A Rethink of Green
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I have not really studied the matter but have read several articles that claim hemp to be the greenest textile fiber. Not quite comparable to cotton but to linen easily. Nettle (several species) is not too bad either. Then there is the technological way of cellulose fibers that probably would be the greenest but if one tries that Monsanto would assassinate you.
I was led to believe that materials based on such things as flax and cotton are actually very bad environmentally due to the high levels of water usage. However, I have no actual data to make a judgement.
Monoculture grown cotton is pretty bad for the environment, conversely recycled and organically grown cotton is considered one of the most eco friendly natural fibres. The washing of the cotton does involve a lot of water though. Water is something we have a lot of, what we don’t have is a really cheap and efficient way to filter it and reuse it in vast quantities.
My dislike is plastic fibres in ‘wear once’ type clothing, the disposal in the textile bins giving people totally imaginary environmental smug points, and the subsequent mountains of plastic clothing shipped abroad and dumped in the desert. 69,000 tons in the Atacama Desert and visible from space.
Castoffs to catwalk: fashion show shines light on vast Chile clothes dump visible from space
The Atacama desert has become a ‘global sacrifice zone’ of used fast fashion. Activists and designers organised an event to raise awareness of the devastation to the land and local people
www.theguardian.com
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Linen fabric softens with wear. Basically you want tiny tiny wee microfractures in the fibre structures.
So, wear it, wash it, wear it some more
and it'll stop creasing so much.
The late Queen was still using Queen Victoria's table linens....they were rolled not folded. The folds make hard creases that break in the same place and eventually linen tablecloths become napkins....
We made our chemises out of linen, sarks, etc., and we just wore them as nightgowns to soften them up .
Lovely stuff
So, wear it, wash it, wear it some more
and it'll stop creasing so much.The late Queen was still using Queen Victoria's table linens....they were rolled not folded. The folds make hard creases that break in the same place and eventually linen tablecloths become napkins....
We made our chemises out of linen, sarks, etc., and we just wore them as nightgowns to soften them up .
Lovely stuff
Yup, look at lake Aral. or what is left of it. It vanished because of irrigation for cotton. A small part of it still remains and apparently is even slightly enlarging.
The other problem is the amount of pesticides used in the growing, cotton fields are not healthy places.
In the wetter areas of western Europe flax is a good crop, with few issues, but hemp is superb right across the board. It was vilified so badly though that it never recovered well enough to compete.
Cotton is a very short staple fibre and easily worked by machines. Linen and hemp are long staple fibres and lost out in the race for industrialisation. They need to be spun damp, need different machinery, etc., while slave grown and processed cotton was both a lovely crop and cheap to produce.
The reality is, as @TLM says, that cotton is horrendously thirsty and polluting.
Lot of bamboo coming up in fabrics these days though, but it's really just a rayon type crop, with the cellulose being broken out with enzymes.....not quite as green as the hype and advertising would lead one to believe.
Cotton is a very short staple fibre and easily worked by machines. Linen and hemp are long staple fibres and lost out in the race for industrialisation. They need to be spun damp, need different machinery, etc., while slave grown and processed cotton was both a lovely crop and cheap to produce.
The reality is, as @TLM says, that cotton is horrendously thirsty and polluting.
Lot of bamboo coming up in fabrics these days though, but it's really just a rayon type crop, with the cellulose being broken out with enzymes.....not quite as green as the hype and advertising would lead one to believe.
Rayon and viscose the same material. There are several ways to regenerate cellulose to fibers and the best of them are closed processes. Some of these can use old T shirts as partial material feed.
Guys, I think you are getting it all wrong.
I am not suggesting consuming more; I am suggesting consuming less.
(And I think we agree that poor quality clothing is neither luxury or progressive...and most is poor quality now).
I do my clothes shop at the local Thrift shop. Fill a bag for £5.
(Scottish lambswool scarf, North Face shorts, Rab trousers, half a dozen decent cotton T Shirts, linen shirt, and summat with the label still on...)
I wear stuff until its ragged. (and some has a further use as nightwear, or its torn up and donated to the local garage as rag. Saves him buying that blue paper and keeps him amiable).
I have too many clothes.
I regard clothing the same way I regard books. Get something that I will use more than once.
I am not suggesting consuming more; I am suggesting consuming less.
(And I think we agree that poor quality clothing is neither luxury or progressive...and most is poor quality now).
I do my clothes shop at the local Thrift shop. Fill a bag for £5.
(Scottish lambswool scarf, North Face shorts, Rab trousers, half a dozen decent cotton T Shirts, linen shirt, and summat with the label still on...)
