Week 9: Fashion Industry and the Environment

 BLOGPOST: ARTICLE + 4IR

            I always knew that textile waste led to a great harm into the environment. In this class, (SFOF)- I was exposed to even more information by listening in climate change conference to how our environment has been impacted by all this waste. You would expect by now- with all this technology we'd have figured out a way to keep moving without killing our planet. Slowly but surely, we're getting there- but it's going to take a lot of time. In Racked's article- We Have No Idea How Bad Fashion Actually Is for the Environment by Alden Wicker, it goes into a more depth explanation of the subject when it comes to the manufacturing process, and supply chain involving toxic chemicals, etc. The article also explains how when it comes to awareness- although there is a larger attention dedicated to climate change (climate change march), most people forget and ignore the fact that fashion has a bad effect on the planet with over consumption and unsustainable methods of producing. In the article it states, "Fashion’s true environmental scope is astounding. It touches agriculture (cotton, flax, hemp), animal agriculture (leather, fur, wool, cashmere), petroleum (polyester and other synthetics), forestry (rayon), mining (metal and stones), construction (retail stores), shipping, and, of course, manufacturing. And this complex and multilayered supply chain provides both a challenge and an opportunity for climate advocates." (wicker, 2017) This quote alone provides how wide the fashion and apparel industry touch the environment in so many ways. It shows the readers that although many activists, higher leaders of movements and just regular day to day ignore the impact of the industry on the earth, it still is reaching a huge environmental scope and it should be "the next frontier" to focus on for our environment, especially as consumers.

            After reading this article, I genuinely agree that there isn't a lot of awareness or focus on the waste of the fashion industry- especially in regards to the environmental  factors. I believe that it is truly astonishing that as we move forward with advanced technology and mindsets, we are still slacking with realizing that the earth we live on deserves better than what we are sufficing for it. Upon reading the next article, sustainable mega trends and new innovations for the earth, I am amazed by the new advances that they say can lead to the next industrial revolution. Reading about the 4IR's- give me somewhat hope that we can advance into helping our environment with this technological change. When it comes to what I talked about earlier, with ten toxic environmental effects from fashion producing, the 4IR that will help in that case to me is technology enabled urban planning and design. With a lot of the waste and pollution being caused by the toxic chemicals, factories, ships, and excessive usage of chemicals within crops, I think that an advanced planning system for these vicinities, that include artificial intelligence, advanced materials, and autonomous vehicles- can make a better use for a more organized process that will not cause more harm. With independently owned vehicles and advanced materials, less human help will be needed on the actual fields or factories, and thus more time and efforts could be dedicated to reducing toxic chemicals and fixing flaws in the supply chain process. I think that fashion brands are so dedicated on making profit, they want all hands on deck dedicated towards the process of making the clothing, because taking the time to figure out more sustainable ways will take those workers time away from working. With artificial intelligence, I think this will be an easier way to have an organize process to creating a more sustainable path. With a better planning system, companies won't find it so difficult to work on their weaknesses that are affecting the environment so badly.