Week 44

Last week I visited my cousins,who declared that they were enjoying my blog but mentioned that it was quite political, which set me thinking. I had aimed to write about environmental issues alongside issues about the use of sweat shops . Are Richard Attenborough and Greta Thunberg being political when they talk on environmental issues and of course the answer is yes. Unlike Greta Thunberg, Attenborough doesn’t mention political change but we all know environmental issues are totally bound to politics hence the climate summits attended by political big wigs.. Lily Cole the model and environmentalist has just written her book on political and environmental issues “ Who dares wins.”.A podcast accompanies the book and is well worth dipping into .

“Can you afford to be green if you’re not rich” recorded on the 10 th September poses important issues for us all to think about. It reminds us that the heads of large fashion companies are millionaires employing poor workers in sweat shops. It suggests that large companies purport to be making effort to use more environmentally friendly materials but are reluctant to stop producing the huge bulk of clothing which continues to contribute to the clothes mountains which take years to degrade. It also suggests that there is an element of subconscious colonialism in the west’s attitude, in that if workers in 3 rd world countries receive a reasonable salary and are treated with some dignity it’s okay for huge profits to be made as they are earning enough rather than raising their standard of living by paying even more. They might then start questioning, whereas if they earn just enough if it’s okay.

Will Covid change attitudes, a little I suspect but not enough. It will certainly stop us buying especially now the shops are shutting . To me the joy of shopping is not online but the occasion itself. But I don’t think the younger generation get that. Anyway a seismic shift is the only way our clothing buying habits in the west will change . The longer Covid goes on the more hope there is of change. And if one is to get political the longer governments don’t cope with Covid well the more likely the public will be asking for change , as Greta Thunberg declares needs to happen. Watch this space.