Environmental benefits of wearing wool

With much of the media dominated by environmental concerns, every aspect of modern living is under the microscope. How we work, how we travel and what we eat have all been closely inspected. What we wear is likely to come in for increased scrutiny.

We're all becoming increasingly aware of our carbon footprint and how it can be altered depending upon how much energy we use. One area that makes a large contribution to global carbon dioxide emissions is the burning of fossil fuels to meet our energy requirements.

Experts have been calling for all of us to try and reduce the energy that we use in our own homes. One element of this has been to try and get households to switch to energy efficient lighting.

Another has been the call for us all to turn down the heating in our homes. A small reduction in temperatures could lead to a large saving in terms of energy usage.

One way to make this possible is for us all to wear a warm layer of clothing. Wool is perfect for this task.

It has the added benefit of being a natural product, meaning that the amount of energy used in producing a garment should be considerably less than with man-made equivalents.

Given that wool comes naturally from animals, it's also a renewable source of clothing. These renewable, energy efficient qualities mean that wool based items of clothing are really making a comeback.

If you want to do your bit for the environment, then the message seems to be that you should put on your favourite woollen sweater and turn down the heating!