April 22, 2016 marks the 46th anniversary of Earth Day—a day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year!
We’ve all been reading about it – global warming, the extinction of species, air, land and water pollution – the list goes on and the only common denominator is the human race. We are single handedly responsible for causing most of this damage by the decisions we make every single day.
And so today, on Earth Day, maybe some of us will change our FB status or post an inspiring message on twitter and then forget about it. Maybe some of us will go on a rally and encourage friends to come along. Most of us will definitely say ‘Its too big a problem to tackle on an individual level, let the big people do something about it’ – and all of us will be wrong.
Yes it is a huge mess but No, it isn’t only the job of the big honchos to do something. It is your every day little decision that can make a change in this world!
As the good folks at EarthDay.org have been saying: “Earth Day is more than just a single day. It’s bigger than attending a rally and taking a stand. Let’s plant 7.8 billion trees for the Earth. Let’s divest from fossil fuels and make cities 100% renewable. Let’s start now. And let’s not stop.”
And to that we: Bravo! It’s time to wear the white hats and become gladiators of the environment in our own unique way.
At Seams For Dreams, we’ve been promoting the re-cycling of clothes to help reduce the negative impact the garment industry has on the environment. Here are some hard hitting facts that you probably didn’t know
- 150,000,000,000: The number of new clothing items produced each year
- 2,500,000,000: Pounds of used clothing that end up in landfills each year.
- 2,100,000: Tons of CO2 emissions produced by the apparel and textile industry each year (second only to the petroleum industry).
- Between 70,000,000 and 100,000,000: The number of trees cut down each year to make cellulose fabrics such as rayon and modal.
- 700: The number of gallons it takes to make one T-shirt.
These are scary numbers and are directly linked to today’s fast fashion that promotes clothes for us to use and throw.
Now how to put an end to destroying the earth but at the same time being a fashion lover? It’s simple: Repeat your outfits, reuse someone else’s favorite dress, recycle those old clothes!
And donate your pre-love clothes to Seams For Dreams to raise funds in support of social causes and to give that layer of help to someone in need!
Team SFD – Natasha Jeyasingh
