“Ravaging hurricanes, extreme weather, increasing cancer rates, growing global poverty. Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh, My! But, unlike Dorothy’s irrational paranoia in The Wizard of Oz, the ecological, social, and health problems rising in our global community today have been documented by science….Conventionally grown and manufactured cotton is the most chemically processed crop in the world and has been found to be a major contributor to a wide variety of global problems.” Yep, global problems like environmental pollution, cancer, and poverty. Want to take the low hanging fruit in our efforts to change the world for the better? Take on cotton for high impact change.

While a mere 2.4% of the world’s arable land gets covered in cotton, that crop accounts for roughly a quarter of the world’s insecticide market and 11% of global pesticide sales. It is the most pesticide-intensive crop on Earth. “The next time you throw on your favorite T-shirt, consider this: Approximately one-third of a pound, or 17 teaspoons, of chemicals—many of them known carcinogens—were used to grow the cotton to produce it. And it all adds up fast. The USDA claims that in one year US cotton fields applied over 50 million pounds of pesticides.

Organically grown cotton doesn’t use toxins or synthetic fertilizers; it gets produced without harsh chemical bleaches and dyes. Lotus Organics explains in clear and thorough details the seed to shirt experience of both nonoprganic and organic cotton side-by-side. They also provide some startling information about the impacts of pesticides in farming practices and uplifting examples of organic farming successes.

Additional Resources:

• Organic Trade Association Developed standards for the processing of organic fibers.
• Organic Consumers Association Campaigns for food safety, organic agriculture, Fair Trade, and sustainability.
• Institute Of Science In Society Provides articles on hazards of genetically engineered cotton and other agricultural products.
• Unified Sustainable Textile Standard Offers an emerging standard to provide a market-based definition for a Sustainable Textile, establish performance requirements for public health and environment, and address the triple bottom line, economic-environmental-social, throughout the supply chain
• USDA Organic
  Implementing standard for the word “organic” on U.S. products to mean that ingredients and production methods have been verified by an accredited certification agency as meeting or exceeding USDA standards for organic production.