This April and May is the month that we all are reminded by all of our magazine and media sources about how to save the earth by conserving engergy and recycling, and wearing used or organic clothing, blah blah blah. Even the fashion industry paper, Women's Wear Daily, has put out a green issue about sustainable textiles and sustainable designers, because it all trendy and fashionable to do things green, like drive a Toyota Prius!
1. This week I test drove a Toyota Prius, it was really fun! Whenever you want to start the car, park or drive, you have to press a button, it's like deprogramming yourself to grab that stick thingy in the middle before you drive. And because it's a hybrid, that means fewer trips to the gas station (my commute is 22 miles each way to work, in reverse traffic. But unfortunately, even though it feels like a faster driving car than Tomato, the Toyota Corrolla I currently am borrowing, it has an even floatier baby cradle-like ride suspension than tomato. I really care about how the car feels on the road, and during the test drive, we went over some small windy curves that literally made me nauseous! So after that experience, I'm not entirely sure getting a hybrid makes the most sense right now---- maybe if the Prius comes with sport suspension?
2. So I finally read that one green issue of WWD, and it's quite interesting, however it's laced with small little articles by an entity called Cotton, Inc. (you know, the "Fabric of our lives" commercial?) They support Conventional Cotton! There is one article inparticular about how educated the consumer is about organic cotton, and the facts and figures basically claim that the comsumer populace is uneducated and ignorant, and won't pay more for organic cotton clothing. They don't mention in the article when this little survey was done- I suspect it is the same research I fell upon at least 5 years ago when I was studying my thesis at Cornell. I think it's absolutely weird how Cotton Inc. feels so "threatened" by sustainable textiles!
