03231 Clothing and Laundry

We estimate that 8% of households line-dry their laundry during 5 months of the year. If all Americans who currently do not use a clothesline started to use one for ten months of the year, we could avoid 12 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, annually. — Project Laundry List

I discuss clothing in the Energy section for the same reasons as Stuff. All clothing embodies energy in its manufacture and distribution.

The garment industry is not known as the epitome of justice in the workplace. Sweatshops are ubiquitous both in the United States and abroad.

That problem at least is well known.

Most people don't know, however, that the price of wrinkle-free clothing includes generous portions of formaldehyde.

Sure, the manufacturers say this is safe. Everybody in business and industry claims that all the chemicals and additives and etc. are safe. What's really going on, however, is a long-term experiment on the effects of exposing human beings to large doses of concentrated toxic substances. One has to wonder if the on-going surge in cancer, which is at epidemic stages everywhere, has something to do with the stew of chemicals we swim in every moment of every day.

Charities receive so many donated items of clothing that they bale it and sell it by the pound for export to third world countries. So much clothing goes to the third world that our exports have destroyed most indigenous clothing manufacturing. It is somewhat ironic that people in third world countries work for cheap wages to sew clothing for the markets of the developed world and the only way they can afford the clothing they make is when it comes back to them as used garments shipped from overseas. A t-shirt first goes to the United States. Someone buys it, wears it, and eventually donates it to charity. The charities sell it to corporations who ship most of those donations to the third world. It’s a well traveled t-shirt by the time it gets to Africa.

Approximately 23.8 billion pounds of clothing and textiles end up in U.S. landfills each year.

Buying new clothing drives this process.

Permaculture design shows the way to a better way of living.

First, we would empower the people in low income countries, who presently work to sew clothing for high income countries, to take control of their own circumstances. If they want to work as factory workers, they should do so as the owners of the factory, such as the worker-owners of the Mondragon enterprises of Spain discussed in the chapter on Cooperatives.

Next, we would help people in the high money income countries understand that clothes do not make the man or the woman. The idea that “clothes make the man” or “clothes make the woman” is cheap advertising propaganda that has been repeated so often that we believe as though it was revealed by God. So, as with all things related to energy, we want to use less energy and in this context, that means "buy fewer garments."

Third, we want to empower local people to produce for their local markets, everywhere. I would rather own fewer shirts, but have them well made in my own city, than to have more shirts, cheaply made, by anonymous workers elsewhere.

Several years ago, I paid a local person to make me some shirts. I bought the fabric, gave it to her, and paid her a fee per shirt. Those shirts looked better for longer than any shirt I have ever bought commercially. Sure, they weren't as cheap as off-the-rack-big-box-store shirts. But I didn’t have to buy them every year like I do with the big box store shirts, which rarely are wearable past a year.

We begin this important transition by stepping away from buying new clothes. Shop the aftermarket for clothing. It’s the trendy thing to do among many young people already.

If you do buy new clothing, look for the union label or a fair-trade/anti-sweatshop brand mark. Don’t subsidize exploitation.

The Dangers of Dry Cleaning.

85% of the dry cleaners in the United States use perchloroethylene as a solvent for dry cleaning. Prolonged perc exposure has been linked to cancer as well as liver and kidney problems. The most common method of bodily contamination is inhalation. This is an issue, not just for people who work in dry cleaners, but for people who bring their clothes home from the dry cleaner. If you’ve ever whiffed a faint chemical odor on your dry cleaned clothes, that’s you inhaling perchloroethylene. Nursing mothers exposed to perc may pass it on through their milk to their babies. Perc is a hazard at every step of its product cycle — production, use, disposal.

There are non-toxic alternatives.

The first and best is to minimize your use of dry-clean-only garments.

The next-easiest alternative is to hand wash your “dry clean only” items and either iron them yourself or take them somewhere to be pressed. Don’t wash them in a washer, gently hand wash them in a basin. Find more information about washing wool, rayon, and silk at http://www.care2.com/greenliving/wet-clean-wool-silk-and-rayon.html.

If you’re not the do-it-yourself type, look for a cleaner that offers “professional wet cleaning” or “CO2 cleaning.” These are both non-toxic methods of cleaning “dry clean only” clothing.

Laundry Day

The general energy-saving method of laundry is to use cold water to wash. Don't do small loads. Only wash a full load. If you have less than that, do it by hand.

Instead of using the dryer, air dry your clothes outside on a line. Get some racks to use for indoor clothes drying when its raining or too cold outside, or put clothing on hangers to dry.

If you go to a laundromat, there might be a sign that says "Free Drying." Don't believe it. The prices to wash at such laundromats are always higher than they are at the laundromats where customers pay for drying. At a commercial laundromat, the customer pays to wash and the customer pays to dry. That may be one transaction instead of two, but there is no such thing as a free dryer in a laundromat.

A better choice is to wash the clothes at the laundry and bring them home and hang them on the line to dry.

Cotton production accounts for 2.4% of total arable land yet accounts for 11% of global pesticide use and 25% of global insecticide use. You can reduce the full life cycle climate change impact of your jeans by up to 50 percent by line drying and washing them in cold water.

In many areas, artisan producers make and distribute laundry detergents that are gentler on the planet. If something like this is not available in your area, go the extra mile to buy an environmentally-safe laundry detergent. Beware of the fake fragrances often packaged with laundry detergent.

For information on line drying laundry on campus, see —

http://www.laundrylist.org/pdf/Hanging%20It%20Out%20On%20Campus%20-%20A%20Guide.pdf

Ten reasons to line dry your clothes.

From Project Laundry List — http://www.laundrylist.org/en/line-drying

  1. Save money: You can save more than $25/month off the monthly electric bill for many households.
  1. Clothes last longer: Where do you think lint comes from?
  1. Pleasant Scent: Clothes and linens smell better without adding possibly toxic chemicals to your body and the environment. Yankee Candle thinks so, too...
  1. Saves Energy, Preserves Environment, Reduces Pollution: Conserve energy and the environment, while reducing climate change. Learn how!
  1. Healthy Work: It is moderate physical activity which you can do in or outside. You can even lose weight!
  1. Get the Sunshine Treatment: Sunlight bleaches and disinfects.
  1. Replace another appliance: Indoor racks can humidify in dry winter weather.
  1. Avoid a Fire: Clothes dryer and washing machine fires account for about 17,700 structure fires, 15 deaths, and 360 injuries annually. The yearly national fire loss for clothes dryer fires in structures is estimated at $194 million.
  1. It is fun! And can be an outdoor experience that is meditative and community-building. It may help you avoid depression.
  1. It is truly patriotic! Demonstrates that small steps can make a difference. You don't have to wait for the government to take action!