I suppose the 'baggage' that the word 'environmental' now carries is
part of why I prefer the term 'sustainable'. At any rate, to me,
sustainable is a slightly different worldview.
In my view, part of sustainable is whether something takes more energy
in making *and* using than it saves (another aspect would be a minimum
of chemical inputs to get the product desired, and a minimum of energy
in the form of transportation). That energy use should include future
as well as past (getting/raising the fiber) and present (using the
fiber) costs. What will wool do in a landfill, vs polyester, for
example? How fast is wool likely to end up in a landfull, vs other
fibers? What about cleaning? How many times is a cotton/poly shirt
washed vs a wool sweater, and what impact does that have? (And before
someone points out drycleaning, my response to that is 'make it yourself
from wool' and then you won't have to dryclean--and before the other
person says something about summer heat and wool, let's remember wool
insulates from heat as well as from cold--for the rest, buy linen :)
Raising sheep and making wool products is very easy to do sustainably.
Making nylon, probably not. Making tencel, soysilk, and the like--well,
I don't know a lot about the processes involved, but I have a very hard
time believing it's more sustainable than wool textile production when
the *true* costs are counted.
I strongly suspect that if it's something a person can produce at home
(even if with some difficulty, like silk), it's probably more
sustainable than something which *requires* a factory at some stage.
Yes, it's possible to do things at home in a non-sustainable way, but
not as likely, and it's a lot easier to become aware of the issues and
change the way the thing is done, than a factory.
And no, I don't think we need to go back to raising all the flax and
wool to clothe ourselves and our families again. But keeping in mind
the principle of 'what can the Earth bear?', we're more likely to make
wiser choices when buying textiles and other products, and ultimately
make our households more sustainable, and that in turn might have a
ripple effect.
Holly
non-certified organic sustainable producer of wool, lamb, goat milk,
pork, eggs, and most of the vegetables our family eats...still working
on the fruits :)
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