text
stringlengths 0
10.6k
|
|---|
Women's rugby sevens has also been added to several regional multi-sport tournaments, including the Pan American Games in 2015 and the Commonwealth Games in 2018. |
= = = Baker High School (Oregon) = = = |
Baker High School (BHS) is a public high school in Baker City, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Baker School District 5J. |
In 1889, Baker City built a school housing 12 grades, the second public high school in Oregon. In 1989, the school was mostly destroyed in a fire, although no one was hurt. A new building was completed in 1991. |
The boys' basketball team won the 4A State Championship in 2007. The varsity football team won state championships in 2010 and 2012. |
Bel Canto Choir received first place in the State Choir Championship 3A and 4A in 2006, 2007, and 2008. |
= = = Jovica Elezović = = = |
Jovica Elezović (, born March 2, 1956 in Vrbas) is a former Yugoslav handball player who competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics and in the 1984 Summer Olympics. |
In 1980 he was a member of the Yugoslav handball team which finished sixth. He played four matches and scored five goals. |
Four years later he was part of the Yugoslav team which won the gold medal. He played all six matches and scored ten goals. |
= = = Dk4 = = = |
dk4 is a Danish television channel operated by Tritel. |
The channel was launched in 1993. It got a lot of attention from several politicians, because it had live transmissions of the debates in the Folketing. |
From 2004-2006 it had a sister channel 4Sport, but because of hard competition it closed again. |
Today the channel shows old Danish movies from the 1930s and 1940s, speedway, basketball and programs about camping. 60% of the Danish population can see the channel. |
Former Minister of Health Torben Lund is the director of the channel. |
= = = Michael Whelan (poet) = = = |
Michael Whelan, "the Poet of Renous", was born in 1858 in Renous, New Brunswick. He worked as a school teacher, and as a book-keeper for a local mill. He is, however, best known for his poetry celebrating the Miramichi, including the famous Dungarvon Whooper. He died at Chatham, New Brunswick (now Miramichi, New Brunswick) in 1937. |
= = = TRAMP complex = = = |
TRAMP complex (Trf4/Air2/Mtr4p Polyadenylation complex) is a multiprotein, heterotrimeric complex having distributive polyadenylation activity and identifies wide varieties of RNAs produced by polymerases.It was originally discovered in "Saccharomyces" "cerevisiae" by LaCava et al., Vanacova et al. and Wyers et al. in 2005. |
It interacts with the exosome complex in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells and is involved in the 3' end processing and degradation of ribosomal RNA and snoRNAs. The TRAMP complex trims the poly(A) tails of RNAs destined for Rrp6 and the core exosome down to 4-5 adenosines assisting in transcript recognition and exosome complex activation. The substrate specificity of exosomes is improved in the presence of TRAMP complex as it acts as a crucial cofactor and helps in maintaining various activities. |
In this way, TRAMP plays a critical role in ridding the cell of noncoding transcripts generated through pervasive RNA polymerase II transcription, as well as functioning in the biogenesis and turnover of functional coding and noncoding RNAs. |
TRAMP complex also affects various other RNA processes either directly or indirectly. It is involved in RNA export, Splicing, hetero-chromatic gene silencing and helps in maintaining stability of genome. |
Pol(A) Polymerases showed various genetic interactions with DNA Topoisomerases Top1p and hence they were called topoisomerase-related function Trf4p and Trf5p due to this interaction with DNA it has an important part in genomic stability. In the cell Trf4p is in higher concentration as compared to Trf5p and also has a stronger effect on the phenotype. Trf4p is present throughout the nucleus while Trf5p is mainly found mainly in nucleolus. The Trf4p structure consists of a central domain and a catalytic domain which is similar to the structure of canonical polymerases. |
The non-canonical Poly(A) polymerases (Trf4p or Trf5p) of the TRAMP complex which belong to the Cid1 family do not contain RNA recognition motif (RRM) therefore additional proteins like Air1/Air2 are required by the non-canonical polymerases for polyadenylation. |
The zinc knuckle proteins Air1p/Air2p (Arginine methyltransferase-interacting RING-finger protein) are mainly involved in the binding of RNAs. There are five CCHC (C stands for Cysteine and H stands for Histidine) zinc knuckle motifs which are present in between the C and N terminals. |
