Outsourcing the impact on our poor

A couple of days ago two of my girlfriends suggested I come to this talk being put on at the opening of the River Rally in Portland Oregon.
I got the chance to hear from Robert Kennedy Jr. environmental lawyer, activist and President of the Waterkeeper Alliance and Lisa Jackson the EPA's Administrator.

I am embarrassed to say I have never heard either of these leaders speak before, so I was really along for the evening of some food, maybe a glass of wine and a chance to hang out with my friends.

As soon as Mr. Kennedy took the microphone and started talking about the issues going on in this country and the history of the Waterkeeper Alliance my jaw dropped and I was held captivated.
One issue he touched on briefly struck a cord and brought me to tears; as it is something I see continuously in my work. This is the environmental burden we are shifting onto the poor of this country and the world.
Communities of affluence usually have the education, skills and money to push back on environmental pollution.  The poor do not. Places tend to be cheap for a reason, are they near agricultural run off, polluted lands, industrial areas.
I also see the poor of this country being denied access to environmental innovation - I am often told poor people can't buy organic food, solar panels for their homes, cars with good gas mileage. We have a system now that is makes environmentalism elitist.

I wrote about this in a recent blog post on why we need to support organic agriculture as the workers in the fields are being exposed to chemicals in the form of pesticides or insecticides with conventional farming. What are the long term affects of this?  Why should cheap food or clothing be cheap when it is putting people's lives at risk.  And the people who are working in the fields especially here in the United States are doing so out of necessity - most are immigrant labor. And this is where the social piece falls in place - are these people able to defend their rights?

I then was inspired to hear Lisa Jackson speak about the continued need to fight the environmental battle - "just because the lakes aren't on fire, doesn't mean we have saved the environment."  She spoke with such passion and vision for a country that can make the changes we want to see.

The tie of environmental and social justice is so intertwined it speaks to the same battle. I  was inspired and energized to do my part.  Because really it will happen as we each take on a piece and fight the fight for those who do not have the ability to do so - this is our responsibility.
Take one your "I should's" and make it an "I did". You know what to do. This is a values system - all of us living it creates change. 

Organic - learn more and make change

I am very excited and honored to have had the opportunity to work with experts in the organic movement for an Earth Day series we did at prAna.

Make sure you check out all of the blog posts about organic, why it is important and why we need to look beyond the food we eat but also to the clothes we wear.

Post 1 - Annie's 
Shauna Sadowski Director of Sustainability shared why organic is important to Annie's and why they work so hard to ensure that the wonderful food they create takes care of the soil and the farmers. Read the post here

Post 2 - Hood River Garlic
Terri Hixson is an organic garlic and blueberry farmer here in Hood River where I live. She has been certified organic for 10 years and feel so strongly the need to only produce crops that are not poisoning the planet or herself. Read the post here

Post 3 - Textile Exchange
Liesl Truscott is the farm team manager for textile exchange is working directly with organic cotton farmers globally to understand and build capacity for organic cotton farmers. She shares the impact of organic and why we need to think broadly about the clothes we wear. Read the post here

Post 4 - prAna
Here I talk about the realities of organic cotton and the need to grow the amount of organic products in the market. We need to see a shift in consumer understanding and the efforts that prAna is taking to move this forward. Read the post here

LOCAL

I have to start out this blog post by saying talking about healthy food systems is an incredibly complex topic. And I thought making clothes were hard.  Selling an apple can be even more complicated.

I am interested in the word LOCAL. Customers want local, restaurants and markets advertise local, but do we really understand what local means?

I spent the day today at a conference hosted by the Gorge Grown Food Network. The day brought together producers and buyers of local food and others interested in building a local food economy.

For me local is also a philosophy of understanding. For instance if I buy local, I also have to buy seasonally, this changes my diet and also my expectations of what a sustainable food system may look like.  You may have heard you don't eat fresh tomatoes in January because they are grown so far away that it take planes to get them too you.
So this means I have to prepare my food or buy from those who know how to can, dry, freeze my fruits and vegetables so I can live through the winter.

