The Two Sides of Cotton

Ah, cotton.  Cottony soft.  Natural fiber.  Peter Cottontail.  Go ahead and continue with your own free association...

So much beauty and comfort starts with this marshmallow-shaped fiber.

Have you seen the cotton industry's television ad campaign, The Fabric of Our Lives  ®?    The first ad featured Zooey Deschanel.  Go ahead and watch it.  Now watch Camilla Belle's ad.  Don't they make you feel good?  Upbeat and dreamy songs, closets full of beautiful clothes made from cotton, happy and healthy young people.  What could be better?

The other side of cotton is a little different...

 

Cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world.  

The chemicals used on non-organic cotton are among the most toxic of those classified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cotton farming uses only 3% of the world's farmland, but 25% of the world's chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

250,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last 16 years as a result of genetically engineered cotton.  How can this be possible?  In 1998, the World Bank's policies forced India to open its seed sector to agribusiness behemoths providing genetically engineered (GE) seeds.  Monsanto promised high yields and low costs.  Who could resist? 

A New Delhi-based research institute found that the costs have increased greatly.  The GE seeds cost four times as much as the farm-saved seeds and must be purchased every season.  Monsanto charges an $80 "technology fee" for every 2.6 acres of crops, a huge burden in a country with an average annual per capita income of only $450. 

Conventional cotton crops, unlike GE cotton, make do with normal rainfall and cow dung.  GE seeds contain a toxin that kills boll weevils, but they're not resistant to other pests.  So farmers still need to buy expensive fertilizers and pesticides.  According to their suppliers, GE seeds have no mechanism to increase yields.  And worst of all, farmers who turned to GE seeds found their conventional seeds had virtually disappeared.

All of this led to severe indebtedness, compounded by moneylenders charging exorbitant fees.  Some farmers resort to selling their organs.  Many farmers commit suicide, often by drinking the pesticides they're forced to use on their GE crops.

Fortunately, some areas of India are fighting back.   

What can we do to help?  Buy organic.  Organic fabric is grown in a manner that has a low impact on the environment and that supports biological diversity.   

Organic fabric is pretty!!!  There are many gorgeous lines of organic cotton...

This is organic cotton made by monaluna that I bought from The Sewcial Lounge.

Another organic cotton, not sure of the manufacturer.  Also from The Sewcial Lounge, it was on one of the six-foot tall rolls in a barrel on the right side of the store.

This line of organic cotton, purchased at The Sewcial Lounge, is Commute by Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabrics.  The prints have a slightly muted quality that is restful.

And now you know about the two sides of cotton!!!

Have fun finding your own sources of organic cotton.  Whether they're local or online, they're all good.  For each yard of organic fabric you buy, you prevent 1/3 of a pound of toxic fertilizers and pesticides from being used.