NAOMI KLEIN
@naomiaklein
What’s the last thing social activist Naomi Klein did to help the planet? ‘I went on an urban nature walk with my six-year-old son and his friends. This generation doesn’t have to grow up with the false “Us vs Them” separation between humans and the natural world.’ When she’s not busy inspiring tomorrow’s eco heroes, Naomi tackles another demographic: educating the world on the negative impact of capitalism. Her books include the critically acclaimed No Logo, This Changes Everything and No Is Not Enough. Her pledge to the planet is simple: ‘Save what you love – the places and the stuff.’
“FASHION IS like A PANDORA’S BOX: WHEN YOU START LOOKING at SUSTAINABILITY IN THE INDUSTRY, IT OPENS UP all kinds OF ISSUES” “ETHICAL FASHION BEGINS with
the NEED TO TREAT ALL PEOPLE as if THEY TRULY
MATTER”
I BELIEVE FASHION IS AN IMPORTANT means of self-expression, and the impulse for self-adornment is universal in all cultures. It’s much older than industrial capitalism, and should be celebrated. But at the same time I also believe we buy far too much and that, in so many cases, we’re shopping for things other than what we are buying.
THE WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO CONSUME LESS is not to wag your finger at them and tell them they’re bad people for trying to fill these voids through shopping, but try to fill those voids with something lasting.
WHEN WE’RE MORE CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER and to nature, we’re in a much stronger position to buy what we genuinely need and what we want. That to me is true sustainability.
THE WORD SUSTAINABILITY tends to evoke environmental matters more than human-rights concerns. But it’s important that we understand it’s possible to have a garment that is marketed as sustainable, in that maybe the cotton is organic and the dyes are less toxic, yet that garment could be part of a system that treats the women who made it as disposable.
I’M ONLY INTERESTED A CONVERSATION ABOUT FAST FASHION and environmentally aware fashion that begins with the need to treat all people on this planet as if they truly matter and have a right to thrive. I’ve always believed that conversations about so-called ethical fashion have to be led by garment workers.
I BELIEVE MORE FIRMLY TODAY WHAT I WROTE in my book No Logo almost 2O years ago: you can have all the accords and agreements you want, but ultimately the best protection for workers is a union in the workplace. Workers feel safe when they have representatives to report daily abuses.
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS CONSUMERS CAN DO is not wait for some magic bullet where clothes are labelled, ‘OK, we’re monitoring it, we’re taking care of it. You can feel good about buying as much as you want from this brand.’ We’ve tried that model now for more than two decades. There need to be better connections with the labour movements on the ground. And I think we will see more of that.
I FEEL LIKE A RALLYING CRY FOR OUR AGE IS SAVE WHAT YOU LOVE, whether it’s places, people, or even things. When I wrote This Changes Everything in 2O14, I quoted an amazing environmental campaigner in Montana called Alexis Bonogofsky, and she talked about the fight against coal mining in her state and said, ‘People think this is about anger and hate, but it’s not, it’s about love.’ She said, ‘Love will save this place.’
ON MANY FRONTS I’M EXTREMELY HOPEFUL ABOUT THE FUTURE GENERATION. Whichever chosen field they decide to go into, they’re bringing this increased politicisation with them.
I’M SEEING MORE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN POLITICAL FASHION; in a deeper challenge to bring their own culture to fashion in a way that is truly about uplifting many more people and many more traditions of beauty, and encouraging a much less disposable view of fashion. This I find really exciting.
WE TREAT THE PLANET AS IF IT’S A BOTTOMLESS GARBAGE CAN, whether it’s the oceans or the atmosphere. I think that mentality, what the Pope calls the ‘throwaway culture’, is the connective tissue between our human-rights crises and our planetary ecological crises. And the shift we need is one to a culture of cherishing. No Is Not Enough by Naomi Klein is out now (Allen Lane)