Fashion Fix Friday
Since the big IPCC report came out last October warning us of the urgency for action against climate change, I have spent many hours anxiously pondering how I can help. Somehow at that point, after many years of passively agreeing that global warming was a problem - and one caused by humans - I finally felt the weight of it, the sense of responsibility and the necessity to act now.
With this new personal sense of urgency has sometimes come panic and despair. I have found myself emotional, fearful that I won't be able to achieve enough, and as a result I have done very little. I look at big companies and governments who either don't care or flat-out deny climate change and it makes me feel helpless. But I think many of us feel like this, and we need to shake it off. Our first focus must be on the one thing we have full control over. Ourselves. What can I do? What am I willing to do?
Having read about the changes we can make as individuals, Tom and I immediately cut down our meat intake. The idea of being officially vegetarian still seems intimidating, but opting for veggie dinners three or four times a week has actually been incredibly easy. And cheaper. And it has been heartening to discover that friends of ours have done the same. It has been fun to share recipes. It has been a relief to talk about our concerns and our actions and find ourselves united. A month after making this change, we read that UK supermarket meat sales had dropped by 30% in the last year. It felt empowering to be part of a movement.
Small actions taken by many individuals lead to significant changes. Sure, we haven't done anything radical. We haven't done enough. But in our classically awkward British way, we have each tentatively, politely poked a finger in the air and said "Erm, excuse me, I don't know about everyone else - but I do trust in and care about the findings of the climate scientists, and I am open to making changes to my lifestyle. (Sorry, I hope I haven't offended anyone.)" Collectively, that message has been carried through the media, to tell our government - the people who can change our culture - that this nation cares.
Aside from my meat reduction, I haven't done much yet. I've taken a course on the science of climate change on FutureLearn to help me understand the issues and communicate more confidently. I've vaguely been thinking about driving less and saving energy around the house. But I have been stalling. I've felt like I need to come up with something amazing, a solution that will fix everything, and I can't - obviously I can't! I'm one person. No matter what changes I make personally, they are negligible on a global scale. I need everyone else to take action too.
But who I am to tell others what
to do? I am scared of being a preacher. I am reluctant to pass my guilt on to
others. I feel like a hypocrite, with my long-haul flights to New Zealand over
Christmas, my frequent driving, my unwillingness to give up meat entirely. There are other people who have made much bigger
sacrifices than me, and people who understand much more about the science than
me.
But that doesn’t mean I should be
voiceless. This isn't about judging each other for what we have or haven't done. We
need to support and encourage and inspire each other in the actions we take, even if they are only small. We have to be willing to talk if we want to help bring about change.
So here I am.
When I found out that the fashion industry is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, waste and micro-plastics, I congratulated myself on having barely bought a single item of clothing in the last three years. But the truth is, I haven't stopped buying clothes because I've been eco-conscious. I've stopped because 1) I can't really afford it anymore and 2) I simply get no joy out of buying clothes now that I can make them.
And then I found out that the fabric I buy to make my clothes goes through all of the same carbon-emitting processes as the fabric used in large-scale clothing manufacture. Which I guess is pretty obvious really. Looking at the mounds of fabric in my sewing room, I realise I shouldn't be congratulating myself on rejecting high street fashion. This stuff doesn't even get worn! It just sits about in my cupboards, hoping to one day be turned into clothes. I also have masses of shop-bought clothes that haven't seen the light of day for years, packed in cardboard boxes, for - I don't even know what.... Just in case. And of course, there's that pile of clothes that I have planned to repair for the last year that always gets pushed to the back of the sewing queue.
So I have a new mission. I might not be willing to stop driving, or give up cheese. But I can certainly look at reducing the waste and increasing the longevity of my clothes. I can donate things to charity shops, recycle, repair and alter, and be disciplined in working my way through my hoard of untouched fabric. I'm going to give myself a project each week - from simple tasks of resewing a button or lining, to more creative challenges like updating or refitting a decade-old dress and the "from-scratch" endeavours using the fabrics I bought on a whim because I liked the texture or the print or the price.
I will share these projects with you every Friday as what I'm dubbing #FashionFixFriday. And if anyone fancies joining in at any point, you would be so very welcome!
