10. Stopping Shopping

Which area of emissions is your biggest? See the calculators.

No one can stop shopping entirely, but if you could (almost) kick the habit, it would help. There’s much too much abuse and/or pollution in the shopping supply chain.

For example:

Animal Skins:

• “In 2020, Stockholm Fashion Week kicked off with a ban on exotic skins, meaning no crocodile, snake, ostrich, or alligator skin.”^[1]

• “‘Fashion is a terrible excuse for animal exploitation’.”^[2]

“Sustainable fashion? There’s no such thing.”^[3]

“Turns out, there’s a lot of harm.”^[4]

Cotton:

• “‘Cotton defoliants are ‘the most toxic farm chemicals currently on the market’.”^[5]

Synthetic fabrics:

• “From the extraction of the raw materials to the wastewater from the dyes…synthetic fabric is environmentally problematic in…the production cycle.”^[6]

Garment workers:

• “Systemic human rights abuses pervade the global garment industry.”^[7]

Clothes:

• “Textile dyeing^[8] is one of the most polluting aspects of the global fashion industry” (see photo). The “fabric-dyeing industry…uses trillions of gallons of water a year.”^[9]

• “The fashion industry … is responsible for up to 10% of global carbon emissions.” “Clothes account for a massive, and growing, pile of waste that ends up in landfills.”^[10]

• “Three East African countries stood up to the industry and initiated a ban on secondhand clothing” imports.^[11][12]

Fast Fashion:

• It can be difficult to connect all the dots that lead from glamorous runways and fashion houses…to miserable third world workers and polluted weather.^[13][14]

• The fast fashion “industry annually releases about 1.2 bln tons of CO2."^[15]

• “The energy-intensive fast-fashion sector…has become notorious for…chemicals that quickly end up in landfills and oceans.”

• The ultra-fast-fashion company Shein^[16][17] “has poured significant funds into Google and Facebook advertising campaigns, influencer deals, and even its own social-media reality show…

• Ultra-fast-fashion will only keep ticking up in speed… as long as consumers continue to…buy.”

Trucks:

• “Heavy-duty trucks are responsible for nearly a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s transportation sector”^[18][19]

• “Tractor-trailers, delivery vans and heavier-duty pickup trucks …[emit]…45% of nitrogen oxide emissions and 57% of…PM 2.5.”^[20][21]

• “electrifying delivery vehicles would take [a large] bite out of carbon emissions”^[22]

Ships:

• “90% of the world’s trade is carried via ocean traffic”, and container ships are “some of the biggest and dirtiest machines on the planet.”^[23]

• “Cargo ships…burn some of the world’s dirtiest and carbon-intensive fuels.” “Ships are acting as hazardous waste incinerators for the world’s oil refineries.”^[24]

• “The dumping of rubbish resulting from the routine operations of ships, and from illegal activities…are major sources of pollution.”^[25]

Accidents:

• “The Sri Lankan…Navy said this is the country’s worst marine disaster.”^[26]

• “The ship’s crew were aware of [the nitric acid] leak…and had sought to dock in Qatar and India but were denied permission by authorities.”^[27]

Recycling?

• I’m sorry to report that except for paper/cardboard, bottles, and tin/aluminium, many “recycled” materials get incinerated or dumped^[28] - in the US or elsewhere.

What to Do?

Reuse or Repair

Support Right-to-Repair legislation. If we fix old stuff, instead of dumping old stuff and buying new stuff, there’ll be less stuff ending up in our oceans or atmosphere.

Not the best at fixing things? See if there’s a Repair Cafe (or something similar) near you.

Buy nothing

Keep in mind the clever corporate concept of planned obsolescence:
“The ultimate goal is to make you buy products again and again”.

I’ve found that people appreciate a simple home-made-type of gift more than something from the internet or a store.

For more info, read about Buy Nothing Day.

Buy 2nd hand

It takes a little time, but you can find good-quality items (including suits and other dress clothing) at second-hand stores. Re tech items: Ethical Consumer - Buying Second-Hand Tech

Google Search - second hand stores near me

Consult the scorecards

Compare different apparel companies at the fossil-free fashion scorecard. “The fashion industry continues to rely heavily on coal…plus…fracked gas.”

For electronics, go to: Ethical Consumer Guide - Laptops or to: Greenpeace - Your guide to green electronics