In Air2p proteins, the fourth and fifth zinc knuckle have different roles. The fourth zinc knuckle have a role in RNA binding while the fifth knuckle is important for protein-protein interactions. Air2p interacts with the central domain of Trf4p and polyadenylation activity of Trf4p is dependent on this interaction as deletion or mutation of the knuckles hinders the polyadenylation activity. Air1p is responsible for inhibiting methylation of Npl3p (a protein which is responsible mRNA export). Air1p/Air2p also direct abnormal mRNPs to TRAMP pathway and bring about their degradation. |
The Ski2 like helicase Mtr4p was discovered during the screening of heat resistant mutants that gather Poly(A) RNA in the nucleus and is mainly involved in unwinding activity. Mtr4p (also called as Dob1p) is an SF2 helicase and belongs to DExH-box RNA helicases family consisting of two RecA like domains. It also consists of WH domain (Winged Helix domain), an Arch domain (also called as stalk and KOW domain [Kyprides, Ouzounis, Woese domain]) and helical bundle domain. The packing of the WH and helical bundle domains on surface of the helicase core results in the formation of a channel for ssRNA. |
Mtr4p requires ATP or dATP hydrolysis for RNA duplex unwinding mediaited by Q-motif. A single-stranded region 3' to the paired region is also essential for the unwinding activity of Mtr4p. Through direct contact with various components of exosome, Mtr4p helps in proper addition of RNA substrates of TRAMP complex to nuclear exosome. |
The difference between non-canonical and canonical Poly(A) Polymerases is that canonical polymerases help in maintaining mRNAs and its activity is regulated by a specific sequence in the mRNA while polyadenylation of non-canonical polymerases uses a different regulated sequence in the RNA and specifies RNAs for degeneration or processing. Canonical polymerases belong to DNA polymerase β superfamily whereas non-canonical polymerases belong to Cid1 family, another main difference is the length of the poly(A) tail; canonical polymerases can add many adenylates thus the RNA produced has longer poly(A) tails while non-canonical polymerases on the other hand can produce RNAs with shorter length of poly(A) tails as they can add only few adenylates. |
The TRAMP complex brings about degradation or processing of various RNAs with the help of 3’->5’ exonuclease complex called the exosome. A hexameric ring of RNase PH (Pleckstrin Homology) domain proteins, Rrp41p, Rrp42p, Rrp43p, Rrp45p, Rrp46p and Mtr3p comprises the exosome of "S. cerevisiae". The exosome can bring about RNA degradation more efficiently in the presence of Rrp6p with the help of TRAMP complex invitro. Also, RNA degradation is enhanced in the presence of various exosome cofactors which are recruited co-transcriptionally. |
The Ski complex consisting of Ski2p, Ski3p, Ski8p is required by cytoplasmic exosome for all mRNA degradation pathways. The cytoplasmic exosome along with the Ski7p protein attaches to various abnormal ribosomes and mRNAs and brings about their degradation. |
All the components of the TRAMP complex are inter-related to each other. For the activity of Poly(A) polymerases likeTrf4p/Trf5p, zinc knuckle proteins are essential. In similar way RNA degradation brought about by exosomes is stimulated by unwinding activity of Ski2 like helicases and Mtr4p which acts as a cofactor. The unwinding activity of Mtr4p is improved by the Trf4p/Air2p in the TRAMP complex. Mtr4p also has an important role in maintaining and controlling the length of Poly(A) tails. But destruction or absence of Mtr4p results in hyperadenylation and hinders the length of Poly(A) tails. |
A complex formed between Trf5p, Air1p and Mtr4p is called as TRAMP5 complex. In "S. cerevisiae" there are two types of TRAMP complexes depending on the presence of polymerases. If Trf4p is present, then the complex is called as TRAMP4 and if Trf5p is present then It is called as TRAMP5. |
RNAs produced by all three polymerases (Pol I, II, III) act as substrates for TRAMP complex. TRAMP complex is involved in processing and surveillance of various RNAs and degrade abnormal RNAs. Different type of RNA substrates include ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), transfer RNAs (tRNAs), small nuclear RNAs(snRNAs), Long transcripts of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) etc. But the mechanism by which TRAMP complex identifies various substrates is unknown. |
The TRAMP complex works more efficiently in RNA processing by engaging Exosome complex exonuclease RrP6 wherein Nab3(RNA binding protein) plays a crucial role. |
Post-transcriptional modifications due to various enzymes like methyltransferase Hmt1p (Rmt1p) may have an indirect effect on chromatin maintenance. The chromatin structures are affected when RNA substrates of TRAMP complex are transcribed across the genome. Various TRAMP components interact physically and genetically with various proteins and bring about changes in chromatin and DNA metabolism. |
Components of the TRAMP complex in "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" are conserved in other organisms ranging from yeast to mammals.The TRAMP complex components of "Schizosaccharomyces pombe" including Cid14p, Air1p, and Mtr4p are functionally similar to the components of TRAMP complex in "S. cerevisiae". |