I wear stuff until its ragged. (and some has a further use as nightwear, or its torn up and donated to the local garage as rag. Saves him buying that blue paper and keeps him amiable).
I have too many clothes.
I regard clothing the same way I regard books. Get something that I will use more than once.
Honestly, with the exception of outdoor kit and the odd sports team related item, I shop from the grandad's range at Tesco these days and again, being totally honest, that isn't going to change.
Picked up an IKEA package today. I ordered 8 AAA rechargeable batteries. You know, less waste etc.
They arrived in a 45x45x10cm cardboard box! Unbelievable, I thought Amazon were bad, but I unwrapped these in the Co-op saying I didn’t want to carry the box home in the rain and both the cashiers and a customer were shocked to the point of wanting to take photographs.
For scale.
They arrived in a 45x45x10cm cardboard box! Unbelievable, I thought Amazon were bad, but I unwrapped these in the Co-op saying I didn’t want to carry the box home in the rain and both the cashiers and a customer were shocked to the point of wanting to take photographs.
For scale.
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It might be a good idea to remove as much packaging as makes sense at the point of sale and make the seller deal with it.
I’m not sure that it would be sufficiently adopted to be significant. Few of us like “making a fuss”.
I’m not sure that it would be sufficiently adopted to be significant. Few of us like “making a fuss”.
Today I had a realy great charity shop find, something I always dreamed of, but could never justify spending the required cash on.
A brand new, still boxed pure silk pillow case. Only £4.!!!!
Now I didn't need it, but I'm trying to make all my bedding natural fibres, so I figured it was a great buy. I know I'll get a lot of use from it, and who doesn't need a treat to cheer oneself up with what's going on nowadays.?
A bit of luxury doesn't hurt now and then.
Also found some winter shoes, my last pair were worn untill the soles disintegrated.!
I have piles of gardening magazines that I no longer want, and used to donate to the surgery, they no longer want them, dont want to just throw them away, so rather than do that, I've taken them to the local community centre for the oap's to read.(..oops, just realised I'm a month into that category now, it's kinda hard to get used to the idea.)
I know they also have an art class, so I suggested they could make collages or birthday cards etc with them when they finished looking at them. The idea seemed to go down well, so hopefully they will get more use than just a read. Maybe even sell cards at the Xmas fair to raise money.
For me, it's good practice to try and find more than one use for something before I throw it out if I can.
A brand new, still boxed pure silk pillow case. Only £4.!!!!
Now I didn't need it, but I'm trying to make all my bedding natural fibres, so I figured it was a great buy. I know I'll get a lot of use from it, and who doesn't need a treat to cheer oneself up with what's going on nowadays.?
A bit of luxury doesn't hurt now and then.
Also found some winter shoes, my last pair were worn untill the soles disintegrated.!
I have piles of gardening magazines that I no longer want, and used to donate to the surgery, they no longer want them, dont want to just throw them away, so rather than do that, I've taken them to the local community centre for the oap's to read.(..oops, just realised I'm a month into that category now, it's kinda hard to get used to the idea.)
I know they also have an art class, so I suggested they could make collages or birthday cards etc with them when they finished looking at them. The idea seemed to go down well, so hopefully they will get more use than just a read. Maybe even sell cards at the Xmas fair to raise money.
For me, it's good practice to try and find more than one use for something before I throw it out if I can.
I used to take all the plastic wrapping off my veg at my local co op, and ask the cashier to "deal with it please" i encouraged my friends to do the same, and others caught on to it, they now have a bin situated in the store for that sort of plastic wrapping waste, so it no longer goes in my general waste bin.
I just wish there was no need for such a bin at all. Small actions can snowball.
There would not be a picogramme of concern given. You'd either have paid already or been a thief/vandal for which they're amply covered. Only people you'll annoy is other consumers.
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That’s exactly what I did, it was a big box and I walked into town with the dog in the rain, no way I was carrying it back. I walked back with 2 packs of AAAs in a trouser pocket. We have a superb hardware shop, if they stocked a decent NiMh battery for the same price I’d have shopped there.
The seller was IKEA and the delivery was DHL, and I can assure you, nobody in the Co-op is going to be so bothered as to take it up with them. They have loads of cardboard and big bins, they get paid naff all, but they shouldn’t have to deal with it any more than I should.
Here is a fact you should consider. AI uses about 30% more energy than the normal Internet. (Which we all know uses massive amounts)That includes chat gbt.
Listening to a radio 4 digitel tech item as I type this. At 9 17am if you want to know more. You can probably find it on catch up if you want to listen. It's fascinating.
Listening to a radio 4 digitel tech item as I type this. At 9 17am if you want to know more. You can probably find it on catch up if you want to listen. It's fascinating.
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