sustainable fashion 2

 

Sustainable fashion can be described as the ability of a fashion product to endure from source to design concept, manufacture and retail till it gets to the final wearer and is disposed of, without hurting the people it comes in contact with through this entire process, or the environment in which it travels.

Sustainable fashion, eco fashion, ethical fashion, sweatshops, carbon footprints, greenhouse emissions, fast fashion – we have heard them all in the last decade and we are still trying to take them all in. The first thing that comes to mind however, when we hear sustainable fashion and Nigerian fashion industry in the same breadth is: Are we there yet?

The answer is YES and the whole essence of talking about it this month on Style House Files is to raise awareness that we are all stakeholders in the fashion lifecycle – farmer, textile manufacturer, designer, garment manufacturer, retailer, buyer, press, model and consumer. Hence, we should all stand up and face responsibility for the ecological and social impact of the product that have been made, designed, promoted, sold and worn by us or that we have been associated with either directly or indirectly. The future of sustainable fashion lies in this very fact, since it is such human interactions with fashion products that determine the sustainability of not just the fashion product but its production process as well.

As a fashion forward race, we have an insatiable appetite for consumption of goods. We see this everyday in the non-stop buying of fashion products as often and as quickly as possible (no thanks to the media and fashion industry), the subconscious desire to always have something brand new and shiny as long as it comes with a hefty price without caring where it comes from and in the case of fast fashion, buying goods so dirt cheap without a thought for who had to slave or practically work for free so we can actually buy fashion products at such a ridiculous price in the first place!

There is no doubt that the notion of our taking responsibility for the future of fashion and invariably our environment and people, really sounds daunting! What then must we do? Go back to the beginning like it was in the Garden of Eden when Adam was unaware of what clothes were? Or post fall of Adam from Eden when leaves were seen as covering? Sustainable fashion is not as complicated as it sounds and quite a number of us probably already make sustainable choices when designing and or buying. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the fashion cognoscenti to educate us all on sustainable choices they make in fashion, so we can utilise them as tools of cementing long term development in a growing industry.

Style House Files will explore the following angles as sustainable fashion choices we can make:

 •Fashion products made from organic, recycled fabrics

 •Handmade or handcrafted goods

 •Vintage fashion products

 •locally sourced and produced clothes

 •clothes made well- which cost more but last longer-

 •products sales that benefit charities, causes and less privileged societies

Whatever choice or choices we embrace, please bear in mind that the whole essence of this is to give meaning to a fashion product beyond just wearing, it is to embrace the psychological impact of what wearing that fashion product means to us in terms of celebrating culture, craft and meaning in our everyday style.

fashion for sustainable

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sustainable fashion

Sustainable fashion, also called eco fashion, is a part of the growing design philosophy and trend of sustainability, the goal of which is to create a system which can be supported indefinitely in terms of environmentalism and social[disambiguation needed] responsibility. Sustainable fashion is part of the larger trend of sustainable design where a product is created and produced with consideration to the environmental and social impact it may have throughout its total life span, including its "carbon footprint". According to the May 2007 Vogue appears not to be a short-term trend but one which could last multiple seasons.While environmentalism used to manifest itself in the fashion world through a donation of percentage of sales of a product to a charitable cause, fashion designers are now re-introducing eco-conscious methods at the source through the use of environmentally friendly materials and socially responsible methods of production.

There are some organizations working to increase opportunities for sustainable designers. The National Association of Sustainable Fashion Designers is one of those organizations. Its purpose is to assist entrepreneurs with growing fashion related businesses that create social change and respect the environment. Sustainable Designers provides specialized triple bottom line education, training, and access to tools and industry resources that advance creative, innovative and high impact businesses. The organization’s mission is to create social change through design and fashion related businesses by providing education, training and programs that are transformative to the industry and to cultivate collaboration, sustainability and economic growth.

According to Earth Pledge, a non-profit organization (NPO) committed to promoting and supporting sustainable development, "At least 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles and 25% of the world's pesticides are used to grow non-organic cotton. This causes irreversible damage to people and the environment, and still two thirds of a garment's carbon footprint will occur after it is purchased.

