{"id":13453,"date":"2017-10-26T17:56:35","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T09:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/?p=13453"},"modified":"2018-10-02T15:15:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T07:15:09","slug":"fairtrade-cotton-next-pair-jeans-global-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/blog\/fairtrade-cotton-next-pair-jeans-global-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Fairtrade cotton \u2013 How your next pair of jeans could have a global impact"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><ul>\n<li>Do you know what really goes into making your t-shirt?<\/li>\n<li>From sick farmers to damaging the environment \u2013 The reality of conventional cotton<\/li>\n<li>How sustainable \u2018Fairtrade Cotton\u2019 is making a huge difference<\/li>\n<li>Learn more about sustainable cotton and find out how you can play a part<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s in the towel you use to dry yourself in the morning and the pillowcase you rest your head on at night. It\u2019s in your favourite work shirts and your baby\u2019s play-time blanket. Cotton is everywhere, and as the world\u2019s oldest commercial crop, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairtrade.net\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/content\/2009\/resources\/2015-03_Cotton_Commodity_Briefing__Foundation.pdf\">about 60% of the total cotton<\/a> harvest is used by the textile industry.<\/p>\n<p>Across the globe, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fairtrade.org.uk\/Media-Centre\/News\/May-2017\/Sustainable-Cotton-Communique\">more than 350 million people<\/a> work in the cotton sector, however, despite its popularity, the cotton industry is facing a number of long-term sustainability challenges.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>The Serious Environmental Impact of Conventional Cotton<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The demand for cotton as a global crop has lead to growing worries about its impact on the environment, with a key area of concern being cotton\u2019s water-intensive nature. A <a href=\"http:\/\/panda.org\/downloads\/freshwater\/agwaterusefinalreport.pdf\">WWF report<\/a> places cotton amongst the world\u2019s \u2018thirstiest\u2019 crops, and the comparable statistics are quite eye-opening:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It can take <a href=\"http:\/\/wwf.panda.org\/about_our_earth\/about_freshwater\/freshwater_problems\/thirsty_crops\/cotton\/\">more than 20,000 litres <\/a>of water to produce 1kg of cotton<\/li>\n<li>One single cotton t-shirt uses 2,720 litres of water in its manufacture<\/li>\n<li>A pair of jeans can require around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairtrade.net\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/content\/2009\/resources\/2015-03_Cotton_Commodity_Briefing__Foundation.pdf\">10,850 litres of water<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It surely will come as a surprise to most people to learn how many thousands of litres of water are involved in the making of all the clothes folded-up in their cupboards and closets! Another way to put into sharp relief cotton\u2019s surprising water usage is to compare those numbers to familiar, everyday actions. Making a t-shirt is the equivalent of flushing a toilet 250 times! And a single pair of jeans? \u2013 The water they need would have hosed your lawn for 9 straight hours.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to cotton\u2019s overwhelming consumption of the planet\u2019s water supply, it is also punching above its weight when it comes to chemical use. While 2.4% of global farmland is planted with cotton, it accounts for 24% of the world\u2019s insecticide sales and 11% of pesticide sales \u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/ejfoundation.org\/what-we-do\/pesticides\/end-of-the-line-for-endosulfan\"> at the cost of $2 billion every year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Cotton production by country worldwide in 2015\/2016 (in 1,000 metric tons)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><div class=\"imageframe-align-center\"><span class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-1 hover-type-none\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot_1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"686\" height=\"481\"class=\"img-responsive wp-image-13466\" srcset=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot_1-200x140.png 200w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot_1-400x280.png 400w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot_1-600x421.png 600w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot_1.png 686w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 1100px\" \/><\/span><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This massive use of agricultural chemicals, coupled with unsustainable farming practices in poorer countries <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has had serious repercussions on ecosystems which are intrinsically<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> linked to cotton farms. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.panda.org\/downloads\/freshwater\/agwaterusefinalreport.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the World Wildlife Fund<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, unsustainable cotton farming has already had a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">massive<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> impact on several large River Basins, including the Aral Sea, the Indus River in Pakistan, the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, and the Rio Grande on the U.S.\/Mexico border.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>1. Social Effects\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The terrible effect of chemical usage in the cotton industry is not just a problem for local ecosystems. Exposure to Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) poses a significant health risk to farmers in developing nations, as highlighted in this <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/issuu.com\/pan-uk\/docs\/cotton_without_hhps_-_ethiopian_exp?e=28041656\/49549204\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study by the Pesticide Action Network<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In places such as Ethiopia\u2019s southern Rift Valley, where cotton is grown by both smallholder farmers and big commercial facilities, aggravating factors include the extremely hot weather. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.who.int\/ceh\/capacity\/Pesticides.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under certain conditions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> pesticides can turn to vapor and drift into unwanted areas, posing a significant risk, so it\u2019s important to consider both the air and soil surface temperatures.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further reasons for increased pesticide poisoning incidents include a lack of proper protective equipment and the perception of pesticides as \u2018plant medicine\u2019 instead of \u2018poisons.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><div class=\"imageframe-align-center\"><span class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-2 hover-type-none\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF-iStock-176797715-min.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"724\" height=\"483\"class=\"img-responsive wp-image-13474\" srcset=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF-iStock-176797715-min-200x133.jpg 200w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF-iStock-176797715-min-400x267.jpg 400w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF-iStock-176797715-min-600x400.jpg 600w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF-iStock-176797715-min.jpg 724w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 1100px\" \/><\/span><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In countries like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/gallery\/2014\/may\/05\/india-cotton-suicides-farmer-deaths-gm-seeds\">India<\/a>, the majority of cotton farmers are barely able to cover their output costs, let alone make a profit and support their families. Genetically modified cotton seeds account for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/gallery\/2014\/may\/05\/india-cotton-suicides-farmer-deaths-gm-seeds\">95% of cotton farming in India<\/a>, and it\u2019s the increased costs of these seeds, as well as fertilizers and pesticides, which has led to a massive wave of suicides among cotton farmers. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/gallery\/2014\/may\/05\/india-cotton-suicides-farmer-deaths-gm-seeds\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 270,000 Indian cotton farmers have killed themselves since 1995.