Sunday, I spoke at our local Unitarian Universalist fellowship (ironically located in Baptistown, NJ) about my favorite subject these days "garbage." The turnout was pretty good considering the topic and the fact that every tv and radio station was predicting that a deadly Nor'easter would slam New Jersey right during my "sermon."

I had done quite a bit of research to prepare for my 30-minute talk, even preparing a 9-minute presentation that will soon be available on Youtube. The one area that I spent far too much time researching was the true cost of clothing. I figured I might as well blog about it to share some of what I uncovered.

My search started with the production of cotton, which, from researching my book, I knew was the most heavily sprayed crop in the US. What I didn't know was just how bad it really is until I ran across this 40-page downloadable report, "The Deadly Chemicals in Cotton." All you'll need to read is the Executive Summary on pages 2 and 3 and browse the photos to get the gist of the article.

The fifth bullet in the Executive Summary reads:

A single drop of the pesticide aldicarb, absorbed through the skin can kill an adult. Aldicarb is commonly used in cotton production and in 2003 almost 1 million kilos was applied to cotton grown in the USA. Aldicarb is also applied to cotton in 25 other countries worldwide.

The night before my talk, I found a roll of blue cotton fabric that I had intended to make something out of about 8 years ago before my son was born. A perfect example of buying cotton for no reason. I cut out a giant 4' x 4' t-shirt and hand sewed it to a couple of bent hangers. (I wish I'd taken a picture of it.) I then created two versions of the tag that hangs in the back of most shirts. One was a standard Old Navy tag (Large, Made of 100% cotton, Made in Uzbekistan) which I printed on a blank piece of paper and the other was much longer. I printed the second one on several pieces of paper, taped them together, then rolled them up until it was time to discuss the subject. Unfurled, it read:

OLD NAVY
LARGE
Made of 100% Cotton
Harvested by children as young as 7 in Uzbekistan where unemployment is near 70% and cotton workers are paid less than $7/month.

Children who fail to meet quota or pick poor quality cotton are punished by scoldings and beatings.

PROCESSING
The processing of the cotton required 1/3 pound of concentrated pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers and 744 gallons of water.

FABRIC
Cotton fabric was processed with formaldehyde to reduce wrinkles and bleached with chlorine producing dioxin, a known carcinogen. It was then colored blue using chemical dyes that contained toxic heavy metals including chrome, copper and zinc.

PRODUCTION
Sewn in Cambodia, one of the world’s poorest countries, by
Chenda, a 19-year-old seamstress working 80-hour weeks at 5 cents per hour.

FACTORY CONDITIONS
The “death-trap” textile factory Chenda worked in was cramped, hot, often over 100 degrees with no fans and very little ventilation. The two doors were kept locked.

WASHING/IRONING
This t-shirt will need to be washed frequently at high temperatures and require tumble-drying and ironing. 60% of the carbon emissions generated by this simple cotton t-shirt will come from the approximately 25 washes and machine dryings it will require over its lifetime.

After reading this lenghthy "price tag", I launched into my talk about consignment shops. We were running out of time, so I couldn't do my anti-Walmart, anti-cheap clothing, "5 t-shirts for $20" rant. Bummer.