Finding a Vehicle for Action
For years I couldn’t find a way of working for climate justice. I couldn’t keep facts in my head, and I felt very distant from the issue in general.
Then two things happened to get me moving. One was that Diane Shisk [the International Commonality Reference Person for Care of the Environment] started asking Regional Reference Persons what we were doing about climate justice in our Regions, and I feared that my inactivity (and the effect it was having on my Region) would be exposed. About the same time, I watched a television programme, “Fashion’s Dirty Secrets,” and learned about the impact fast fashion has on the environment.
I was raised in the shmutter trade (shmutter is Yiddish for clothing industry; it literally means “rag” trade), and I got excited about creating art and activism that would challenge the over-production and over-consumption of clothing. It helped that Diane Shisk encouraged me to develop the idea from the outset. It’s important to have someone you trust believe in your vision.
I ended up building “a:dress,” a campaign that uses message-adorned clothing, along with poetry, film, and listening exchanges, to
- raise awareness of the devastating ways fast fashion contributes to the climate crisis;
- communicate the ways that women are directly and disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis;
- acknowledge that women are targeted by, and vulnerable to, the fashion industry;
- and promote practical ways to slow down fast fashion.
“a:dress” is now a diverse group of girls and women—some interested in eco-activism, some in sewing and repairs. Some are fashion designers or textile artists.
There is now a “collection” of thirty-two customised retro garments, each with a message about fast fashion and the environment, including
- a skirt made from a patchwork of jeans, stating, “These Jeans Are Thirsty”;
- a crocheted shawl that has stripes denoting a coloured bar code showing global temperature rises in the past century;
- a skirt with jewelled planes and a vapour trail to demonstrate that the fashion industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than international flights and shipping combined;
- and a “funereal” dress and veil marking the Rana Plaza and other fashion-related disasters.
The campaign focused initially on the town where I live, but thanks to a short film we made, “a:dress” has achieved national and international reach.
We have had Fashion Walks, in which the “a:dress” clothing is displayed in shop windows; demonstrations of customising and upcycling skills; clothes swaps; and Subversive Catwalks, with “models” ranging from two-year-olds to women in their mid-seventies.
What keeps me going is the ease of engaging local women and girls as makers, “models,” and activists. Conversations about fast fashion have proved to be an accessible and fun way to reach women and girls and bring together women’s liberation and climate justice work. And I am teaching RC to a hand-picked group of “a:dress” women.
Now I always recommend that people find something they are passionate about to use as a vehicle for action.
Folkestone, Kent, England
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders in care of the environment
(Present Time 207, April 2022)