| When you buy green clothing, you might want to | | | | drinking water contamination. |
| consider how deeply the clothing affects the | | | | This is especially true where chemicals have been |
| environment as a whole, those humans producing the | | | | used on the land; non-organic farming may add more |
| raw materials and the finished products, and the | | | | and more chemical fertilizers to increase land yield to |
| animals or insects that are the sources of the fibers. | | | | replace the lost nutrients, and the run off is |
| Once natural fibers are produced by plants or animals | | | | contaminated by those chemicals. Another effect is |
| (or insects too, such as the silkworm), by | | | | the shift of the proportions of carbon dioxide in the |
| themselves, if left to nature, they will return back to | | | | environment due to the change in balance of plant |
| the earth and compost. However, there may be | | | | life. |
| other factors that may influence your decision to | | | | Of great concern too is the way the people who |
| purchase them. | | | | produce much of the fiber and materials for the |
| Although the fibers are natural, and are often | | | | clothing industry, whether green clothing or not. Fair |
| processed along with other natural fibers that will also | | | | wages, working and factory conditions, humane |
| compost on their own, it may be that the processing | | | | treatment, child labor, and slave labor have come to |
| itself may be an environmental energy drain, and | | | | the attention of many world-wide groups. Fair Trade |
| have important effects on the surrounding | | | | laws and social movements are now directed to |
| ecosystems, such as the land, how much energy the | | | | protect the humans, often who live in Third World |
| production processes use, and the surrounding natural | | | | countries, from exploitation. |
| habitat. Not all companies producing these fibers use | | | | Finally, you may wish to inform yourself of how the |
| the most efficient methods or those taking into | | | | animals and creatures (silkworms, to be exact) are |
| consideration the impact on the land. Some processes | | | | raised and treated to help you make your decisions |
| have been in effect for many years, with no | | | | of what green clothing to purchase. Are they treated |
| modernization or eco-friendly processes developed | | | | humanely throughout the process? If you wish to go |
| for mass production. Costs may be prohibitive for | | | | organic, are they raised on organic land, fed organic |
| companies to update machinery or processes. | | | | foods, or in the case of wool, are the sheep dipped |
| One thing that might happen is the destruction of | | | | in harsh chemicals to reduce lice? Are the silkworms |
| forests and woodlands that are not properly | | | | allowed to live out their lives and released before |
| husbanded for continued growth and development. It | | | | their silk is gathered, or are they boiled alive in their |
| takes a socially conscious company to put the effort | | | | cocoons in order to gather the silk for your beautiful |
| into reforestation on a long term basis. Results of this | | | | silk dress? It may make a difference in how you feel |
| may include the creation of nutrient-poor areas that | | | | when you wear that dress. |
| have lost the upper layers of soil, since there is little | | | | Your choices depend upon the information you have |
| to no vegetation to hold it in place and the creation | | | | and the ethics you believe in and follow. It is a study |
| of down-stream overwhelm through sediment, | | | | of not only the types of green clothing you want, |
| resulting in greater risk of flooding, silt-buildup, and | | | | but the production methods, and ethics as well. |