The TRAMP complex in humans consists of various components including the helicase hMtr4p, a non-canonical poly(A) polymerase hPAPD (PAP-associated domain-containing) 5 or hPAPD7, and a Zinc knuckle protein hZCCHC7, RNA binding protein hRbm7p. |
= = = Wright Model C = = = |
The Wright Model C "Speed Scout" was an early military aircraft produced in the United States and which first flew in 1912. It was a development of the Model B but was specifically designed to offer the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps a long-range scouting aircraft. |
It featured a more powerful engine over the Wright B, and an endurance of around four hours. Still a two-seater, it added a complete second set of controls, meaning that either crew member could operate the aircraft. On some, the lever controls were replaced with two wheels mounted on a single yoke. Aerodynamically, the small finlets ("blinkers" in the Wrights' terminology) that had been used on the Model B's undercarriage were replaced by two vertical vanes attached to the forward end of the skids. |
The aircraft had a short service life, from 1912 to 1914, because of a series of fatal crashes that destroyed six of the eight aircraft manufactured for the Army. |
The increase in power was to meet Army specifications that the aircraft have a rate of climb of 200 feet per minute (1 m/s), a fuel capacity for a four-hour flight, and carry a weight of 450 pounds including crew. Its simplified twin-lever control system was confusing to operate and proved difficult for novice pilots to master, while the plane itself was tail heavy and unstable. |
Seven Model Cs were used by the Aeronautical Division: S.C. 10-14, S.C. 16, and S.C. 5, a Burgess Model F rebuilt to Wright C standards. Five new Wright Scouts were delivered to the Aviation School at College Park, Maryland; one to the provisional 1st Aero Squadron at Texas City, Texas; and the last shipped to the Philippines. An eighth Aircraft (S.C. 18), a Burgess Model J delivered in January 1913, was a Wright C built under license by the Burgess Company and Curtis. |
The aircraft were delivered between May 1912 and January 1913 and were subject to approval of ten flight tests by the Army before acceptance. The first delivered, to have been S.C. 10, crashed during its climbing test on June 11, 1912, killing Wright Company pilot Arthur L. Welsh and Lt. Leighton W. Hazlehurst, and was replaced in October by another Wright C, itself destroyed in the last fatal crash on February 8, 1914. The crash involving Welsh was found by the Army's board of inquiry to have been pilot error by Welsh, who had intentionally placed the aircraft 45 degrees nose down prior to the test to build momentum. Deliveries of the plane continued, although the statement of one eyewitness led to speculation that the elevator had not responded to inputs to pull out of the dive. |
The Model Cs quickly earned an unenviable reputation when six of the eight passing their acceptance flights crashed between July 8, 1913, and February 9, 1914, with all but one of the crashes involving fatalities. The fifth crash on November 24, 1913 killed the Army's chief instructor and a new pilot. As a result, the Wright Company factory manager, Grover Loening, concluded that the Wright C was flawed by a design defect. Orville Wright disagreed, maintaining that pilot error was to blame, specifically unfamiliarity with the more powerful engine. He theorized that pilots stalled the aircraft by applying full power that in level flight made angle of attack critical. He proposed that full power be used only to climb and invented an angle-of-incidence indicator sensitive enough to warn a pilot that his climb or dive was too steep. He also completed work on an autopilot which he patented in October 1913, and successfully demonstrated in December, but a gyroscope-operated autopilot patented by Lawrence Sperry proved more immediately practical and became standard. |
The final crash resulted in grounding of the two surviving Model C's on February 16, 1914. An Army board of investigation concluded that the elevator was "too weak" and that the Model C itself was "dynamically unsuited for flying," despite testimony from Wright's chief instructor that poor maintenance played a key role in the fatalities. The Aeronautical Division hired Loening as an engineer to review the airworthiness of its airplanes, and use of S.C.s No. 16 (which had a less powerful Model B engine) and No. 5 (a Burgess F rebuilt to Model C configuration), permanently discontinued on February 24, 1914, when on Loening's recommendation the Army de-commissioned all seven of its remaining "pusher" airplanes as a matter of policy. |
= = = François-Xavier Brunet = = = |
François-Xavier Brunet (November 27, 1868 – January 7, 1922) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and bishop of Mont-Laurier, Quebec. |
