Happy New Year?

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Lauantai 31.12.2016 klo 11.31 - Mikko Nikinmaa


Hopefully the new year 2017 will bring forward good things for the environment. There are many possibilities - new approaches just require that we are not stuck in old ways of thinking.

I give just one example. Many people are concerned with gene modifications. Yet, the same people use cotton clothing; the likelihood that gene-modified cotton has been used for making cotton clothes is overwhelming. In addition, the use of pesticides in cotton cultivation is very high, meaning that the use of cotton clothing probably causes the deaths of millions of birds which eat contaminated insects. Further, cotton production uses both water and space, which would better be used for food production. So, all these things urge us to change from cotton use to something new...

We already have the possibility to change to the something new. It is possible to produce cotton-like threads from the long-fibred fir trees. Now that paper use is in decline and pulp industry is probably environmentally the most advanced, changing from paper as the major product to cloth would be both feasible and environmentally friendly.

Such change would be possible, but would require consumer pressure. If the consumers demand a change, that will happen (albeit slowly). We were able to stop acid rain in Europe, eeven though it required expenses. So why should we not change from cotton clothing to tree fibre-based clothing, as it is an environmental advance with little cost?

Avainsanat: pesticide use, cloth production, sustainable development, gene modificatio


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