In form time I heard all about Pupil A’s birthday to Nandos last weekend which apparently started in Primark where all the kids could choose a new garment to go out in for the evening. Talk about disposable, fast fashion. I’m disappointed as last month the EcoCommittee held a ‘pre-loved fashion show’ which I’d considered a bit of a triumph. We collected 6 bin bags of clothing which were used in the show and then everyone who brought in an item could chose something new to take home – admittedly, the ‘swap-shop’ turned into a bit of a bun fight which resulted in Pupil C receiving a black eye and a rather nice pair of jeggings was ripped in two in a fight between Mrs S and one of the Year 8s but overall it was considered a success and the event got a mention on the school social media sites. We even managed to find a new home for the yellow and green home-knitted jumper and a delightful sequined beret.
Fast fashion
Worldwide, of the 100 billion garments produced each year, 92 million tonnes end up in landfill. Environmentally this has huge implications, the fashion industry is the second-largest industrial polluter, accounting for 10% of global pollution, ranking higher than emissions from air travel. There is no mention of this in the curriculum and, although I can teach pupils about some of the issues, if politicians don’t legislate against the colossal waste, water pollution and energy used by the industry I’m pretty certain my EcoCommittee won’t be able to drive the international policy change needed by themselves. Obviously, most of the environmental damage caused by the fashion industry is overseas so we don’t particularly see it as our problem.
Waste is everywhere. We live on a planet with finite resources. Many items of clothing are produced from plastics such as polyester or acrylic which are derived from oil. It may be better to buy clothing with organic cotton but it still uses gallons of water to grow the crops, energy to process the fibres, weave the fabric and transport the product. According to a report by Circularity Gap, 28% of all the material we have consumed since 1900 has been in the last 5 years. The exploitation of the earth is increasing every year, with more resources consumed than the planet can provide. Earth Overshoot Day, on 2 August in 2023, defines the date on which annual resources are exhausted and it just gets earlier each year.
On the smallholding
So at home, we try to reuse, upcycle everything and refuse to bring in anything new unless absolutely necessary. I’ve been using preloved curtains from a friend to hang in front of the doors to exclude draughts. The huge black chrysanthemum pattern on a brown and beige background is not exactly the fabric I would have chosen but it does feel warmer in the house and they didn’t cost a bean.
Hubster has also been using preloved materials around the smallholding He’s becoming a bit of a self-made permaculture expert, utilising land, resources, people and the environment in a manner that doesn’t produce any waste. He’s dismantled and rebuilt a second-hand greenhouse, created a log store from scrap wood, recommissioned an oil tank into a chicken shelter and created his own mulch and compost. There are benefits to avoiding any profligate spending both in terms of finances and our carbon impact (I try to avoid ‘carbon footprint’ as it’s a term coined by the fossil fuel giant BP to get individuals to take the heat away from them).
There was an article in the right wing press a few weeks ago that some allotments have 5x higher carbon emissions than large scale farming. They didn’t seem to cover that we have a looming food security disaster based on the inability of large farms to adjust to climate change, or their overuse of pesticides and fertilisers which are harming local ecosystems or the compaction of soil from excessively large machinery which will reduce yields over the coming years (thanks George Monbiot for writing such a comprehensive review of food systems in Regenesis). But yes, blame the smallholder, despite the article showing that the impact was actually due to some people buying loads of new stuff rather than the really beneficial growing bit. Humph!
There is almost no mention of climate change or sustainability in the national curriculum unless students study A – Level Geography, let alone encouraging understanding of waste and the possible solutions; circular economy, degrowth and net zero are key phases that young people should really understand to name but a few. Actually, scrap that, everyone should understand these terms and if the government had actually acted on Article 12 of the Paris Agreement on climate awareness for everyone way back in 2015 then maybe I wouldn’t be continually having issues with some of the articles which obfuscate or deny the scale of the climate emergency. The best thing to do with many newspapers is to use them for papier-mâché in art lessons or compost.
Note to self – Next time we do a pre-loved fashion show don’t allow 200+ pupils to squeeze into one classroom to find an item they might want to take home. Maybe step aside, get the EcoCommittee to sort it – if nothing else it will develop their levels of resilience.
