Finding solutions to address the climate emergency means tackling the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions — those coming from the transportation, food and energy sectors. We’re learning to make more climate-friendly decisions about what we eat, how we power our homes and how we get around. We don’t often look at what we’re wearing, though. And we should. The textile industry pumps between 1.22 and 2.93 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. The result is that, by some estimates, the life cycle of textiles (including laundering) accounts for 6.7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions . That’s the equivalent of every person on the planet taking a 2,500-mile flight every year. And the problem is poised to get worse, as both textile production and consumption are increasing drastically. Since 1975 the global production of textile fibers has almost tripled: 107 million metric tons were produced in 2018, a figure that’s expected to reach 145 million tons by 2030. And the “churn” of fast fashion gets quicker each year. Some labels now release as many as 24 collections in a 12-month period, and clothes are often sold at pocket-money prices. Outsourcing labor to countries […]
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