Baptized in the parish of Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, Quebec, he moved to Ottawa in 1873. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1890 from the College of Ottawa. He then decided to become a priest and studied theology at the Grand Séminaire d'Ottawa. |
Brunet was consecrated by Archbishop Joseph-Thomas Duhamel of Ottawa in 1893. In 1913, he was appointed the first bishop of the new diocese of Mont-Laurier, which was created from parts of the Archdiocese of Montréal and the Archdiocese of Ottawa. |
He died in Montreal in 1922. |
= = = Sustainable fashion = = = |
Sustainable fashion is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. Sustainable fashion concerns more than addressing fashion textiles or products. It comprises addressing the whole system of fashion. This means dealing with interdependent social, cultural, ecological and financial systems. It also means considering fashion from the perspective of many stakeholders - users and producers, all living species, contemporary and future dwellers on earth. Sustainable fashion therefore belongs to, and is the responsibility of citizens, public sector and private sector. A key example of the need for systems thinking in fashion is that the benefits of product-level initiatives, such as replacing one fiber type for a less environmentally harmful option is eaten up by increasing volumes of fashion products. An adjacent term to sustainable fashion is eco fashion. |
The origins of the sustainable fashion movement are intertwined with those of the modern environmental movement, of which it is a part, and specifically the publication in 1962 of the book "Silent Spring" by American biologist Rachel Carson. Carson's book exposed the serious and widespread pollution associated with the use of agricultural chemicals, a theme that is still important in the debate around the environmental and social impact of fashion today. The decades which followed saw the impact of human actions on the environment to be more systematically investigated, including the effects of industrial activity, and to new concepts for mitigating these effects, notably sustainable development, a term coined in 1987 by the Brundtland Report. |
In the early 1990s and roughly coinciding with the United Nations conference on Environment and Development in 1992, popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit, 'green issues' (as they were called at the time) made their way into fashion and textiles publications. Typically these publications featured the work of well-known companies such as Patagonia and ESPRIT, who in the late 1980s brought environmental concerns into their businesses. The owners of those companies at that time, Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, were outdoorsmen and witnessed the environment being harmed by over production and over consumption of material goods. They commissioned research into the impacts of fibers used in their companies. For Patagonia, this resulted in a lifecycle assessment for four fibers, cotton, wool, nylon and polyester. For ESPRIT the focus was on cotton—and finding better alternatives to it—which represented 90% of their business at that time. Interestingly, a similar focus on materials impact and selection is still the norm in the sustainable fashion thirty years on. |
The principles of 'green' or 'eco' fashion, as put forward by these two companies, was based on the philosophy of the deep ecologists Arne Næss, Fritjof Capra, and Ernest Callenbach, and design theorist Victor Papanek. This imperative is also reliant on feminist understanding of human-nature relationships, interconnectedness and “ethics of care” as advocated by Carolyn Merchant, Suzi Gablik, Vandana Shiva, and Carol Gilligan. The legacy of the early work of Patagonia and ESPRIT continues to shape the fashion industry agenda around sustainability today. They co-funded the first organic cotton conference held in 1991 in Visalia, California. And in 1992, the ESPRIT ecollection, developed by head designer Lynda Grose, was launched at retail and it was based on the Eco Audit Guide, published by the Elmwood Institute. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the movement in sustainable fashion broadened to include many brands. Though the primary focus has remained on improving the impacts of products through fiber and fabric processing and material provenance, Doug Tompkins and Yvon Chouinard were early to note the fundamental cause of unsustainability: exponential growth and consumption. ESPRIT placed an ad in "Utne Reader" in 1990 making a plea for responsible consumption. In 2011 the brand Patagonia ran an ad and a PR campaign "Don't buy this jacket" with a picture of Patagonia merchandise. This message was intended to encourage people to consider the effect that consumption has on the environment, and to purchase only what they need. |
