How much water is in YOUR pants?
Yes, your pants (or shorts) are soaked. Or, rather I should say the process your pants went through to be created was a notably water–drenched procedure.
Why do I say this? Cotton farming in the United States is the second-most water intensive sector of the U.S. economy. There are about 2,900 gallons of water consumed each time a pair of jeans are made.
The exact amount of water depends on the color, thickness and size of the garment of course.
For instance, buying a pair of hot pink sweatpants intensifies your carbon footprint, more than a light grey pair does.
I know this topi. is not directly related to fitness. HOWEVER :) I KNOW we all care about water. Water is one of the 5 main factors I center my fitness and nutrition coaching around, therefore I believe becoming more conscious of how our purchases affect our world water supply can help all of us.
We are a consumption-crazed economy. This is truth. But what if all collectively decided to give a moment of reflective pause prior to our purchases? (In this case I am speaking specifically about cotton-based apparel purchases, i.e. khakis, jeans, sweats, t-shirts, shorts, underwear, etc.)
Further, what if we whole-heartedly supported each other in doing this, and instead of judging others for not having the latest, coolest new gear on, we instead applauded and high-fived each other for giving last season’s trends an extra wear or two?
What if we collectively stood up to the heavy hypnotic influences of fashion marketing and said, “No, I look great no matter what I’m wearing, and I don’t XYZ company to affirm this for me.”
If we realized that we are already innately enough, that there is novoid to fill, and that we have more than enough clothing in our closets already.
Imagine what we could do with this liberating mindset? Imagine how much more fresh water might be available to those who don’t take it for granted, and imagine how much happier we would all be, knowing that we don’t need all that extra stuffjust to look good and impress each other.
After all, what are we doing all this shopping for? Is it because we are bored? Insecure? Unhappy? How awesome would be if in place of spending our time and hard-earned money stockpiling designer jeans as our primary method of solving internal conflict, we start gaining new insight into ourselves instead, spending more time learning about what makes us tick, while simultaneously alleviating some of the strain we are putting on this beautiful, plentiful planet of ours.
Maybe there is a subconscious collective undercurrent of sadness, knowing that indeed we are being so selfish, putting our silly fashion needs before everything else, when “everything else” is obviously so much more infinitely important. In our truest state, in our heart of hearts, we know this to be true.
Our hearts tug at us to care for something greater than just our image. It tugs for us to align our beliefs, our core values, with our actions.
I don’t know, I am philosophizing. I have not asked a sufficient number of people about this yet so I am not sure if collectively this is right.
But I do believe this would be the best way to live. To be well–informed of where our consumable goods come from, on how they came to be, and to always remember that the most powerful vote we have right now at this present point in time, is the vote of our dollar.
Let me know your thoughts. My research into this subject of wet pants :-D is far from complete. Also, I am swallowing this pill just as much as anyone else, as I have many brightly colored items in my closet as well!
Take care, my dear friend, and remember to vote with your dollar :) I love you!
– Lian