Local is also an opportunity to talk about sustainable.  It is fine if that pear was grown locally, but if it was sprayed with pesticide I should be more concerned because that is my backyard where that run off is going into the water where I swim or fish.

Local brings this idea of knowing where your food comes from, having a relationship with the farm and farmer. But there is a need to go to the next step - to ask yourself what does local mean to you? What values are your going to support?  Would you spend more for organic, for that CSA box - to make a difference in your local economy and for your local environment?

I've only been in the Gorge 9 months and it has taken a lot of questions to understand my food system and I am lucky because there is a passionate and engaged group of people who want to educate, to increase the availability and build the connections. It is the start of an investigation. But one that is so important to me and to the roots of sustainability - pun totally intended!

Women's Wear Daily writes about sustainability

Check out this article about the workshop I helped organize with Textile Exchange.

http://www.wwd.com/markets-news/markets-features/sustainability-expanding-its-reach-5826740

Here is the workshop held on March 1, 2012.  It was a great space in SoHo New York which created the opportunity to co-learn and interact in a way that allowed for deep understanding of sustainability in the textile and apparel industry.

Guest blogger time! Sustainable Fashion

I am excited to welcome back Christian Smith as a guess blogger to Sustainability in Review about sustainable fashion.

Christian Smith works as a CSR Manager for a leading online UK retailer. His focus is on the environmental side of things, measuring out Greenhouse Gas emissions as well as finding ways to reduce our overall impact. Recently graduated from University College, London with an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development.

Fashion and the environment

H&M do it, so do Nike, Patagonia are doing it well. All of a sudden lots of big (and small) fashion companies are talking about the environment and the people who work for them. Not just where they sell clothing but also where they make them. This series is going to focus on why that’s happened and what it means for the broader industry. We are going to take a look at fashion in relation to areas such as water, soil/agriculture, food production, health and oil. Fashion, believe it or not, is dependent on all of these things and the people who work in these areas.

Water

The impact of fashion on water is immense. From the growing process through production to the end user, water use has been essential to the fashion industry since the beginning. And that reliance is concerning. The demand for clothing is increasing, not just through keeping up with fashion but also the increasing global population.

A lot of clothing is made from cotton.  And cotton is a very water intensive crop. An estimated 25million tonnes is produced annually. On an annual basis, approximately 70million tons of water is wasted.  The cotton industry evaporates 210 billion cubic meters of water while at the same time polluting 50billion cubic litres.[1]  3.5% of global water usage is for cotton crop production.[2] 60kg of water is used to create a cotton t-shirt, from cultivation of cotton through to production. An additional 45kg is discharged as waste per kg of output. This figure, however, only includes the virtual or embedded water, and does not take into account the use of water once owned by the consumer.[3]

One of the most devastating effects of cotton production has been the shrinking of the Aral sea (pictured above) to just 15% of its original size. The loss of water affects not only the cotton and textiles industry, but the livelihoods of all those using the sea. For instance, the Aral Sea was once home to 24 native species of fish providing 40,000 tonnes of fish a year – a valuable source of income and nutrition. Beyond the direct effect on the sea, the surrounding biodiversity has also been severely damaged with only an estimated 15-20% of the Tugai Forests remain - in an area home to 29 native plant species. 

This damage has opened the eyes of many to make a change. Many companies now understand the problems with water use and have started working on minimising their impacts in this area. Levis, for example, has developed technology to create its WaterLess denim range at the same time launching a save water campaign. Many companies now recommend washing clothes at 30 degrees or lower and sometimes even less frequently. Replay, the Italian brand, has developed a dying process that also uses technology that enabling the company to use less water to dye its denim.

