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Original poster

They have no clean drinking water and it’s your fault!

376 replies

Neapolitanicecream · 09/10/2018 06:46

Watched Stacy Dooley “Fashion dirty secret” on BBC last night. Lost sleep over it. Michael Gove is clueless on the poisonings of water for millions of people. It’s a disaster and it’s our fault with buying cheap cotton. We need to do something! Kids are being poisoned 🤢 it made me cry

OP posts:
Lonoxo · 09/10/2018 16:48

I saw the documentary and thought it was good. Fast fashion has been a concern of mine for a few years. It’s difficult as I enjoy fashion and looking well groomed at the same time I’m concerned about environmental impact.

Fashion is harder for women. My DH has the same suit which he can wear for weddings, funerals and interviews and nobody will bat an eyelid. If i wear the same dress, it’s much more noticeable. Fashion also dates quicker for women.

I think a lot of this is cultural. A show like sex and the city made it cool to care about fashion. Lots of magazines and newspapers have sections devoted to fashion. Shopping is a hobby for some. I think of my teenage years going to a large shopping centre, and shopping all days for clothes. Or evenings browsing online for the latest trends.

I’m on my 3rd year of no clothes spend, mostly for environmental and financial reasons and also because I’m running out of space.

I think it’s great that Kate Middleton is seen rewearing outfits at different occasions. It would be good to see movie stars rewearing outfits at premieres and award shows too.

ShatnersWig · 09/10/2018 16:58

@inert Thanks for the invalid pension thing. I meant to type invalid not valid and hadn't spotted error until got in from work.

NotMeNoNo · 09/10/2018 16:59

It's Hans Rosling who did the BBC lectures on population /life expectancy etc.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 09/10/2018 17:02

I think humans are meant to go on forever and the future is in leaving this planet. I think humans have the capacity to solve anything they put their minds to - including global warming, over population, etc.

Leaving the planet is not solving the problem of global warming and overpopulation. It's fucking up one planet and exporting the problem.

Stonebake · 09/10/2018 17:03

If humans do leave the planet, it will only be the super rich who can afford to do so imo. Unless something radical happens.

THEsonofaBITCH · 09/10/2018 17:07

Leaving the planet is not solving the problem of global warming and overpopulation. It's fucking up one planet and exporting the problem
Only if you're a pessimist!

InertPotato · 09/10/2018 17:09

But how do we know that the third or fourth child might not have been Michelangelo, Albert Einstein, or Alexander Fleming?

You know that's a logical fallacy, right?

@Shatner'sWig I'm relieved to hear that, I was sort of troubled by your comment. Phew.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 09/10/2018 17:10

Give me three reasons to be an optimist in this situation now.

InertPotato · 09/10/2018 17:13

I agree inert, but there are good reasons to have children on a personal level and at a societal level. Whether you think these outweigh the reasons not to, is quite subjective I think.

Sure. We all have our political selves, and our personal selves, and they don't always align.

Which is why, to beat a dead horse, stuff just needs to cost more. Force the alignment.

Stonebake · 09/10/2018 17:14

Bang on inert.

chardonnay, don’t say I never get you anything nice Grin:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/3k5k8y/nine-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-climate-change-in-2018

InertPotato · 09/10/2018 17:15

Give me three reasons to be an optimist in this situation now.

Technology is advancing pretty rapidly, particularly re: solar/batteries, which presumably can be used for desalinisation. That's one reason.

I don't have many, mind you.

Harpingon · 09/10/2018 17:27

Another reason to reduce population is that, due to technology, we will not have jobs or will have very different jobs. Globally we will not need the manual labor that we do now. Governments are already very worried about this prospect and debating it.

BMW6 · 09/10/2018 17:28

I had no idea growing cotton used so much water. Very thought provoking programme.

I wonder if wool could see a resurgence on the back of these concerns - at the moment a shorn fleece has less value than it costs to shear the sheep (if I recall a Countryfile episode correctly). Not much use in summer though......

InertPotato · 09/10/2018 17:29

Another reason to reduce population is that, due to technology, we will not have jobs or will have very different jobs. Globally we will not need the manual labor that we do now. Governments are already very worried about this prospect and debating it.

I KNOW.

It's always the same people who bang on about pensions and filling jobs of the future. As though they haven't picked up a newspaper in about 25 years.

Stonebake · 09/10/2018 17:31

Such a good point harpingon! I’ve been saying this exact thing for ages. Although, the nerdy sci-fi part of me thinks that robots are the next phase in our evolution and we’re on our way slowly out 🤓*.

*I have no scientific basis for this whatsoever - please don’t be alarmed and think I know what I’m talking about Grin.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 09/10/2018 17:31

Solar batteries are a bastard to dispose of though.

Thanks Stonebake, I'll read it later, hopefully it will give me reason to be cheerful.

InertPotato · 09/10/2018 17:31

I had no idea growing cotton used so much water. Very thought provoking programme.

Those of you who are concerned about this should check out bamboo. Just peruse Amazon, it's pretty amazing.

I bought some bamboo leggings, they're fantastic, and socks for the kiddos, and toothbrushes.

Stonebake · 09/10/2018 17:33

Oh bamboo leggings you say? I love bamboo as a fabric, regardless. So soft.

Stonebake · 09/10/2018 17:34

And I’m partial to leggings as I am a scruff bag!

ScienceIsTruth · 09/10/2018 17:35

I think that, as a species, we're victims of our own success.

We improved healthcare & sanitation, etc, so we're living longer.
We've treatments for most diseases, etc, and maternity care has improved so the children we have are more likely to reach adulthood.
We've industrialised the food industry so we can feed more people, more cheaply, etc, etc.

kaytee87 · 09/10/2018 17:40

@InertPotato bamboo is great. All of DS plates, bowls and cups are bamboo instead of plastic

ScienceIsTruth · 09/10/2018 17:44

Tbh, I don't think it's a bad thing if we were to die out because, as a species we're the most arrogant, and the most destructive on the planet. It would be no great loss.

Stonebake · 09/10/2018 17:52

Nah I know animals fairly well due to my upbringing. Humans are probably the best of a not very good bunch. Nature is fucking brutal. Have you heard of those wasps that lay their eggs in other insects heads so they can eat them from the inside out when they hatch? That’s destructive.

But yes, in some ways, we’re the worst as we should know better.

Stonebake · 09/10/2018 17:53

And I swear I wasn’t even the one who started that anti dolphin thread either!