Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has accused the fashion industry of having a “huge” impact on climate change. She did it on the pages of Vogue Scandinavia fashion magazine.
According to Greta Thunberg, fashion brands should take some responsibility for how their products affect the environment.
And in her Twitter, she accused some brands of “greenwashing,” “green PR,” through which companies are trying to show their products and production environmentally friendly.
18-year-old Greta appeared on the cover of the first issue of Vogue Scandinavia.
On Sunday, the activist tweeted this cover, which depicts her in a trench coat that is too big for her. In the photo, Greta Thunberg is stroking her Icelandic horse Strangur in the woods.
In her tweet, she criticized “fast fashion.” The term is used to describe cheap products of seasonal trends.
“The fashion industry has a huge impact on the climate and environmental catastrophe, not to mention its detrimental effects on a large number of workers and communities exploited around the world so that people can enjoy fast fashion, which many consider disposable,” said Thunberg.
Vogue Scandinavia author Tom Pattinson called Thunberg the “voice of the generation” who guides political leaders and the most recognizable activist of the past three years.
“Every day, there is at least one new conspiracy theory about me. I’m an American spy at one point, at another – a Russian agent, then – I’m a communist, and even later – a radical capitalist. In one second, I am controlled by my parents, I can not think for myself; and the next second, I am an evil manipulative little child,” Greta told the magazine.
“These theories don’t match, and that’s the funniest thing about them,” she added.
Fashion and pollution
Greta Thunberg called for “systemic change” and stressed that fashion could not produce as much mass as it does now.
The United Nations has previously called the fashion industry “the world’s second most polluted industry.”
Fashion is associated with the pollution of 20% of wastewater on Earth, added the United Nations.
She estimates that the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water each year, which would be enough for five million people suffering from thirst.
The UN added that manufacturers of fashion brands are also responsible for 8% of global carbon emissions – more than international flights and shipping combined.
In response, fashion brands announced a campaign that would allow them to reduce the negative impact on the environment.
But many activists, including Thunberg, say fashion brands only give the appearance of environmental action, BBC states.
According to them, marketing technologies “greenwashing” often comes down to misleading consumers that products do not harm the environment.
In an interview with Vogue Scandinavia, Greta Thunberg said she last bought new clothes three years ago and “it was second-hand.”
“I just borrow things from friends,” she explained.
Thunberg is today the most famous face of the movement against climate change.
Her one-off protests outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, followed by emotional speeches worldwide, have inspired millions of people to join the environmental protests.
At the same time, Greta’s critics consider her actions PR on the topic.
Greta Thunberg has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times.
