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Clothes have environmental impacts based on their agricultural sources.

1/22/2021

Reporting on a podcast called "For the Wild," Treehugger writier Katherine Marinko underscores the connection between fashion and its agricultural origins, pointing out that, like food, has environmental impacts. These impact include land use practices and such as "fashion industry's role in illegal deforestation and seizure of land across the Global South, and its connection to serious soil and land contamination and degradation."* Processing materials also has hidden impacts. Dyes and other chemicals that are used to treat clothing end up contaminating local waterways. "A range of finishing treatments, such as wrinkle preventers and stain guards, as well as screen-printed designs, contain chemicals such as bisphenol A, formaldehyde, and phthalates. The same chemicals that we don't want in our water bottles go onto our clothing without question, and then enter waterways via the washing machine."* The source of materials can be problematic as well. "Tree-based fibers such as eucalyptus and bamboo, Tencel and modal, may use closed-loop chemical processing,"* but some sources include tree farms or virgin rainforest.

The original article can be found here.

*Katherine Martinko, October 26, 2020, "Your Clothes are an Agricultrual Choice," Treehugger.com

Keep the plastic out of your food

1/15/2021

Writer Kevin Loria describes the various ways plastics can make their way into foods and ultimately into our bodies and suggests ways to reduce this exposure in this article from consumer reports. He reported on "a preliminary estimate by some scientists that the plastic the average person may be eating and drinking totals as much as 5 grams per week. One research review published in 2019 calculated that the average American eats, drinks, and breathes in more than 74,000 microplastic particles every year. Some scientists say it’s likely that ingesting these tiny bits of plastic could expose us to harmful chemicals."* Properties of different types of plastics are determined by various added chemicals which "have been linked to serious health effects, including other bisphenols (in the same family as BPA), phthalates, and styrene"* He also points out that safety assessment and regulation of these chemicals has been insufficient.

To minimize the impact of these chemicals on your health, Loria lists six ways to reduce exposure to plastics:
1) Drink tap water, not water from plastic water bottles.
2) "Heat food in or on the stove, or by microwaving in glass,"* not in a plastic container in the microwave.
3) "Buy and store food in glass, silicone, or foil,"* not in plastic.
4) Eat fresh food rather than processed, plastic wrapped food.
5) Vacuum to reduce household dust.
6) Think about the bigger picture: "Legislation to limit the use of single-use plastics and plastic production may pull the biggest levers, but joining forces with community-level recycling groups can truly make a difference. Look for so-called zero-waste groups, which can offer guidelines for how to recycle or compost all your garbage—and which lobby for local rules that can restrict throwaway items. When possible, shop at markets that source goods locally, so they don’t require as much packaging and shipping. Seek out groups such as Upstream, a nonprofit working to create reusable takeout packaging for restaurants. And when possible, educate yourself about and support any city, county, and state legislation limiting single-use plastics."*

*Kevin Loria, April 30, 2020, "How to Eat Less Plastic," www.consumerreports.org

Clothes have environmental impacts based on their agricultural sources.

Keep the plastic out of your food

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