Today, a speaker came in and talked to us about the materials used to manufacture commercial goods that are eventually sold to the public. Those materials include cotton, leather, wool, and polyester, each with a different set of characteristics that differentiates it from the others. We looked at comparing and contrasting them, and finding out which ones were the most sustainable. I learned that there are different categories that sustainability can be measured by. There is water sustainability, land sustainability, air sustainability, and electricity sustainability. Based off of those categories of sustainability, we looked at ten different materials and their qualities in regard to sustainability. Here is the chart:
The materials from left to write read Nylon, Jute, Bamboo, Wool, Leather, Linen, Polyester, Cotton, Silk, and Polypropoline. Each line of dots represents the materials impact score on the environment. A higher impact score/column means that material is more sustainable for the world to produce. Here is a time lapse of Julian, Cortelle, and Erin placing colored stickers on the graph:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCN1q-s-eT8
I learned a lot about sustainability and it is something that I am going to pay more attention to in the future when buying food, clothing, and other necessities of life. We only have one planet, and when we run out of resources on Earth no one knows what will happen, because there is currently no other planet that can sustain human life. Although just one person being more aware of buying sustainable products will not change the world, the spreading of awareness for the cause will change the world, and it needs to happen now.