Organic > Pesticides

Being such a t-shirt fan, I find it hard to not buy a soft, comfortable cotton t-shirt despite of the damaging influences it embodies. I feel like there are also more people than not who feel the same way I do. I do believe that the growth of cotton is harmful to our environment because of the human and environmental impacts. Cotton is very common and is the number one fiber used in the apparel industry, which is why we continue to purchase it. In The sustainability of cotton report there are facts that support the unsustainable impacts on human life and the environment.

As we sit here talking about how cotton and other fibers are harmful to our environment, I feel as if we forget how dangerous it can be for the cotton growers. According to The sustainability of cotton article, annually, there are around 40,000 lives lost nationwide due to the pesticide treatments. This is something that could be preventable just by stopping the use of pesticides.  Which, in my opinion, is a valid reason why we should start growing organically.  If you sit and think about it, we are wearing those pesticides on our bodies, which may even be causing harm to ourselves.  The sustainability of cotton report also informs us that a National Cancer Institute Study found that there is a higher risk of leukaemia for children whose parents treated their homes and gardens with pesticides.  These pesticides used to make cotton do not only harm the cotton growers, they are also hurtful to ordinary people trying to grow gardens and keep their homes clean. Along with the negative human impacts, there are a few important environmental impacts.

A lot of people believe that if you put pesticides on something it will grow faster or be stronger or be better, when really it seems to always have a negative impact instead of a positive one. The sustainability of cotton article shows us just how destructive these chemicals are to nature. Once, in Alabama, there was a pesticide contamination runoff that killed 240,000 fish. It is also estimated that around 67 million birds are killed each year due to the use of pesticides. These are just a few examples of the harmful effects that are caused as a side-effect to growing the popular crop.

After watching Today’s Cotton: Fiber –and More video in the Cotton Inc. Multimedia Center it showed me how the rest of the plants are used after they use the fiber and lent for clothing.  They use the rest of the cotton plant for food products, cattle feed, and also mulch.  Although these are positive ways to use the rest of the cotton plants, they do not necessarily out way the damages the pesticides create to our environment.