Live data from Hacker News

Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

businessinsider.com

201–210 of 294 posts

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#201
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The type of water use we're talking here - saturating it with detergents, dyes, etc. -- makes it unpotable, at which point it is, best-case, going through a very expensive treatment process before it can be returned to the water cycle, which you can be certain the manufacturers are not footing the full cost of; or more likely in the places where garment manufacturers set up, is just being dumped into the environment,…

Very expensive? You just let it sit and evaporate.

And after the water evaporates, how is the concentrated chemical sludge treated? Does it get removed for safe disposal? Does it get left to sink down and contaminate the ground water? That’s the problem.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#202

Flights are currently "used" by a tiny % of the global population, whereas clothing is a necessity for 100% of the population. What does that comparison says, exactly? Changing the habits of a few persons would have much impact on the environment as changing the habits of every person on Earth? Which change should we prioritize? Mmmh...

Most of that clothing is for consumption for the western world, of which the USA would probably be first and European Union second.

The third world often gets sold the remnants and retainers from the first world.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#203
Fashion is such an inscrutable practice to me. My closet is full of clothes but aside from my formalwear every shirt matches every pair of pants. When I get up I pick a set at random and go about my day. I don't own anything I don't like and I don't keep anything I can't wear so what's the point of choosing what to wear when it doesn't matter to anyone else? Throwing away a shirt to make room for another shirt is like throwing away a hamburger so you can buy another hamburger.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#204
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it is the case that you can find In thrift stores such items that in a usual store would sell for a very high price. Got bought one such piece of clothing. However, these items are definitely not evenly distributed all over the world. For example, the second-hand electronics market on craigslist in the Bay Area in California is much better than in, for example, Miami Florida (I'm guessing)

It's also very random whether you'll find what you're looking for. You're just not going to find a $300 retail pair of jeans in a thrift store on your first outing. And even when you do, odds are they won't be in your size. I live in Brooklyn and go thrifting a lot, mostly because it's a fun activity and because you find things you wouldn't normally think to look for. But 9/10 times I'm leaving with nothing. And for…

I don't understand how you'd even go about making a $300 pair of jeans. Are they a special material that's impervious to rain but breathes like cotton? Are they extra tough so you'll never wear holes in them? Some kind of fancy dye that never fades in the wash? Are you buying clothes from Sharper Image?

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#205

Ecologically speaking maybe Steve Jobs/Star Trek respectively were onto something. A high quality minimal personal style that involves orders of magnitude less garment churn and waste with the added benefit of just not having to spend time on what to wear each day (insert pithy Jobs quote). But seriously if I was to explore finding a personal style that I could wear as my day to day work/life “uniform”, where to look…

> if I was to explore finding a personal style that I could wear as my day to day work/life “uniform”, where to look, where to source from. Are there any companies focussed around this? Isn't this just clothes? Just buy multiple of what sparks joy, right? Is there something I'm missing that makes an outfit a "uniform"?

[deleted]

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By comparison, a pound of beef is around 1,800 pounds. Average American eats like 200 pounds of meat per year. How many pairs of jeans do you think a person buys each year? I buy 1 pair of Levis and just wear them about once or twice a week (never washing them) and throw them out after 2 or 3 years. https://foodtank.com/news/2013/12/why-meat-eats-resources/ https://www.globalagriculture.org/whats-new/news/en/32921.ht…

Are you talking about cow farts? When cows eat grass, the carbon they emit was already in the system. It's just like any other organism staying alive. This is different than burning fossil fuels, the carbon of which until they are extracted hasn't been in the system for millions of years. To the extent that the beef industry burns fossil fuels, that's something you could criticize, but it's hardly unique to the beef…

From what I understand the main concern with cow farts is the methane produced in cows' (and other ruminants') digestive systems, not carbon dioxide. Methane is a 25x more potent greenhouse gas according to the EPA: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#m...

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#207
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do those uniforms have pockets?

Unfortunately not; Star Trek uniforms generally don't have pockets (with an exception of Beverly Crusher's lab coat (TNG) and the jacket B'Elanna Torres wore at some point (VOY)). Enterprise-era uniforms are full of pockets, and they look kind of nice too! However, I don't think a DS9/First Contact era uniform with pockets in trousers would look too much unlike the original, and it's enough to store a smartphone (and…

What a geeky piece of knowledge to have on hand... bravo!

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#208
post #173

Ecologically speaking maybe Steve Jobs/Star Trek respectively were onto something. A high quality minimal personal style that involves orders of magnitude less garment churn and waste with the added benefit of just not having to spend time on what to wear each day (insert pithy Jobs quote). But seriously if I was to explore finding a personal style that I could wear as my day to day work/life “uniform”, where to look…

I've pretty much exclusively switched to Merino t-shirts. Various good brans out there (Woolly Co, Smartwool, Icebreaker, etc) and most can be found in simple, versatile colors. Can wear them with almost anything, super comfortable, and the real kicker is that they can be worn a few times without needing a wash. Makes packing for travel easy, and saves time/effort/water with freq laundry. Also, as someone who runs pr…

If you like this idea but aren’t really a t-shirt person, you can get wool shirts which are much more comfortable than they sound. Wool and Prince sell them. I’m very sensitive to scratchy clothes or being too warm, and I’ve been wearing these exclusively for a few years. If you keep yourself clean, the shirts only need dry cleaning every 20 days or so, where I’d normally only wear a cotton shirt once between cleans

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#209
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've pretty much exclusively switched to Merino t-shirts. Various good brans out there (Woolly Co, Smartwool, Icebreaker, etc) and most can be found in simple, versatile colors. Can wear them with almost anything, super comfortable, and the real kicker is that they can be worn a few times without needing a wash. Makes packing for travel easy, and saves time/effort/water with freq laundry. Also, as someone who runs pr…

Good tip, Thank You. Would like order custom fit T-shirts, but guess that won’t happen for a few decades as robots are far from being able to replace the hands of cheap labor. BTW How about animal welfare for producing Merino wool?

Hard to factory farm a sheep

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#210

>85% of all textiles go to the dump each year So only 15% of textiles make it into someones home or office and doesn't get thrown out. Where is the waste? I assume it is 1) Unsold stock, 2) Unusable material during manufacturing, and 3) Consumers throwing clothing away in the first year of ownership. Could we reduce waste most significantly by moving to on-demand clothing manufacturing?

I read the linked sources and that statement is 85% of clothes disposed are sent to the dump and 15% are recycled. Not that 85% of what is produced is sent to the dump in the same year. Granted its all going to the trash eventually.
Post reply on HN