Environmental Impacts of the Fashion Industry

Is fashion bad for the environment? It shows that the fashion industry accounts for 10%
of global carbon emissions according to Sustain Your Style. The apparel industry is facing a
global inspection of its environmentally polluting operations. Regardless of the broadcasted
environmental impacts, the industry must grow, because of fast fashion, that relies on fast
production and short-lived garments. Fashion industry gives rise to greenhouse gases due to
production, manufacturing, and transportations of the many attires being purchased every year.
In countries where they produced most of our garments, toxic wastewaters are being
dumped into rivers causing harm to aquatic life and the life of people living around those rivers.
The pollution spreads into the sea and may cause harm around the world.Contaminated water in
the textile industry may contain formaldehyde, chlorine and heavy metallic chemicals and when
contaminated water is used for drinking and other purposes, people get infected with various
diseases. According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, one in three people
worldwide does not have access to safe drinking water, and the United Nations reports that about
1.5 million people die each year from contaminated drinking water. Dyes can remain in the
environment for an extended period of time because of high thermal and photo stability to resist
biodegradation. The greater environmental concern with dyes is their absorption and reflection of
sunlight entering the water. Light Absorption diminishes photosynthetic activity of al-gae and
influences the food chain.
Governments need to laboriously involve the fashion industry in harmful effects.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has made an agreement with over 150 brands to
make the apparel industry more sustainable. On the other hand, UK Ministers have declined a
report about the environmental effects of fast fashion. Companies need to design, test and invest
in business models that reuse clothes and maximise their useful life, suggests the World's
Resources Institute. The UN has begun to start an alliance for sustainable fashion to address the
destruction caused by fast fashion. It is attempting to ‘halt the environmentally and socially
destructive practices of fashion’. A way for shoppers to decrease fast fashion by shopping
secondhand and minimize buying clothes. Which linked to more methods we can do to stop
damaging impacts of fashion on our planet. Mathilde Charpail has made a ‘Sustain Your Style’
article about methods to do. She suggests that we should understand fabrics that are used on our
garments. Many brands use synthetic fibers such as nylon, acrylic, and polyester. The use of the
fabric mentioned can take hundreds of years to biodegrade. A 2017 report from the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of all microplastics- tiny pieces of
non-biodegradable plastic- in the ocean come from the numerous synthetic textiles like polyester.
Experiments show that microplastics injure aquatic creatures, as well as turtles and birds: They
block digestive tracts, reduce the urge to eat, and alter feeding behavior, all of which reduce
growth and reproductive output. Their stomachs are stuffed with plastic, some species starve and
die. It's likely that ingesting microplastics could further expose us to chemicals found in some
plastics that are known to be harmful. These chemicals have been linked to a variety of health
problems, including reproductive harm and obesity, plus issues such as organ problems and
developmental delays in children. The construction of making plastic fibres into textiles is an
energy exhaustive process that needs an enormous amount of petroleum and releases acids such
as hydrogen chloride and volatile particulate matter. Furthermore, cotton, which is used a large
amount in the making of fast fashion products, is not environmentally friendly. Pesticides are
needed for the production of cottons which causes health problems to the farmers.
Fast fashion gives rise to societal problems especially in countries with a developing
economy. As stated by Remake, 80% of garments are made by young girls between the ages of
18-24. There is a US Department of Labor report which states that there are evidence of forced
child labour in the apparel industry in China, Brazil, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Philipines,
Vietnam, Turkey, and considerably more.
The fashion industry is presently responsible for additional annual carbon emissions than
all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Previously mentioned industry has
caused a major amount of damage to our planet. According to the World Bank, the industry’s
greenhouse gas emissions will rush more than 50% by 2030. The least we can do as an individual
is to start taking motivated steps towards upholding a green-friendly apparel industry and
becoming environmentally-conscious shoppers to decline climate change.
References:
● Davis, N. (2020, April 07). Fast fashion speeding toward environmental disaster,
report warns. Retrieved March 11, 2021, from
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/07/fast-fashion-speeding-toward-e
nvironmental-disaster-report-warns
● Environmental impacts of the fashion industry. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2021,
from
https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/old-environmental-impacts#:~:text=The%20appa
rel%20industry%20accounts%20for,millions%20garments%20purchased%20each
%20year
● McFall-Johnsen, M. (2019, October 21). The fashion industry emits more carbon
than international flights and maritime shipping combined. here are the biggest
ways it impacts the planet. Retrieved March 11, 2021, from
https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emi
ssions-waste-water-2019-10?r=US&IR=T
● Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T., & Gwilt, A.
(2020). Author correction: The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature
Reviews Earth & Environment, 1(5), 278-278.
doi:10.1038/s43017-020-0054-x
● The slow fashion process:rethinking strategy for fast fashion retailers. (2013). Fast
Fashion Systems, 23-36. doi:10.1201/b16230-7
● Sousa MLD (2012) Contamination by Remazol Red Bril-liant dye and its impact
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