WEBVTT

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Consider the classic white t-shirt.

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Annually, we sell and buy
two billion t-shirts globally,

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making it one of the most common
garments in the world.

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But how and where is the average
t-shirt made,

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and what's its environmental impact?

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Clothing items can vary a lot,

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but a typical t-shirt begins its life
on a farm in America, China, or India

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where cotton seeds are sown, irrigated and
grown for the fluffy bolls they produce.

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Self-driving machines carefully harvest
these puffs,

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an industrial cotton gin mechanically
separates the fluffy bolls from the seeds,

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and the cotton lint is pressed 
into 225-kilogram bales.

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The cotton plants require a huge quantity
of water and pesticides.

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2,700 liters of water are needed to produce
the average t-shirt,

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enough to fill more than 30 bathtubs.

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Meanwhile, cotton uses more insecticides
and pesticides

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than any other crop in the world.

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These pollutants can be carcinogenic,

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harm the health of field workers,

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and damage surrounding ecosystems.

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Some t-shirts are made of organic cotton
grown without pesticides and insecticides,

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but organic cotton makes up less than 1%

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of the 22.7 million metric tons 
of cotton produced worldwide.

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Once the cotton bales leave the farm,

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textile mills ship them
to a spinning facility,

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usually in China or India,

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where high-tech machines blend,

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card,

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comb,

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pull,

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stretch,

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and, finally, twist the cotton into
snowy ropes of yarn called slivers.

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Then, yarns are sent to the mill,

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where huge circular knitting machines

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weave them into sheets 
of rough grayish fabric

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treated with heat and chemicals
until they turn soft and white.

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Here, the fabric is dipped into
commercial bleaches and azo dyes,

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which make up the vivid coloring
in about 70% of textiles.

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Unfortunately, some of these contain
cancer-causing cadmium,

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lead,

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chromium,

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and mercury.

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Other harmful compounds and chemicals
can cause widespread contamination

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when released as toxic waste water
in rivers and oceans.

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Technologies are now so advanced
in some countries

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that the entire process of growing
and producing fabric

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barely touches a human hand.

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But only up until this point.

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After the finished cloth 
travels to factories,

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often in Bangladesh, China, India,
or Turkey,

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human labor is still required 
to stitch them up into t-shirts,

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intricate work that 
machines just can't do.

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This process has its own problems.

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Bangladesh, for example,

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which has surpassed China as the world's
biggest exporter of cotton t-shirts,

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employs 4.5 million people
in the t-shirt industry,

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but they typically face poor conditions
and low wages.

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After manufacture, all those t-shirts
travel by ship, train, and truck

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to be sold in high-income countries,

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a process that gives cotton 
an enormous carbon footprint.

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Some countries produce 
their own clothing domestically,

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which cuts out this polluting stage,

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but generally, apparel production accounts
for 10% of global carbon emissions.

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And it's escalating.

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Cheaper garments and the public's
willingness to buy

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boosted global production 
from 1994 to 2014 by 400%

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to around 80 billion garments each year.

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Finally, in a consumer's home,

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the t-shirt goes through one of the most
resource-intensive phases of its lifetime.

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In America, for instance,

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the average household does nearly
400 loads of laundry per year

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each using about 40 gallons of water.

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Washing machines and dryers 
both use energy,

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with dryers requiring five to six times
more than washers.

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This dramatic shift in clothing 
consumption over the last 20 years,

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driven by large corporations
and the trend of fast fashion

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has cost the environment,

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the health of farmers,

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and driven questionable 
human labor practices.

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It's also turned fashion into the second
largest polluter in the world after oil.

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But there are things we can do.

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Consider shopping secondhand.

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Try to look for textiles made from
recycled or organic fabrics.

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Wash clothes less and line dry
to save resources.

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Instead of throwing them away
at the end of their life,

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donate, recycle, or reuse them
as cleaning rags.

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And, finally, you might ask yourself,

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how many t-shirts and articles of clothing
will you consume over your lifetime,

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and what will be their combined 
impact on the world?