T-shirt angst

A couple of days ago, someone tried to give me a free t-shirt, and I turned it down. I am attending my denomination's annual General Assembly, an event that is full of energy and earnest enthusiasm for Doing the Right Thing. It's an election year this time around; we are choosing the person who will lead the denomination for the next four -- and possibly eight -- years, and that means all the usual campaign folderol. Each candidate has official buttons and t-shirts, given out free to supporters.

Here's the catch: I am not a fan of single- or limited use items, especially not clothing. I am also not a fan of conventional cotton t-shirts made under unknown working conditions. So I passed on the t-shirt. Being a Nice White Lady who is not inclined to lecture enthusiastic, well-meaning strangers, I also passed on the lecture running through my head  (and now into this blog -- oh, well). But if either of these candidates had offered more subtle t-shirt designs, badges or buttons that were made of recycled or sustainable materials, fair trade souvenirs or something other than disposable, wasteful gewgaws, they'd have an edge with me. And stop with the daily campaign newsletters, already.

But I do appreciate the opportunity to use "folderol" and "gewgaws".

Required reading: Shop Class as Soulcraft

I have added one more title to my book list for AMST 498Q (Craft and Production). It is Matthew B. Crawford's "Shop Class as Soulcraft", previewed in the NY Times Magazine on May 24. (Thanks, Jacob!) Crawford also appeared on the Diane Rehm show last week, which finally got me down to the local book store. He's a motorcycle mechanic with a PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago, and he's written an engrossing and mind-bending examination of the value of manual labor. So far me only quibble is that he focuses on male-dominated trades, begging the question of the value of manual labor when it is "women's work". But that's really a small quibble; he is doing what all writers are told to do -- write about what you know -- and so far it's a marvelous book.

I spent a day last week volunteering in a museum costume collection, working with my hands and with a large group (most of them women). Crawford is quite right in his argument that handwork can involve the brain in very intricate ways, defying the modern dichotomy between "manual labor" and "knowledge work". Each object presented a unique problem to solve -- imagine trying to vacuum the dust (and insect casings!) off a child's parasol made of very fragile silk, then describing the object and carefully labeling it and preparing it for storage. Not only did we need to use our wits, we relied on each other, for expertise or suggestions or just an extra hand. The women I worked with that day were my special new friends the rest of the week!

more on the downside of GMO cotton

Cotton, Inc. has been happily touting cotton as "environmentally friendly", thanks to the supposed pest-resistant genetically modified varieties now available. Tara Lohan of Alternet interviewed science policy advocate Vananda Shiva, about the suicides of 1,500 farmers in India and tells another side of the story:

When Monsanto's Bt cotton was introduced, the seed costs jumped from 7 rupees per kilo to 17,000 rupees per kilo. Our survey shows a thirteenfold increase in pesticide use in cotton in Vidharbha. Meantime, the $4 billion subsidy given to U.S. agribusiness for cotton has led to dumping and depression of international prices.

Squeezed between high costs and negative incomes, farmers commit suicide when their land is being appropriated by the money lenders who are the agents of the agrichemical and seed corporations. The suicides are thus a direct result of industrial globalized agriculture and corporate monopoly on seeds.

The next time you are tempted to buy that inexpensive cotton T-shirt, add this information to your calculation of the true cost. I am finding more and more organic cotton clothing every week, and am willing to buy one organic T,  instead of two regular ones.

ETA: In response to Abraham's comment, I located the Guardian (UK) article and the report on which it was based. The gist of the report is that this is a more complex issue than the Alternet interview suggests. However, it is also more complex than the Guardian article implies. The original report (pdf) argues that the role of Bt cotton in farmer suicides is overstated, but that "Bt cotton may have played a role in specific cases and seasons". The phenomenon may also be a thing of the past: "The initial high price of Bt cotton seeds and the limited number of initial varieties available due to the lack of competition are becoming less problematic, with more varieties approved and a second, non-Monsanto trait commercially available since 2006." And they seem to lay the blame not so much on the characteristics of Bt cotton itself as the marketing approaches used by the company:

"At the same time, our analysis suggests the need for a better extension system, more controlled seed marketing system, anti-fraud enforcement, and better information dissemination among farmers in all regions, before the introduction of any costly new technologies like Bt cotton. Information should not come from seed dealers, whose job it is to promote and sell their technologies without explaining their proper use."

 The upside of Bt cotton is that it reduces the need for pesticides, a major problem with conventional cotton culture. As a consumer, I have grown wary of innovations that may come with hidden, perhaps long-term price tags. Insects were the problem, pesticides were the solution. Now pesticides are the problem; are GMO the best solution?

Buying American may get easier

My friend Louise shared this story from Inbound Logistics. The short version: there's a modest trend to increase apparel production in the U.S. The economic benefits of shipping goods from overseas are less clear, and new, more sophisticated logistics approaches are solving old inventory and distribution problems. As a devotee of REI, I found their story most interesting. By building a new warehouse to serve the northeast, they are able to get the right goods in the right stores at the right time. Let's hear it for low-mileage clothing!