Yesterday, I walked my kids down to Goodale Park here in Columbus, where an “Earth Day” celebration was going on. There were a lot of nifty booths and tents with information about local sustainability projects going on, like the Free Geek Columbus project that rescues computers from the dump, rebuilds them, gives them to non-profits, and provides an opportunity for low-income volunteers to get their own rebuilt computer gear in exchange for time spent rebuilding computers for others. That is one freaking awesome idea. (Apparently Portland, Oregon also has its own Free Geek thing going on, too.)
Then there was Clintonville Outfitters, which had a series of its “sustainable” shirts on display, including soy shirts that are apparently “sustainable” because there’s some recycling of old shirts as well as the use of the soy plant, which is better for the earth than the cotton plant because…
… okay, I don’t know why using soy plants is better for the earth than using cotton plants, to tell you the truth. I didn’t get that far, because I noticed that the really stylish soy shirts on display by Clintonville Outfitters were made in China. That busted the whole “sustainable” shirt thing for me right there. I mean, heck, the exploitative factory system in China isn’t sustainable at all for the factory workers who are getting paid menial wages so the factory owners in Shanghai can get rich. But ignoring human rights, it’s just nutty to claim that a soy shirt carted all the way across the immense Pacific Ocean on a freighter guzzling oil and belching greenhouse gases is sustainable. Heck, you could probably make your shirt out of COAL TAR closer to home and pollute the globe less. Pretty shirts? Yes. Sustainable shirts? No.
For one, its not good to assume that an entire continent and all its workforce and all its people are involved in business operations that neglect any attempts at human wellbeing. Especially if it is in the area of more ethically minded fabrics, of which soy is one.
It is sustainable because it is entirely recycled (a bit of research on the web would have told you this) from the dregs of the soybean industry… so, soybean oil and the husks of soybeans are processed (with chemicals, but in a closed loop system) to create a fabric out of the soybean proteins… and because it is using ‘waste’ materials, the only footprint is in its processing and shipping… not in the growing and harvesting (which would in any case precede processing and shipping)
Josh, when that continent has been demonstrated to be rife with abuse of workers, including slavery, child labor, prison labor, and unlivable wages, and a business then has its shirts manufactured there in order to save money, it’s not sustainable to argue that those shirts should be given the benefit of the doubt.
Slavery could be conducted in an environmentally responsible, organic way, but that doesn’t mean I would support it.