POLLUTION
Writing a blog about pollution is a daunting task simply because it’s such a vast topic. Pollution, though, is the root cause of global warming and biodiversity loss, the subjects of our last two blogs. This week, we’ll take a closer look at the causes of pollution in general, and then more specifically on how the fashion industry contributes to the problem that has become our most serious environmental concern.
According to one of our favorite sources of information, Encyclopedia Britannica, “pollution occurs when an amount of any substance or any form of energy is put into the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed or safely stored. The term pollution can refer to both artificial and natural materials that are created, consumed, and discarded in an unsustainable manner.”
While volcanic ash and gasses from an eruption are a natural form of pollution, the majority of pollution affecting the air we breathe, the water we depend on, and the soil we use to cultivate our food is caused by human behavior.
Air pollutants can be both visible and dangerously difficult to detect. Factory smoke is a telltale sign harmful particulates are being discharged into the air. Although it’s not always easy to see car exhaust, people living in major cities like Los Angeles are familiar with the rusty haze that often covers the horizon, most of which is caused by vehicular emissions. Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrocarbons, all gasses produced by the burning of fossil fuels to power cars and factories, are difficult to detect and quite harmful to breathe, and are all considerable contributors to air pollution affecting not only our health but also the warming of the planet.
Pollution makes water unsuitable to drink, and the fish living in the water a risk to consume. Swimming, bathing, or using polluted water for recreation can cause bacterial infections and disease. Natural forms of water pollution occur when petroleum and/or gas leak into oceans and lakes from underground sources, or when animals and birds defecate into water. It’s never safe to drink freshwater from the most pristine mountain lake or stream without boiling or disinfecting the water first because it could contain fecal coliform, a bacteria caused by animal feces.
Human activity is the main cause of water pollution. Chemical discharges from factories, farming, mining, drilling, and oil spills devastate aquatic biology, water supplies and food sources for people, fish, and the animals dependent upon water for survival. Agricultural fertilizer and pesticides remove oxygen from water, contributing to algae blooms and dead zones hazardous fish. Polluted water from power plants can warm water preventing fish eggs from hatching.
Manufacturers here in Los Angeles dumped large barrels of DDT into the Pacific Ocean after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the agricultural chemical in 1972. As a result, the entire Channel Island eagle population disappeared within decades because they had consumed fish that had been contaminated with DDT, preventing eagles from nursing healthy eggs. The shells would crack every time an eagle sat on the eggs to keep them warm. Restoration efforts to reintroduce bald eagles to the Channel Islands have been successful. After more than three decades of positive intervention by the EPA, The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Institute for Wildlife Studies (IWS), the National Park Service (NPS), The Nature Conservancy, the Catalina Island Conservancy, and the U.S. Navy, bald eagles have been naturally laying and hatching eggs in nests on the Channel Islands again.
The most visible form of water pollution is garbage. It’s painful to see a whale ensnared in a fishing net, or a turtle’s head stuck in a plastic container. Microplastics make their way through the entire food chain from the smallest aquatic species to our dinner plates.
The fashion industry is a major contributor to the world’s pollution problem. According to the World Bank, the fashion industry is responsible for nearly 20% of the world’s industrial wastewater pollution. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates apparel and footwear manufacturing contributes 4% to 8.6% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimated about 60% of all materials used in the fashion industry are made from plastic. A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2017 estimates “500,000 tons of microfibers are released into the ocean each year from washing clothes, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.” According to the same report, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation pointed out that less than 1% of the material used to make new clothing is recycled into new clothing.
If these statistics are accurate, the fashion industry must change for the better. Therein is the fun, the opportunity to creatively, responsibly and respectfully put a dent in fashion’s Bigfoot footprint.
Brett Bridgman
Doo Dah Apparel LLC
