Organicneedle Challange…One That Let’s You Shop & Celebrate Earth Month
Did you know that for every pound of conventional cotton you have in your house, 1/3 of a pound of chemicals was dumped into the earth to produce it? Cotton production is linked to 20,000 annual deaths plus a bizarrely high suicide rate among its workers. While reducing consumerism is great, it is also really important to support those farmers and manufacturers who are fighting the brave fight and producing cotton without chemicals in a sustainable way that prevents the destruction of the soil and everything and everyone else around it.
For those of you not joining all the NO BUY fun….here is a little challenge that will still allow you to get the things you need and will be supporting a crucial change in how fabrics are produced. My challenge? The next cotton purchase you make…make it organic. Now this can be for your wardrobe, your linen closet, or anything else.
If you can sew….and I know some of you can so don’t look away….use organic fabric for your next project. Organiccotton.plus has some good choices. Nearseanaturals is a little pricier but has an amazing selection.
For those of you on the the complete ban, you can live vicariously through me this month as I try to actually create an organic spring/summer wardrobe that won’t embarrass my family…too much. (Why yes…that is my mama wearing the hemp bikini with organic yarn tassels. Please adopt me.)
****Bonus challenge for all of you math ge……gems. Gather all of your cotton and weigh it. That includes clothes, towels, sheets, curtains, etc. Since I am a benevolent challenger I will not require you to strip the upholstery off of your couch. (My guess would be about 5 pounds per couch on the safe side.) Take your number and divide by a third. That is how many pounds of chemicals were used to produce your cotton. You know you can’t resist burban. I can hear you calculating already. And Beth…aren’t you an accountant? No excuses for sloppy math!****
Oy vey. I shudder to even THINK about this one! First off, it would force me to hop on a scale, which I avoid at all possible costs. Secondly… let’s not forget that I have a sewing room…. with approximately 50 BOLTS of fabric. That right there’s gotta weigh, what… at LEAST 250 pounds.
BUT, I give myself bonus points for owning so many USED articles of clothing, draperies and blankets. Someone else can be penalized for those pesticides, I simply rescued the items from certain death in a landfill….
AMAZING challenge. Totally not up to it. Work just won’t allow it
But I’ll promise you this. The next non-work related fabric item I buy new (sometime in May, right?) WILL be organic. Is good?
Very good. Yes…it is one of those challenges that is hopefully so overwhelming even in thought…it kinda gives you the idea of the enormity of the problem without actually having to do the work and math.
I have to echo Erin’s comments. Great challenge. No way am I doing it. But thank you for bringing this issue to the front of my brain!
Beth