In parallel with the industry agenda, a research agenda around sustainable fashion has been in development since the early 1990s, with the field now having its own history, dynamics, politics, practices, sub-movements and evolution of analytical and critical language. The field is broad in scope and includes technical projects that seek to improve the resource efficiency of existing operations, the work of brands and designers to work within current priorities as well as those which look to fundamentally reimagine the fashion system differently, including the growth logic. In 2019, a group of researchers formed the Union for Concerned Researchers in Fashion to advocate for radical and co-ordinated research activity commensurate with the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change. In the fall of 2019, the UCRF received the North Star Award at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, an organization focused on the promotion of sustainability in the fashion industry. As a non-profit organization focused on instigating debate and disseminating scholarly research, the UCRF believes that responses from the fashion industry regarding today's climate crisis has been oversimplified or obstructed by limited business models. According to one of the founders, the UCRF hopes that the award helps bring light to the issues that continually plague the fashion industry. |
The fashion industry has a clear opportunity to act differently, pursuing profit and growth while also creating new value and deeper wealth for society and therefore for the world economy. It comes with an urgent need to place environmental, social, and ethical improvements on management's agenda. The goal of sustainable fashion is to create flourishing ecosystems and communities through its activity. This may include: increasing the value of local production and products; prolonging the lifecycle of materials; increasing the value of timeless garments; reducing the amount of waste; and to reducing the harm to the environment created as a result of production and consumption. Another of its aims can sometimes be seen to educate people to practice environmentally friendly consumption by promoting the "green consumer". |
There is however a growing concern that "green consumerism" that takes profit and economic growth as objectives can deliver the sustainable agenda needed to mitigate and reverse the pollution, labor exploitation and inequalities fashion industry promotes and profits from. This became apparent in the discussions following the Burberry report of the brand burning unsold goods worth around £28.6m (about $37.8 million) in 2018, exposing not only overproduction and subsequent destruction of unsold stock as a normal business practice, but the behaviours amongst brands that actively undermine a sustainable fashion agenda. |
The challenge for making fashion more sustainable requires to rethink the whole system. The Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion has argued that the industry is still discussing the same ideas as were originally mooted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When taking the long view and examining fashion and sustainability progress since the 1990s, there are few actual advances in ecological terms. As the Union observes, "So far, the mission of sustainable fashion has been an utter failure and all small and incremental changes have been drowned by an explosive economy of extraction, consumption, waste and continuous labour abuse." |
A frequently asked question of those working in the area of sustainable fashion is whether the field itself is an oxymoron. This reflects the seemingly irreconcilable possibility of bringing together fashion (understood as constant change, and tied to business models based on continuous replacement of goods) and sustainability (understood as continuity and resourcefulness). The apparent paradox dissolves if fashion is seen more broadly, not only as a process aligned to expansionist business models, and consumption of new clothing, but instead as mechanism that leads to more engaged ways of living on a precious and changing earth. |
Fashion is, per definition, a phenomenon related to time: a popular expression in a certain time and context. This also affects the perception of what is and should be made more sustainable - if fashion should be "fast" or "slow" - or if it should be more exclusive or inclusive. Like much other design, the objects of fashion exist in the interzone between desire and discard along a temporal axis, between the shimmering urge towards life and the thermodynamic fate of death. As noted by cultural theorist Brian Thill, "waste is every object, plus time." |
