True Cost of Life

You are an Orange

Do you know who made your clothes?                                                                                                                         Do you know how they were made?                                                                                                                        Do you really know the true cost of what you buy?

You are an orange. Orange is the colour that represents ignorance. By definition  ignorance means the lack of knowledge or information about a certain topic.

Dye industries, product manufacturing and chemical industries are amongst others the most polluting industries in the world today. These industries produce harmful dyes, plastics and garments that end up in the landfill or in the ocean harming sea life.

Fast fashion companies produce new collections of clothing every month or two, to please people like me, and you. These fast fashion companies produce low quality garments, making us buy clothing more frequently. The result of this is 900 million items of clothing being sent to landfill each year in the UK alone. The owner of Inditex Corporation, Amancio Ortega was announced the richest man alive as September 2016, making him the richest criminal alive. How did that come about? Well, the company he owns, Inditex, hires modern day slaves to carry out his work. These modern day slaves earn little to no money, with no access to; food, water or even toilets. Not only is this illegal, but it is also a breach of human rights.

Now, plastic. We throw 275,000 tonnes of it, each year in the UK alone. This is equivalent to 15 million plastic bottles. Not only is this toxic to the human race but also to the environment. But we also have to learn that other materials should also be used with awareness.  Five out of six glass bottles are sent to landfill. Glass will  never decompose, however it is 100% recyclable. Aluminium cans, if all recycled we would end up with 14 million fewer general waste bins. However we don't really do much to help the environment. So what are you waiting for? For the claws of your rubbish to bury you alive away with your consciousness? Pollution cannot be eliminated or reversed. But we can slowly decrease the amount we produce. But if we don't; in the long run, pollution will kill us.

As Terry Swearingen once said "We are living on this planet as if we have another place to go to." This shows the disrespect and ignorance of the human race. Clearly, we all know we don't have another place to go to, but yet we still choose to live a life that harms each and every single thing. Most people would ask; but how do you incorporate change? It is often thought of as a myth that it is tremendously expensive, or that it is really hard. Going zero waste is easier than any of you would have thought. It is not an overnight process, and it does take a bit of time. From going to a plastic water-bottle to a stainless steel reusable bottle. From a plastic toothbrush to a wooden toothbrush.

To conclude this I would just like to send you of with one challenge. This challenge being; be the part in the solution and not the pollution.