet
Experts say you can also try to minimize these effects on the textile industry environment. The most effective way to save health of our planet and reduce waste is to not create it in the first place. Making a new product requires a lot of materials and energy – raw materials must be extracted from the earth, and the product must be fabricated then transported to wherever it will be sold. As a result, reduction and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment and save money.
Instead of throwing away clothes you don’t want to wear anymore, give them to your friends, and so take their used clothes from them.
While the secondhand market is flourishing in the west with women trying to sell, purchase and swap secondhand clothes on popular Facebook groups, particularly western apparel and bridal wear, there is clearly a need for a marketspace like this that will also break any taboos attached to buying secondhand or swapping clothes in Pakistan. This is something we need to adopt in Pakistan too. There is no shame in buying secondhand and reusing clothes. Not only does it lower the cost of buying clothes that aren’t used that often, it also decreases waste.
Eco-friendly efforts are also needed in various sectors of Pakistan. Many organizations are contributing to environmentally friendly activities. In this regard, Swedish environmental engineer and teacher Annelie Persson Bäck, Razia Sultana and Safia Mustafa are holding an event in Lahore.
The purpose of this event-cum-workshop is to raise awareness regarding the drastically declining health of our planet, how to save it, and implementation of practical tips. All this with a swag!
Sustainable fashion begins with small steps. We are very happy to share that PICS is co-hosting this amazing event in Lahore, its time to start caring. If you live near by Lahore come, support, learn, teach, show that you care.