organic bamboo clothing

It’s pretty obvious that cotton is the most widely used fabric in the world. In fact, 5% of all the cultivated land in the world is covered in it. If I was a betting woman, I’d say you’re probably wearing some right now.

But did you know that traditional cotton farming poses a huge threat to our environment, and to our health as well?

Did you know that cotton production accounts for 25% of all the pesticides used in the whole world each year?

What’s more, the 5 pesticides most often used on cotton (cyanide, dicofol, naled, porpargite and triluralin) are scientifically known as Category I and II cancer-causing chemicals.

But as most of us known, pesticides don’t just pollute the plant they’re intended to “protect.” They run into the rivers, contaminate the groundwater, and even the air when they’re sprayed with a crop duster (less than 25% of the chemical actually lands on the plant when sprayed from a duster.) When you take into account that 1/3 pound of ferilizer is used for each pound of cotton produced, you have some serious environmental impact.

A few more cotton facts from www.ecochoices.com:

In California, it has become illegal to feed the leaves, stems, and short fibers of cotton known as ‘gin trash’ to livestock, because of the concentrated levels of pesticide residue. Instead, this gin trash is used to make furniture, mattresses, tampons, swabs, and cotton balls. The average American woman will use 11,000 tampons or sanitary pads during her lifetime.

The problems with clothing production don’t stop in the field. During the conversion of conventional cotton into clothing, numerous toxic chemicals are added at each stage— silicone waxes, harsh petroleum scours, softeners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia, and formaldehyde— to name just a few.

Buying organic and living an organic, eco-friendly lifestyle isn’t just about money or trends or rock stars throwing a concert. The choices you and I make every single day with our dollars are just as important as the votes we will cast in 2008. (And God knows those votes are important.)

Every time you buy an organic product, be it a T-shirt or a package of spring mix, you’re making a point - we don’t need to just accept chemicals in our food, clothing, personal products or drinking water. You’re also helping support companies who share your values.

We’re living in a great time of transition. Every day, more and more organic products are becoming available. Organic cotton clothing can now be found in a multitude of places - Nike even has an organic cotton clothing line (although I’m pretty partial to organic bamboo clothing!) Eco-fashion is a fast growing segment of the retail marketplace, and the new alternative, organic fibers hold even more opportunities.

Maybe someday “organic” won’t even be a label… just the way things are. Although I guess that wouldn’t be good for my domain name!