With an increasing number of people comes a surge in consumption of goods and products and, as a result, we are putting an incredible strain on the planet’s resources.
From the production of fashion to growing infrastructure for burgeoning towns everything we do has an ecological impact. In this episode of earthrise we meet conservationists who are pioneering projects to protect our most valuable ecosystems. Whilst many of us are aware of the devastating rate of global deforestation we aren’t all aware that trees are being destroyed to create our clothes.
Viscose and rayon are highly prized fabrics and demand for them is on the rise. But these materials have a dark secret – to create them millions of primary forest trees, thousands of years old and irreplaceable are being used to create the pulp, which makes everything from our T-shirts to jeans.
The amount of trees and forests destroyed not only devastate the surrounding land but also release tons of carbon back into the atmosphere. earthrise goes to Sweden to see how the non-profit company Canopy is spearheading a drive to change this while getting some of the biggest fashion brands in the world on board. We travel to the Aras river wetland in the north east of Turkey where biologist and environmental activist Cagan Sekercioglu is working with the local community to monitor a rare pocket of wetland which is threatened by the impending construction of a dam. The wetland is one of the main resting and breeding areas in the country for migratory birds, including 16 endangered species. Cagan and his team are gathering data to prove the environmental significance of the area by tagging and monitoring birds.
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