When it comes down to the garments themselves, their durability depends on their use and "metabolism" - certain garments are made to withstand long use (ex. outdoor and hiking wear, winter jackets) whereas other garments have a quicker turn-around (ex. a party top). This means some garments have properties and a use-life that could be made more durable, whereas others should be compostable or recyclable for quicker disintegration. Some garments age well and acquire patina and a romantic enchantment not unlike the wonder, fascination and grandeur of historical ruins, whereas the derelict and discarded rags of last season is an eyesore and nuisance; the first connotes a majesty of taste, whereas the second is the underclass of waste. |
One of the most apparent reasons for the current unsustainable condition of the fashion system is related to the temporal aspects of fashion; the continuous stream of new goods onto the market, or what is popularly called "fast fashion." The term has come to signify cheap, accessible and on-trend clothes, sourced through global production chains and sold through chains such as H&M, Zara, Forever21, etc. The 2012 book "Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion" by journalist Elizabeth L. Cline gives a clear introduction to the rise of disposable consumption of fashion and its impacts on the planet, the economy and consumer relationships with clothing. |
However, the "fast" aspect of consumption is primarily a problem to the environment when done on a massive scale. As long as fast conspicuous consumption was reserved to the rich, the global impact was not reaching public attention or seen as a problem. That is, "fast" shopping sprees of haute couture is not seen as a problem, rather it is celebrated (for example in movies such as Pretty Woman), whereas when people with less means shop fast fashion it is seen as unethical and a problem. Today, the speed of fast fashion is common across the whole industry as exclusive fashion replicates the fast fashion chains with continuous releases of collections and product drops: the quality of a garment does not necessarily translate to a slower pace of consumption and waste. |
Slow fashion can be seen as an alternative approach against fast fashion, based on principles of the slow food movement. Characteristics of sustainable fashion match the philosophies of "slow fashion" in that emotional, ecological and ethical qualities are favored over uniform and bland convenience with minimal friction. It requires a changed infrastructure and a reduced through-put of goods. Categorically, slow fashion is neither business-as-usual nor just involving design classics. Nor is it production-as-usual but with long lead times. Slow fashion is a vision of the fashion sector built from a different starting point. Slow fashion is a fashion concept that reflects a perspective, which respects human living conditions, biological, cultural diversity and scarce global resources and creates unique, personalized products. |
Slow fashion often consists of durable products, traditional production techniques or design concepts that are season-less. The impact of slowness aims to affect many points of the production chain. For workers in the textile industry in developing countries, slow fashion means higher wages. For end-users, slow fashion means that the goods are designed and manufactured with greater care and high quality products. From an environmental point of view, it means that there is less clothing and industrial waste that are removed from use following transient trends in slow fashion. New ideas and product innovations are constantly redefining slow fashion, so using a static, single definition would ignore the evolving nature of the concept. |
Examples of stability of expression over long times are abundant in the history of dress, not least in ethnic or folk dress, ritual or coronation robes, clerical dress, or the uniforms of the Vatican Guard. The emphasis on slowness in branding is thus an approach that is specific for a niche in the market (such as Western educated middle-class) that has since the 1990s become dominated by "fast" models. One of the earliest brands that gained global fame with an explicit focus on slow fashion, the UK brand People Tree, embraces the concept of ethical trade, manufactures all products in accordance with ethical commerce standards and supports local producers and craftsmen in developing countries. The People Tree brand is known as the first brand in the world that received the Ethical Trade Brand award, which was given in 2013. In addition to adopting ethical trade, the brand also prefers to use nature-friendly materials, textile products with GOTS certification and local, natural, recyclable material. |
