Your Questions About Green Living

The Expert answers:

There is a company in the US that turns old bluejeans into building insulation. So there are companies out there that do recycle cotton. There is also at least one small “youth business” that reuses old clothing to make tote bags etc.

Keep looking.

The Expert answers:

Try stores like:

growfreeusa.com,
elementeden.com,
threadsforthought.com,
candccalifornia.com,
and shopintuition.com
for a few organic and recycle-promoting clothes.

I hope this helps!

The Expert answers:

It depends on what you’re looking for but overall I’d go with hemp hand’s down and here’s why:

I’d been getting uncomfortable earlier this year following a family farm that raises a bunch of sheep and was excited about lambing season. Except they only keep the girls and the baby boys become racks and chops. There’s not a lot of use for the boys (just like laying chickens and dairy cows) so they are slaughtered and eaten.

Some breeds of lambs are killed really soon because their fur is special at birth but changes after 3 days.

Shearing is unpleasant too often resulting in deep cuts and infections (and this doesn’t include the dockings, brandings, taggings, and other procedures the animals go through from the bigger operations — small flocks may be numerous but don’t begin to approach the sheer numbers that factory farms do so 95% of the animals raised are as commodities).

The idea that shearing is good for the animal, making them more comfortable is to claim “God” made a mistake or evolution has no idea what it’s doing. For the same reason sitting on sheepskin in a hot car is cooling, wool can insulate a sheep from heat as well as cold. Not that sheep would naturally live in hot places.

A quote on wool that sums up some of the issues:
http://www.vegalitarian.org/pages/Fashion
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Wool producers have maximized wool production by selectively breeding sheep to increase the folds of skin and thus surface area producing wool. In consequence, the sheep become more prone to skin infections in the excessive folds of skin, especially under their tails. Mulesing is a painful operation which mutilates the folds of skin around the sheep’s posterior. Anesthesia is not used. The operation is painful. A movement towards a more humane method has emerged from growing awareness of the suffering of sheep. Unfortunately, the wool industry is inextricably connected to the meat industry. After a lifetime of producing wool, sheep are shipped by boat to be slaughtered. When you buy wool, you indirectly support the slaughter of sheep for meat. Celebrity and consumer pressure are helping to improve the lives of wool sheep. Read about musician Pink’s crusade:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=12002..

For passionate knitters, there are a wide array of exciting fibers that are sustainable and cruelty-free. Investigate bamboo, hemp, recycled yarns, rayon, cotton, or acrylics.
====

Then (just like laying hens and dairy cows) when the sheep get older and aren’t producing as well they get shipped off for slaughter to be eaten. Australian sheep become “Mutton” in the UK, Africa and Mid-East. But first they are shipped live which in itself is a tortuous journey of many days packed in tightly without food, water, light in a scary situation they can’t begin to comprehend with many of their mates dying & dead around them from the conditions.
Http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/exposed-the-long-cruel-road-to-the-slaughterhouse-781364.html

Further to the environment:

Many once fertile lands are turning to desert from over-grazing especially from hoofed animals such as sheep and cows (rather than bison and llamas whose splayed feet do not damage soils as much). Their hoofs compact the soil and destroy the soil web life that keeps the land healthy:
http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/hope/buenosaires.html
http://www.thebeautifulfuture.com/Five.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_ecology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_food_web

Wool can be incredibly warm but hemp has a lot of great qualities too and more of them. Plus it’s green rather than eating green and it grows really well without much interference so is organic as well which is even better for the environment.

Hemp is also very sturdy, lasting a long time.

For now it makes sense to continue to use the clothes and bedding you already have so it isn’t wasted and replace with friendlier products as needed.

The Expert answers:

Question One: How would you describe your diet?
A) Meat Eater

Question Two: How often do you buy organic fruit and vegetables?
A) Rare

Question Three: How much of your waste do you recycle?
C) Most

Question Four: What vehicle do you use for personal transport?
A) Car

Question Five: How many hours have you spent flying in the last year?
C) 0-11 hours

Question Six: How often do you purchase locally produced food items?
C) Often

Question Seven: How long do you spend commuting per week?
C) 0-10 hours

Florida Orlando

The Expert answers:

Mostly B: You’re doing some things well, but a few simple changes can bring you up to scratch! Donating your old clothes to charity shops or clothes banks, composting your food, and growing your own fruit and vegetables can all reduce your eco-footprint.

Iowa, United States. 🙂

Your welcome.

Interesting. 🙂