Here in New York City, the Saturday after Earth day is known as Car Free Saturday, where the city closed Broadway between Times Square and Union Square and pedestrians and bikes are the only ones allowed to use it. This year, it was a gorgeous day – slightly windy with a high of sixty keeping anyone from overheating. The event was a win – the street was full of citizens speaking to volunteers in pop up tents about what they can do to decrease their carbon footprint. Citi Bike even had an event giving away day passes to those who were interested in the bike share program.
After receiving a day pass, Alexander and I decided to pop over to Prospect Park to bike around and check out the flowers, which had decided to bloom. After riding around for a bit, we left through the farmers market, and stumbled upon the image you see below: garbage bags FULL of textile waste. After further researching, we discovered that this pile pops up every Saturday, as well as others all over the city.
At Prospect Park NW
While it is extremely considerate that NYC offers such a program to the public (here is the link to other locations in the city), seeing this brought a few points to my mind.
The Greenmarket Clothing Collection Program states that the average New Yorker disposed of 46 pounds of textile waste a year. Just for comparison, thats around 46 pairs of jeans, or 138 tee shirts. Fast fashion has completely wrecked the life cycle of any garment and has warped our sense of how to consume products. It is now standard to buy what you WANT, not what your NEED. Normally I am for self indulgence, as it helps fuel jobs and local / overseas economies. However, I will not support any kind of action that hinders our environment, and it is clear that the fashion industry has grown it’s stake in global gas emissions to 10%. But with more people becoming aware of this fact, what are they to do while emptying their closets?
It’s easy: stop buying new. If you are going to be donating clothing to programs like this, or you are dumping off carloads at the thrift store, you need to also shop at that same location. Without customers, a thrift store becomes nothing more than an organized dump. In order to reduce our damage, it’s really our only option.
Think sustainably-
Lou
J Louise Hoggan 