by Rainier Sielaff, AWC Finland
At the school where I used to teach (I am an English teacher in Germany), each junior chooses an area of interest, finds and works with a mentor, and embarks on an individual project, which they then document, craft into a thesis paper, and finally present to the school community in the fall of their senior year. From 2018 to 2019, three of my eleventh grade students chose to delve into topics appropriate for Earth Day. One of them looked into the environmental costs of fast fashion. The following summer, a local business magazine published a passionate editorial she had written, summing up her project. After describing the responsibility each of us has as a consumer, she ended with the urgent plea:
It’s up to us to start thinking differently! We as a society have to promote sustainability by embracing it wholeheartedly.
In January of this year, I reached out to my former student, now a law student, to see if she was still engaged in the fight against fast fashion. I received the following reply, “I have to say that I unfortunately don’t have enough time at the moment to really get into the topic. But it’s fascinating that my year project had such a lasting effect on me. Awareness of the issue has definitely remained with me. I actually tried to do something again with the sustainable clothes brand I’d researched, but I just didn’t have enough time. Nevertheless, the topic is still present for me, and especially having a better understanding from a legal perspective, I continually come up with new ideas on how to change things using the law. Yesterday I read another super interesting legal comment on how sustainability is affecting consumer product purchases legally. So, the topic still interests me a lot and I hope to find more time soon to dedicate to it and maybe get a more accurate picture for how the sustainable textile industry has developed over the years since I completed my year project.”
Photo: Canva Pro
