A month ago, the price of cotton on the InterContinental Exchange (ICE New York Futures) crossed the $2 threshold for the first time—hitting $2.0193 per pound on Feb. 17. From there, cotton rose further, hitting a peak of $2.197 per pound on March 7.

Increases in global demand for the commodity have pushed cotton prices steadily higher, not just recently, but over the last six months–a trend that has led farmers to hold back supplies with the expectation of pocketing more money as prices continue to climb. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, since hoarding exacerbates the cotton supply-demand gap, and that, in turn, boosts cotton prices even higher. The cotton market has become so lucrative that many experts now worry that a wave of farmers will abandon their badly needed food crops to pocket the profits in cotton.

Continue reading ‘will record high cotton prices cause food riots?’ »

We recently traveled to beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah to attend the Winter Outdoor Retailer show. The convention center was abuzz with the chatter of outdoorsy types lusting over the latest in winter apparel and gear. It wasn’t all gear-envy though. Many suppliers, buyers, companies, consultants, and media folk were hard at work.

At the show, we attended an interesting panel discussion about the rising cost of apparel. The event, hosted by the American Apparel Producers Network, brought together industry veterans who provided their perspectives on the upward price trend. Continue reading ‘the rising cost of apparel’ »

The Aral Sea is “one of the worst environmental disasters in the world,” according to Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General. On a recent visit to Central Asia, Ban visited what is left of the Aral Sea, and flew over the basin to see for himself the arid salt flats left behind by the receding waters. The U.N. Secretary General suggested regional leaders need to cooperate solve the crisis.

The Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth-largest lake, has been disappearing since the 1960s, when planners from the former Soviet Union began siphoning water to grow cotton in what is now Uzbekistan. Now 70 percent smaller, the Aral Sea is incredibly salty, containing six grams of salt per liter–three times the safe limit for human consumption. No plants or crops can grow in such salty water. As the evaporation continues, the remnants of agricultural and industrial pollution are left behind.

When the wind blows in Uzbekistan, a mixture of dust, salt, sand, and chemical pesticides threatens the health of plants, animals, and humans. Because the dust clouds are filled with contaminants like heavy metals and DDT, villagers say everyone is ill. Many people have respiratory diseases, and the surrounding areas have the world’s highest instances of tuberculosis. In some places, infant mortality is higher, and people are developing liver and kidney diseases.

While news outlets like Reuters, UPI, and the Huffington Post have reported on Ban’s April visit and the environmental devastation, none went into detail about the real cause of the disaster: cotton farming.

Let us first say that we don’t have a problem with cotton. It is a global staple, and a vital commodity. Even so, cotton is an extremely thirsty crop, requiring over 700 gallons of water to grow enough cotton for a single shirt. And while growing cotton is necessary, in times of increasing water scarcity it is difficult to justify cotton farms in the middle of a desert.

It’s also important to keep in mind that after the Aral Sea began to dry up, the Soviets had to use more and more chemicals and fertilizers to grow the cotton. These additional chemicals have been left behind as the waters have receded, and in the span of 40 years, a former fishing and resort town has turned to a desolate village full of sick children.

Unfortunately, those errors aren’t limited to the former Soviet Union. Here in the United States, we are growing cotton in the deserts of California, Texas, and Arizona. It might seem strange that a nation would grow such a thirsty crop as cotton in the middle of a desert. However, these states represent the main cotton growing regions in the U.S., and all three states have suffered major droughts in the last five years.

The world will continue to grow cotton, and we will most likely continue to do so in these water-scarce regions. However, the lesson we should take away from the Aral Sea is that water resources can and do disappear. This “environmental disaster,” as Ban calls it, is not an beyond our control, rather the result of deliberate actions. Without discussing the causes of a disappearing lake, how can we prevent the same thing from happening in someplace like, say, Lake Mead?

Water pollution is disturbingly rampant in China, and it has become one of the country’s greatest environmental challenges as it struggles to rank among the world’s top industrialized nations. The textile industry is a significant source of pollution in China, and it is largely driven by the worldwide demand for cotton products.

just how polluted is china?

The World Health Organization estimates that polluted water causes 75 percent of diseases in China, and over 100,000 deaths annually. Cancer rates among villagers who live along polluted waterways are significantly higher than the national average.

According to information in a Scipeeps.com article, 70 percent of lakes and rivers in China are polluted, as is an astounding 90 percent of the groundwater. More than 320 million Chinese do not have access to clean drinking water – that’s more than the entire population of the United States.

