In undertaking a photography assignment for a new British travel magazine/supplement with environmentally friendly aspects and awareness, ‘Eco-Trip.’ I took the following shots in order to capture the rural environment present within the city of Birmingham….
Filed under: eco friendly fashion | Tags: bay city times, eco-friendly, fashion, green, style
The ‘Bay City Times,’ recently released an article in which they address the issue of green clothing, commenting on how much is now available on the high street.
The article written by Sharon M. Pennell, published today ( Sunday, May 25th, 2008 ) reiterates the sentiment put forward in pervious blogs, i.e. clothing made through eco-friendly production methods and with environmentally sound materials such as fair trade cottons etc. are finding their way to the high street in their masses.
Pennell states ‘In todays increasingly eco-conscious world, more and more shoppers are discovering that “going green” doesn’t mean a sacrifice of quality or style.’
The article taken from an American newspaper situated in Michigan just goes to show the impact being made on a global level.
Filed under: eco friendly fashion | Tags: eco, environment, fashion, H&M, Marks and Spencer, Stella McCartney
My focus for Environmental News Online is fashion and I was therefore delighted to attend Walsall colleges’ end of year fashion show. Students such as Charlotte Wooldridge, 18, showcased her designs with models strutting their stuff down the catwalk with a clear focus on the environment. Environmentally sound materials were used throughout her collection but use of leaf designs, neutral colours and an emphasis on calm, soft greens reflective of the earth, nature and the environment as a whole as well as ‘sustainable living being expressed through clothing.’ When asked why the environment is so important within her collection the young designer commented ‘it really should be; only a few designers I know of are taking the planet into consideration.’
T-shirts and bags adorned with slogans such as ‘heal the world’ make the message explicit.
Fashion icon and well respected designer Stella McCartney has experimented with organic cottons for many years, her main concerns however lie with animal rights, and therefore nothing tested on animals is included or used in any part of her collections. Stella McCartney is an inspiration within her field doing more than her bit for the environment, her flagship London store is wind powered.
But if haute couture is just out of your reach, High Street super brand ‘Marks and Spencer’ released its ‘Plan A’ mission statement (because there is no plan b) to be carbon neutral by 2012 by reducing packaging and using fair trade cottons and production methods where ever possible, they have even gone as far as to open an eco factory earlier this year in Sri Lanka.
The well known H&M store is also helping to raise awareness of environmental issues through a number of different ways, promoting ‘environmental awareness among employees and suppliers,’ a respect for nature and caution in decision making, being aware of the impact such decisions could have on the environment. All products are healthy, ‘safe and harmless to the environment.’ Even efforts towards transportation is being made ‘greener,’ with ‘clean and efficient transport with limited influence on the climate.’
A rage of childrens clothing has recently been designed with the environment in mind, tshirts with an organic cotton tag and sloguns such as ‘take care of my world’ demonstrate explicitly the reason action is needed within environmental awareness so as to protect the earth for future generations. Having young children express such sentiments through fashion illusrates this point well.
This particular advertisement isn’t narrated by Eddie Izzard, (as previous mentioned) but demonstrates the governements intention to encourage the younger gerneration to recycle.
Filed under: opinion piece - environmental issues. | Tags: Add new tag, eco-friendly, environment, environmental, recycling
There’s no disputing the fact that issues facing the environment are literally everywhere at the moment, everyone seems to be doing their bit. Noticing this shift in attitude isn’t exactly difficult; advertisements seem to focus on the environment as their strongest selling point. Take ‘British Gas’ for example, firm believers in ‘the development of renewable electricity’ are giving away four free energy saving light bulbs to every customer, with imagery which explicitly makes Britain greener in the eyes of the consumer.
Cars, clothes, food, almost everything is fresh, organic and environmentally sound. This led to me wonder, has this changed the attitude of the everyday person, the ‘average Joe?’
I work in a DIY shop as a sales assistant in a small town called Aldridge with a lot of time to think. The average age of customers I would say is about sixty five, set in their ways, strong minded people who do not like change. But even their attitude towards the environment has altered over recent times, carrier bags are shunned, eco-friendly wallpaper purchased and elderly couples take a slow walk home as opposed to running their cars for a short distance. Helen Dukes, 63, commented, ‘I’m coming to the later part of my life, and its easy be selfish, just get on with what I want to do but the media has made me, and my whole family realise what little things you can do to make a big difference in the long run.’ I found this remark inspirational, the little decisions we make on a day to day level paving the way for our families for centuries ahead. I considered this lady to be a sort of spokes person for her generation dictating the way their attitudes have changed. When asked whether the environment is something she considers when shopping in general she nodding emphatically and said ‘you have to, well, it’s not something that would have even occurred to be a couple of years ago, if I’m honest but it’s everywhere these days isn’t it? I’d feel bad if I didn’t even try to make an effort.’
Yesterday on a trip to the supermarket I was presented with a large carrier bag which told me to reuse where ever possible. Another example of how environmental issues are literally, hitting the high street. Carrier bags does seem to be at the forefront of the agenda at the moment, paper bags are becoming more dominant pioneered by high street shops like ‘Primark,’ and ‘Topshop’ but what is becoming more and more common are reusable cotton shopping bags emblazoned with such slogans as ‘I’m not a plastic bag.’
Then there’s recycling, heavily promoted through TV advertisements and endorsed by many celebrities. Narrated by Eddie Izzard, the £10m multi-media advertising campaign set up by the government intends to encourage the public to recycle household waste. Focusing on the tagline ‘the possibilities for recycling are endless.’ Recycling is getting easier, collected at your door on the most part. There is however room for improvement in this area in my opinion, perhaps more information about where to take things for recycling. The only places I know of are places I have seen in passing; an information service such as this would surely be beneficial. It is refreshing to see the younger generations also taking this concept seriously, Lucie Plumpton, 19, a student from Walsall, remarked ‘I like the idea of recycling, obviously it needs to be done but I like the idea that when I’m done with something, its reused in so many different ways.’ She’s right as the well known advert tells us, endless indeed!
It seems people have finally got the message, attitudes are changing, adapting and improving to suit the current climates, greener is better.
