We can combat the loss of diversity with how we produce and how we consume. In the production process, it’s about how we use land, how we protect the species that were living on the land, how we protect the soil, and how we make sure that the species that are living there can cohabitate it with us. In the consuming process, we need to find out where our consumables came from, trying to support local organic markets in your area that are trying their best to be sustainable and to consume less and make educated choices on where you buy your clothes from. 

Authors: Stephanie Feldstein Emma Hakansson Joshua Katcher Unique Vance 

This report’s argument is that wool is not as sustainable as we are led to believe. When we look at the whole lifespan and impact of the life of the sheep, the scouring of the wool, and the waste of the whole process we can clearly see that wool is having a huge negative impact on our climate on a global level. The three biggest concerns to Aotearoa is water pollution, loss of bird life and land clearing. This report is stating that “the climate cost of sheep’s wool is three times greater than acrylic and more than five times greater than conventionally grown cotton.” The runoff water from the sheep’s excrement pollutes the soil and the waterways- this is a huge problem in Aotearoa as most of our waterways such as streams and rivers have been polluted by farming, this impacts all of the local wildlife, the trees, the ph river balance, the fish, the birds and us. “Animal agriculture is a leading cause of water pollution and habitat destruction, which in turn is the leading cause of species extinction.” 

The biggest concern for Aotearoa’s biodiversity is the loss of birdlife caused by the deforestation needed for farm animals. According to this report “In an Australian Parliament published paper, it was reported that many once- common bird species in areas where sheep are known to over-graze are now in decline.” Since our main native animals are birds statistics like this are scary. I am sure that most New Zealanders are aware in the back of their brain that the land used for farming is inhospitable for native species as it lacks the variety of plants, clean soil and shade needed to support them however the severity of the situation is not addressed. Are we just going to wait until it reaches a critical level? When is it time to act? To close down most of our sheep farms and switch them to permaculture forests and biohousing?

Key Quote-

“While the use of materials derived from fossil fuels are cause for serious concern, we should not fall into a false binary of choosing between harmful synthetics and harmful wool production. Furthermore, animal-derived fibers are still reliant on fossil fuels at every stage, including feed production, transportation, slaughter, and processing.”

Source- https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/pdfs/shear_destruction_final_report.pdf

Burning any forest is horrific but burning the Amazon rainforest is especially bad as it supports so much life on earth- counteracting much of human’s CO2 pollution and is home to so many unique animals and plants.

The issues around biodiversity and leather is also relevant to Australia and Aotearoa as “cattle ranching causes a colossal 93% of deforestation in the world-renowned Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef catchments, with cattle grazing the leading cause of habitat destruction across the country. This is devastating to biodiversity and the native animals endangered by this desecration.” Although this statistic is about Australia, our cattle in Aotearoa are surely doing the same to our ocean life. The cattle waste is not processed or cleaned and allowed to flow straight to the sea and rivers. 

Cotton is one of humankind's main sources of textiles. Although it comes from a natural source, the cotton plant, we of course found ways to disrupt its natural flow and enhance the yield. This “disruption” often comes from continually replanting cotton in fields and using fertilizers and pesticides. The replanting of cotton “severely degrades soil quality” and you can exhaust a field from growing cotton over and over in it, so the soil loses all nutrients which takes a long time to recover. This means that more land is slash and burned to grow cotton on meanwhile the land that was ruined from the cotton cannot support life. There are ways around this such as permaculture, not using pesticides, swapping out what plants are being planted in the fields so it’s not always cotton and giving back to the soil with compost, bark and clean water. However many places where cotton is grown do not have the funding to make these changes. Even organic cotton has it’s issues.

The main point of this resource is to point how how exploitative our current approach to resources is- “90% of biodiversity loss globally and 50% of all greenhouse gas emissions are a direct result from our production and consumption” and to raise awareness. 

As a consumer, it can be hard to understand how your t-shirt or bag is causing a loss of biodiversity since where it came from and how it was produced and manufactured is often hidden. You might fall for the greenwashing tactics and labels like “organic” and “fair trade” but how do you know that what you are buying is actually as thought out as you want it to be?

Videos like this are useful for everyday Western consumers to understand the depth and deceit of the fast fashion industry. 

https://www.tencel.com/about

https://planetcare.org/en-int/pages/our-story

It was wise for Whitecliffe to shift the focus of their fashion degree to sustainable fashion however when studying and considering the fashion industry as a whole we see how terrible it is. The cost of looking good is consuming something that takes so much water and land to make, takes so much time to make, might put plastics into the environment or dye runoffs- the cost is too high. Yes in recent years, scientists and leading fashion companies have been using and developing natural fibers that are made ethically and environmentally safe however much of that is still out of reach to me- as a small fashion designer and student and is definitely out of reach to me as a poor consumer. 

I am waiting for these fabrics to become mainstream, for them to become options to me. Until then the best option I have is to not produce and not consume. I am aware that in my degree I will be manufacturing clothing however these are more of a learning process wherein I get to learn how to pattern make and sew to a high standard and then I get to conduct my own research like textiles weaving and spinning and natural dyeing. These are the things that I will carry on with after this degree. I will not try to become another brand out there making clothes as I do not want to add to the already overwhelming amount of textiles we have on earth. I want to instead get fully immersed in my love for the craftmanship of textiles, the history of textiles and preserving ancient ways of producing textiles that were often natural and environmentally positive.