1. 1.The cotton
1.1. The world produces 25 million tons annually, accounting for 2.5 percent of the world's arable land
1.1.1. 65% of cotton is exported from the US annually.
2. 2.Refining
2.1. The cotton is then loaned to countries such as Indonesia, Colombia and Bangladesh
2.1.1. It's pulled in two ropes stretched twisted into yarn and turnedinto fabric by a fleet of machines
3. 4.Transport
3.1. Now the t-shirts have to be brought back to North America. It's 8,848 km just to get from Turkey to Canada so you can imagine how much CO2 is emitted into our atmosphere to ship, train, and truck all the t-shirts to their respective locations.
4. 5. Purchase and care
4.1. According to industry Canada in 2002 the average Canadian households spent two thousand four hundred and fifty dollars on clothing.
4.1.1. If we do the math, that's approximately 2.5 times the wage of the Bangladeshi worker who made the t-shirt for us.
4.1.1.1. According to the World Wildlife Fund, 151 liters of water are used for each load of laundry and drying takes five times more energy than washing thus, we can reduce to third of our carbon footprint just by skipping the dryer and the ironing.
5. 6. Disposal
5.1. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 20 billion pounds of old clothing gets dumped in landfills each year in the USA; that's about 70 pounds per person per year.
5.1.1. ¿but what can we do to decrease the effect that our consumerism is having on the planet?
5.1.1.1. FIRST of all you can educate yourself and others on sustainable clothing, food, and energy sources.
5.1.1.2. SECOND you can make a conscious effort to decrease the effect that you're having on the planet both environmentally and socially.
5.1.1.3. THIRD, in terms of clothing you can buy less, donate, or Exchange
6. 3. Production
6.1. About 4.5 million people in Bangladesh are in the t-shirt industry, in China there are approximately 5 million and in Turkey there are approximately 3 million
6.1.1. One bale of cotton can make 1217 men's t-shirts according to the National Cotton Council of America.