By Elisabeth Reed
We might not all agree on religion or politics but one thing we all have in common is this: we all wear clothes. And among all the clothing we wear, cotton reigns supreme.
Conventionally grown cotton is the most widely used natural fiber. It is in our clothing, our bath towels, our bed sheets. It keeps us cool in the summer & is soft to touch. It is a part of our country’s history & still part of our agricultural economy.
Even though cotton is classified as a natural fiber– very little is natural about cotton farming. Each year, conventional cotton crops in Texas and California are doused with millions of pounds of chemicals. Consider this: conventional cotton occupies only 3 percent of the world’s farmland, but uses 25 percent of the world’s chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Cotton is the most pesticide-laden crop in the United States. And pesticides don’t just land on crops. Research shows that intensive use of these synthetic fertilizers and soil additives wreak havoc on the land, water, air and of course– living things.
So what is the alternative when cotton is the fabric of our lives?
Well most people understand the concept behind purchasing organic strawberries, or free range chicken, but what about organic cotton? If we aren’t eating it, then why does it matter? The bottom line is this: the toxic chemicals used in cotton farming carry carcinogens that are detrimental to the humans that interact and work with cotton, in the fields and the textile mills. These chemicals find their way into the air we breathe and the water we drink. And even though the majority of cotton production goes into textiles– in fact we ARE ingesting cotton. Cottonseed oil is used as an inexpensive preservative in items like peanut butter, spaghetti sauce and gum.
The benefits of organic farming outweigh the dangers of pesticide use in conventional cotton. Organic cotton is a return to the farming practices that respect the soil, the land beyond the farm, the nearby stream, the air we breathe, the hands investing in the crops and the people that wear the fiber.
Next time you are shopping for clothing, read the label and purchase 100% organic cotton.
Elisabeth Reed teaches fashion merchandising classes at Illinois State University. She grew up in Bloomington Normal, graduating from Normal Community High School in 1996. After receiving an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s in fashion design from the Savannah College of Art & Design, she realized that there was no place quite like home and returned to Bloomington in 2008. Elisabeth lives with her husband, Matt and their two wild little boys in historic Founder’s Grove.
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