When those cotton balls get rotten

Every single one of us has some cotton clothing in our closets. And every year we buy more, despite not needing more clothing. It's a fashion thing. We want the latest, so we splurge on new tees, shirts, skirts and the like. The world produces lots of the stuff, and the trade of raw cotton is estimated to be around $12B USD -- with the largest producers by far, China, India and the US. The cotton business is big business -- think of all of the cotton China & India consumes, to produce gawdy wear for the likes of you and I -- raw cotton may get imported directly into China & India, or woven into cloth somewhere else, before being shipped to the garment factories, where the poor toil for endless hours to produce a "Eco Friendly" tee.

So how "eco friendly" is your tee? Probably not very. Cotton is one of the worst commodity crops traded internationally -- if not the worst. To begin with, the cotton fibre is mostly water -- and for the large cotton producers, most of that water comes from irrigation -- not rainfall -- destroying otherwise arable land and draining aquifers. The chemicals used to fertilize cotton plants, kill weeds and insects also have a huge impact to the environment. Most end up in the water system, with nutrients fueling algae blooms that suffocate fish. Further down the cotton supply chain, textile printing and dying puts the final nail in the coffin. More chemicals are used here that further pollute waterways. It's so bad, that it is estimated that 1 in 4 Chinese drink polluted water -- and some rivers are unsafe to even touch.

In the US, it's estimated that Walmart and Kmart sell 1/4 of all clothing. After we finish wearing our clothes -- after it has gone out of fashion, most of us just dump it. Yes, most of us do just that, and send it to clog the local landfill.



Listen to some Lead Belly while you read you read the Global Cotton and Textile Product Chains report [PDF].

in reference to:

"This report, which summarizes the results of the first phase of the Global Markets Project, provides an overview of the social and environmental impacts associated with the Chinese forestry, cotton and E-product supply chains, as well as a corresponding set of recommendations to the Chinese government as it moves towards its objective of attaining HeXieSheHui ("harmonious society"). The report's conclusions suggest a series of concrete actions available to the Chinese government as it seeks to leverage the forces of the market as a vehicle for stimulating sustainable production, consumption and trade."
- Sustainable Development and China: Recommendations for the Forestry, Cotton and E-products Sectors (view on Google Sidewiki)