Recently, a Chinese photographer won the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his photos exposing the horrific instances of industrial pollution and its effects. Here is just a sample of Lu Guang’s extraordinary work and examples of how desperate the situation is in China:

the cotton problem

Go into any discount retailer such as like Wal-Mart or Target, and you’re sure to find inexpensive cotton T-shirts and other products. While low-cost goods please American consumers, the effects on the environment and population of countries like China are staggering.

China produced an average of 36 million bales of cotton each year from 2006 through 2008, making it the world’s largest producer of cotton. But it’s not the leading exporter. In order to meet its enormous domestic demand for cotton, China buys 45 percent of the yearly exports by U.S. cotton growers.

Each year, cotton growers account for more than 25 percent of worldwide insecticide usage, and 12 percent of all pesticide usage The crop requires seven times more fertilizer than insecticides, and the runoff from all these chemicals pollutes the rivers and lakes, leeches into the groundwater, and leads to China’s abnormally high water pollution. Farmers in China are using more than six times the amount of pesticides and fertilizers than growers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cotton also is a remarkably water-intensive crop. Eco Fashion World estimates that to grow enough cotton for a single t-shirt requires 2,700 liters of water. The expansion of cotton farming is leading to increased desertification in areas of the world. The Aral Sea in Uzbekistan is an example of how cotton farming can turn lakes into deserts. In China, cotton farming is increasing the size of the Taklamakan Desert because an unsustainable amount of water is being diverted to grow the crop.

tainted textile production

The textile industry in China is a big business. The Chinese State Development and Reform Commission said that in 2005, textile and apparel exports exceeded $117.5 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 17.3 percent. According to the Danamex China Business Resource, China provided 24 percent of the global textiles and apparel in 2005. And as bad as growing cotton in China is currently, the textile industry is far more environmentally damaging.

In addition to heavy metals, carcinogens, fabrics, dyes, organic materials, starches, and bleach, the industry uses a large amount of water and energy. According to information from Bluesign Technologies, growing cotton for use in textiles requires between 8,000 liters and 40,000 liters of water per kilogram of cotton. Producing textiles creates up to 600 liters of wastewater per kilogram of textiles. The chemically-saturated and toxic wastewater is what makes textiles such an environmentally damaging industry in China.  Miller-McCune, a consultancy, estimates that only 10 percent of dye wastes are recycled. According to an article on textile pollution in the Wall Street Journal, treating contaminated water can cost more than 13 cents per metric ton. In order to keep prices low, many textile dye houses build pipelines that dump industrial runoff either underground or directly into rivers and lakes. In China, people often joke that to know what colors are currently in fashion, one need only look at the rivers.

In the same article, Andy Xie, former chief economist of Morgan Stanley Asia is quoted as saying, “Prices in the U.S. are artificially low. You’re not paying the costs of pollution, and that is why China is an environmental catastrophe.”

Although China’s national leaders have environmental guidelines and policies to curb pollution, local agencies routinely ignore violations because of economic development incentives. There is little enforcement of national environmental policies at the local level, and companies who conduct business with dye houses and textile mills often have a greater ability to influence change.

moving forward

It is clear to Chinese leaders that pollution is becoming a drag on the country’s economy. China’s Development Research Center commissioned researchers from around the world to create pragmatic solutions and policies that worked with the market. The researchers concluded that China would benefit from a “Green Trade Policy” to encourage sustainable cotton growing, supply chains, and textile production. One proposal recommended instituting a “green tax” on cotton and textile goods to pay for wastewater treatment and recycling, though this measure is not favored by industry.

The Chinese cotton and textile industries are coming under increased scrutiny as people around the world are becoming conscious of the country’s environmental catastrophes. Several companies have worked with textile partners to impose higher environmental standards, but that is not the norm. Most companies either are not aware of–or ignore–the true environmental costs associated with their products.

Some Chinese activists are taking it upon themselves to add transparency to the textile supply chain by publicly linking polluting factories with the overseas companies that purchase their products.

Ma Jun, a Chinese water pollution activist who posts pollution data on a website, told the Wall Street Journal, “We want them to know we’re watching from China.”

A company who is found doing business with major polluters could suffer reputational damage to its brand as customers increasingly demand products that are “better” for the environment. Pollution from cotton growing and textile production may become what sweatshop labor was for the industry in the 1990s.

Companies interested in avoiding brand damage should work with dye houses to ensure that better environmental standards are met. Another option is to use dyeing technology that doesn’t use massive amounts of water, energy, or toxic chemicals that can be dumped into waterways. Textile companies looking to establish sustainable supply chains need to seriously reexamine the cotton-growing, garment dyeing, and textile treatment operations in China.

photo credit: Lu Guang / Pollution in China