In considering fabric for your sofa, let’s be altruistic and look at the impact textile production has on global climate change. (I only use the term altruistic because many of us don’t equate climate change with our own lives, though there have been several interesting studies of just how the changes will impact us directly, …
Since the 1960s, the use of synthetic fibers has increased dramatically, causing the natural fiber industry to lose much of its market share. In December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF); a year-long initiative focused on raising global awareness about natural fibers with specific focus on …
I’m going to be taking a few weeks off, and thought I’d recycle some of our old posts. So if you think you’ve seen these before – you have. But the issues remain important and it doesn’t hurt to remind you. I’ve updated the topics a bit if necessary. Since the 1960s, the use of …
At the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM ) Congress in February, 2011, Ann Shankar from Biodye India, a company that produces natural dyes based on wild plants, made a provocative suggestion – that the term “organic textile” is not an accurate description of any textile where synthetic dyes and auxiliaries are used. The …
We’re often asked if ALL the chemicals used in textile processing are harmful. And the answer is (surprisingly maybe) no! Many chemicals are used, many benign, but as with everything these days there are caveats. Let’s look at the chemical that is used most often in the textile industry: salt. That’s right. Common table …
A recent report in The Financial Times of Germany alleged that a ‘gigantic fraud’ was taking place in the sale of cotton garments marked as organic by leading European retailers like H&M, C&A and Tchibo, because they actually contained genetically modified (GM) cotton. GM cotton (often called Bt cotton in India) is prohibited in …
Water. Our lives depend on it. It’s so plentiful that the Earth is sometimes called the blue planet – but freshwater is a remarkably finite resource that is not evenly distributed everywhere or to everyone. The number of people on our planet is growing fast, and our water use is growing even faster. About 1 …
The mass of debris in the photo is, apparently, a tiny part of what the Wall Street Journal reports is afloat in the Pacific. Nobody really knows how big it is: “Some say it is about the size of Quebec, or 600,000 square miles — also described as twice the size of Texas. Others …
I just found the web site for Green Air (www.greenairradio.com) which bills itself as “a nationally syndicated news radio feature and multi-platform interactive hub for Green and environmentally significant news, stories and entertainment. It is comprised of a broad network of media professionals including producers, journalists, broadcasters, writers, photographers and filmmakers worldwide. Green Air creates, …
OEcotextiles 