There is immense power in the actions of everyday individuals, yet some people still make choices they know are bad for the world around them under the guise that “individual actions don’t matter.” On the contrary, the power to make meaningful change in the world around lies in the hands of the people. Companies and corporations will always put their bottom line first, so how you spend your money can change the companies. The actions of individuals, especially when made en masse, have the power to shape the future of our planet.
Many great changes have come from people taking a stand for what they believe in. From the American Civil Rights Movement fighting segregation to the more contemporary example of the #MeToo movement on social media, fighting the good fight has come down to individuals, not huge organizations. Using the power of collective individual action must now expand from social movements to the environmental struggle as the effects of overconsumption and waste worsen.
One of the most important ways people can positively impact the world today is through making sustainable choices. People can choose now to reduce the physical waste they will leave behind long after they are gone. People pushing for environmentally sustainable change have already made an impact, as evidenced by the eight states that have banned plastic straws as a result of the backlash online after a video surfaced of a turtle that had a straw stuck through part of its head. The shift in consumer preferences for more sustainable options has also led to wider availability of packaging-free options and refillable packaging.
But, one of the most significant ways that individual consumers can change their environmental impact is through their clothing consumption habits. Fast fashion has recently become the target of sustainability discourse, and for good reason. The fashion industry makes up over 10% of the world’s pollution, with 10% of the microplastics in the ocean coming from washing synthetic fabrics and 20% of the world’s wastewater resulting from dying fabrics. The scale of the industry’s impact is in part due to the demand from the distorted clothing consumption habits Americans have come to think of as normal.
The average American discards over 80 pounds of clothing annually, replacing what they throw out with over 50 new pieces. This vicious cycle of buying and discarding clothing contributes to why over 11 million tons of clothing end up in American landfills every year.
If you double the amount of times you wear all of your clothing, you would be able to halve the impact of your wardrobe without having to do anything besides using what you already have.
With the incredible volume of clothing people are regularly trying to get rid of, the secondhand market is full of enough clothing to fulfill the needs of the next six generations without needing to produce a single new garment. Every time you choose to buy secondhand instead of purchasing something brand new, you are reducing waste not only by using something already on the planet rather than something created for you, but you are also avoiding the pollution waste that comes from newly produced garments.
If people bought half of their clothes from a secondhand source, without even changing their overall rate of consumption, this would save millions of tons of clothing from landfills and millions of tons of carbon emissions every year.
Even small changes in clothes washing habits can significantly impact carbon emissions. According to Earth.org, if a person reduces the number of times they run their washing machine by one-sixth, avoid the hot water setting and air dry their clothing, they would cut their consumer emissions by more than 50 percent.
These small choices to source clothing secondhand and shift laundry habits can incredibly reduce emissions and physical waste. But it can’t just be one person — if people work to convince their friends and family to shift their habits as well, the positive impact would be exponential.
When it comes to the environment, it is true that no one person has the power to make choices that save the world, but the world will never change without the actions of individuals who want to see positive change..
You have the power to make choices that can change the world for the better, so will you?