Is It Worth It? by Anthony Nota

        When thinking about the future of fashion, it is crucial to consider the biosphere and biodiversity when thinking about fashion today and working towards sustainability and responsibility in the future of fashion. The biosphere is the part of the Earth system inhabited by living organisms and includes the other three spheres: the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. "The biosphere includes all the living and nonliving parts, the organisms and the rocks, water, and air with which they interact as materials are interchanged in the biogeochemical cycles” (Robertson, 2017). In like, biodiversity is the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. Since the biosphere has such a heavy impact on the livelihood of humans, it is detrimental that we pay attention to the way we treat and preserve the biosphere for the people of today and the future.

The fashion industry is the second most damaging industry to the environment, and ultimately the biosphere, worldwide. There are three main types of pollution: air, water, and land pollution. The fashion industry manages to heavily contribute to all of these areas, and it seems as though it has only became worse in recent years. From large corporations burning merchandise, to factories dumping water containing harmful chemicals, and old clothing and scraps filling last fills. It has become increasingly more apparent that the damage that is being done to the environment by the fashion industry is having a radical impact on the biosphere. 

It may seem to some that the damage that is being done to the biosphere by the fashion industry only has effects on the fashion industry. This is completely wrong! Since the earth is made up of multiple moving parts (i.e. the biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere) that all rely on each other to operate efficiently, the disruptor that is the fashion industry has an ever-lasting effect on all aspects of the biosphere. The effect that air pollution has in our biosphere is evident: the Earths poles are melting which could mean a rise in sea level, the Earth is warming up due to gasses that trap the Suns heat, eventually less fresh water will be available, and ecosystems will change causing species to adapt or else they will become extinct. 

Water is recycled through the biosphere by the water cycle, but along the way it picks up pollutants which can harm the ecosystem and humans. The pollution is caused by many factors, for example when chemicals from the fabric dyeing process wash into streams or rivers they cause harm to the ecosystem. This affects the Biosphere by the food chains becoming damaged as poison travels throughout the chain killing or poisoning sea animals. Plastics can strangle animals as the animals think of the plastic as food, infectious diseases can be spread such as Typhoid and Cholera which is contracted from contaminated drinking water, acid rain which can harm lakes or rivers, and it can change the chemistry of the water. Where does the plastic that is strangling sea animals come from? Think of each person who makes a purchase at a fast fashion store. A majority of those shoppers receive their purchases in a plastic shopping bag. Not to mention, plastic will never denigrate and will be on our planet forever. That is a lot of plastic that will eventually end up in our landfills, or worse, our oceans.

Implementing stricter regulations for fashion companies to adhere to would present an enormous gift to the biosphere.