Nature
The Better Lives project has been an amazing opportunity to learn about different areas in the fashion industry from professional in the sector. We have been taught about the importance of diversity, social responsibility and sustainability and how these premises may have the power to change the future. However, there won’t be any future if we can’t find a way to join human and nature necessities.
I have attended some very interesting lectures about diversity, emerging technologies in fashion or well-being, but everything just felt meaningless after the lecture about nature. I have always been aware of the increasing problems of our planet, but after Kate Fletcher speech I was shocked. How can I be worried about culture or diversity while the whole existence of the planet is in danger?
At the beginning of the lecture, we were asked to play a game and write a few lines of what we think about when we hear the word “nature”. I have been always aware of the actual state of deterioration of our planet, so my writing about it was very depressed and negative from the beginning, and it turned even darker when we played the same game at the end of the lecture. Through the whole session, Fletcher told us about a bunch of depressing facts such as examples of previous civilizations that ended up in environment collapse by overexploiting the natural resources, people knowing more about car brands than about native species in the countries or how humanity has crossed three of the nine planetary boundaries. All these facts were completely unknown to me and I ended up being very concerned about the future and what I could do by myself to change it for the better.
I guess the whole idea of this lecture was to encourage people to fight against climate collapse and to try to change the industry for the better, but, is It really possible to find the way to balance nature and humans before the disaster? And even if it were possible, is all the damage that we have been doing for decades possible to erase? Sometimes I feel that maybe all the effort of the new generations in trying to find eco-friendly ways to operate in this world is just pointless, that maybe we are in a point of no return and we are living in a countdown to the disaster. However, at the end of the lecture, I started seeing the bright side of it, if there is any. We, as a fashion students, have the power to use the industry to raise awareness on the climate crisis that we are living. The Fashion industry is known for being capable of transform people needs, so why not use this power to change people´s minds? The future is in the hands of our generation, every step from now is crucial.
REFERENCES
Fletcher, K. (2020) ‘ Nature’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 12 February.
IMAGE CREDITS
New polluted year, Eliud Gil Samaniego (2019)
11th May 2020 @ 1:17 pm
Blog 4: Peer review
I decided to do my peer review on Rafael Garrido’s lecture reflection on Nature by Kate Fletcher.
My reasons behind this is because I was profoundly inspired by this lecture. Since a long time ago I have made a conscious decision to give back as much as I can to the planet and take care of its environment.
I liked Garrido’s reflection because he goes not only detail about the lecture and its more important information but he reflects on what was the most shocking to him.
It is strangely revealing to think about this issues from different perspectives than my own.
What i found the most interesting was how he didn’t have such a positive train of thought at first but through a reflective mindset found possible solutions to the problem he could work on as the future generation of the fashion industry.
I share many of his initial doubts and conclusions.
He makes some interesting questions which I believe many of us have thought about times before and I would like to make a comment on them.
“How can I be worried about culture and diversity while the existence of the planet is in danger?”
This resonated deeply with me because I believe that even if most make a conscious effort for the wellbeing of the planet it is still a subject overlooked in favour to diversity or culture. I have always thought this environmental issue
could be more represented in the media because even if the fashion industry raises awareness more and more every year it is still forgotten to be communicated to an audience through the media in favour to the diversity or cultural changes of
the industry. Garrido makes an interesting question by implying the importance of our planet over others issues by making us reflect on the how to and why be worried and its imminent consequences if not thought about.
“Is all the damage that we have been doing got decided possible to erase?”
Now this has always been something that has kept me awake at night. When i started being environmentally conscious I was enraged by the damage we have inflicted in the planet the more I researched into it. What most angered me was how there is a lot of people still turning bind eye on the destruction of our ecosystem, even implying it is a made up story and that it isn’t real. I have personally encountered this behaviour specially in older generations and
have realised that it is almost impossible to make them environmentally conscious,. I have also been subjected by many to some level of discrimination because of the actions and decisions have personally done to help nature.
While I agree with Garrido’s personal conclusion about how it is our personal duty as the next generation in the fashion industry to raise awareness against this environmental crisis I also believe it must be a collaborative effort with the older generations. As much as we want to influence the youth it is important to open the eyes of those whom are already here. I believe it is most difficult to influence the older generation but it isn’t possible and If we, as students make an effort to understand and emphasise with them, working collaboratively with those who are already in the industry we can fight for a change together. It may not be possible to completely erase the damage but it sure is possible to mend it.