In addition to the quantity of water used is the quality of water.  Conventional cotton uses 25% of the world’s pesticides and impacts surrounding environments as they persist in the soil and water.  A lot of work is being done to encourage farmers to use fewer pesticides. Organic cotton is the aim as that truly minimises water pollution, but other solutions are also available. Cotton Made in Africa/Better Cotton initiative are two programs which work alongside farmers, helping them to grow cotton more responsibly therefore reducing their overall impact on their water supply. 

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[1] Chapagain, A., Hoekstra, A., Savenije, H., & Gautam, R. (2006). The water footprint of cotton consumption: An assessment of the impact of worldwide consumption of cotton products on the water resources in the cotton producing countries. Ecological Economics, 186-203.

[2] Fashion Futures 2025

[3] Well dressed? The present and future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the United Kingdomhttp://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article458101.ece

Sustainable Living TMI

Ok I am warning you right now - this is probably Too Much Information about me for some of you.  But I wanted to talk about one of my bad behaviors that I finally found a sustainable solution to.  Here it is... SHAVING!

I have been shaving my legs since I was in high school - that was a few years ago so the amount of disposable razors, their plastic composite and all the packaging has added up. At first I figured - well a razor isn't that big so the environmental impact must be small, right?  But then over time I learned of this concept called embodied impact - which is the impact of everything it took to make that product and to dispose of it.  Now that little razor compounded by 20 years of using and disposing was adding up.

It wasn't until I went to Palm Springs about a year ago with some friends and the gentleman of the group wanted to visit a shaving store. (? they have whole stores dedicated to shaving? well you always learn something new) There I saw a steel razor where you just switch out the blade when it is dull, limited waste and no packaging.  The store staff answered by questions about - yes women can use these razors they aren't just for the guys and what to look for in a good razor.

Well as I have mentioned time and time again - change takes time and I finally bought my steel razor!  I am so excited. I tried it out and it works amazingly. But in full transparency I did nick myself twice and it takes some getting used to.  I am so happy to have nicely shaven legs and know that I didn't create a ton of packaging and plastic waste. (Plastic in our waste stream is pretty bad.)

And the nice bonus - it is a cheaper investment.  For instance to replace the "head" of my  old razor with new blades it cost me $13 for 4. I was also due to get a new handle since I the old one was getting pretty gross - that would have put me back another $20.
My new Merkur steel razor was $34 and a box of 10 blades is $7.  Think a year from now - if I use 2 blades a month I will have saved. $27.60.

It is fun when sustainability efforts save you money!  Happy Shaving all.

Voicing your values

I have spent the last 3 days, one more to go, in a room with 30 other sustainability professionals receiving a training on a new methodology for assessing factory working conditions.  The training is essential as we all shift our thinking and approach from measuring "compliance" to a code of conduct in a factory to actually understanding what the management functions are in a factory and the reasons behind the success or unsuccessful implementation of good working conditions.

After today's training I decided to take the long way back to my hotel past the Washington Monument and take a look at the new Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.  Now I have a hard time with our society's obsession to create heros - my problem is that no person is an island - but is influenced by their background, those who came before them and the community they are a part of.  So it was interesting for me to walk through his memorial with this bias and be humbled.

The memorial is beautiful and evokes a passion and a vision that this man had, the confidence to share his thoughts in a divided time.  A excitement for a better world infused me as I reflected on my day and read his quotes and thought of the work that the people I was training with were trying to do.

How do we give those who are not heard voice?  How do we protect human and labor rights in a climate where people should "just be happy to have a job?" The desire and intention to have a better world is a theme that so many people share and try to strive for every day.  Adopting a philosophy of peace and vision that "we the people" have the ability to make decisions everyday to be heros make a difference and Martin Luther King Jr is an example of this.

I have heard that 2012 is a year of change - as cynical as I can be, if I look back on how far we have come in corporate social responsibility it is true.  There is a strong desire to see the world be better and have the fortune to work with so many people who share this dream.