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from the life-in-plastic,-it's-fantastic dept.
'Plastic-free' fashion is not as clean or green as it seems:
We have all become more aware of the environmental impact of our clothing choices. The fashion industry has seen a rise in "green," "eco" and "sustainable" clothing. This includes an increase in the use of natural fibres, such as wool, hemp, and cotton, as synthetic fabrics, like polyester, acrylic and nylon, have been vilified by some.
However, the push to go "natural" obscures a more complex picture.
Natural fibres in fashion garments are products of multiple transformation processes, most of which are reliant on intensive manufacturing as well as advanced chemical manipulation.
While they are presumed to biodegrade, the extent to which they do has been contested by a handful of studies. Natural fibres can be preserved over centuries and even millennia in certain environments. Where fibres are found to degrade they may release chemicals, for example from dyes, into the environment.
Perhaps the real threat to the environment is over-consumption.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:47AM (2 children)
Boomers forced everyone to stay home at gunpoint to give Boomers a safe space.
Boomers forced every business to close at gunpoint to give Boomers a safe space.
Boomers forced everyone to wear face masks at gunpoint to give Boomers a safe space.
Boomers caused the worst economic depression in history to give Boomers a safe space.
Whiny entitled Boomers are the worst generation ever to live.
No longer.
Boomers must be made to pay with their lives for crimes against civilization.
The Final Solution to COVID-19 is to exterminate every Boomer.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @03:10AM (1 child)
From a 30 something year old, please stop.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @03:25PM
knight sabers got sexy outfits!
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:56AM
Boomers closed every business except every business Boomers use. Looters closed every business Boomers use.
That's right, you selfish fucking Boomers! We all gonna starve now! Fuck you all to death, Boomers!
Boomers did COVID-19. Boomers are getting what Boomers deserve.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @03:02AM (6 children)
The original article smells like it was written by someone with a paid agenda. It's vaguely reminiscent of those pro tobacco pieces the industry used to pay for.
Hmm... which is better, clothes that come from natural materials that rot, or some synthetic plastic that sheds fibers all over the place and NEVER rots? I think I know which the animal life of earth can live with better. Spare us the microplastic.
(Score: 1) by petecox on Wednesday June 03 2020, @05:33AM (1 child)
It seems like a long bow to suggest we should stop buying cotton because of the ecological disaster that is the Aral dustbowl.
Everyone seemed fine for millennia with wool, leather and silk until #veganpride ?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @07:51AM
The ecological disaster is what we make of it, because it needs to be cheap. You can grow cotton that isn't an ecological disaster if you count in all th external costs (which are now being paid by mother nature), it will be much more expensive (both financially and labour wise)... but at least you don't harm the environment.
A lot of things would be much different if those external costs wouldn't be diverted to the environment. I doubt those researchers included the clean up costs of all those plastic fabrics and microplastics that they shed.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 03 2020, @05:44AM (3 children)
My thought exactly - these "studies" may have been paid for by the oil industry. Whether that be true or not - natural fibers? What intensive industrial nonsense is required to manufacture everyday clothing? Back in the day, women made all their family's clothing at home. Yes, of course it was sexist. Of course it was time consuming. Yes, of course it was a huge pain in the ass for everyone concerned. But, the fiber was harvested, or sheared, and broght into the barn. The process was probably delayed until all the rest of the harvest for the year was processed - salt the pork, preserve the fruits, etc ad nauseum. As winter set it, everyone would start processing all the fiber in the shed, turning it into thread, then cloth, and finally new shrts and pants and maybe a nice dress.
Maybe the "fashion" industry needs to take a new look at the way they do things. The use of a lot of chemicals may make the textile industry more profitable. That doesn't mean those chemicals can't be restricted, or even outlawed.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:58PM (2 children)
I'm not seeing your argument here. "Intensive industrial nonsense" is vastly less intensive than hundreds of millions of women making their own clothing.
Or maybe we don't need to do anything at all? What are the problems that supposedly need fixing?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 03 2020, @09:38PM (1 child)
Pollution and carbon footprint are the "problems" that need fixing. Eliminate the chemicals as much as possible, and you've accomplished that much. We don't think that pollution is a "good thing", do we?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 04 2020, @01:17PM
So how does that differ from natural fibers? I'm seeing the point of the story.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @05:09AM (7 children)
The last time I changed my underpants was when the doctors cut them off to check my testicle had descended. They had - and that was the day I vowed to become a computer programmer and adhere to a non-hygienic existence.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @05:15AM (4 children)
Confusing use of singular noun, and plural pronoun. What does this have to do with BLM, and the Bundy's?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @05:22AM (2 children)
Oh look you Touche'd me :O
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @07:37AM (1 child)
Can you point on this doll where he Touche'd you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @07:42PM
https://soylentnews.org/politics/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=26224&page=1&cid=696107#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @02:35PM
Don't gender-shame his testicle. It uses they/them pronouns, you fascist.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday June 03 2020, @11:25AM (1 child)
To put this on a more serious note, green with respect to clothes means to not throw them away. I still wear shirts > 30 years old. Also shoes (even < $30) can be worn several years. It's similar to diet: don't care what you eat, only how much.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday June 03 2020, @11:48AM
By God, when I finally throw out my worn out boots, even the Salvation Army won't touch them with a ten foot pole!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @01:42PM (1 child)
1) I'd rather my plastic stuff lasted forever and didn't rot. But a lot of plastics seem to get brittle and crumbly with age.
2) One cause for plastic in the oceans is littering and improper waste disposal. As for microplastics - that's mainly from laundry and tires the last I checked.
3) Regarding the rotting and biodegrading, plastic has only been around for a number of decades and various organisms are already starting to develop ways of digesting it. Maybe just give it half a century or so and more stuff will start digesting microplastics and some outdoor plastics will need to be treated with various chemicals to stop it from rotting, just like some outdoor wood needs to be treated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @03:10PM
And thus the main point of plastics will be lost to humanity forever, all because we used it for single use bags and containers instead of more permanent structures.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @08:27PM
Bwahaha, almost a literal form of this kind of nonsense [wikipedia.org].