We’ll be at Greenbuild next week, booth 910, with our good friends from LIVE Textiles. Please stop by to see us if you’re there. We are introducing a new organic wool upholstery fabric at Greenbuild (we’re hoping it will be GOTS certified, though it is touch and go as to whether the certificate will be …
Have you ever heard of the Easterlin Paradox? It is a theory developed in 1974, which goes something like this: Money makes you happier until you reach about an average income. After that, money’s affect on happiness is greatly reduced. But there are those who argue that “happiness” is a very imprecise science, so maybe …
A new study focused on global water issues, commissioned by an international network of scientists, found that people around the world view water issues as the planet’s top environmental problem – greater than air pollution, depletion of natural resources, loss of habitat or climate change. (click here to read more on this study). That shouldn’t …
The more I learn about organic farming the more impressed I become with the dynamics of it all. As Fritz Capra has said, we live in an interconnected and self-organizing universe of changing patterns and flowing energy. Everything has an intrinsic pattern which in turn is part of a greater pattern – and all of …
The debate over sustainable agriculture has gone beyond the health and environmental benefits that it could bring in place of conventional industrial agriculture. For one thing, conventional industrial agriculture is heavily dependent on oil, which is running out; and it is getting increasingly unproductive as the soil is eroded and depleted. Climate change will force …
Provocative title, isn’t it? But I didn’t say it, the statement comes from Jim Rogers, one of the world’s most successful investors and co-founder of the Quantum Fund (with George Soros) from which he retired in 1980. Since then he has been a college professor, world traveler, author, economic commentator and creator of the Rogers …
Synthetic fibers are the most popular fibers in the world – it’s estimated that synthetics account for about 65% of world production versus 35% for natural fibers.[1] Most synthetic fibers (approximately 70%) are made from polyester, and the polyester most often used in textiles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Used in a fabric, it’s most …
Although most of the current focus on lightening our carbon footprint revolves around transportation and heating issues, the modest little fabric all around you turns out to be from an industry with a gigantic carbon footprint. The textile industry, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, is the 5th largest contributor to CO2 emissions …
Discussion of the energy used to produce cloth.
I’m so glad you asked! From the previous post I hope I made it clear that natural fibers (whether organic or conventionally produced) have a lighter footprint than do synthetics – both in terms of emissions of greenhouse gasses and in terms of energy needed to manufacture the fibers. And natural fibers have the added …
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