Environment (incomplete) Flashcards
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion refers to the production of cheap and fashionable clothing.
Why does fast fashion degrade the environment?
It is responsible for 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
700 and 2000 gallons of water are used to produce one cotton shirt and a pair of jeans respectively.
Pesticides, widely used in cotton production, contaminate soil and groundwater. These chemicals can leak into waterways and pose massive health risks to farmers and their communities.
Give some examples of aquatic degradation.
Seaspiracy documentary:
1. Revealed that tuna-catching operations kills multiple dolphins. In one month, a small fishery in Iceland has caught over 200 porpoises, 900 seals and 5000 seabirds as ‘bycatch’, which often die before being released back into the ocean.
On a global scale, the effects on the aquatic ecosystems are unthinkable.
- Dolphin hunting and whaling is legalised by Japan despite calls to condemn it. The residents of Taiji Island in Japan perform annual large-scale massacres on whales and dolphins. This killing is justified by fishermen who claim that they were ‘eliminating competition’ and ‘making profits’ from selling dolphin meat.
This threatens the already-endangered Pilot Whale species, along with other animals, and disrupts the aquatic ecosystem as dolphin and whale populations have been declining steeply with the rising demand for fish.
What has the Netherlands done to conserve energy usage?
The Netherlands adopts a nationwide smart lighting system and uses motion sensor used for traffic lights.
There are 200,000 EVs driven in the Netherlands (10% market share),
and smart and efficient EV charging creates cost savings for consumers.
Bi-directional charging delivers energy from EVs to charging ports,
which saves excess energy and allows for greater energy to be produced.
What is misleading about sustainable fast fashion?
ZARA and H&M are trying to make their brands sustainable. However, every wash of sustainable apparel sheds 700,000 microfabric fibres, which could enter oceans.
20,000 litres of water are used to produce 1kg of cotton and
11% of the world’s pesticides are used on cotton fields.
ZARA claims to use sustainable cotton which misleads consumers as the term ‘sustainable’ is vague considering that there are little requirements for cotton to be sustainable.
What is misleading about the Forest Stewardess Company’s labelling on fast fashion apparel?
Forest Stewardess Company provides stamps for items that are deemed as environmentally-friendly,
and such stamps have been placed on various clothing labels, which gives a false sense to consumers that the clothing itself is ‘green’.
However, the FSC recognises the label as ‘green’ and not the clothing, misleading consumers who endeavour towards sustainability.
