Thunberg calls out climate impact of fashion brands in
Vogue interview
9-8-2021
Greta Thunberg called for a "system change"
in the fashion industry
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has condemned
the fashion industry over its "huge" contribution to climate change,
in a magazine interview.
Ms Thunberg
told Vogue Scandinavia that fashion brands needed to take responsibility for
the environmental impact of their products.
In a tweet,
she accused some companies of "greenwash" ad campaigns designed to
make their clothes appear sustainable.
Vogue
Scandinavia featured Ms Thunberg, 18, on the cover of its first issue.
In the
interview, Mr Thunberg said she last bought a new item of clothing three years
ago and "it was second-hand".
"I
just borrow things from people I know," Ms Thunberg said.
On Sunday she
tweeted a picture of Vogue Scandinavia's front cover, which showed her wearing
an oversized trench coat while petting a horse in a forest.
In the
tweet Ms Thunberg - one of the world's best-known climate campaigners -
criticised "fast fashion that many treat as disposables".
The term
"fast fashion" is used to describe the rapid, low-cost production of
clothing to service demand for seasonal trends.
Calling for
a "system change", Ms Thunberg said fashion could not be mass
produced and consumed "sustainably as the world is shaped today".
The United
Nations says the fashion industry is "widely believed to be the
second-most polluting industry in the world".
It accounts
for more than 20% of wastewater globally, the UN says. About 93bn cubic metres
of water - enough for five million people to survive - is used by the fashion
industry every year.
As for
carbon emissions, the industry is responsible for about 8% of the total
worldwide. That's more than all international flights and shipping combined,
the UN says.
In response
to this, fashion brands have started to take action to reduce their
environmental footprint.
But
environmental campaigners like Ms Thunberg say many of these brands are
promoting solutions that only appear to address the problem.
These
companies are often accused of greenwashing, which is a form of marketing spin
designed to mislead consumers about the environmental merits of a product.
Who is
Greta Thunberg and what are her aims?
Known for
her impassioned speeches, Ms Thunberg has become a figurehead for the global
climate change movement.
Her solo
protest outside Sweden's parliament in 2018 inspired millions of young people
to join her school climate strike campaign, Fridays for Future.
Since then,
she has received Nobel Peace Prize nominations and travelled across the
Atlantic on a yacht to attend a UN climate conference in New York.
Greta Thunberg: ethical fast fashion is ‘pure
greenwashing’
The climate activist says that the last piece of new
clothing she bought was three years ago
Priya Elan
Tue 10 Aug
2021 16.37 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/aug/10/greta-thunberg-ethical-fast-fashion-greenwashing
Climate
activist Greta Thunberg has used an interview with a top style and culture
magazine to call out fast fashion companies for “greenwashing”.
In an
Instagram post to accompany her appearance on the cover of the first issue of
Vogue Scandinavia, Thunberg spoke out about the contradiction between mass
produced fashion and sustainability.
“Many are
making it look as if the fashion industry are starting to take responsibility,
by spending fantasy amounts on campaigns where they portray themselves as
‘sustainable’, ‘ethical’, ‘green’, ‘climate neutral’ and ‘fair’,” Thunberg
wrote. “But let’s be clear: This is almost never anything but pure
greenwashing. You cannot mass produce fashion or consume ‘sustainably’ as the
world is shaped today. That is one of the many reasons why we will need a
system change.”
“The
fashion industry is a huge contributor to the climate-and-ecological
emergency,” she continued, “not to mention its impact on the countless workers
and communities who are being exploited around the world in order for some to
enjoy fast fashion that many treat as disposable(s).”
In her interview
for Vogue Scandinavia, she said: “The last time I bought something new was
three years ago and it was secondhand. I just borrow things from people I
know.”
Thunberg
added that there was a misconception around the attitude of activists.
“This is
some kind of misconception about activists, especially about climate activists
that we are just negative and pessimists and we are just complaining, and we
are trying to spread fear but that’s the exact opposite,” she said. “We are
doing this because we are hopeful, we are hopeful that we will be able to make
the changes necessary.”
The cover
image of the magazine, which shows the activist in a woodland scene petting a
horse, was shot by photographer Alexandrov Klum. Vogue Scandinavia is edited by
Rawdah Mohamed, the first hijab wearing woman of colour editor at a western
fashion magazine.
The
interview was published after the release on Monday of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change report which showed a critical global heating threshold
of 1.5C may be breached far earlier than previously expected, potentially
within a decade.
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