What are the environmental impacts of a cotton vs. cotton blend vs. recycled materials T-Shirt?

Thanks!

who cares? Cotton is natural. Cotton blends usually contain man-made materials made from numerous raw materials, from corn and hemp to oil. Recyling is great except that you always get less when you recycle than your starting amount, so you have to replace the materials that are lost through wear and tear and processing. Plus, as the population grows, more material is needed to clothe them and provide other cloth needs (upholstery on furniture and cars, curtains, rugs and carpets, towels for kitchen and bath, etc.

Everything we do impacts the environment. Everything every animal and every plant does impacts the environment. Trees suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, cooling the planet. Ants dig holes in the ground to live, permitting water to trickle down into the soil more easily, reducing natural runoff and erosion. Elephant rip down trees, drop huge piles of excrement, pollute water (and what about hippos who live almost exclusively in the water). All living things “change” the environment. All other living things adjust. That’s why there are millions of living species today and why there have been perhaps a billion species of plants and animals on earth since life began. All forms adapt or die. Many times prior to humans arriving on the scene, species of animals and plants died out because of rapid changes in the environment (volcanoes, floods, erosion, droughts, glaciation, etc.). Those that adapted survived. Those that didn’t, did not.

The trick about “environment” is to make sure that you can still live in it when you’re done modifying it. That means that if you use pesticides to kill bugs that eat the cotton you’re growing for clothing, you’ve got to have the medical knowledge to cure any diseases or cancers that the pesticides may cause later on. Plus we then need to find new pesticides or bug-resistant cotton plants. We also don’t want to kill off all insects, mammals, reptiles, fish, birds, etc. But, we deserve to live, be healthy, well fed and housed just as much as any other creature on the planet. Ideally, everything could live in harmony. But I’ll still kill every termite colony that tries to eat my house. I’ll shoot any bears that go through my garbage or threaten my children. I’ll kill poisonous snakes, stinging insects, carnivorous animals that get too close to MY environment.

Recycle An Old T-Shirt into a Sexy Bikini

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