This book is a history book, a biography of cotton, and could possibly be read as an epic novel. I discovered it through an online quilt history list. Members of the list were praising the book for many reasons, one for the wealth of information, another for its fascinating read. I decided to purchase it for my textile history collection. As I opened the book and started reading, I found it difficult to put aside. I was underlining and writing notes in the narrow margins. How could one single crop have such an impact on so many civilizations and continue its influence in the future? These are questions this book addresses as well as many others.
Cotton seems almost whimsical in its shape, size, and fanciful puff, but aside from this allure, it is one of the most pesticide-laden crops ever grown. I was not aware of this until I started reading many of the blogs that I keep up with, and this fact encouraged me to not only read the book, but to become a better consumer of textile goods.
The reason for the use of these insecticides began with the boll weevil, imported by Columbus. The author Stephen Yafa describes this beetle: “A single female beetle could give rise to six generations all within one year. If only 10 percent of those generations survived, the sixth generation would produce 729 million weevils”. It was clear that this was an enemy of the crop that had to be controlled in order for cotton to survive.
“But what of the chemical weapons we used against it? They at first represented the contribution of our best and brightest. Yet as time wore on and we learned more details about the unintended effects of these toxins on the health of humans, wildlife, and vegetation, a more subtle and elusive adversary began to emerge: our own methods of destruction.” [I am reminded here of Rachel Carson's illuminating and profound book, Silent Spring]. “Like Agent Orange in Vietnam, the arsenal itself became a self-inflicted wound. By the time we acknowledged that we were killing scores of birds and fish, contaminating our air and groundwater, and spreading cancer across the Cotton Belt, we’d developed three generations of potent pesticides that we had been applying to cotton and numerous other crops in torrential quantities for close to fifty years.”
As I became more informed, I could not go into clothing stores and see the racks and racks of cotton clothing without a certain amount of disgust and anger. Then I realized, with even more impact on personal habits, that new fabric purchases implied the same alarm. What right did I or we have as a country to be so mindless and greedy in our unconscious spending habits?
The Industrial Revolution played a vast role, if not a primary one in the proportions that we seem to be accepting as practical and necessary. If one is not influenced by the poison of cotton, then its history and the labor abuse might convince one that its beginnings were not so innocent.
Many years ago, I had a chance to go through the textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts that has been a museum for some time now. It was a real eye-opener for me. When you enter the room where all the power looms were working at once, the noise was so deafening, that you had to cover both your ears to even tolerate the experience for a few minutes. Many young girls had permanent hearing loss from the racket and noise of being in this room for many hours.
The hours were long, 12 hours a day in conditions where the air was stifling and unhealthy. When the mills first opened “Children as young as eight years old worked from six in the morning until seven at night with a half hour off for breakfast and forty minutes for dinner,” writes Yafa on his account of the mills in England. The horrible conditions were pervasive wherever mills were built and children were employed. And so these were some of the beginnings of one of our favorite and most popular fibers.
And so in thinking about all of this, I was looking around for better ways of existing in my own community. How were we trying to improve and begin a new paradigm, a better way of existing in our city, our county , and our world? Every few mornings, I would walk by this house that was being built in one of our neighborhoods. What initially informed my thinking was how this new construction did not really fit into the neighborhood with the rest of the older homes, and why would someone construct a home that was so out of character with the surrounding early 20th century homes. Then last week, I noticed a wooden sign on the house and went over to read about it. I was very impressed and suddenly my reasoning for its being there completely changed to one of support and affirmation. This is the new paradigm that is being created. It must happen or we are going to self-destruct as we move forward.
What also needs to change is our thinking about our wardrobes and what we wear and what we purchase to put in our homes. We have too much stuff and we have too much that we purchase that exacerbates the conditions that create pollution and unhealthy conditions in our environments.
“The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery – not over nature but of ourselves.”
Rachel Carson
Just ordered the Cotton book. Thank you! This is a terrific post.
I am glad that you did. I hope you will enjoy it. I have a ways to go, but it would be fun to compare notes when we finish.
Oh, no! Almost everything I own is cotton! My only consolation is that I haven’t bought anything new for years, and almost everything came from a secondhand shop anyway. But thank you for telling us. My husband goes hot-ballooning on the weekends, and he often lands in fields, many of them cotton fields, all over Texas. He used to bring me back a handful of cotton balls on the stem for my classes. I love those soft little puffs inside their spiky shields!
