Environmental Justice & Social Justice Explained
Environmental justice brings light to the unfair treatment of people from unprivileged communities irrespective of race, colour and origin, especially due to environmental development practices like resource extraction, various uses of land and disposing of hazardous waste. Environmental justice issues could include insufficient access to basic necessities and transportation, air and water pollution and unsafe working or living conditions.
Social justice, on the other hand, brings light to the uneven distribution or access of wealth, health and opportunities in society. Social justice issues may include discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age or race, as well as unfair labour practices.
Image used for representational purposes only.
How Fast Fashion Affects Communities & The Environment
A majority of fast fashion products are being produced by people of colour and marginalised communities from countries like India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and more. That said, the conditions that garment workers have endured while producing fast fashion has been long under scrutiny. From extremely low wages to inhuman conditions and gruesome working hours, these workers are put through a lot for fast fashion. Freak accidents of giant magnitudes, reports of unpaid workers sewing hidden messages in fast fashion clothes to spread awareness as well as abuse and exploitation- garment workers have endured more than fast fashion customers would be aware of. Evidently, this burden of fast fashion falls only on the unprivileged, making this a problem involving races, colour and often gender.
Image used for representational purposes only.
When it comes to environmental resources, the use of non-renewable resources, improper waste management, and marine and land pollution are among the many problems the planet endures as a result of fast fashion production and consumption patterns. Add to that the recent rise in Ultra-Fast Fashion and you’ll realise we’ve found ourselves at environmental risk as a global community.
Find out more about ultra-fast fashion’s impact on the environment: Click here
Lack Of Environmental & Social Justice
The Planet
Let’s start with where fast fashion really starts- the textile. Two of the most commonly used textiles- polyester and cotton- have adverse effects on the environment. However- this most directly affects the areas these are produced or grown in. The production process of polyester is energy-intensive and thus, carbon-intensive. If not treated, waste from the polyester production process introduces toxic chemicals into environmental bodies. Polyester is majorly produced in Asian countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, India, Japan, and Indonesia. Conventional cotton, unlike its organic counterpart, is highly water-intensive to produce, water which is usually procured locally and also causes degradation of soil quality due to the high use of pesticides and other chemicals. Major cotton-growing countries are China and India. As is obvious, the environmental impact of the materials required by fast fashion impacts landscapes occupied by people of colour and many marginalised communities along with wildlife and other natural resources crucial to the ecosystem.
Image used for representational purposes only.
The People
We’re no stranger to the devastating Rana Plaza factory collapse of 2013. It killed over 1,100 Bangladeshi garment workers and brought to the surface the life-threatening conditions fast fashion is produced. For long, the manufacturing of fast fashion has been majorly directed toward countries like China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia for low-cost labour and to keep fast fashion “affordable”. As a result, while the cost of the product you use is not paid by you of the brand, it’s paid by garment workers who not only work in adverse conditions but are also more often than not paid unfair wages.
Rana Plaza Factory Collapse | Image used for representational purposes only.
Surprisingly for many, women form a huge part of this manufacturing ecosystem and are thus victims of fashion too. Find out more here
Afterlife
What happens to fast fashion once sold, used and discarded by the customer? They’re sent off to the landfill. Also directed to landfills are surplus fast fashion products that go unsold. A lot of textile and clothing waste from privileged countries are shipped to landfills in African and Asian countries, including Ghana and China. These landfills are hazardous as they end up introducing various toxic chemicals to the environment and sometimes even break into fires, causing more pollution, affecting residents nearby.
Image used for representational purposes only.