Power Trip

     Native Americans revered the land. They saw themselves as stewards of their environment and treated it with great respect. Contemporary Americans, on the other hand, have chosen a path of industrialization in pursuit of the “American Dream”: a shiny red car in the garage, a stylish home built on what was once a wetland. Commerce has created a prosperous economy as well as a high standard of living and many creature comforts.                                                                                     

The price tag? Humankind has dimmed the lights on environmental issues because of a lack of awareness, insensitivity, and cost. Thus, when presented with the idea of clothing being made from recycled materials, a furrowed brow, lips that pout, and a head being scratched all say the same thing: Apathy. Lucky for Americans, though, these recycled clothes can be checked out, poked at, tried on, and bought in the same routine fashion that shoppers find convenient. Buyers will also be relieved to know that the clothes on their back will not scream, “I am environmentally friendly,” but will instead whisper, “I am fashion forward,” for these clothes will be the wave of the future. There will be options for the buyer just as there are now, dolled up and dressed down. Ideally, these clothes will not be one of a kind or rare; they will be as mundane as the coffee in your cup or the tick of a clock.

Of course, the process for the manufacturers will not be as simple as for the buyers. It will, however, significantly cut down our consumption of petroleum. Instead of designers buying yard after yard of chiffon, cotton, and cowhide, they will gather soda bottles and surgical gloves from recycling plants and scraps of otherwise unused fabric from mills across the US. The fibers from mills will be re-processed to create new yarn and fabric. The plastic bottles will be spun into polyester. Shoe soles will be made from a mix of surgical gloves, cardboard, hemp and tires that put back the bounce in your step. Is the process intricate? Yes. However, it can be mastered. Has this been done before? Yes. Nevertheless, it’s more likely to yield results if dealt with comprehensively. This concept has been chewed up by the realists in my life, my neighbor Martin, my schoolteachers. I look to the cat in my lap for a smile, but even she looks back at me with doubt, her tail hitting me in the face with such force I’m convinced she’s trying to snap me out of it. The truth of it is, I believe in inspiration. I believe that if people see the wonder of a shirt spun out of a plastic bottle that would have otherwise been in a landfill as lifeless as a body in a grave--or if they hold a good pair of running shoes in their hands made out of a trucker’s tire-- then maybe, just maybe, they’ll be ready to do their part. The challenges are great, but the solutions will be found one step at a time. We should begin now, not to seek praise, but to do the right thing.