And I’m so glad you took a closer look at that house, for I cringe when a house so out of character goes up in my neighborhood, but now I must look behind the facade to see if something more important is going on than meets the eye! xo Kari
Kari-my vote is that buying second hand clothing is just as important as buying organic. That is, as long as we are buying what we need versus buying to be “in fashion.”
The key here is need versus want I guess. I also believe that dressing for some people is fun and playful, but I think we need to be more creative in how we put things together instead of running to a store to find an immediate solution for what we perceive as a gap that we needed to fill. It is really amazing how an outfit can come together and look great by just using what we have on hand or taking a needle and thread or a sewing machine and creating a transformation!
Kari, please do not be alarmed. I did not mean to upset anyone with their current wardrobe status. I guess my thinking is directed toward the mindless and endless buying and discarding and buying and discarding that seems to be so evident in our culture. There is so much waste. I think we just need to be more mindful, not mindless.
I agree about neighborhoods looking aesthetically similar in era and design. I liked Deb’s comment also about not building more houses, but rather maintaining the houses we have and making them more sustainable. This seems like a very wise solution.
That is so thought-provoking Phyllis. We all tend to focus on talking about organic food and its benefits over pesticide-produced foods, but of course, forget that things like cotton is are cash crops, grown for profit, so is naturally doused with chemicals.
I think you have hit the nail square on the head when you say:
‘What also needs to change is our thinking about our wardrobes and what we wear and what we purchase to put in our homes. We have too much stuff and we have too much that we purchase that exacerbates the conditions that create pollution and unhealthy conditions in our environments.’
I think we can all start by trying to consume less, mend more, buying second hand, but most of all, not desiring the lastest techno-gadget, fad, wrinkle reduction cream, or labour-saving device just because ‘everyone else is getting one’… I think when history looks back at our era, it will be seen as one of the laziest, greediest and unhealthiest periods in history, where the new religion of fanatical consumerism and waste has plugged the gap left by religion & thrift in our modern secular world. Oh dear, I got a bit carried away there, sorry! xxx
Your last paragraph is so true and very illuminating. I do think that this period of history will be written as one of the “laziest, greediest, and unhealthiest periods in history” for so many of the reasons that you cited. And then how did we become such fanatical consumers? I think part of the cause could be the exploitation by the media, namely television. When my 11 year old grandson wanted “True Religion” jeans for Christmas, and knew we were traveling down a troublesome road to nowhere. Of course, all kids are influenced by their peers, but at some point this hype needs to be curbed. Yet, I am not altogether sure how to stop a fast moving train. It is so pervasive in our culture, and the next generation and the following is so bent on keeping this frenzy going. You did not get carried away, Lois. It is truly what is going on in our world. Keep finding your gorgeous old antique and vintage textiles and clothing. That is the healthiest thing you can do!
terrific post and that quote is so on…. i feel you are back with a clear energy….
I guess it is a little bit of a “bandstand” post, but there are times one simply feels a need to say a few things that seem crucial yet controversial. I like the term clear energy, and yes it feels like this. Thank you!
Fantastic! You’ve pulled this all together so well. You’ve caught the reason that I stopped stash building with new fabric. You’ve also given me an idea for a post….
I love seeing people be more thoughtful about the new homes that are being built. But I do feel it’s just like you’ve mentioned with clothing and the things we buy to fill our houses…sometimes the challenge is not building more but rather maintaining the houses we have. Making them more sustainable.
Oh, I will be anxious to see what your idea is for a related post.
As I mentioned to Kari, I like your thoughts on maintaining and sustaining what we have now with our houses. I think that is the wisest thing we can do as we move forward with questions and solutions.
Will you continue to take pictures of the house as it progresses?
There is a great site where you can see a lot of the progress. It is harpoonhouse.
[...] Mendofleur Blog on vintage textiles has an interesting article on Cotton History and Going Green [...]
A very helpful post and beautiful pictures. This is very complimentary to a post I wrote this week about keeping warm and choosing eco fibres. I have added a link here from my post. Hope you don’t mind. Thank you.
http://greeneastltd.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/here-are-some-ethical-clothing-tips-for-keeping-warm/
I am flattered, and thank you for doing this. I will definitely go over to your blog and see what you are posting that is complimentary. I am sure I will glean many ideas. I appreciated your comment and visiting. Thank you!