With Earth Day Coming do you have your T-shirt Designed?

The greatest satisfaction of a nice sunny day is the wearing of casual clothes which blend in with the weather conditions.  In addition, one does not necessarily have to feel out of place while wearing the t-shirt since it goes along with the current trend.  However, on earth day is it really necessary to wear a designed T-shirt versus n organic T-shirt? It is natural for one to feel special or classy with such a specially designed T-shirt, but earth day represents a day of inspiration on creating awareness of the Earth's natural environment.

It is not surprising to see people may be unaware of their environment and what affects it, but it is important to know that earth is the habitat for all living things including human beings.  Therefore, one may need to ask what a typical (non earth friendly) designed t-shirt entails when making it.

Some of the chemicals used to print them are environmentally unfriendly.  For instance, the designed t-shirts are usually dyed using various chemicals that are harmful to the environment.  Some of these chemicals can include caustic soda, sodium phenylglycinate and sodamide which form a chemical known as indoxyl. This chemical is known for the synthetic indigo dye where most of these chemicals are drawn from coal or petroleum. 

These are just a sample of chemicals used in printing design t-shirts that are not organic.  Other findings reflect that at least one third pound of harmful chemicals are usually found in the traditionally manufactured cotton t-shirts. These harmful chemicals can be directly attributed to the use of pesticides during cotton cultivation. At least 10% of the harmful chemicals go into the product while the remaining 90% is released into the water tables below the ground, atmosphere and soil.

This would seem to indicate that it is only a matter of time before the earth water systems will be contaminated with harmful chemicals which are unfit for human consumption.  In celebrating earth day it is crucial to understand the pros and cons of the processes used to design a t-shirt. Wouldn’t you rather wear an eco friendly shirt?