The concept of slow fashion is however not without its controversies, as the imperative of slowness is a mandate emerging from a position of privilege. To stop consuming "fast fashion" strikes against low income consumers whose only means to access trends is through cheap and accessible goods. Those who are already having a high position in society can afford to slow down and cement their status and position, while those on their way up resent being told to stay at the lower rungs of the status hierarchy. Another obstacle that the "slow fashion" paradigm is facing is related to consumers' behaviour towards the consumption of fashion and specifically clothing . In fact, sustainability conscious consumers, that usually take into account social and environmental implications of their purchases, may experience an attitude-behaviour gap preventing them to change their consumptions habits when it comes to choose ethical clothing. Purchasing fashion is still perceived as an action connected to social status and it is still strongly emotionally driven. |
The environmental impact of fashion also depends on how much and how long a garment is used. Typically, a garment used daily over years has less impact than a garment used once to then be quickly discarded. Studies have shown that the washing and drying process for pair of classic jeans is responsible for almost two-thirds of the energy consumed through the whole of the jeans' life, and for underwear about 80% of total energy use comes from laundry processes. Thus, use and wear practices affect the lifecycles of garments and needs to be addressed for larger systemic impact. |
However, there is a significant difference between making a product last from making a long-lasting product. The quality of the product must reflect the appropriate fit into its lifecycle. Certain garments of quality can be repaired and cultivated with emotional durability. Low-quality products that deteriorate rapidly are not as suitable to be "enchanted" with emotional bonds between user and product. |
Sustainability is significant for fashion, because the textiles and fashion industry is among the leading industries that affect the environment negatively. One of the industries that jeopardizes sustainability is the textiles and fashion industry, which also bears great responsibilities. The clothing industry has an impact on the environment. Globalization, consumerism, and recycling are all a part of a clothing life cycle. Globalization has made it possible to produce clothing at increasingly lower prices, prices so low that many consumers consider this clothing to be disposable. Disposable clothing appears popular throughout many malls in America and Europe. This is a key characteristic of fast fashion. However, fast fashion adds to pollution and generates potential environmental and occupational hazards. |
The clothing industry has one of the highest impacts on the planet. High water usage, pollution from chemical treatments used in dyeing and preparation and the disposal of large amounts of unsold clothing through incineration or landfill deposits are hazardous to the environment. There is a growing water scarcity, the current usage level of fashion materials (79 billion cubic meters annually) is very concerning, because textile production mostly takes place in areas of fresh water stress. Only around 20% of clothing is recycled or reused, huge amounts of fashion product end up as waste in landfills or is incinerated. It has been estimated that in the UK alone around 350,000 tons of clothing ends up as landfill every year. According to Earth Pledge, a non-profit organisation committed to promoting and supporting sustainable development, "At least 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles and 25% of the world's pesticides are used to grow non-organic cotton. This causes irreversible damage to people and the environment, and still two thirds of a garment's carbon footprint will occur after it is purchased." The average American throws away nearly 70 pounds of clothing per year. There is an increasing concern as microfibers from synthetic fabrics are polluting the earths waters through the process of laundering. Microfibers are tiny threads that are shed from fabric. These microfibers are too small to be captured in waste water treatment plants filtration systems and they end up entering our natural water systems and as a result contaminating our food chain. One study found that 34% of microplastics found in oceans come from the textile and clothing industry and majority of them were made of polyester, polyethylene, acrylic, and elastane. Eliminating synthetic materials used in clothing products can prevent harmful synthetics and microfibers from ending up in the natural environment. |
One of the main social issues related to fashion concerns labor. Since the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire in 1911, labor rights in the fashion industry has been at the center of this issue. The 2013 Savar building collapse at Rana Plaza, where 1138 people died, put the spotlight once again on the lack of transparency, poor working conditions and hazards in fashion production. Attention is increasingly being placed on labour rights violations in other parts of the whole fashion product lifecycle from textile production and processing, retail and distribution and modelling to the recycling of textiles. Whilst the majority of fashion and textiles are produced in Asia, Central America, Turkey, North Africa, the Caribbean and Mexico, there is still production across Europe where exploitative working conditions are also found such as in Leicester in the UK Midlands and Central and Eastern Europe. |