Mother Polar Bear and Cubs Emerging from Den

Wild dogs taunt buffalo herd

Baby elephants learn life lessons

Ancient sea creature emerges from the depths

Funny Talking Animals

Cute Baby Animals

Otters holding hands (So sweet ' v ')

Sleepy Bengal Kittens

Sharks Are Color-Blind

Sharks may be able to smell blood from miles away, but they probably don't know how red it is: New research suggests sharks are color-blind.
Sharks have successfully prowled the oceans for millions of years, in part because of an impressive suite of sensory systems, including well-developed eyes and a large area in the brain devoted to vision.
But over the past few decades conflicting data have sparked a debate about whether sharks can see colors.
In a new study, scientists looked at the retinas of 17 shark species caught off the coasts of eastern and western Australia, including tiger sharks and bull sharks.
Retinas use two main types of light-sensitive cells to allow animals to see: Rod cells help measure brightness, while various types of cone cells help distinguish colors.
A technique known as microspectrophotometry had previously shown that rays and chimaeras, both close relatives of sharks, have color vision.
Using the same method, Nathan Scott Hart at the University of Western Australia and colleagues scanned shark retinas for pigments linked with rod and cone cells.
Rod cells were the most common types of photoreceptor found in all 17 shark species, which means the predators should be able to see within a wide range of light levels.
But no cone cells were observed in 10 of the 17 species, while only one type of cone cell appeared to be present in the other 7. This suggests that these sharks cannot tell different colors apart.
"We can't say hands down if sharks are color-blind yet, as there are over 400 different shark species," said shark biologist Michelle McComb at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.
"But these findings are excellent, and a surprise, and definitely should spur more work," said McComb, who did not take part in the new study.
Color-Blindness to Save Rare Sharks?
It makes sense that sharks might be color-blind, the study team noted. Many aquatic predators—such as whales, dolphins, and seals—also appear to be color-blind, which may be because color vision isn't much use in their mostly blue-green environments.
If the discovery holds true for more shark species, it could be used to help reduce the numbers of endangered sharks accidentally caught by fisheries, as well as prevent shark attacks on humans.
"Our study shows that contrast against the background, rather than color per se, may be more important for object detection by sharks," study co-author Hart said in a statement.
"This may help us to design longline fishing lures that are less attractive to sharks, as well as to design swimming attire and surf craft that have a lower visual contrast to sharks and therefore are less attractive to them."

Oldest Giant Panda Relative Found in Spain

The oldest relative of the giant panda has been discovered in Spain—suggesting that the animal's ancestors originated in Europe, a new study says.
Dubbed Kretzoiarctos beatrix, the 11-million-year-old species was previously named Agriarctos beatrix based on a few fossil teeth found at a paleontological site near Zaragoza, Spain (map). Agriarctos is an extinct genus of European bear and a possible panda ancestor that lived eight to nine million years ago.
Earlier this year, scientists found a piece of A. beatrix's jaw, allowing them to compare it with that of another ancient Agriarctos bear from Hungary. In doing so, the team determined that A. beatrix is actually its own genus, which they called Kretzoiarctos.
The newly named K. beatrix pushes back the origin of giant pandas by a few million years, making it the oldest recorded giant panda relative, said study leader Juan Abella, a paleobiologist at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain.
"Therefore, the origin of this group is not located in China, where the [giant panda] species lives, but in the warm and humid regions of [southwestern] Europe," Abella said in May.
New Bear Was Panda-Like?
For one, says Abella, the newfound jaw fragment shows the animal was likely an omnivore that fed on tough plants, like modern-day pandas. Also like them, and like most existing species of small bears, K. beatrix was probably a great climber. According to Abella, it would have had to scramble up trees to escape big predators of the day—such as extinct, doglike carnivores called bear-dogs—in the forests of what's now Spain.
But at 130 pounds (60 kilograms), K. beatrix was smaller than modern pandas and even more petite than the modern-day sun bear or spectacled bear.
An Epic Trek?
It's still unclear how panda ancestors made the epic trek from Europe to China.
Previous research suggests bears generally can migrate easily if the climate is mild enough, Abella said. Eleven million years ago, southwestern Europe was warm and humid-good conditions for starting out, he said.
The bears likely migrated mostly on land. One potential barrier—an ancient European sea called Parathetys—was already shrinking during the Middle Miocene, when K. beatrix lived, said Abella.
As for whether K. beatrix made it to China, "We don't really know, but no fossil remains of this species have been found outside Spain."
Whatever its history, the new research shows that K. beatrix was not your average bear.
The oldest panda relative study was published November 14 in the journal PLoS ONE.

Cute babe animals

Which Animals Sleep For A Long Time In A Day?

