Combating climate change - clothing

[watervole]

Yesterday saw temperature records broken all over Europe.

Scientific certainty on the man-made causes of climate change is now well over 99% .

We are an a very big, heavy ship and it is set on a course that will be very difficult to alter.

All we can say, is that the sooner we start to change that course, the better our chances of not crashing into the hypothetical iceberg.  The later we make changes, the less effective they will be.

Global temperature rises are not being driven by just the CO2 we emit this year, but by that plus ALL THE CO2 WE HAVE EVER EMITTED.

Most people reading this will never see lower temperatures in their lifetimes.  We're fighting for our children and our grandchildren.

Our children, if we're really lucky, will see temperatures stabilise in their lifetime.

Our grandchildren, if, and only if, our generation take action now, may see a reduction in temperature, if someone finds a way to take CO2 out of the atmosphere in large quantities.

Remember that planting trees will only absorb the CO2 emitted by cutting down those trees in the first place.  It will not remove the CO2 from fossil fuels.

So, who's ready for lifestyle changes?

Let's tackle clothing for today:

It's estimated that clothing accounts for 10% of the world's carbon emissions. That's because the production of clothing is very energy intensive and the supply chains are very long, with clothing being shipped all around the globe.

Now add in the environmental cost of washing all those clothes and the plastic fibres released by laundering poly-cotton, nylon, polyester, etc.

Now add in the problem of disposing of all the millions of garments that get thrown away every year - most of it is impossible to recycle and goes straight to landfill.

Can you reduce your own impact?

Why not try and see how long you can go without buying a new (second-hand is allowed) item of clothing?

I'm aiming for a year. The last new item I bought was last August, at Purbeck folk festival.  All I've bought since then is a second-hand pair of trousers, two scarves from a charity shop and a second-hand waistcoat for my sword dance costume.

I have a wardrobe full of clothes.  Apart from the occasional item of underwear, I really have all I need for all round the year for a long time to come.  All I'm expecting to buy in the foreseeable future is a pair of linen trousers - linen being a relatively environmentally friendly fabric and cooler to wear in summer, and I need something to protect my legs from insect bites when I go walking on the heath.

Comments

[kotturinn]

Previously my habit, inherited from my parents (my mother gardened for years in bits of my old school uniform!), of not immediately buying the latest whatever and having clothes that cycled down best -> work -> socialising with friends -> housework and gardening was definitely considered odd. More recently I've been asked about mending and can also report that my nieces are making conscious efforts to live in a more sustainable way.

Shoes (picking up on a comment below) are a problem. Once I used to get replaceable soles and heels put on shoes before I started wearing them. A combination of things stopped that, including the retirement of the good local cobbler. Fortunately I appear to be lighter on shoe wear since retirement!

[watervole]

My kids, bless them, are both really good on the sustainable living front. The eldest has been siphoning water from her bath into her garden and is currently linking up her water butts so that the levels will balance if one gets more rain than the other.

My youngest is furnishing his first house with a lot of second hand stuff (apart from new shelves from IKEA).

[kotturinn]

Ooo ah... what setup does she use? This is something I've thought about but previously the brain has given up reading up. At the moment I have water butts, use rinse water from the washing machine (ecological liquid) on non-edibles and because the bathroom sink takes a while to run hot run the initial cold into a bucket - usually ends up being used for the outside planters and the house plants.

[watervole]

Just a hose pipe to empty the bath. Fill the siphon with water, then hang one end out the window and ensure the other end remains under water. Hey presto.

Even easier solution on bathroom sink. Wash your hands in cold water. That's what I always do.

We've actually turned our hot water off over the summer because we use so little. We just heat a kettle when washing the dishes. Even turned off the gas pilot light (I was surprised how much gas just the pilot light used)

What kind of washing machine do you have? I'm guessing it's a top loader - you couldn't do that with mine.

[kotturinn]

Thanks. I'll take another look at available siphons.

Yup, when it's just hands they get cold water. This is when it's more - I don't need a full shower or bath every day but I do like to wash more than just hands and prefer not-cold water then.

My hot water comes off the roof - there's a gadget that effectively redirects a proportion of the output to the tank and the tank's well lagged so even in the winter I only need a top up from the bolier circuit intermittently. Kitchen sink runs hot quickly so I simply turn the tap on straight into the bowl. The boiler's modern enough that it doesn't have a pilot light and my cooker's gas but pre pilot-light!

The washing machine is a 'half size' automatic. The outflow hose simply tucks into a piece of piping and it's easy to untuck it and run it into bucket(s) instead. Transferring hose between full and empty bucket can lead to some water on the floor but - guess what - yup, that gets used to mop the floor (or cupboards or similar)! I've been doing that since some time in the 1980s when I had an unfurnished rented flat, and therefore my own washing machine, and a back yard to grow things in.

[watervole]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say your hot water comes off the roof.
Do you mean a solar hot water system?

[kotturinn]

No, I just have solar PV panels, hence the need for the gadget to redirect a proportion of output to the water tank.

[watervole]

Ah, got it. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that. I have free panels, so the fitters get the feed in tariff. If I used the extra to heat water, that might not be allowed....

[kotturinn]

Yes, I imagine that might be the case - an acquaintance has a similar arrangement and has a completely separate water heating setup which is owned by them. Works for me as they're my panels and the only restriction is that I can't store (for later). If I were starting from now I'd seriously investigate storage technology as it's come on a lot since I had the panels installed, even if it meant signing away any 'repayment' (which it wouldn't now as there isn't any is there - I should double-check).