The fashion industry benefits from racial, class and gender inequalities. These inequalities and pressure from brands and retailers in the form of low prices and short lead times contribute to exploitative working conditions and low wages. Also "local" production, such as garments labeled as "Made in Italy" are engaged in global sourcing of labor and worker exploitation, bypassing unions and social welfare contracts. |
The number of workers employed in textiles, clothing and footwear is unknown due to the differences in statistical measures. It is generally accepted that at least 25 million people, the majority women, work in garment manufacture and up to 300 million in cotton alone. Nevertheless, it is really difficult to estimate exactly how many people work in the production sector, because small-scale manufacturing and contracting firms that operate illegally continue to exist within the industry. On the 24th of April 2013, Rana Plaza disaster happened as one of the biggest tragedies in history of the fashion industry. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,134. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building alive. It is considered the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history, as well as the deadliest structural failure in modern human history. |
The environmental impact of fashion also affects communities located close to production sites. There is little easily accessible information about these impacts, but it is known that water and land pollution from toxic chemicals used to produce and dye fabrics and have serious negative consequences for the people living near factories. At the global level, fashion is contributing to climate change and threatens biodiversity, which have social consequences for everyone. |
Supply chain transparency has been a recurring controversy for the fashion industry, not least since the Rana Plaza accident. The issue has been pushed by many labor organizations, not least Clean Clothes Campaign and Fashion Revolution. Over the last years, over 150 major brands including Everlane, Filippa K and H&M have answered by publicizing information about their factories online. Every year, Fashion Revolution publishes a Fashion Transparency Index which rates the world's largest brands and retailers according to how much information they disclose about their suppliers, supply chain policies and practices, and social and environmental impact. |
However, the focus on transparency and traceability has so far not shown the promise expected. Even if a consumer can find information on the clothing label, such as the address of the factory and how many people work there, it says nothing about the salaries and living conditions of the workers, the factory's subcontracting practices, or the environmental impact of sourcing and production. The focus on transparency has so far not bridged information with systemic action and impact. While the agenda of transparency is honourable and important, it is toothless if not paired with real improvements, policy change and legal action which holds corporations and factories responsible for misconduct. |
In addition, fashion companies are criticised for the lack of size, age, physical ability, gender and racial diversity of models used in photo shoots and catwalks. A more radical and systemic critique of social inequality in fashion concerns the exclusion and aesthetic supremacy inherent and accentuated through fashion that still remains unquestioned under the current environmentally focused discourse on sustainable fashion. |
It is worth noticing that while social "inclusivity" has become almost a norm amongst brands marketing ethical and sustainable fashion, the norm for what is considered a "beautiful" and "healthy" body keeps narrowing down under what researchers have called the current "wellness syndrome." With the positive thinking of inclusivity, the assumption is that you can be whatever you want to be, and thus if you are not living up to the ideals it is your own fault. This optimism hides the diktat of aesthetic wellness, which turns inclusion into an obligation to look good and be dressed in fashionable clothes, a "democratic" demand for aesthetic as well as ethical perfection, as argued by philosopher Heather Widdows. |
The impact of fashion across the planet is unevenly distributed. Whereas much of the benefits of cheap and accessible clothes targets and benefits the socially mobile classes in metropolitan areas in the Global North, developing countries take a much proportion of the negative impact from the fashion system in terms of waste, pollution, and ecological injustices. |