The dangers of eco-fads
Source: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/09/fang-26-the-dangers-of-eco-fads
Author: Juliet Fang
The “eco-fad” - a trend toward things that appear more environmentally friendly - has contributed to a greater sense of environmental awareness in the past decade. According to the 2021 Global Sustainability Study by Simon-Kucher & Partners, a consulting company, 63% of consumers have made “modest to significant shifts” towards sustainability in the past five years. But like all fads, the environmental bandwagon has its pitfalls. The trendiness of environmentalism can allow individuals and corporations to disguise, consciously or not, their unsustainable behaviors in greener packaging, ultimately drawing attention away from effective long-term climate solutions. The problem with overproducing these tote bags is that cotton takes a tremendous amount of water to manufacture - globally about 10,000 liters per kilogram of cotton. A 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark found that an organic cotton tote would need to be used as much as 20,000 times to have the same impact as a plastic bag. Disposing of cotton is also complicated, as many bags are branded and painted with materials that are not recyclable or compostable. Only about 15% of the 30 million cotton totes that are produced each year end up in textile depositories for reusing. An excess of cotton tote bags, while superficially planet-conscious, may not be any more environmentally friendly than plastic ones.