1000 Flowers for the Planet - #535 Buy Fewer Jeans

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #535 Buy Fewer Jeans

In the U.S.A. over 450 million pairs of jeans are sold annually and the average woman has 6-8 pairs in her wardrobe. Two thirds of the worlds jeans are manufactured in China, where the environment is not given any consideration and pollution is so extreme that in some areas where denim jeans are manufactured they cannot even give their houses away, because nobody wants to live there. Nearly a billion jeans are produced annually. This figure may sound like a dream number for number crunchers wanting to make a profit from the sale of jeans, but their profits come at our huge losses.

·       About 1500 litres of water is used to make one pair of jeans

·       Cotton is one of the thirstiest crops to grow

·       25% of pesticides used worldwide is used in the growth of cotton, making it the most environmentally damaging crop produced

·       indigo dye, used to make jeans ‘blue’, is usually made from coal or oil

·       The chemicals used to give jeans that distressed look are released into waterways where they eat up oxygen, leading to the death of all marine life

·       Pollution is so serious in areas where jean manufacturing occurs that people are suffering dire health concerns, including infertility, rashes and death

In light of these few pieces of information, next time you go to buy a pair of jeans and look at the price tag, add a few people’s lives to the cost, then reconsider whether or not you really need another pair of jeans.