Style triumphing over sustainability
RiverBlue takes ‘in-depth look’ at how industry is exploiting waterways across the globe
The next time you’re having a glass of water, think about your favourite pair of jeans.
Thanks to dyes and chemicals, it’s not just your sartorial stalwarts that are blue. Nope, many rivers are in a very sad state as those same dyes and chemicals have been dumped into them, leaving behind polluted non-potable waterways.
The manufacturing and industrial rush of the past 50 years has led to corporations moving manufacturing out of the more expensive and more regulated western world and setting up shop wherever they can find the best bottom line. That means going to places like China, Indonesia and Bangladesh where there are little or no regulations and factory bosses willing to ignore basic safety standards in the pursuit of more profit.
Rivers flush themselves out. Everybody knows that, right?
Well, if you operate in the land of facts you understand that everything has a saturation level. Even flowing water like a powerful river at some point just can’t keep up with the levels of contaminants being chucked its way. It’s this concept and fashion’s big environmental faux pas that is the centre of the documentary RiverBlue that will be shown Friday at North Vancouver’s Centennial Theatre. The film — written and directed by David McIlvride and narrated by actor Jason Priestley — has enjoyed sold-out festival runs, but this screening is a special benefit for Seymour Salmonoid Society.
“We wanted to do a film that would be a positive agent for change and we wanted to do a film that would reach a new and broader audience,” said Burnaby’s Mark Angelo, an environmentalist, paddler and river activist featured in RiverBlue.
“So we set out on this (three-year) round-the-world adventure with the idea of taking a snapshot of the health of the world’s waterways, but along the way we saw this opportunity to take this first in-depth look at the fashion industry. That was really important to me as a paddler. The impacts of this industry have flown under the radar.”
RiverBlue takes the viewer on a disturbing trip to areas of the world (a look inside a Third World tannery would shock even Charles Dickens) where factories have the market on fashion manufacturing cornered.
“A lot of people are unaware of the connection of what they wear and the environment,” said Angelo, who founded B.C. Rivers Day and the UN-observed World Rivers Day.
While Angelo and others are educating and encouraging consumers to make a change with their wallets, the truly powerful like the Donald Trump administration has been issuing executive orders that would set us back to a time when it’s OK to dump mining debris into rivers.
“I find it disturbing,” said Angelo “You can have a good economy and a healthy environment.
“I’m just such a believer in doing all we can to protect river and waterways. Rivers are literally the arteries of our planet. We have to do everything we can to properly care for them,” added Angelo, who hopes B.C. residents head into the upcoming provincial election demanding that political parties talk about rivers and water as part of their election platforms.
It’s not a tough call. If we don’t protect water, we die.
“When you start to see the toxins of an Asian textile mill showing up in the tissue of a polar bear you realize how everything is interconnected on our planet,” said Angelo. “These are things we have to all care about regardless of where we are on our planet.”
Hope is something Angelo is not willing to give up. He has seen firsthand rivers like the Thames or (closer to home) Britannia Creek come back to life after years of being polluted.
“I do believe if we don’t give up and if we try and deal with the issue, if we try and resolve it, if we try and clean things up, we can turn things around,” said Angelo.
So what can we do? First up, find out where your clothes come from. Buy less and buy better. Angelo said look for the bluesign® certification and check out the website Yourchoice-Yourvoice.com.
Angelo said it’s simple: If enough consumers stop consuming products that pollute, then the fashion industry will have to take note and realize that poison-producing bell-bottoms hurt their bottom line.