Every year, I challenge myself to take a course in an area of interest to gain more understanding, appreciation and make connections to the impact I wish to create. I decided to do a 3 months rigorous Business Sustainability Management program with the University of Cambridge, which I found very engaging, informative and very challenging. Having completed the course, my convictions and love for sustainability are reinforced because it makes economical, social and environmental sense.
I highly recommend that as responsible individuals, we continuously and consciously become aware of the processes, energy, material resources, human labour, waste generated as well as social and environmental factors involved in the production cycle of our everyday purchase. An awareness of this nature, will gradually but radically help to shape our choices.
The Natural Step
Learning from nature or "biomimicry" was a big take away from the course mentioned above. The consideration is that nature has been around, though it is constantly changing with ecosystems that thrive on diversity, each organism fitting into the system to create a functioning whole. This is because everything is connected and hence long-term, whole system, circular thinking is necessary. Nature takes her time, maximizing what she has to bring out the best, in order to avoid waste, which is unfortunately a big part of the fast-fashion trend.
Regrettably, most of the clothes we wear daily are made of synthetic materials, with polyester being the predominant form. Synthetic materials have negative environmental effects during production, use and even after they have been discarded. They are often manufactured by fast-aggressive processes from non-renewable and non-biodegrable sources.