The Clothing Industry Harms the Planet. What Can Fashion Students Do?

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By Helen Birk

The Clothing Industry Harms the Planet. What Can Fashion Students Do?

The clothing industry contributes about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. The pollution stems from the stages of the production to the disposal of the finished products. Some of the most affected areas include water, air, and soil.

Research shows that the textile industry is ranked as the second most polluting agent of fresh water in the universe. This has increased due to the vast overproduction of clothing materials. Here are different ways the clothing industry harms the planet and what fashion students can do.

Air pollution

Research shows that about 1.2 billion tons of CO2 is released into the atmosphere annually by the clothing industry. There is also the generation of greenhouse gases during the production process of the millions of garments used each year.

These gases absorb heat at relatively low altitudes. They affect the ozone layer through atmospheric interaction. These rays damage the skin collagen fibers, destroy the vitamin A in the skin, and increase its aging. On the other hand, in plants, the plant's cell membranes and other organelles within the cells get damaged due to the sessile nature of the plants.

Fashion students should educate the public on the importance of buying less and wearing more to reduce the number of clothes that go to waste. They should also advise the public through public campaigns on the importance of using natural fiber instead of synthetic products.

The online assistant that frees up your time

It takes a lot of time for a fashion student to participate in campaigns to save the planet from the air pollution caused by the clothing industry. So, you can get bad grades if you are not keen. To balance the two, you can use the essay checker and corrector tool by EduBirdie to correct all mistakes in their work. This saves time as most of these online services are faster than correcting the mistakes manually. Seeking help will help them deal with their assignments with ease.

Water pollution

Water pollution in the fashion industry results from untreated toxic wastewaters released directly into the waterways. The harmful elements from the factories contaminate the water, making it unsafe for the drinking and survival of the living organisms in the water.

Reports suggest that the fashion industries use around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually to produce textile products. The water used in the dyeing process is then released to the nearby water bodies, even with the tiny harmful elements.

Every time clothes are washed, they shed tiny particles called microfibers. About 700,000 microfibers are released into the water system for every average wash cycle. These particles make the survival of marine organisms very hard, and most animals and plants end up dying due to these macro-elements.

Students in the fashion industry should do extensive research on better ways to filter most of the elements found in the water released from the clothing industry. Students can save the planet also through participation in public campaigns against the release of untreated wastes into the oceans and other water bodies.

Soil pollution

This is the most common way the fashion industry pollutes the planet. Research shows that about 13 million tons of textiles are produced each year. As the retailers get overstocked and the season's changes, most of the clothes are sold at throw-away prices or are thrown away to landfills.

Research shows that, on average, one truck full of waste clothes is dumped in a landfill every second. That's because 85% of the clothes are dumped into landfills. In 2020, about 18.6 million tons of clothing ended up in a landfill.

Most of the synthetic elements in the garbage take about 200+ years for the materials to decompose in the landfill. These elements like mercury, lead, and arsenic is very harmful, and they kill micro-organisms that help in the aeration of the soil.

That's why the students in the fashion industry should be at the front fighting for reforms in clothes production. They should advocate for the production of standard products that takes time, unlike fakes clothes that get damaged within a few weeks.

Conclusion

There are various ways in which the clothing industry harms the planet—the pollution results from poor planning in the textile industries that leads to overproduction of clothes. Producing a lot of clothes leads to an increase in the number of clothes that go to waste. The main areas affected by the clothing industry include the air, water, and soil. If students focus on advocating for reducing pollution in these areas, they will have achieved their goal of saving the environment.  

Author’s Bio

Helen Birk works for a book publishing company that has mainly school and college clients. She’s the lead author for textbooks and also does editing. She’s also a freelance college essay writer and has provided some winning essays to students. Her hobbies include doing mediation, drawing cartoons and listening to pop music.

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