Environment impacts cotton

In China, the results are dramatic an 80% reduction in pesticide use on small farms planted with GE insect-resistant cotton (Huang et al. 2005 see box 5.3). Similarly, the USDA Economic Research Service reports that pesticide use on corn, soybeans, and cotton declined by about 2.5 million pounds in the United States since the introduction of GE crops in 1996 (Fernandez-Cornejo and Caswell 2006). These results support the notion that GE may radically reduce the negative impacts of farming practices on the environment and spare more land for wildlife (figure 8.1). 

Of all the communities adversely affected by hazardous cotton pesticides, a substantial proportion are located in India home to more cotton farmers than any other country in the world. Indian cotton production is heavily associated with the intensive use of hazardous pesticides, and is responsible for over half of aU agricultural pesticides applied nationally. Within this figure Indian cotton is associated with some of the most hazardous pesticides used anywhere on earth . Characterized hy a near total lack of safety measures, low quality equipment, and with protective clothing often unavailahle or prohibitively expensive, Indian cotton production represents a highly unsafe environment within which to work f Observational studies reveal a heavy toll exerted on the health of those who work with cotton pesticides and chemical analysis has revealed traces of pesticide residues in blood samples taken from Indian cotton labourers. Cotton undoubtedly represents one of India s most important economic, nutritive and cultural commodities, but its conventional cultivation has become deeply problematic, both for those who grow it and because of the external costs of its impact on health and the en-vironmenP ... 

Ask clolhing companies and rclailcrs which pesticides were used in the production ol cotton and cotton products they sell. I lighlight their concern about the impact ol cotton pesticides on the health ol cotton producing communities and their environment and ask retailers to stock organic cotton products as a sustainable alternative. 

Conduct an urgent assessment of the global impact of cotton pesticides on the global environment, and in particular the extent to which cotton pesticides contaminate global freshwater resources. 

Why wear natural organic fabrics like cotton, wool, linen, and hemp Natural fibers allow the skin to breathe more easily than most synthetic fibers, and have a less harmful impact on the environment. 

Textile products made from cotton fibre are used extensively all over the world. Numerous cotton products are being manufactured and used every day. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand the impacts of these products on environment and sustainabihty. In the following sections, various LCA studies conducted on cotton fibre, yam and fabrics are discussed. 

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, sustainabUity represents the type of developments that meet the needs of present generations without comprising the ability of future generations to fulfil their needs. The use of natural resources and the generated outputs and environmental effects are two important aspects of sustainability. Products or processes that use higher nonrenewable resources as well as produce detrimental effects on the environment are considered to be less sustainable. As discussed in the previous sections, LCA has been used to identify, quantify and evaluate the environmental impacts (inputs and outputs) of products made from cotton textiles and this information can be utilized to determine the sustainability of cotton textiles and to compare that with other textile fibres (Rana et al., 2014a,b). 

The LCA results of cradle-to-grave analysis from raw material extraction to discarded textiles revealed that the textiles made out of acryl and PET have the least impact on the environment, followed by elastane, nylon and cotton. Additionally, it was also found out from this study that the use phase has less relative impact than is suggested in the classical literature (van der Velden et al., 2014). There were many other conclusions, which will not be discussed here. 

From Table 13.5, it is evident that if the cotton bags are not reused, this wUl pose a very severe threat to the environment, and if they are used 173 times (as determined by this particular study), the environmental impacts are significantly reduced. From the life cycle impact assessment results, it was noticed that the material extraction and production contributed to almost more than 98% to all the impact categories (this might be... 

Feingold, G., W. R. Cotton, S. M. Krddenweis, and J. T. Davis (1999) Impact of giant cloud condensation nuclei on drizzle formation in marine stratocumulus Implications for cloud radiative properties. Journal of Atmospheric Science 56, 4100-4117 Feng, J. and D. Moller (2004) Characterization of water-soluble macromolecular substances in cloud water. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry 48, 217-233 Fenger, J. (2009) Air pollution in the last 50 years - from local to global. Atmospheric Environment 43, 13-22... 

The second aspect is the impact on the environment caused by the production of raw materials and the manufacturing process to convert materials into products. For example, the impact of highly toxic pesticides used in cotton cultivation on soil fertility, biodiversity, and water quality, or the impacts associated with effluent discharges from dyehouses and finishing units. 

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