 

 

It is the human being which is said to be the workless living being on earth when compared to other living beings. But, in the recent research it is found that besides human beings there are many animals which sleep for long time without doing any work. The name of that animal is Sloth which sleeps for 23 hours a day without any work. That is why, these sloths are recognized as the long sleeping and laziest animals in the world. Sloths are Mammals. These sloths mostly live on the trees. These are found in middle and South America. The size of these sloths will be like that of puppies. The life span of the sloths is around 30 years.
The sloths will be active during night times. The sleeping posture of sloths is very different where they bring their two legs together and their head on their hands and sleep on the trees. The sleeping posture of the sloths appears as if it is a part of the tree and they do not appear as an animal unless observed carefully. These sloths do not come down from the tree usually. Though if they come down from the tree they do not walk but crawl. During the time of floods , these animals can swim. The digestive system of the sloths is very big and the digestion process will go on like a snail. The digestion process takes one month of time to complete this process. That is the reason why, they sleep for a long time.

Things You Can Do To Protect Wildlife

 

 

 

1. Protect Wildlife Habitat
Perhaps the greatest threat that faces many species is the widespread destruction of habitat. Deforestation, farming, over-grazing and development all result in irreversible changes—soil compaction, erosion, desertification, and alteration of local climatic conditions. Such land use practices vastly alter or even eliminate wildlife habitat. In areas where rare species are present, habitat destruction can quickly force a species to extinction.
By protecting habitat, entire communities of animals can be protected together and when communities are kept intact, less conservation intervention is required to ensure species survival. Parks, reserves, and other protected lands are too often the only habitats left untouched by habitat destruction.
2. Join a Conservation Organization
There is a wide range of conservation organizations working to protect endangered animals and habitats. Different organizations have different objectives—some work to protect a small plot of land or to protect whales, others focus on establishing good environmental policies in local government.
If you have a specific area of interest, you can often find an organization that is working to protect the species or habitats you're most concerned about. By joining in, you can support well-organized, ongoing efforts to protect species and habitats. And if you want to participate in conservation field work, you can often get involved in specific programs within many conservation organizations that rely to a great extent on help from volunteers.
3. Reduce the Threat of Invasive Species
The spread of non-native species has greatly impacted native populations around the world. Invasive species compete with native species for resources and habitat. They can even prey on native species directly, forcing native species towards extinction. Another way to reduce the threat of invasive species is to incorporate native plants in your garden and to welcome native animals into your yard.
4. Recycle and Reduce Energy and Goods Consumption
By recycling and (reusing as much as we can, we reduce our impact on the environment. Additionally, by reducing the energy we consume, we take a little of the burden off our natural resources (and our pocketbooks). You can also reduce your carbon footprint by first calculating your current carbon footprint and then reduce the amount of carbon you consume.
5. Minimize use of Herbicides and Pesticides
Herbicides and pesticides may keep yards looking nice but they are in fact hazardous pollutants that affect wildlife at many levels. Many herbicides and pesticides take a long time to degrade and build up in the soils or throughout the food chain. Some groups of animals such as amphibians are particularly vulnerable to these chemical pollutants and suffer greatly as a result of the high levels of herbicides and pesticides in their habitat.
6. Place Decals on Windows to Deter Bird Collisions
Daniel Klem Jr. of Muhlenberg College has estimated that as many as one billion birds in the United States die each year due to collisions with windows. You can help reduce the number of collisions simply by placing decals on the windows in your home and office. Other simple steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of collisions are to re-evaluate feeder placement, draw shades and curtains during brightest parts of day, install tilted window glass, and put screens on outside of windows.
7. Slow Down When Driving
Many native animals have to live in developed areas and this means they must navigate a landscape full of human hazards. One of the biggest obstacles to wildlife living in developed areas is that created by roads. Roads divide habitat and present a constant hazard to any animal attempting to cross from one side to the other. So when you're out and about, slow down and keep an eye out for wildlife.
8. Voice Your Concerns and Get Involved Locally
By letting local and national governments know that you're concerned about endangered species, you're increasing the likelihood that someone will do something about it.
9. Change Your Career
This may sound extreme but for some people getting involved in the protection of threatened and endangered animals is so important that a career change that enables you to work directly with species of concern may be the most rewarding way of doing so. If you're seeking more information on changing your career, you may want to check out The Working Zoologist.
10. Share Your Enthusiasm for Wildlife and Nature
Encourage others to learn about nature, enjoy watching wildlife, and value protecting habitats and species with which we share this planet.

Do u like animals?