Year for the Planet is a campaign to make better choices for the planet. 2017 was when I fixed my eating habits. This year, 2018, is where I deal with my clothing choices.
—
It’s 2018 and with another year comes another opportunity to be better. This year, my theme is clothing. This was an easy choice because after all the weight I lost from last year’s Food theme, I need new threads. From choosing where to buy my underwear to pants to socks, to looking at sustainable materials, to even making my own clothes, this year will be another life-changing 52 weeks of making better choices for the planet.
Beyond this being the logical post-30-lb-weight-loss reason for wanting to transform what I wear, fast fashion is the second dirtiest industry in the world, next to oil. We keep our clothing for a few years—sometimes a few weeks—unlike the older generations who wore theirs for decades.
In the years of doing art about the environment, I have naturally altered my choices bit by bit. So I know better than to shop in fast fashion outlets. And yet there are times when I do slip—it’s so much easier to get my basic tank tops from these places, for example, especially when I only need two. And why I would love to go ahead and switch to all-natural fabrics, many of these actually use more water and so this can lead to a lot of confusion when it comes to choosing better. There’s nothing like a dedicated project to undo all these misdemeanors. I can’t wait for all the things I’ll learn this year!