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>2. Fairtrade Cotton \u2013 Not Cut From the Same Cloth<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The environmental and social effects outlined above have led to major brands and retailers to call for the introduction of sustainable practices and schemes aimed at improving conditions within cotton production.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fairtrade.org.uk\/en\/what-is-fairtrade\/what-fairtrade-does\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fairtrade cotton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was launched in 2005 and offers cotton producers an alternative to the unstable conventional market. The aim is to provide farmers with better working conditions and fairer, more stable prices, as well as reducing environmental damage to their communities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fairtrade Standards are a benchmark of sustainable practices that organizations can be measured against, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fairtrade Minimum Price<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Set by region and variety, producers are paid a minimum price for seed cotton. This covers average costs of sustainable production and offers a safety net against a fall in market price.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Environmental Protections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 No use of prohibited chemicals. Minimized use of pesticides and herbicides, plus the protection of local water resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Social Standards <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Forced labour and child labour are prohibited. No discrimination of members by race, colour, religion, political opinion, union membership, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other methods of sustainable cotton production have provided impressive results, especially when considering the previously stated environmental concerns<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Based on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.soilassociation.org\/media\/6491\/cool-cotton-organic-cotton-and-climate-change-2015.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organic Cotton Life Cycle Assessment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the 2013-14 organic cotton harvest saved:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>236.9 billion litres of water<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 the equivalent of 94,655 Olympic-sized swimming pools!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>300.6 million kilowatts of energy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 enough to keep a 60-watt bulb going for 57,122 years!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>96.2 million kg of C02<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 the equivalent of driving a car around the world 14,114 times!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>3. Far-Reaching Fairtrade Successes <\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around the globe, small-scale farms and larger communities are feeling the benefits of Fairtrade cotton production. There are now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairtrade.net\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/content\/2009\/resources\/Cotton_Commodity_Briefing_2015.pdf\">26 Fairtrade certified<\/a> organizations representing almost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairtrade.net\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/content\/2009\/resources\/Cotton_Commodity_Briefing_2015.pdf\">60,000 cotton farmers<\/a> across nine countries \u2013 some of them the world\u2019s poorest and most vulnerable \u2013 Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Egypt, India Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Nicaragua, and Senegal.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><div class=\"imageframe-align-center\"><span class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-3 hover-type-none\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/iStock-639799556-min.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"724\" height=\"483\"class=\"img-responsive wp-image-13460\" srcset=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/iStock-639799556-min-200x133.jpg 200w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/iStock-639799556-min-400x267.jpg 400w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/iStock-639799556-min-600x400.jpg 600w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/iStock-639799556-min.jpg 724w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 1100px\" \/><\/span><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><h1>\u00a0<b>How You Can Learn More about the Sustainable Cotton Revolution<\/b><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re interested in making sure your clothes are ethically sourced, it\u2019s not always that easy to discover the information you need. When you look at a label, it may show you in which country the clothes were made, but it probably won\u2019t tell you how the materials were grown, or under what conditions the garments were manufactured. Nevertheless, an increasing number of consumers are looking beyond the idea of cheap bargains and becoming more curious about the environmental and social impact their clothes are having. \u2013 So, what questions should you ask?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>1. Fairtrade \u2013 Look for the Mark<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first step is to look for the Fairtrade mark on clothing labels. This proves that the garment has been ethically produced by following the standards of the Fairtrade organization. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fairtrade.org.uk\/Buying-Fairtrade\/Cotton\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Fairtrade Foundation website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is also a good place to do more research about the group\u2019s mission, as well as offering examples of where you can purchase clothing that is guaranteed to include Fairtrade cotton.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><div class=\"imageframe-align-center\"><span class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-4 hover-type-none\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF2-26e8abeced69fd20524f8f987c7539846b306c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"724\" height=\"483\"class=\"img-responsive wp-image-13477\" srcset=\"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF2-26e8abeced69fd20524f8f987c7539846b306c-200x133.jpg 200w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF2-26e8abeced69fd20524f8f987c7539846b306c-400x267.jpg 400w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF2-26e8abeced69fd20524f8f987c7539846b306c-600x400.jpg 600w, http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/VF2-26e8abeced69fd20524f8f987c7539846b306c.jpg 724w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 1100px\" \/><\/span><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><h3><b>2. #WhoMadeMyClothes \u2013 Fashion Transparency Index<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another helpful tool in your search for ethically produced clothing is the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/fashionrevolution.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/FR_FashionTransparencyIndex.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fashion Transparency Index<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which ranks companies according to the level of transparency in their supply chain. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The index aims to give insight into how little we know about what we buy and wear, with an overall goal of persuading every brand to do more in communicating with the public about their strategies and performance on social and environmental issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>3. Everybody Has a Part to Play<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consumer demand and pressure are successful strategies for encouraging stores and brands to change the way they source their products and suppliers, so make sure you ask them about what they\u2019re doing to have a positive impact on society.<\/span><b> \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-sustainable","floatton-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13453"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13839,"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13453\/revisions\/13839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/13470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wsafety-news.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}